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When Do I Need to Move?
There is no definitive answer to when you should leave your
house if you plan on relinquishing it to your lender. There
are, however, some general timelines that you can use to guide
you with this issue.
Generally, you can miss six months or more before your house
will be foreclosed upon by the bank.
After approximately two or three months of missed payments,
you will receive a notice of intent to accelerate from your
mortgage company. This notice basically means that you must
get current on your payments. The next step is a notice of
default which typically occurs when you are three months or
more late on your mortgage payments. The notice of default
is recorded at the county recorder and should be sent via
certified mail. The date that the notice of default triggers
a 90 day period before the bank can prepare and record the
notice of sale date. This sets the date for foreclosure.
Regardless of whether or not you accept the certified mailing
of the notice of default, the timeframe for the foreclosure
remains the same. Some people believe that if they do not
sign for the notice, they can stall a foreclosure, however,
that is not true. After the 90 day time period passes, the
bank must provide at least a 20 day period before the sale
date. Thus, the foreclosure process is, at minimum, 110 days
from the recording date of notice of default before there
can be a foreclosure sale.
Filing for Bankruptcy before the foreclosure sale will temporarily
delay the foreclosure process. Once you file for Bankruptcy,
the bank will have to file a motion for relief from the automatic
stay which will allow them to continue with the foreclosure.
The process described above describes the minimum time frames
to be expected. In some rare instances, as long as a year
and a half has passed without a homeowner making a mortgage
payment. Please be advised that this is not to be expected
for every foreclosure.
In summary, the key factor to determine when you should leave
your house, namely how quickly the lender acts, is also the
one which is somewhat unpredictable. The minimum time you
have is 110 days from the recording of the notice of default.
The maximum time you might have is not predicable, and depends
upon how quickly a lender pushes through the foreclosure process.
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