Timeline for Foreclosure

Below is the timeline for foreclosure that you need to be familiar with and study in detail. The timeline for foreclosure starts at Day 0 which is the first day that you missed your mortgage payment. Note that the timeline for foreclosure may be slightly different for different lenders and in different states. The timeline for foreclosure below is similar to most foreclosure timelines in California and many other states.

When you miss your first mortgage payment, the lender usually does not do anything but send you reminders as well as adding a late fee and a penalty (if any) to your mortgage account.

If you miss the mortgage payment a second time, then the lender will start being more aggressive in their reminding.

Typically, a lender waits several months to start foreclosure proceedings against the homeowner, since the foreclosure proceedings have specific criteria and time limits that must be met, as stated in your original homeowners mortgage loan papers. Most commonly though, the first pre-requisite happens ten days after the 3rd missed payment, and it is called the Notice of Default.

The first point of panic in the timeline for foreclosure is the day the Notice of Default is sent to the homeowner. The purpose of the Notice of Default is to officially alert you that you are about to have the lender repossess your home in as little as 60 days. If you don't bring the mortgage current (by paying all three payments plus late charges) within 30 days, foreclosure proceedings will begin.

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