 TITLE: Understanding Foreclosure CONTENT: What Happens When a House Is Foreclosed?\n----------------------------------------\nForeclosure is a legal option for all mortgage lenders, but there is no universal timeline for it. The process generally involves the following steps, in this order, but time intervals can vary and some steps may differ by jurisdiction and lender:\n1.  Within two to three weeks after missing your first mortgage payment, you'll get a letter from the lender indicating payment is past due and outlining steps they may take (up to and including foreclosure) if your payments are not brought up to date. Many lenders provide a grace period of 10 to 15 days during which you can make a late payment without any penalty.\n2.  If you miss a second consecutive payment, you will likely get additional letters from the lender, as well as phone calls and emails. The bank may impose late-payment penalties that must be paid along with overdue payments to bring your loan back into good standing.\n3.  After a third straight missed payment (that is, after you've gone 90 days past due on your loan), you may get a notice of intent to foreclose in another 30 days. The lender may also post your name on a public list of debtors who are subject to foreclosure.\n4.  After 120 days of nonpayment, the lender may initiate foreclosure. In some states this requires a court proceeding, during which a judge must see proof of loan default to authorize seizure and sale of the property, which can take a year or longer to finalize. In other jurisdictions, the process can take just a few weeks.\nUltimately, the foreclosure process forces all of a home's occupants to vacate the property. The locks will be changed and premises will be secured as the property is prepared for auction or direct resale to a new buyer.\nDifferences in local laws are not the only factors that can affect the foreclosure timeline. Foreclosure policies also vary from lender to lender, and can be affected by the local housing market and economic conditions, as lenders may be somewhat slower to press foreclosure proceedings in markets where real estate sales are sluggish. END