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How to Buy a Foreclosure in Florida
Small older house behind a picket fence
Florida foreclosure is judicial. The lender files a lawsuit. A lis pendens is the recorded notice of that case. It is not a listing, and it is not a price.
The house you can actually write on is usually an REO or a short sale. A clerk auction is a third thing. Call (904) 309-0609 and say which one you mean before you send anyone a deposit.
Table of Contents
A lawsuit, not a bargain bin
The court is in the middle of a Florida foreclosure. The owner still holds title until a judgment runs its course and a sale actually happens, or until the owner deeds the house out.
Nobody on this page is going to quote a discount percent. Some REOs are priced to move. Some are priced like every other house on the street. You compare the condition and the contract, not a myth about foreclosures.
A lis pendens is not a listing
A lis pendens tells the world a foreclosure case is pending. You can find it in the court records. You cannot tour it like an MLS house, and you cannot assume the occupant will let you in.
Buying around a lis pendens, if you try it at all, is a title problem and usually a lawyer problem. We will not paste courthouse cases into a buyer search and call them homes for sale.
REO is the bank's house
REO means the case finished and the lender, or its servicer, took the house back. It can then be listed. That is the foreclosure flag, or the REO flag, if your board has one.
The saved search we use here is Status = active, counties Duval and Clay, sort newest. Turn on the foreclosure or REO flag if it exists. Orange Park and Fleming Island are in that Clay slice. NAS Jacksonville sits on the west bank of the St. Johns, about ZIP 32212, so a lot of those buyers already drive this side.
A short sale needs a written yes
A short sale is a listing where the payoff is higher than the contract price. The seller still owns the house. The lender has to approve the shortage in writing. Verbal optimism from a listing agent is not approval.
That approval can take months. The house can sit active while the lender says nothing. Do not spend inspection money until the contract gives you a real deadline and a way out if the letter never comes.
Clerk auctions stay off the search
After the judgment, the clerk of court holds a sale. That is a courthouse auction. It has its own deposit, its own title risk, and its own way of getting paid. It is not an MLS REO.
We do not include courthouse auctions in the saved search. If you want to bid at the clerk sale, say so. That conversation is cash, title, and usually your own lawyer. The MLS search is the listed REO and, if you ask for them, the short sales. The Jacksonville foreclosure realtor page is the local desk for that work.
Walk the empty room
REO houses are often vacant. Utilities may be off. The photo hides roof age, a missing appliance, and whatever grew while the air was off. The empty living room is the point. You are buying condition.
Get a home inspection if the contract allows one. On a VA file, the appraisal is still a separate report. It is the lender's valuation, and it checks VA minimum property requirements. Tidewater is only the notice that value may come in short. Do not merge the inspection, the appraisal, and Tidewater into one appointment.
Who can actually sign
On an REO, the seller is the bank's asset manager, through the listing brokerage. On a short sale, the owner signs, and the lender still has to approve. On a clerk sale, you are not writing a FAR contract on a Sunday open house.
Ask who is in the house, what stays, and where the keys are. Call (904) 309-0609 before you wire a deposit to a name you found in a group chat. We will pull the Duval and Clay board and tell you if the house is even listed.
Keep going
Call (904) 309-0609.
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