Crushing Debt

In this week's episode of the podcast, we talk about whether a quit claim deed or a quiet title lawsuit can stop a foreclosure, from a listener of the podcast! Many people believe that transferring a home to a third party and then filing a quiet title lawsuit will defeat a foreclosure lawsuit.  Unfortunately, under FL law, the answer is "no." How I get to that answer is in this week's episode. If...

This week's episode is Part II of my interview with Bryan Levine of Knox Levine, PA. IN this week's episode, we talk about the different enforcement mechanisms available to Homeowner and Condominium Associations. When can they claim a lien? What are they entitled to collect? If you are on the Board of your association, and you live in Florida, please call our friend Bryan Levine to represent your...

In this week's episode, we discuss what happens to surplus funds when someone buys a house at a foreclosure auction.  Surplus funds exist when the winning bidder paid more than the amount owed to the bank. This week's episode is a product of another listener question, and is an interesting take on a long-standing Florida Law regarding the association's ability to collect assessments against someon...

In this week's episode, we interview Bryan Levine.  Bryan is a partner at Knox Levine, a firm that focuses on representing condominium and homeowner associations. Recently, Florida passed a law known as the "Estoppel Law," Senate Bill 398.  This new law governs certain aspects of what an association can or cannot do when issuing an estoppel letters - those letters that associations issue to let th...

In this week's episode of the Crushing Debt Podcast, I answer more listener questions, like: 1. Can you finance a car while in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy? 2. Can a landlord garnish wages? 3. Does it pay to fight a lawsuit against me seeking $1,200? 4. Is a homeowner entitled to surplus funds following a foreclosure sale? 5. Can sellers change their mind about selling their property? Thank you for sup...

In this week's episode, we talk about the intersection of bankruptcy and condominium / homeowner association law. Many times, people don't understand that they still owe their homeowner association or condominium association even though they filed bankruptcy. This is because the bankruptcy code says that assessments due post-filing (post-petition) are not dischargeable, or are debts that are unaff...

In this week's episode, we interview Richard Ficca, owner of Florida Coastal Insurance. Rich is a friend, referral partner, and mentor.  Rich has built a multi-million dollar insurance company.  He's been in the insurance industry for over 21 years, 15 of that as an instructor for other insurance agencies.  Rich is also an insurance agency valuation expert. Rich talks all about hurricane preparedn...

We recently had our neighborhood garage sale, and it occurred to me that I could use that opportunity to practice my negotiation skills with very little risk. When negotiating, you need to have two things in mind: 1. What is your price (either as a buyer or as a seller)?  Know your value and be confident about it.  When dealing with a creditor, know your financial information, so you can be confid...

In this week's episode, we interview Tom Wolf, a business coach, author and speaker here in the Tampa Bay area. Tom's business excels at helping business owners to leverage themselves, so they can work on their business instead of in their business.  Tom has an interesting and diverse background.  He has owned an IT Staffing Company, 10 Great Clips Franchises.  Tom has a lot of experience in build...

Another week, another listener question. In this episode we answer a realtor question: "How does someone rent out a house in Foreclosure?  Is this a scam?  It is in the MLS" Interestingly, this is not, necessarily, a legal question.  It may be a moral question. What do you think?  Let me know if you think it should be proper to rent out your house while the house is in foreclosure. Shawn@Yesnerlaw...

In this week's episode, we answer a question from a listener in Colorado. "I no where near the point of bankruptcy, but my husband and I have a lot of debt and are treading water trying to stay afloat most of the time.  Any tips on consolidating debt or getting things paid off quickly for the self-employed." First, the laws are different between Colorado and Florida. Second, what type of debt are...

Would you like to write a book in seven hours or less?  Do you want a system to get a professionally-published book in seven hours or less? This week's guest is Nick Raithel of The Seven Hour Book.  Nick can put together content, create graphics, help with publishing, and anything else necessary to get a book completed that you write! So how does this have to do with Crushing Debt?  Writing a book...

Episode 63 of the Crushing Debt Podcast is our interview with Juliet Kyes of ActionCOACH Tampa Bay. One way to eliminate debt is to work with a business coach and ActionCOACH Tampa Bay is one of the best,  not only in the Tampa Bay area, but also within the ActionCOACH Franchise. Juliet and I discuss: - The Five Ways, which is an ActionCOACH system designed to help increase results in business. -...

