The Foreclosure Process in Southeast Michigan
Many of the numbers the media likes to spout about homes going into foreclosure are a bit exaggerated. When you read about the number of homes in foreclosure the stats often quoted are the notices of foreclosure that have been served- not the new bank owned listings. There are also companies like Realty Trac that publish specific houses as foreclosed homes. And technically while that that may be true, those houses are not for sale and may never come up for sale.
Below is my attempt to dispell the myths floating around about foreclosures and explain as simply as possible how the foreclosure process works in Southeast Michigan.
Typically a person needs to be behind on their house payment by 3 months or more before they receive a notice of foreclosure. That notice of foreclosure will have a date for the sheriff's sale- usually a couple months off. The bank (or first lien holder if there are multiple loans on a house) will buy the house back at the sheriff's sale for the amount of the mortgage or fair market value or someplace in between.
After the sheriff's sale the owner has what is called a redemption period to pay off their mortgage(s). Most homes will have a 6 month redemption period. Homes on 3 plus acres will have a year to redeem. During this entire time the owner still has full rights of use and has the ability to sell. But the media will still call these homes bank owned or "in foreclosure" during this period.
Many of these homes will never go back to the bank. Some people will catch up before it ever gets to the sheriff's sale. Some will sell during that time; some people still do have equity in their homes and others may be willing and able to bring cash to the closing. Others will sell via the short sale route. Many times a lender will delay the sheriff's sale if the owner is in the process of a short sale. Some will even extend the redemption period if necessary rather than take the house back and sell as an REO (bank owned) property.
I'm finding that the amount of true bank owned sales in North Oakland County are on the decline and a major increase in short sale closings. For very detailed sales statics please click the links below for very dry and for many boring sales data for Lake Orion, Oxford and Clarkston Michigan.
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