How long does foreclosure take?

[cedartree]

If you simply stop paying your mortgage, how long will it take before foreclosure starts and what is the progress of events from the first month on? How long before you get physically removed from the house? What about property taxes? What happens if you don't pay them?
Can they garnish wages or do other unpleasant things besides ruin your credit rating?

All this being hypothetical, of course.
But I will say that finances are very very bad around here.

[Denvergirlie]

Mos tof these questions will vary depending on a variety of reasons.

Foreclosure start - at least 3 months
removed from house - 3 mos to 2+ years - will vary

property taxes - you will be liable as long as you own the house. When you are foreclosed on, you will still owe property taxes. You will more than likely be taken to court at which time you will discover that the small property tax bill has gone up a LOT due to fees and interest.

Foreclosrue - depends on which state you live in as to if the bank will come after you for the remainder of the balance of your mortage that is still outstanding after the bank sells the house.

Granish wages ... depends again on which state you live in as to if they will come after you for unpaid balance. Wages can only be garnished by a judge, so would have to work your way thru the court system.

There are poeple that get kicked out of houses quick, after a few months of no payments, but there are also people that haven't paid a mortage in 2 years that are still living in there houses today.

There is no blanket answer, but you might want to consider adding what state you live in so others can give you better advice tailored to your situation.

[shelleyd]

A lot will depend on the state you live in. At least in MI, the property taxes become a lean on the property. The city will not come after you for the taxes. However the next person that buys the house will not be able to do so without first paying the property tax.

Depending on your state, the bank can sue you for the difference between what you owe on the house and what they are able to sell it for. However I was told that this is very rare even when it is allowed.

I lost my home through foreclosure in MI in May of 2009 and the bank is definitely legally able to sue us for up to six years after the foreclosure. We get pretty constant phone calls from them and also lots of letters offering to settle for pennies on the dollar. I wouldn't stress about that scenario too much if I were you.

We met with a nonprofit financial councelor when we were facing foreclosure. He was able to answer a lot of questions for us that were very specific to our situation. I believe that HUD also has housing counselors that can help. I highly recommend you do this.

I know how hard this situation can be. The end of 2008 to the middle of 2010 were the hardest times in my life. We lost our home, we bounced around living with different family members, and on and on. All of this right after dd2 was born. But now we are doing better than we ever imagined. The difficulty we faced forced us to really come together and evaluate what we really wanted to do with our lives and where we wanted to be.

Best of luck to you. I wish you strength in this difficult time and the hope of a brighter future after the dust settles.

[sunsetdancer]

It really depends on the state in which you live. It took ours 2.5 years but ours was delayed by two bankruptcy filings (we tried chapter 13, but then had to convert to chapter 7) and the bank canceled the sale twice due to the programs that were out into place for refinancing. I may be flames for this, but in the end, the bank even paid us a small amount to leave the house in good condition. In some cases, people who have been forclulosed upon trash their house, strip it of appliances/fixtures and sell anything not bolted down (and even some things that are!) so banks will often offer a small payment for the occupants to leave the house in good condition. Its not a huge amount and you probably have to pay taxes on it (they do issue a 1099) but the bank may be willing to do it.

[cedartree]

Not really wanting to say what state, but below is what I found about the foreclosure laws in my state.

Quick Facts

- Judicial Foreclosure Available: Yes

- Non-Judicial Foreclosure Available: No

- Primary Security Instrument: Mortgage

- Timeline: Typically 150 days

- Right of Redemption: Yes

- Deficiency Judgments Allowed: Yes

Lenders may foreclose on a mortgage in default by using the judicial foreclosure process.

Judicial Foreclosure

Generally, in judicial foreclosure, a court decrees the amount of the borrowers debt and gives him or her a short time to pay. If the borrower fails to pay within that time, the clerk of the court then advertises the property for sale.

At some point prior to the scheduled date of foreclosure, an appraisal of the property must be made by three disinterested freeholders of the county. A copy of the appraised value must be filed with the court clerk and the property must be offered for sale at a price of not less than two-thirds of said value.

The sale may not take place until the notice of sale has been published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is located. The sheriff will conduct the sale at the courthouse and the property will be sold to the highest bidder.

Lender's may obtain a deficiency judgment and the borrower may redeem the property at any time before the court confirms the foreclosure sale by paying the amount of the judgment, plus costs and interest.

But I don't really know what any of this means. Good, bad, or ???
My husband will probably move out in the next few weeks, leaving me and my young son in the house. I have no money to move, pay a security deposit, etc, so I'm thinking I'm stuck with staying here till I'm kicked out. Hence the question.

[BetsyS]

I think you have time.

I live in a state with no judicial foreclosure. Meaning that foreclosure s an issue between bank and homeowner. It never goes to the court system, untl it's sold on the courthouse steps.

They do have to publish your house for one month prior to the foreclosure in the legal ads. These sales are held 1st Tuesday of the month here, and the ad needs to run an entire month before. So, at the very least, you get a 30 day notice (when the ad is run) that your house will be sold/you need to vacate.

Technically, in my state, they could foreclose when your payment is 6 weeks late. But, more typically, it's about 4 months late (so 5 missed payments).

