subject: The Process Of Foreclosed Homes In California [print this page] The foreclosure process is something that people dont want to deal with but with the crisis that occurred with many mortgages, many homeowners were introduced to and went through the foreclosure process. For individuals who faced this, it was important to understand why they were in the circumstances that they faced and where the road was going to take them.
The first step is how the foreclosure actually begins. A mortgage outlines the terms of repayment to the lender and when these are broken by the home owner or borrower missing a payment, the bank legally has the right to begin the process of foreclosure. The agreement outlines this but many banks will give homeowners a chance to make up the missed payment and dont even start anything until two or three missed payments occur. If the home was being rented to tenants, they didnt need to be notified by the bank that the home was going into foreclosure which is quite blindsiding for renters.
The notice of default is filed after the bank decides to start the process. The bank does this through the recorders office at the county and they are only required to inform the property owner, not the renters of the property if there are any, that the process is being started. The process does take a few months to be completely done.
3 months or 90 days later the next step happens and this is called the Trustee sale which lets the owner know when the property is going to be auctioned off. It is required to be placed on the property and in the newspaper as well in a variety of languages including English, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, and Chinese. This is the step when renters are notified of the property falling into foreclosure through mail in their native language.
A minimum of 20 days must pass before the house can be sold at auction after the Notice of Sale is given. Depending on the outcome, it either has a new person as an owner or the bank regains ownership of the property. If a renter is secured in a lease a foreclosure effectively cancels it.
The new owner cannot move into the property right away though. A Notice to Quit has to be given to the current residents. If the people living there are renting it, they have 60 days to vacate. If the person living there is the one the foreclosure happened to, the previous owner, the time is cut in half to only 30 days.
Sometimes new owners get subjected to problems though and the current residents do not immediately leave the premises. The eviction process happens through the bank who must file papers to get them to leave. A court will decide who wins the court case after it makes it that far. The owner is responsible to prove their case to the court. If the new owner wins the sheriff will post a notice to vacate and then the sheriff will actually force the tenants to leave the property.
