Timeline For Foreclosure - How Long Does a Foreclosure Take

The timeline for foreclosure differs from state to state. However, we will try to have a general understanding of how long does a foreclosure take? The entire timeline for foreclosure has been designed such, that the property owner gets enough time to pay his remaining due installments. However, for understanding the foreclosure process, you need to know the three types of foreclosure processes.

• Judicial Foreclosure: The auction is carried out by the sheriff's office.
• Power of Sale: Here, the auction is carried out by the mortgage loan lender.
• Strict Foreclosure: The process is almost obsolete. Here, the auction does not take place, the ownership of the property is simply transferred to the lender of the mortgage loan.

Here, for understanding how long does a foreclosure take, we will just deal with the first two types of foreclosure. The third type, 'Strict Foreclosure' is almost obsolete and the auction process does not take place, and hence we will not go into the details of its timeline. To know the foreclosure timeline, one must be acquainted with the question - how does a foreclosure work, first.

Foreclosure Process Timeline

• The foreclosure process does not just start if the property owner misses one of his installments. There may be certain unavoidable circumstances because of which he has failed to do so. He can pay the installment within a certain time span. Under such cases, the property owner is simply informed by the bank that he has some due payments to be made. He can pay the installment, with a certain amount of fine, that is imposed on him, of course.
• Now, suppose the property owner fails to pay his installments, consecutively for a few more times. In such cases, the mortgage loan lender or the bank, can initiate the foreclosure process, if the debtor does not pay any heed to these notices.
• The mortgage loan lender files a suit against the debtor, in the court of law. The court then issues a notice to the property owner, to pay his installments along with a fine, within a span of say 30 days from the date of issue of the notice.
• Now, if the property owner is still unable to pay the installments, then the property auction process is initiated by the sheriff's office. Notices and advertisements for the auctioning of the property are made in the local newspapers.
• Finally, the auctioning process takes place and it is supervised by the sheriff's office.

Other Aspects of Foreclosure

If a 'power of sale' foreclosure process takes place, then the auction can be carried out by the mortgage loan lender. While doing the paperwork for your foreclosure process, if the clause of 'strict foreclosure' is mentioned, then the ownership of the property is directly transferred to the loan lender. There are other important aspects in the foreclosure process too. If the debtor has taken in loans from any other party, by mortgaging the same property, then he should be intimated before the starting of the foreclosure process, as the other party also has a share in the revenue generated from the auction of the property. If the revenue generated from the auction of the property does not match the amount that was given out as loan by the loan lender, then the debtor is still obligated to pay the remainder of the amount.

The timeline for foreclosure process is a very long and hard phase for both the debtor as well as the loan lender. There are of course, various ways to stop a foreclosure. The debtor is given sufficient time for paying his installments. There are also foreclosure bailout loans available to help out the debtor. The consequences of foreclosure are not beneficial for both, the debtor as well as the loan lender. The property owner and the lender should sit down and work out all the possible options, to find out a way to avoid the foreclosure process.