[luv-my-boys]

just wanted to throw this out there. That you can ask the bank to provide proof of the debt you owe to them and they must legally comply and furnish you with the documents. It could take days to months for them to do that which could delay proceedings

[provocativa]

if you are separating from your husband, you need to file divorce so that you can get an order of temporary support and custody. we are currently in this situation, and my husband has to pay the mortgage and all utilities, incl. internet and car insurance. The temp order is WAY more than he will pay in child support when it's final. Of the lawyers recommended to me, I called and took the one with the lowest rates, and she lowered her retainer because xh is a verbally abusive alcoholic and therefore she considered the divorce uncontested. If he is being unpleasant in any way, document it with pictures or recordings on your cell phone or a detailed log. This can be used in negotiation. We drew a mother - friendly judge, no way was that judge going to put a mother and kids out of the only house they have - you could get a similar judge, so go for it.

[isign]

Our house was to be auctioned off 2 weeks ago. We moved out in May, trying to do a short sale, but it didn't work. We kept trying to work with our mortgage company (BOA) for months, but kept getting the run around. We were told the end of May they were forclosing, got several letters from lawyers, and then a final notice saying the house was up for auction. I went back to the house (have a key, but not going in) earlier this week. People have been in it, notices posted, but nothing else has changed.

I don't know anything about taxes, but I am curious. We payed for a full year of insurance, for 2010. If the bank took over the house, should we be owed a refund? We also payed a few payments this year, money went into escrow ( I think) for insurance/taxes. I'm guessing we won't be seeing any of that either, right?

[kbond]

I'd second a PP with the advice of trying to find legal help. Most local bar associations will have referral services and links to legal aid that you might qualify for. For instance, here in Seattle, there's a specific Housing Foreclosure Legal Clinic as well as Family Law clinics that can help with representation for divorces.

I wish I could give you more specific advice, but I only really know what you might be able to do here in Washington.

[The Duchess]

A few ideas..

You could contact law schools in your area (or check their websites and see if they have any Free Law Clinics where you can go to get initial legal advice. I wouldn't advise this to be your only source of legal advice but they can help you make sure you are aware of your rights and the resources open to you.

Same for Catholic Community Services, even if you are not Catholic or Christian they can be a great resource for families to get practical support and help.

Same for Women's Centers or Women's Legal Aid and such like, do internet searches and check the phone book for ideas.

If you belong to any kind of faith or community support group talk to the leadership and see if they have any ideas for local resources.

You are in the same boat as millions of other families right now, foreclosures are at historic highs so your situation will not be a new one to any of these organizations.

Please keep us posted, if you could just tell us your state that would help in giving you ideas.

[yukookoo]

arent foreclosures in limbo right now because of all kinds of legal unethical messes? I thought i heard at least that BOA is not doing forclosures because a bunch of them where done unethically and they are worried about law suits.

We have been in the process of trying to shrot sell for almost 2 years now! We get offers, at one point we had a buyer that stuck around almost a whole year with a market offer! the banks took so long to work with and approve the buyer eventualyl walked, we have had several buyers since, they put in the offer and have to wait so long and jump through so many hoops they walk. We are currently waiting for reply to an offer again. So as long as we ar ein a short sale process the bank wont foreclose, but also wont approve any offers even though they are great offers for the market. We havent lived int he place for over a year, we still pay our hoa dues monthly, but are not paying taxes, because in a short sale they go with the house. It has been a really stressful horrible 2 years! and right now trying to short sell with a totally flooded market where there are no buyers and the ones there are can get any house they want, why would they wait around 6 mo to a year to get ours? Also what happens is we get an offer, then the bank needs to get an appraisal, by the time the appraisal happens the market has changed so much the offer isnt relevant anymore and either the buyer or the bank wants to redo things, then the process starts over. Its just so frustrating with deadlines that are never met and constant false hope. I;ve gotten to the point tha ti just want to forclose already and get it over with, but thats not happening either...

so long story shrot it depends on all kinds of things but for the most part i think its years

[hillymum]

Originally Posted by provocativa

if you are separating from your husband, you need to file divorce so that you can get an order of temporary support and custody. we are currently in this situation, and my husband has to pay the mortgage and all utilities, incl. internet and car insurance. The temp order is WAY more than he will pay in child support when it's final. Of the lawyers recommended to me, I called and took the one with the lowest rates, and she lowered her retainer because xh is a verbally abusive alcoholic and therefore she considered the divorce uncontested. If he is being unpleasant in any way, document it with pictures or recordings on your cell phone or a detailed log. This can be used in negotiation. We drew a mother - friendly judge, no way was that judge going to put a mother and kids out of the only house they have - you could get a similar judge, so go for it.

This is my situation. There is a status quo order in place and the judge just made a ruling on financial support but sbx just told me he can't pay child/spousal support and the morgage so he's going to do neither. Thats why I returned to this thread again!

[mnnice]

Originally Posted by isign

Our house was to be auctioned off 2 weeks ago. We moved out in May, trying to do a short sale, but it didn't work. We kept trying to work with our mortgage company (BOA) for months, but kept getting the run around. We were told the end of May they were forclosing, got several letters from lawyers, and then a final notice saying the house was up for auction. I went back to the house (have a key, but not going in) earlier this week. People have been in it, notices posted, but nothing else has changed.

I don't know anything about taxes, but I am curious. We payed for a full year of insurance, for 2010. If the bank took over the house, should we be owed a refund? We also payed a few payments this year, money went into escrow ( I think) for insurance/taxes. I'm guessing we won't be seeing any of that either, right?

I would guess with the insurance you can ask for a refund for the remaining year just like if you had sold it under typical circumstances. You would just all your insurance company the bank wouldn't have anything to do with it.

I would guess that you are out of luck on the taxes. When you sell under regular circumstances you do get the taxes pro rated and returned to you at closing, but I seriously doubt that you have paid in enough into the escrow to have paid for the portion of the year that you did own it it.