California’s Long Foreclosure Process

For the average homeowner, California’s Long Foreclosure Process is a tangled web. It's woven with mistrust, misreporting and misinformation.

Once a homeowner falls into foreclosure, the eviction rarely happens right away. It may take years before delinquent borrowers finally have to turn over their keys. A shrewd homeowner can even received cash for keys after living for a year of more without making a mortgage payment.

Data by LPS Applied Analytics shows that New York holds the longest average in the nation--mortgage loans in the foreclosure process in California and Nevada's home loans have been delinquent for 461 and 427 days.

Government officials and agencies also cause foreclosure delays through temporary moratoriums, mandatory mediation sessions, and loan modification or assistance programs, experts say.

Plus, mortgage servicers may even cause delays, not wanting to take on the legal and financial responsibilities of owning any more homes.

"Foreclosure typically isn't making a profit, it's minimizing a loss,” says Rick Sharga, senior vice president at Realty Trac. “It's hard to get the (investors) who own the notes excited about spending more money to execute a foreclosure. Ironically, the longer these things take, the more it costs." With that being the case, one would wonder why more short sales are not approved? The lost time, effort and money realized in foreclosures could have been mitigated to a large extend by working with the homeowner, and their Realtor, who brings a qualified buyer to the negotiations early in the foreclosure process.