ALBANY, CA, UNITED STATES, February 25, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — ALBANY, CA, UNITED STATES, February 25, 2026 In another rare post-trustee sale auction foreclosure outcome, the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates, a nonprofit loss mitigation clinic dedicated to Homeownership Preservation and Affordable Housing, announced the successful rescission of a completed surplus trustee sale after referring an Alameda County homeowner to Consumer Defense Law Group for wrongful foreclosure litigation.
The homeowner, Barbara Higginbotham, owned the property located at 720 Key Route Blvd, Albany, CA 94706, originally acquired on December 13, 1996. In later years, Higginbotham obtained a reverse mortgage on July 30, 2009, a loan structure commonly used by seniors to access equity while remaining in their homes.
Over time, the reverse mortgage fell into distress. The first Notice of Default was recorded on May 16, 2014, and after years of foreclosure activity, the most recent Notice of Trustee Sale was recorded on January 24, 2025. The property was ultimately sold at public auction on November 25, 2025.
The home was purchased by a third-party highest bidder for $860,000.00, while the outstanding loan balance was only $699,184.00, creating $160,816.00 in surplus funds. As is increasingly common in California foreclosure sales, the surplus immediately triggered a wave of unsolicited calls and solicitations from individuals and firms offering to retrieve the surplus proceeds for a fee, some even claiming trustee sale reversal efforts are futile.
However, Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates emphasizes that surplus funds are not always the homeowner’s best or only path forward.
On November 27, 2025, Higginbotham was referred to Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocate’s post-sale trustee department. Rather than focusing solely on surplus recovery, Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates assessed whether the completed sale could be legally challenged. While Surplus Trustee Sale Reversals are very rare, they can sometimes occur when foreclosure irregularities, procedural errors, or legal violations are identified and acted upon quickly.
Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates immediately referred Higginbotham to Consumer Defense Law Group, a nationally recognized wrongful foreclosure litigation firm known for rapid legal escalation and trustee sale reversal outcomes. On December 2, 2025, Higginbotham signed litigation retainers and Consumer Defense Law Group began pursuing legal remedies to challenge the foreclosure sale through a Wrongful foreclosure Lawsuit in the Alameda Superior Court Case # S26V170734.
At the same time, Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates implemented a layered protection strategy designed to ensure the homeowner had multiple fallback options. In addition to supporting the litigation effort, the nonprofit arranged both a private investor loan submission thru an alliance Direct Lender and a real estate buy-back contingency plan with their Real Estate alliance, providing alternative pathways to regain the home if the legal strategy did not succeed.
On February 24, 2026, it was officially confirmed that the trustee sale was officially rescinded, reversing the third-party auction sale and restoring the homeowner’s position.
“Once a trustee sale is completed, homeowners are often told the fight is over,” said Attorney Tony Cara, founder of Consumer Defense Law Group. “But when action is taken immediately and the foreclosure process is challenged correctly, a sale can sometimes be undone. This rescission is another example of what is possible when speed and litigation strategy are combined.”
“This case reflects why our nonprofit clinic operates differently than all of the surplus recovery industry,” said Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates Legal Services Director Attorney Joaquin Nolet. “Many companies are focused only on collecting a fee from surplus funds. We primarily focus on restoring homeownership. Our model is built around layered solutions—litigation, mortgage banking, real estate strategy, and private investor intervention. If and when the legal approach for a reversal falls short, we’ve had success having our clients and their family members step into the shoes of the 3rd party highest bidder buying the property back from the foreclosing Trustee as well as buying the property back from the 3rd party highest bidder as well —because families deserve more than a one-option outcome.”
For more information, visit www.TrusteeSaleReversals.org or call (855) NACA-HELP.
J. De La Vega
NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates
+1 855-622-2435
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
X
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability
for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this
article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
