How long in Calif take to foreclose?

Answer 1

These are the main steps in a nonjudicial foreclosure, which apply to the majority of foreclosures in California:

The lender must contact you and anyone else on the mortgage loan to assess your financial situation and explore your options to avoid foreclosure (called a "foreclosure avoidance assessment").

The lender cannot start the foreclosure process until at least 30 days after contacting you to make this assessment; and must advise you during that first contact that you have the right to request another meeting about how to avoid foreclosure. That meeting must be scheduled to take place within 14 days.

You can authorize a lawyer, HUD-certified housing counseling agency, or other advisor to talk on your behalf with the lender about ways to avoid foreclosure. You cannot be forced to accept any plan that your representative and the lender come up with during that discussion.

If you and the lender have not worked out a plan to avoid foreclosure, the lender can record a Notice of Default in the county where your home is located, at least 30 days after contacting you for the foreclosure avoidance assessment. This marks the beginning of the formal and public foreclosure process. The lender sends you a copy of this notice by certified mail within 10 business days of recording it. You then have 90 days from the date that the Notice of Default is recorded to "cure" (fix, usually by paying what is owed) the default.

If you do not pay what you owe, a Notice of Sale is recorded (at least 90 days after the Notice of Default is recorded). The Notice of Sale states that the trustee will sell your home at auction in 21 days.

The Notice of Sale must be sent to you by certified mail and published weekly in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where your home is located for 3 consecutive weeks before the sale date. It must also posted on your property, as well as in a public place, usually at your local courthouse. It must have the date, time, and location of the foreclosure sale; the property address; the trustee's name, address, and phone number; and a statement that the property will be sold at a public auction.

At least 21 days after the date when the Notice of Sale is recorded the property can be sold at a public auction. The successful bidder must pay the full amount of the bid immediately with cash or a cashier's check. The successful bidder gets a trustee's deed once the sale is complete. The lender usually bids at the auction, in the amount of the balance due plus the foreclosure costs. If no one else bids, your home goes to the lender.

Before the foreclosure process begins, the lender or loan servicer may send you letters (over the course of several months) demanding payment. Those letters are not notices of default.