The foreclosure process is defined as a process in which the owners of the

property cannot make monthly payments regularly and is led towards selling

and seizing of property ultimately by the lenders.

There are certain real estate owners who have failed in making monthly

payments to lenders for one reason or another. For all those who have failed

to do so have options available with them to stop the foreclosure process. But

before that a need to define the foreclosure stages is felt.

The foreclosure process has certain stages which are quite simple. Post missing

of three or six payments, the lender issues a Notice of Default to the borrower.

On receiving the notice the reinstatement period gets started that is usually for

a period of five days before the home is auctioned.

If the default payment is not corrected in three months then the sale date is

established. On providing the date a Notice of Sale is issued to the home

owner. The sale notice is also given to the County Recorder’s office where the

property is present. The sale notice is published in local newspapers within a

three week period.

The sale of the property happens on the steps of the courthouse where the

property is located. The sale notice communicates the time and the location of

the auction. The highest bidder takes away the property on sale. He or she is

required to pay the amount of the bid quoted within twenty four hours of the

sale in cash. On payment, the winner of the auction gets the trustee’s property

deed.

The lender who is a host of the property auction decides the opening bid. The

loan balance is generally the amount used as the opening bid. The attorney fee

and interest are also listed in the bid amount. The property is purchased by the

attorney who is conducting the sale if there are no higher bids achieved other

than the opening bid. In this case the property will be termed as Real Estate

Owned. This occurs because there are properties for sale listed that are

worthless compared to the total amount owed to the bank.

Homes should be purchased from we buy homes keeping in mind that the

foreclosure process has to be avoided altogether so that adverse situations like

auctions do not happen. The borrowers should also do a complete market

research landing into a deal where they are saved from the trap of high

interest rates.