Contact

Judicial Sale (Foreclosure Auction)

En español: Subasta judicial (foreclosure auction)

Definition

A judicial sale is the court-ordered auction that ends a Florida foreclosure. The clerk of court conducts it, the highest bidder posts a deposit on the spot and funds the balance on the clerk's schedule, and title passes when the clerk files the certificate of title rather than at the moment of the winning bid.

How to read it
How to read it
  • The bid is the first number. Surviving senior liens, association arrears, occupancy and condition are all added after it.
  • A sale on a junior mortgage leaves the senior one in place, so reading the case without reading the chain of title is how bidders lose money.
  • It is a cash instrument. No financing contingency exists and the clerk's payment deadline does not move.
  • The work that wins an auction is done days earlier in public records, not in the bidding.
An example
An example

A winning bid on a Miami-Dade foreclosure sale.

Final bid$310,000
Deposit due at the sale, 5 percent$15,500
Balance due on the clerk's schedule$294,500
Days from sale to certificate of title10

Missing the balance forfeits the deposit and the property, and the clerk readvertises the sale. There is no extension to ask for.

Terms arrive with the writing.

The glossary grows as the Journal does, one email when something worth reading goes up. No noise.

Unsubscribe anytime. See our Privacy Policy.