If you are a homeowner facing foreclosure, then naturally you are concerned about losing your home. You are also worried about being evicted after the sheriff sale. Chances are that you have been threatened by your lender and other experts, telling you that the sheriff will force you out of your home the very next day. But in reality, this is not what happens. The county sheriff or those involved in the eviction will not turn up at your doorstep to evict you the next day, so quit worrying about this.
You however need to know what to expect as a homeowner from the foreclosure auction. What happens is this: the sheriff sale transfers property ownership and you, as the foreclosure victim, cease to own your property after this. Following this, there are some more things that the new owners need to do and so, being evicted is not automatic after the foreclosure. The first thing the new owner must do is confirm the sheriff sale. There is no specific procedure for this and depending on where you live, and how quickly the court and the new owner take action, can take up to a couple of weeks following the auction. The judge and the sheriff must establish that the auction was indeed for a legal amount and that the new owner has been awarded the deed.
In most cases, the new owner is invariably the bank with which the owner is negotiating with to stop the foreclosure. In fact, the owners of 95% of foreclosures are the original lenders and not independent third parties.
If the homeowner must be evicted, the lenders have to get possession of the property with the permission of the court. The court must also legally order the county sheriff to evict the ex-residents and their belongings and then change the locks. So if you are the homeowner, you will be happy to know that no badge-flashing government representative can just land up and throw you out of your home the day after the foreclosure. They can do this only if the premises are not vacated after the time allowed.
In most cases, the eviction process stretches for up to a month after the foreclosure. And it is no easy task to just throw people out once the county auction is over. While the court can order the eviction, provided the homeowners do not contest the sale or eviction order, the sheriff has to give notice of the eviction before they take any action. They can do this by putting up a little notice on the property, allowing the residents three days to vacate. It is best that the ex-homeowners be ready to vacate after the sheriff sale or simply find another solution.
In any case, if you are facing foreclosure, don’t lose too much sleep over being thrown out of your home at short notice. The sheriff cannot just land up the next day after the sheriff sale and order you out. You need to be aware that for the bank to take possession of the foreclosed property, it has to undergo a legal process. Chances are that the homeowner will get anything from a couple of weeks to a month after the sale date, so that they can make arrangements to find another place to move to.
Whatever the situation, as a homeowner, you can call the sheriff’s department to find out details related to the eviction and to know how much time you have. Who knows, you might even be able to request them for a little extra time to move. You can even negotiate with the courts and sheriff to allow you enough time to vacate quietly.
The point is – banks and government authorities will not usually throw out the homeowner overnight after the foreclosure. But this does not mean that the homeowner should be complacent. A couple of weeks time is plenty to find another place to live, although even a month can seem to whiz by. What you should ideally do is get in touch with your local government officials and get the details of the eviction, so that you can work out a solution that is agreeable to all concerned. After all, it is not as if the authorities want to create trouble over the foreclosure or the eviction, and neither do you!