Foreclosure Timeline

[Moe Bedard]

The foreclosure process begins The foreclosure spiral begins when your loan payment becomes 16 days overdue. At that point, your mortgage servicer will try to contact you to work out a repayment schedule to bring your loan current.

If your first payment becomes 30 days delinquent and the next month's payment looks doubtful, collection attempts begin in earnest. If your payments fall 90 days behind, the servicer will likely refer your mortgage to an attorney or other entity that will initiate formal foreclosure proceedings.

Day 1 Mortgage payment due today, the first of the month. Borrower misses it.

Day 16-30 Late charge assessed on payment. Mortgage servicer starts attempting to make contact to find out what happened.

Day 45-60 Servicer sends "demand" or "breach" letter to the borrower pointing out that terms of the mortgage have been violated. Borrower given 30 days to resolve the situation by paying the delinquent amount.

Day 90-105 Servicer refers loan to foreclosure department. Hires local attorney or other firm to initiate foreclosure proceedings. Depending on the state where the home is located, the servicer's representative may record a formal notice of foreclosure at the local courthouse, publish details of the debt in the local newspaper, attend hearings on the case and make appropriate court filings.

Day 150-415 House sold at foreclosure sale or auction. Wide time range due to different state requirements.
Borrowers in states with judicial foreclosures, or those in which lenders have to retake property titles via the court system, can get almost a year to straighten out their affairs before the sale. Those in nonjudicial states have as little as two months.

Day 150-415+After the sale some states grant borrowers a "redemption period" in which they can still rebuy the property if they have the money. Others force consumers out immediately following the auction.

In Washington, lenders may foreclose on deeds of trusts or mortgages in default using either a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure process.

Judicial Foreclosure (not common in Washington)
The judicial process of foreclosure, which involves filing a lawsuit to obtain a court order to foreclose, is used when no power of sale is present in the mortgage or deed of trust. Generally, after the court declares a foreclosure, the property will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Non-Judicial Foreclosure
The non-judicial process of foreclosure is used when a power of sale clause exists in a mortgage or deed of trust. A "power of sale" clause is the clause in a deed of trust or mortgage, in which the borrower pre-authorizes the sale of property to pay off the balance on a loan in the event of the their default. In deeds of trust or mortgages where a power of sale exists, the power given to the lender to sell the property may be executed by the lender or their representative, typically referred to as the trustee. Regulations for this type of foreclosure process are outlined below in the "Power of Sale Foreclosure Guidelines".

Power of Sale Foreclosure Guidelines If the deed of trust or mortgage contains a power of sale clause and specifies the time, place and terms of sale, then the specified procedure must be followed. Otherwise, the non-judicial power of sale foreclosure is carried out as follows:

1. The notice of sale must be transmitted both by regular mail and by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the borrower at their last known address, and by regular mail to the attorney of record for the borrower, if any, not less than thirty (30) days prior to the day of sale.
   
   A notice of the sale once a week, consecutively, for four (4) weeks, in any daily or weekly legal newspaper of of general circulation published in the county in which the property is located. Additionally, the notice must be posted in two public places, one of which must be the courthouse door, in the county where the sale is to take place for a period of not less than four weeks prior to the day of sale.
   
   Said notice must contain the time and place of the foreclosure sale, the names of the parties to the deed, the date of the deed, recording information, a property description, the terms of the sale, and the borrowers rights (or lack of) redemption.
   
2. The borrower has up to eleven (11) days before the sale stop the foreclosure process by paying the past due payments, plus expenses, including trustee and attorney fees.
   
3. The sale must be made by auction between 9:00 am in the morning and 4:00 am in the afternoon at the courthouse door on Friday unless Friday is a legal holiday and then the sale must be held on the next following regular business day. The sale may not be conducted less than 190 days from the date of default and the highest bidder will receive a certificate of sale.
   
   The sale may be postponed (not exceeding one (1) week next after the day appointed) by giving notice and by posting written notices of the adjournment under the notices of sale originally posted.

If the non-judicial foreclosure process is used by the lender, then it cannot sue for a deficiency judgment. On judicial foreclosure sales, the borrower can be sued for a deficiency, unless the property is found to be abandoned for six (6) months before the decree of foreclosure.

More information on Washington foreclosure laws

[meeyoungseo]

I am in desperate need of help i am only 18 my mom cant speak english well.
I dont know very much so my mom asked a korean speaking person to help us. We received an NOD in the middle of oct. But the letter says end of sept. (they left it on our door mid oct.) Now the person that is translating for my mom is the only person the foreclosing people will talk to they wont talk to me. She said 30 days after an NOD the house will be sold in 7 days and then we have to move out. I was told by the lender not the foreclosing people that after 30 of the NOD i have about another 60 days to cure the default and save our home. Now the person who was helping me wants me to sell the home to some people who will pay the loan sell the house and give me half the equity. I want to stay in the house. We are trying to find a way out and can cure about half the default now and are working on the rest. The price of the house has doubled since we purchased it. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. What should i do? help help help..

