Residential and Commercial Foreclosure Services

Pennsylvania is a judicial foreclosure state, meaning that real estate cannot be foreclosed on without a judgment first being obtained by the borrower. In certain instances, there are pre-foreclosure Act Notices which must be mailed out before the foreclosure process can commence. Once the foreclosure process has commenced, the Borrower has 30 days after service to respond to the Complaint. If no Answer is filed, a 10-day default notice must be sent out. If there was no response to that, a default judgment may be obtained. If an Answer or other responsive pleading is filed, then the matter must be litigated to judgment. If we feel that there are no legitimate issues raised by the Answer, we will immediately file a Motion for Summary Judgment. This is often the case, since the defenses to mortgage foreclosure actions are quite limited in Pennsylvania. Once a judgment has been obtained, the sale typically takes place about 3 months from the date of judgment, although it is longer in some counties. Meltzer& Associates, P.C. provides complete foreclosure services throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (in all 67 counties). All office handles all aspects of the foreclosure process "from soup to nuts", including the following:

» Sending all pre-foreclosure Act 6 and Act 91 Notices which may be required.

» Provide initial notice of default/right to cure/intent to accelerate.

» Obtaining all necessary title work, real estate tax records, bankruptcy, federal tax lien and judicial records searches within 24 hours of receiving referral.

» Preparing, filing and serving the Complaint in Mortgage Foreclosure on all required parties.

» Handling borrower inquiries and negotiate reinstatements, payoffs or forbearance plans with the borrowers, including the preparation of all necessary Stipulations and Forbearance Agreements.

» Preparing Deeds-in-Lieu of Foreclosure in those cases where the borrower is willing to voluntarily relinquish title to the property.

» Providing all necessary services required to effectuate proper service instances where borrowers cannot be located by the Sheriff's Office or where one or more borrowers is deceased, including the obtaining of Affidavits of Good Faith Investigation, filing of Motions for Special Service, and deputization of foreign counties.

» Dealing with the client in addressing all issues which may be raised by the title report, including as relate to lien priority, federal tax liens and unpaid real estate taxes.

» Preparation of complete foreclosure package including Certification of Compliance with Pa. R.Civ.P. 237.1, Praecipe for Judgment, Praecipe for Writ of Execution, Writ of Execution, Notice of Judgment, Affidavit of Non-Military Service, Rule 3129.1 Affidavit, Notice of Sheriff's Sale, Letter of Instruction for the Sheriff's Office, etc.

» Advancing all fees required to be paid in connection with the Sheriff's Sale.

» Providing all required notices of Sheriff's sale to all required parties, including creditors', mortgage holders, judgment holders and all other interested parties.

» Posting of Notice of Sheriff's Sale.

» Preparation of bidding instructions to ensure that the amount actually received by the creditor is the amount they expect to receive, net of all sheriff's costs, real estate taxes, transfer taxes, poundage, etc.

» Conduct the Sheriffs' sale on the first available sale date pursuant to your bidding instructions.

» Fax or email foreclosure sale results by 5:00 p.m. on sale day;

» Prepare all post-sale documents required to effectuate transfer of title.

» Record all documents in the real property records of the appropriate county.

» Assist your REO Department with any post-foreclosure title issues.

» Handle all eviction proceedings which may be required after sale.