The story behind the story:

How good are the warning letters? 


Courtesy of the Herald Tribune

Posted August 6, 2005

By PAUL QUINLAN and WILL ROTHSCHILD

 

SOUTH VENICE -- In protesting the foreclosure and subsequent auction of her home by a homeowners association, Karin Healy has said she never received even a single letter warning her that could happen.

But a court filing Friday shows 17 different documents were sent to Healy demanding payment and detailing the escalating danger she was facing.

Four letters were sent to Healy demanding payment of overdue homeowners association dues before the association's attorneys moved to foreclose on her home in January, according to court records obtained Friday.

Healy has maintained that she was never contacted about her escalating debt to the Fairway Village Homeowners Association until July 20, the day her home was sold in a courthouse steps auction.

It is unclear if the homeowners association made any other attempts by mail, phone or by visiting Healy in person to collect the debt or work out a payment plan.

Healy stopped paying her association dues in 2003. She said she was following a bankruptcy attorney's advice.

Regardless, six weeks after she failed to pay her quarterly assessment due April 1, 2003, the bill was in the hands of an attorney, and the costs quickly began to escalate.

Fairway Village Homeowners Association's attorneys Sharon Vander Wulp and Bob Moore said the law requires only one written notice from the plaintiff's attorneys during a foreclosure action, which they said they provided in a letter dated Oct. 28, 2003.

That letter notified Healy of a claim in the amount of $1,123.52 and gave her 30 days to satisfy the lien before a foreclosure suit would be filed.

For the next 15 months, there was no communication between Healy and the association's attorneys. Moore and Vander Wulp said they delayed filing for foreclosure because Healy's mortgage lender filed for foreclosure before they could and then Healy filed for bankruptcy.

After Healy satisfied the foreclosure suit with her lender and her bankruptcy attempt was denied in federal court, the association resumed its efforts to foreclose in January.

Healy was served foreclosure papers on Feb. 2, according to court records.

Healy also was sent affidavits of attorney's fees, a request for final judgment in the suit, a notice of the hearing for the judgment, and the final judgment of foreclosure itself, which is dated June 2.

Healy also was sent a notice of the sale, which she has admitted to receiving, five days after its July 15 date.

Healy received two letters demanding payment of a delinquent $138 quarterly bill from her homeowners association's management company in April and May of 2003 before the case was turned over to an attorney.

Vander Wulp's June 3, 2003, letter demanding payment included two association payments, a late fee, interest, "costs incurred" and $112.50 in attorney's fees, bringing Healy's bill to $427.89.

By the time she received the next letter from Vander Wulp, dated Oct. 28, 2003, the $580 she owed in attorney's fees were more than the $414 she was behind in assessments.

She also received a notice of lien with that letter.

Both the June 3 and Oct. 28 letters were sent by both certified and regular mail, Vander Wulp said. Healy refused to sign for the certified copies, and both were returned to the attorney's office.

Vander Wulp estimated that 80 percent of delinquent bills are paid after the initial demand for payment is sent by an association's attorney.

Vander Wulp and Moore said they represent about 450 to 500 homeowners and condo associations.

On Thursday, with the help of an unnamed benefactor she would identify only as a Shriners clown and "my angel," Healy deposited $6,164.58 into the circuit court registry.

Of that, $1,380 will go to pay back the 10 quarterly assessments she missed. Nearly three times that amount -- $3,692.50 -- will cover the association's attorney's fees. The rest will cover late fees, interest and other costs.


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