The Foreclosure Process in Utah

FYI, Here is the information regarding Utah's Foreclosure Process from the Lundberg & Associates website: (Bold, Italics and Underline added by me)

My comments follow below.

FORECLOSURE PROCESS

The foreclosure process normally begins when the borrower becomes delinquent. Delinquent status depends on the terms of the Note, the lender's internal policies and the requirements of any investor (e.g. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac). Typically, the foreclosure is commenced when a loan becomes three months delinquent.

The foreclosure process generally begins by the holder of the Note appointing a trustee to record a notice of default with the county recorder of the county where the property is located. From the date of the recording of the notice of default, the borrower has 3 months to reinstate or payoff the loan. At the conclusion of the 3-month reinstatement period, if the loan has not been brought current, a foreclosure sale date is set. A notice of the sale is sent to the borrowers and posted on the property. It is also posted at the County Recorder's Office of the county where the property is located and published in a newspaper having general circulation in the county. The actual foreclosure sale is held at the time and place specified on the notice of sale, generally an active county courthouse* of the county where the property is located. The trustee appointed by the note holder, or an attorney representing the trustee, conducts the foreclosure sale.

*Some county courthouses are historical. Foreclosure sales are not held at these sites.

The opening bid on the property is set by the lender foreclosing and is made available by our office, once we have received it from the lender, on this web site under the heading of Foreclosure Bids and Sales Results. Generally our office receives bids the week of the sale.

The attorney conducting the foreclosure sale will purchase the property on behalf of the lender, if no bid higher than the opening bid is presented. If there is competitive bidding, the property is sold to the highest bidder. The successful bidder must deliver $5,000 in the form of a cashiers check, wire transfer or money order at the time of the sale to the trustee or attorney conducting the sale. The balance of the purchase price, in the same form, must be received in our office by noon the following day.

http://www.lundbergfirm.com/foreclosureprocess.html

Note that it would appear that it would take about 6 months at the fastest, but often it can take longer because some lenders do not file a Notice of Default right away. My understanding is that the notice of the sale also has to be posted for 3 straight weeks in a local paper with general circulation as well. At any time, if the borrower does anything to stop the foreclosure process (negotiating with the creditor/bringing payments current, etc.), the process will start all over again.

If there are no "high enough" bids to satisfy the lender's lien, the lender may bid on the property itself to retain it. In that case it becomes "Real Estate Owned", "REO", "Corporate Owned", "Bank Owned" etc. and many of these properties are then put back on the market as listed properties. The bank would rather lose 10-20% than let someone buy it at the sale and only get 50% of what they are owed, for example.

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