Foreclosures:  These are the big Daddies of them all; the do or die, the final chapter.  It may take six months for these to go down, but when they do, that's it:  your property is history; you lose it! 

In the states where a"Deficiency Judgment" is still an option, you still have 30 days to redeem your property by paying the bank ALL that you owe them, plus, plus, plus (the cost of the foreclosure process is not cheap and that gets added to the tab).  I'm yet to see a person redeem their property, but it does happen in the movies... 

Anyway, if you don't come up with the money within the 30 days after the foreclosure sale, the property goes to someone else. 

In the states where a Deficiency Judgment is not an option, or when a lender does not request a deficiency judgment, which is the case quite frequently lately, then the foreclosure sale is the final sale.  The Buyer pays 5% in cash the day of the sale and the remainder of the money within 10-20 days.  The Buyer gets the property "as is", complete with mold issues, structural issue, tax liens, even HOA liens.  This is the riskiest purchase a Buyer can make and it is NOT for the Real Estate Junior Leagers...

If you are the unlucky one the bank does not forgive, you receive the surprise of a Deficiency Judgment after the Foreclosure Sale.   If you owed the bank $ 90,000 and they sold your property for $ 45,000, the bank will go after you for the difference of the $ 45,000 plus the late fees, plus the foreclosure costs.  That $ 45,000 owed can easily become $ 70,000 and the bank will get a deficiency judgment against you for that amount.  That deficiency judgment will follow you wherever you go until they get their money somehow.   The bank will put liens on your other properties, your toys, your retirement accounts; they could even garner your wages.  Yup, pretty scary!

For those of you who think that just trashing your credit and losing your property are the only bad things that can happen here, you're in for a very bad surprise.  Just talk to one of those guys who do the chasing after these deficiency judgments; he'll let you in on some little secrets of the trade.   Suffice it to say:  you do not want a deficiency judgment clouding your life!

Myrtle Beach Foreclosures, Mirela Monte                             Short Sales, Foreclosures & REO's...  Part 1