[Moe Bedard]

Thanks for sharing your unfortunate story.

What state are you in?

OK, you mentioned that your mother was Korean and does not speak English. My question to you, 'Is who gave your mother the loan and in what language was it negotiated? Second, what was the language of the loan documents? Was there an interpretor? Was the loan officer Korean also? Who is the lender? Was it a brokered loan?

As far as the people you are dealing with, STAY AWAY FROM THEM WITH A 1,000,000 FOOT POLE! DO NOT DEAL WITH THESE SHARKS! They are trying to take your home and the equity left. You need an attorney and not these schmucks.

The best thing you have done is post on this forum. Now, please answer my questions and let's see what we can do to guide you in the BEST direction.

[meeyoungseo]

we are in Washington. The loan officer was american i was not there with her there was no interpreter she can understand a little she is not completley oblivious but she wont understand anything other than the basic everyday english all documents were in english. my mom had a 760 credit at the beg. of this year then our landlords for our business jacked up rent 150% and we got kicked out leaving us with nothing. (i went back 2 weeks later and they were running our business). Anyways after that ordeal my moms credit is now at 400 maybe less. What can she do if she had a little more time we want to sell the house get a little equity off this and start over. My moms businiess is a whole diff situ that she was taken advantage of too. I was too young before but i read some of the documents and some of the stuff in there is messed up. like i dont even think some of the stuff was legal. Anyways back on track the lender was HSBC. and the place handeling the foreclosure is NW trustee services.

[Moe Bedard]

NW represents the bank.

Who is the company that is asking you to sell it to an investor and translating for your mother?

Did you pay them and how did they find you?

Does your family have income coming in?

I would try and sell the home without this investor, who by the way, is taking advantage of you and your family and will profit immensely. Sell it yourself, or with a Realtor if that is the case and keep all the money.

You definitely need an attorney to protect you. Try searching for one at www.NACA.net . You can find a legal aid or pro bono attorney.

[Moe Bedard]

Try http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/probono/default.htm

or http://www.nwjustice.org/

[meeyoungseo]

The people are some realtors that had an ad on the newspaper they are korean and they said that they would help translating and help with documents etc. for free. but.. because of them my mom asked them for help they did just about nothing for weeks and now we are in this mess.
How much time do i have i heard that we got the NOD in the mid. of oct.??? Plus we didnt know what that was. I havent seed the docu. either my mom has it. we thought it was another letter to pay the mortgage and we called hsbc they were like just cure the default. so we thought we had a little time to come up with the money. but BOOM 3 weeks later the people "trying to helpp us" says you have 7 days sell to "this person" they will in turn sel your house and give you half the equity. my mom almost signed i stopped her. Did i mention she is in Washington and i am in NC because of school. I plan on going back to help her out. But how much time do i have left to cure the default or make a solution. Really do i only have 7 days. When i called nw trustee i thought they had said 30 days after the NOD they will make an auction date for at least 60 days from the 30 day mark and i can cure the default between then If i had like 2 more weeks i know 100% that i can cure the default and have enough for a couple months mortgage. So i am not totally hopless. but.. i am so confused i am trying to help my mom but there is only so much an 18 y/o can do. Really even if i am korean i try not to trust some of the people offering help. I dont get me wrong i love my culture but alot of the people out there are sharks.. its sad ...
my mom lost her business to a bunch of those types of people i would hate to see her lose her house too.

[Paul M.]

From your posts, it's a bit confusing to determine what stage in the foreclosure game you are at, but its seems like time is running out. You need to get a local attorney ASAP, meaning start calling Monday a.m. to get help. Start with comsumer law attorneys (Moe's suggestion of getting a referral from Naca.net is excellent) or real estate attorneys. California has very strict laws about contracts being in Englisg when a borrower does not speak English. Your state may have similar laws. Also, there are federal laws which need to be looked at to see if there are any violations in the loan which may allow you to undo the entire transaction and void the lender's security interest in your property.

- Paul

[meeyoungseo]

i got the NOd mid oct. but the letter says sept 20th. The letter was on my door around oct 12 or 13. i will try and find a lawyer asap thnks.. do you think i can still talk to them and earn a little more time.. if so i know i can pay it back.. i just need like 2-3 more weeks. i have like 1/2 avail right now

[foreverfighting]

Is the foreclosure in Washington State or Washington D.C. ??

[meeyoungseo]

washington state

[Moe Bedard]

From what you mentioned about the Realtors, I would not trust them either. AT ALL!

Think about this.

They are Realtors, yet, they are telling you to sell it to someone else, who in turn will sell it and then give you half the money. That is a joke! They should have suggested you sell in the beginning and they should have placed the home on the market, below market value to try and get a quick sell and you could have got ALL the money. Now, they have you just where they want you and they are going in for the kill.

I would say this unethical and completely dishonest.

Please seek an attorney ASAP and contact your local police about what they are doing and have done. They may possibly be criminals that have done this before. This is serious and people like this need to be dealt with accordingly. Also contact the department of real estate.

What are their names?