The Foreclosure Process
The home foreclosure process is a legal procedure. It’s important to know that banks and lenders must follow your state’s applicable foreclosure laws before they can legally evict you from your home. If you seek legal representation through a foreclosure attorney, the foreclosure process timeline can be extended for months, even years. During this time, you get to stay in your home while we get to work on a loan modification. If you want to pursue a loan modification in lieu of foreclosure, it’s still vital to know what the process of foreclosure entails.
If you choose to forego modifying your loan, here’s the foreclosure info you need to know:
Foreclosure Step #1
Your Bank or Lender will send you a Notice of Intent to Begin Foreclosure.
After you’ve stopped paying your mortgage for 3 – 4 consecutive months, your bank will send you a notice in the mail that instructs you to bring your account up to date. Basically, they want your past due payments, plus all outstanding fees, interest and other charges to be current or else they will act on the stipulations of your mortgage’s promissory note and begin foreclosure proceedings. Should you comply with this request, your bank will deem you up-to-date and reinstate the original terms of your mortgage. What does mortgage reinstatement mean? Basically, reinstatement turns the clock back to when you were current and paid your mortgage on time.
During this time, you can still attempt to modify your mortgage with a loan modification attorney. You may also contact a foreclosure attorney about what legal options your state allows.
Foreclosure Step #2
What happens if you continue missing payments?
Your bank will hire a law firm to represent their interests and file a lawsuit in court. At this point, you must know that either someone will come to your home to serve you, or you will receive in the mail notice of the lawsuit. Typically, your lender will not accept any payments unless you are able to pay in full.
Foreclosure Step #3
What if you don’t hire an attorney, or seek loan modification and see the process through to the end?
You will be served a summons and a notice to appear in court. This notice will inform you that a “final hearing on a summary judgment” will take place. Usually, whether or not you appear in court, the judge will enter a judgment and will rule in the bank’s favor. Once this judgment is issued, your bank will have the right to evict you. They usually give you a 10-15 day notice of their intention to sell the property, which is now, legally, in their possession.
The home will then be sold at an auction and you will be forced to leave the property.
Before the property is sold, you can still stop the sale. However, the cost to you will have to be in the form of paying off the loan in full, plus all the costs and attorney fees that the lender acquired during the foreclosure proceedings.
Foreclosure Step #4
What happens if your home is not sold at auction?
After your home has been foreclosed on, and if the lender is unsuccessful in selling it at court auction, full legal ownership will go to the bank.
What can you do to avoid foreclosure?
Call the John W. Persse Law Group today to inquire about our loan modification service. You can save your home from foreclosure and end up with better terms, a lower interest rate and even reduced principal by using our loan modification attorney service.
