Real Estate Blog - Tenants in Sacramento: Here's How to Find Out if Your Landlord is in Foreclosure

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Tenants in Sacramento: Here's How to Find Out if Your Landlord is in Foreclosure

Finding out if your prospective landlord is about to go into foreclosure is simply a good idea for any tenant who is contemplating renting. You don't have to wait until the Sheriff shows up at your door with an eviction notice. You can be notified immediately when a Notice of Default is filed by your landlord's lender, indicating that a foreclosure process has begun.

Here is how to find out if your landlord is in foreclosure.

Call a local title company and ask for customer service.
Give the customer service rep the property address and ask for a free copy of the first deed of trust to be emailed to you.
Print the copy of the deed of trust, because you will need to know the document number, book, page, name of beneficiary (the lender) and name of trustor (the landlord).
Go to http://www.foreclosureforum.com/forms/request_notice.pdf to access a free Request for Copy of Notice of Default.
On your computer, fill in the blanks with the information above from the deed of trust, and enter your name and address in the space provided.
Print the Request for Copy of Notice of Default.
Sign it in front of a notary.
Attach a check for $11 made payable to the Sacramento County Recorder.
Mail it to the Sacramento County Recorder, P. O. Box 839, Sacramento, CA 95812-0839.

The Request for Copy of Notice of Default will be recorded upon receipt. Then, if your landlord's lender files a Notice of Default, you will receive a copy of it in the mail. Foreclosures in California take about 3 1/2 to 4 months to complete. This time period should give you ample opportunity to work out the problem with your landlord. You might also consider asking if your security deposit can be applied to rent because once the foreclosure is complete, your lease is no longer valid, and you might not get your security deposit back.

If you prefer to handle the entire procedure in person, you can go to the Sacramento County Recorder's office at 600 8th Street (at the corner of 8th and F) and pull a copy of the deed of trust. Take the Request for Copy of Notice of Default with you and fill it out at the Recorder's office. Get it notarized, pay your eleven bucks, and you'll go on record that afternoon, providing you arrive before 3 PM. The Sacramento County Recorder's office is open from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. Same-day recording hours are from 8 AM to 3 PM.

Tenants in foreclosure should know that California law gives tenants the right to receive a 60-day notice.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Posted by Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, 916.233.6759, Lyon RE on 10/10/2008 11:41 AM

Comments (19)

Tenants in Foreclosure in the Regional (Localism) Channel

tenants in foreclosure, foreclosure, sacramento county recorders office, notice of default, deed of trust, elizabeth weintraub

Originally posted at: Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park: Tenants in Sacramento: Here's How to Find Out if Your Landlord is in Foreclosure

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19 Comments on Tenants in Sacramento: Here's How to Find Out if Your Landlord is in Foreclosure

OCT

2008

Elizabeth- Great information. Too bad it is so valuable. I think I will create a post for the Tacoma Washington area. I think that there will be many tennants who will find valuable.

Best,

Scott

Elizabeth, great research. I also will check locally and see if this can be done here in a similiar way.

But what if you don't work with tenants? HAH! (LOL)

Great advice, as this is becoming a bigger & bigger problem across the country!

Hi Scott: Well, if you follow the last link in this blog, you will find an article I wrote about how to deal with this problem on a national basis. Most counties permit recordings of a Request for Notice of Default. If a tenant is renting a property long term, it's a good idea to record the Req. for Notice in the public records, regardless of where a tenant lives.

Hi Fred: See above.

Hi The Real Estate Choice: Most of us who work with first-time home buyers are working with, um, tenants. :)

Elizabeth, this is such timely, valuable info. I to am going to run a local post w/ a link to your about.com article. Such sad times!

Elizabeth- I caught the tail end of a news story last night where the law has halted all evictions until this issue can be dealt with, I didn't catch where this sheriff was located.

In Georgia we don't have title companies. You can keep informed via the local to your rental property newspaper.

Georgia is a non judicial foreclosure state, but they do have to run in the legal origin of each county a 4 week notice, this gives name and address of property.

Good information and I think I'll do something similar telling renters to keep watch on the legal notices in the paper.

Hi Colleen: Thanks. Tenants need all the help they can get right now.

Hi Tammy: You might have heard about the sheriff in Cook County (Chicago). He just up and decided that he wasn't going to evict anybody, regardless of his job description.

I also suspect that by the time the foreclosure hits the newspaper, it might be almost too late. In a non-judicial state, their might be a way to get notice in advance by filing some sort of request. I looked up Georgia on the National Low Income Housing Site, and it says foreclosures take 80 days in Georgia.

Featured @ Club Chaos

Butterlies, C, and more butterflies. Summer isn't over yet! Not by a long shot. :)

That is a huge problem across the nation. I will certainly look into that for Dakota County, MN

Elizabeth - That is extremely valuable information you've given. I had wondered how tenants might be able to ascertain information like this. I heard a horror story a few months ago. Apparently, a homeowner had moved up to a new home, and told the lender on new house, he was keeping the old house as a rental. The tenant moved in, paid first and last month rent + deposit, and made monthly payments on a regular basis. The next thing they knew they were being evicted. Apparently, the owner had not made any payments on the old rental house, since he moved into his new house.

Question: What do you think the chances are of the tenant getting their deposit back? :-(

OCT

2008

Elizabeth - this is great info. It's one thing for an owner to lose their home because they didn't make the payments, but for a tenant to be surprised with the info is just wrong.

Hi Joe: Here is what I found on Minnesota regarding eviction and foreclosure: "After foreclosure, eviction is possible if
two months' written notice to vacate is given no sooner than one month after the expiration of the time for redemption or termination, provided that the tenant pays the rent and abides by all terms of the lease. Applicable to all redemption periods expiring on or after August 1. 2008." And foreclosure takes 110 days. However, I don't believe MN is a trust deed state.

Hi Myrl: See, I had to scrape the back of my brain because I remembered this from my days of selling purchase money notes in the 1980s. Every note recorded also ordered a Request for Copy of Notice of Default to protect the junior lienholder. So, I thought, hey, why couldn't tenants do that, too, researched it and discovered yes, they can.

Hi Jesse: Revolting over the missing blog button, I see. It's about time we had a good old-fashioned protest around here. Peace.

Elizabeth: Great localism post! What a huge piece of mind $11 can buy. This is a great service to the tenants in your community to know about.

Thanks for coming by, Chris Ann. Would you like a croissant?

That's a great bit of information for people in a large town. In our little town we can just read foreclosure.com and we know who the folks are.

In your town, Barbara, you can probably go to the grocery store and find out who is in foreclosure. :)

OCT

2008

Elizabeth - great info! I just recently gave some similar info to a friend of mine who got evicted when the house she was renting got foreclosed on. When she started looking for a new rental, I told her how to check out the landlord before she rented and a few of the homes that were advertised for rent were already in default. Can you believe that. She eventually found another rental but she wouldn't sign a lease and now we are working on getting her into her own home in the next few months.

This info is so vital to renters right now and reading your post just made me realize how important it is for those of us who know how to do this to pass this info on to those who don't. I think I'm going to do something similar for my area too. Thx for inspiration.

OCT

2008

Hi Donne: I certainly do believe that, and it's one of the reasons I wrote this blog so tenants can be forewarned. Landlords might not like you very much but I believe you have to do what is right.

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