Hello, first off, this is not for me but a friend. Her house is going to be sold at a foreclosure auction this coming Wednesday. The thing is, she has a contract to sell her house two weeks after that.
In Arizona, foreclosures do not go through the courts. It is called non-judicial foreclosure. So you cannot ask the court at the time of foreclosure to please order a temporary injunction. She just needs an extra two weeks so she can sell her house. She can’t sell it sooner because the buyer is in the process of getting a mortgage for the property. The attorney in charge of selling the house refuses to give her any extra time, even with proof of a sales contract.
Her situation is just sad. She bought the property and financed it with an owner financed mortgage. Some call it a carry-back mortgage. She and her husband bought the property and about a year later he passed away (2018). She was now down to a single income. She then lost her job in March 2020 because of Covid. She remarried in May of 2020 and her husband had a massive heart attack just two weeks later. He stopped breathing for a few minutes until the EMT firefighters brought him back to life with CPR and AED shock. Because of the few minutes not breathing, he had some brain damage and now cannot work. It took him almost a year and a half to be approved for Social Security Disability Benefits (just last month). During that time my friend took care of him and could not even look for work.
So if the property goes to auction she may only get $1 over what is owed. The contract would give her a set amount of money for her to start her life over. She would rather have a set amount than a ‘”crap shoot” at auction. The house is in a small depressed area, not in the “hot” real estate markets of Tucson and Phoenix. Houses are not selling fast here, or for a lot of money.
She is not asking for money — it is too late for that. The only thing that can help is if we can find an attorney to file an emergency temporary injunction to delay the foreclosure sale for 30 days. I know I said she has a sale two weeks after the foreclosure date, but sometimes mortgages get delayed because of all the paperwork. Thirty days would be ideal, she would be ok with 14 days.
I know some of you will tell her to go to a legal aid society. We tried. The Southern Arizona Legal Aid Society is not open because of Covid. We went today. The sign on the door says to call and set up an appointment but nobody calls back.
We also tried filing it with the court pro se — without an attorney, but the court clerk kept saying we were doing it wrong and would not accept the paperwork. We have the “complaint” done but are confused on the “motion” part of the lawsuit.
So if anyone knows an attorney in Southern Arizona that could just help her do the Motion part of the lawsuit she would be so thank full. She can afford to pay the $300 or so to file the paperwork, but does not have the money to pay an attorney. Thank you.