I gave a buyer an Owner financed mortgage, Contract for Deed, in Florida. I took no down payment, & I gave him 8 months no payments. Their first payment was due October 18th, 2009. They have yet to make even 1 payment & the taxes remain unpaid for which they're responsible. I've sent them the two required default notices, following which I sent them a notice that the contract "stands cancelled", per the contract language. They are not responding & refuse to vacate. Per the contract I can now regain pocession of the property. Do I have to use an Attorney for this as the contract states if the buyer refuses to vacate, I can obtain the premises by Court Action. I was hoping I'd be able to do this myself. I just had an Attorney tell me it would be $3500.00 for him to handle the foreclosure, plus a $900.00 filing fee.

Yes, you can represent yourself, although it is complicated and fraught with potential error.

A financed mortgage and a contract for deed are two different things, so which is this,

In a contract for deed, there was no new deed, and you are the owner, once they are in default ( assuming you did it properly) it merely changes to a rental and you evcit them.

** which you needed to have done months ago after they were 30 days in default.

If you actually financed a mortgage ( and for gods sake tell me you did not with no money down? ) then you will have to actually foreclose.

I owned this property outright. I owner financed it with a standard Florida "Contract for Deed" which I printed out from a Document website. There was no new deed. The property is still in my name in both County & tax records. I completed the Default notices in Early December. Per the contract, at the end of the 15 day second notice of Default the Contract is cancelled; but nowhere in this contract does it say if they default, they become tenants. It simply says the contract is cancelled, & the property is turned back over to me, & if they refuse to vacate, I am to take legal action to force them to vacate. So, at this point do I have to begin the Notice of Eviction process with 7 or 15 day notices?

I still say you can merely evict, since the property has already transferred back to you and the contract is void. Now I have never did a contract for deed in FL, but have done dozens of them in other states. But I use a form written by my attorney that I reuse on each property

Thus the reason to have it done professionally when dealing with 10' or 100's of thousand of dolalrs investment. It would be worth a couple hundred to pay an attorney by the hour to review your paper work

Thank You Chuck. I was looking at Florida Statute 697.01, which seems to point out that a contract for deed in Florida, when in default, must be treated like a foreclosure. Guess I'm going to have to seek an Attorney for help.