THE SIX STEPS OF THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS
- The first step of this process is the "NOTICE OF INTENT TO ACCELERATE". This comes BEFORE the big package....Sometimes certified mail. It means "you have not paid AND if you do not pay by such and such date, we call a foul!" A default! And our note says we have the right to call the loan due in full if you stop making payments. Sometimes people think this "date by which the past due balances must be paid" is the day you get foreclosed on. NO. This is just a written notice, that says you better pay by August 10th (as an example) or else we call a breach of the instrument you signed at closing.....Sometimes people think the acceleration date is the same as the foreclosure date, or the last day to pay.....IT IS NOT. YOU STILL OWN THE HOUSE AFTER THE "acceleration date" passes.
- Then you get the big package of papers (SUMMONS) saying you have 20 days to respond is served upon you by BSO or some other process server. Sometimes this is called NOTICE OF HEARING. Meet the server, and accept the package. Sign for it...You are not signing away the house. Sometimes people think that when they are served with the "foreclosure papers" they have been foreclosed on UPON receipt. YOU STILL OWN THE HOUSE, after you are served with these documents.
- In 20 days there will be a hearing. Either you will hire an attorney and dispute the foreclosure action because you DID pay the mortgage and you do not accept the fact that those payments were not received, OR you stay home, do not attend the hearing because there is nothing to say, and they grant the foreclosure judgment to the bank. THE DAY OF THIS HEARING IS NOT THE DAY THE BANK "TOOK" your house. YOU STILL OWN THE HOUSE, after this hearing. (During this time you will get hundreds of letters from investors offering to buy your house, realtors wanting to list your house, lenders wanting to refi your house. BE VERY CAREFUL DURING THIS TIME. Most of what you get in the mail are sales and solicitations.....It is easy to miss important documents because you are inundated with "official looking mail" that is really just junk mail. You will quickly find when you call these people who buy your name from a list, that all are trying to sell you something or "save you" in some way. Some are legitimate operations. MANY ARE NOT.
- After the hearing date, the bank has entered a default judgment which gives them the right to take the house back now....Then the file is given to a local attorney....(four of the biggest are David Stern's office, Smith Hyatt & Diaz, Echevarria, Codilis, & Stawiarski, and Butler & Hosch.). Now the attorney will start contacting you and sending you letters. They are the people that are going to take the legal steps necessary to actually foreclose on you. They do the title work. They set up the sale date. THEY HAVE NO AUTHORITY to do any payment arrangements with you, stop the sale, or approve a short sale....You must go back to your bank for this. They are simply doing the legal legwork to set up the sale. THEY DO NOT OWN THE HOUSE. YOU STILL OWN THE HOUSE. They are exercising the banks right to foreclose under the terms of the note you signed at closing.
- There is approx. another 60 days (some attorneys are faster ....others are slower) of legal work to be done. I have never seen a sale date set faster than 60 days from the hearing date. Sometimes it can take a year! As things become more streamlined the process may speed up. You will get lots of paperwork from the attorney that is confusing looking. Very few documents require action on your part. Remember, YOU STILL OWN THE HOUSE.
- BE HYPER AWARE of a document which says "SALE DATE" or "AUCTION DATE". It will come in the mail....Sometimes certified, and will probably be from the foreclosure attorney. THIS IS THE DAY YOUR HOUSE WILL BE SOLD ON THE COURTHOUSE STEPS. THIS is the day you have "LOST YOUR HOUSE". THIS is the day when the ownership of your house changes hands. THIS is the day you should be out of your house. If you miss this document, you will have an ugly surprise after auction. Once you get the document that says SALE DATE or AUCTION DATE, the end is near. The sale is usually set up sometime within 30 days of the day you get this document. THE SALE CAN BE CANCELLED EVEN ON THE DAY OF THE AUCTION, if you come to terms with the bank on a short sale, and the negotiator agrees to the sale, OR if you come up with the money that is past due. So it is not over until after the auction, but the end is rapidly approaching when you get this notice. CALL ME IMMEDIATELY when you get this sale date.
Our job is to try and get a short sale to close, before step 6 happens. It is a race with the bank to try and get the house closed to a short sale buyer before the bank takes the house to auction...
We can only accomplish this if we work together as a team, and fully understand that "Time is of the Essence."
Copyright © 2009 Michelle Burgos/RE-Wish Team ~ RE/MAX PowerPro
Portions Copyright © 2009 a la mode, inc.
Comments(0)