I called an owner who had an NTS on their property to see if they were interested in selling. Like most, they were really trying to stay in their home and not move. He said he’d hired an attorney and that the “situation was being resolved”, whatever that means.
Two days later, the NTS was postponed for another 3 weeks. The reason given was for “Operation of Law”. Is there an explanation as to what this means? Is it only that an attorney for the borrower is involved? What other reasons could there be?
It means that it is a court ordered postponement, typically as a result of a legal dispute between the borrower and the lender. A title search will likely turn up the lis pendens, and you can often get details of the case at the county court house.
Thank you Sean. Assuming this is just a delaying tactic (borrower had a sub-prime loan and is claiming ignorance as to the terms and conditions, by-the-way, I believe the borrower is a real estate agent), how long will it take to resolve and what then?
If the bank continues to foreclose and takes the property to auction, is it “buyer beware” because the title is clouded with the lis pendans?
My guess is that even if the lis pendans is removed, the attorney will file another for some other reason until the home owner can get back on their feet.
Smart in that it buys them time. But for the $100K they owe their attorney, and the $700K they owe in combined loans, it will be curious to see if it is worth it at the end of the day.