Up until seven months after receiving the summons or three months after the date of judgment , you still have the opportunity to pay off the total debt and keep your property. At this point, the cost is high and often requires selling or refinancing the property. This would also be the time at which to file bankruptcy if that is better for your situation. An experienced foreclosure attorney can help you understand your options and make an educated decision. Hasty securitization during the housing boom had, in many cases, led to poor record-keeping of the actual ownership of any given mortgage loan.
However, recent changes in tax laws may change the way these amounts are reported. Occasionally, borrowers have raised enough cash at the last minute to offer good tender and have thereby preserved their rights to challenge the foreclosure process. Courts have been unsympathetic to attempts by such borrowers to recover fire sale losses from foreclosing lenders. “Strict foreclosure” available in some states is an equitable right of the foreclosure sale purchaser. The purchaser must petition a court for a decree that cancels any junior lien holder’s rights to the senior debt. If the junior lien holder fails to object within the judicially established time frame, his lien is canceled and the purchaser’s title is cleared.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF A MORTGAGEE SALE AND MORTGAGEE AUCTIONS?
In general, it may make sense to challenge the foreclosure if you think the servicer made a mistake or violated the law. If you cannot keep up with your mortgage payments, the prospect of foreclosure—and with it losing your home—can be daunting. Still, foreclosure is a rigorous legal process, and you have certain rights based on state law along with the mortgage documents you signed. Foreclosure is the legal process a lender can use to take the title to your home. Usually lenders start foreclosure proceedings when they think you have not made your mortgage payments.
- That figure is up 13 percent from the same time period a year ago and up 185 percent from the same time period two years ago.
- Before the foreclosure crisis, federal and state laws regulating mortgage servicers and foreclosure procedures were relatively limited and tended to favor the foreclosing lender.
- This is not only a local problem in Canada but a global epic that the world is still trying to recover from.
- Homeowners associations may also have a right of foreclosure, which they can exercise if a homeowner fails to pay their homeowners’ association fees or special assessments.
Foreclosure isn’t just a buzzword — it’s a serious situation where your lender can reclaim your home if you fail to make your required payments. Understanding how foreclosure works and how it can impact your HELOC allows you to strategize better and, hopefully, take preventative steps. Let’s explore the factors that might push you toward this unfortunate outcome.