In this week's episode, we explain the difference between an Eviction, and Ejectment and an Unlawful Detainer lawsuit. Sometimes, landlords and even Courts and attorneys confuse the difference between the three types of cases. All three types of lawsuits accomplish the same goal - getting someone or something off or out of the owner's property.  However, how we get there is different for each type...

In this week's episode of the Crushing Debt Podcast, we interview Andrew Gordon with Reliable Claims Adjusting.  Andrew is a Public Adjuster - meaning he works for the insured (the homeowner) versus the insurance company. Andrew is the insured's advocate against the insurance company to maximize recovery when there is a loss that is covered by insurance. In this week's episode, we discuss some thi...

I polled a group of about 100 FL Realtors on which residential real estate contract is better for Buyers or Sellers, the "As-Is" Contract or the Repair Limit contract. The answers are in this week's Crushing Debt Podcast! I regularly speak at BABA (Become A Better Agent) for Insured Title Company.  The last time I spoke, we debated the pros and cons of the two versions of the Florida Real Estate C...

Episode 59 of the Crushing Debt Podcast is a great interview with Jason Crawford. Jason's company is called Fierce, Inc., and they help clients with visual marketing. Fierce, Inc. takes your message, your vision and mission, and describes those things visually, to create more engagement with your customers, clients, referral sources, and the general public. We talk about social media, Facebook Liv...

In Episode 58 of The Crushing Debt podcast, we discuss a case called In Re: Failla. This case impacts both bankruptcy and foreclosure cases in Florida, and was a win for lenders, against homeowners and borrowers. Mr. and Mrs. Failla bought a house in Boca Raton, Florida.  Eventually circumstances caused them to fall behind on their mortgage and the bank filed a foreclosure.  The Faillas then decid...

Regular listeners to the Crushing Debt Podcast know that we are HUGE fans of AFLAC. In this week's episode, we interview Brian Morris, We talk about a very personal story about why Brian became an AFLAC Agent. AFLAC helps people with short term disability for accidents, cancer, and other situations.  AFLAC pays money to bridge the gap between the promise of health insurance, and the protection of...

In Florida, there is a committee made up of 10 Realtors and 10 attorneys that get together every few years to review the standard form contract in use by most residential real estate agents in Florida.  The contract is called the FAR/BAR (Florida Association of Realtors / Florida Bar).  The intent of the contract is to provide a fill-in-the-blank form for Realtors to use to avoid an allegation of...

In Episode 55 of the Podcast, we interview Marielis Rivera, a personal injury attorney with the firm of Pipas Law Group . Like me, Marielis started on the "other side" representing insurance companies being sued by injured parties. Now, however, Marielis represents only injured parties. Many times, injured parties are unable to work because of their injuries and, when income drops, there is a ton...

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about a former client and an aggressive strategy we used to eliminate a potential mortgage deficiency. The client was divorced and her ex-husband kept the property. The problem for our client was that she was still on the Promissory Note and Mortgage. The divorce did not (and can not) eliminate her liability to the lender under the promissory note and mortga...

Welcome to Year 2 of the podcast.  As you have seen from previous episodes, we have re-branded the podcast and it is now The Crushing Debt Podcast, where our goal is to help you eliminate the financial bullies in your life. This week's episode is a review of the different laws that expired at the end of 2016, and some new case law that impacts foreclosure defense in 2017 and going forward, unless...

Welcome to the last episode of the first year of the podcast! In this week's episode, we have a repeat guest, Jason Avery of Avery Construction and Constructing Debt. However, in this episode of the podcast, we talk to Jason about Room Full of Referrals provided by Jason through the company, Asentiv. In Room Full of Referrals, we learn that people are faster paced or slower paced, people oriented...

In this week's episode, we interview attorney Kelly Petry.  Kelly and I discuss issues with Student Loans. Kelly and I discuss whether student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy court, how student loans are treated in bankruptcy court, and some things that we can do in bankruptcy court to address the debtor's student loans. In certain circumstances, student loans are dischargeable.  In Tampa, w...