Judicial Foreclosure

Generally, in judicial foreclosure, a court decrees the amount of the borrowers debt and gives him or her a short time to pay. If the borrower fails to pay within that time, the clerk of the court then advertises the property for sale.

At some point prior to the scheduled date of foreclosure, an appraisal of the property must be made. If the foreclosure sale price is less than two-thirds of the appraised value, the borrower has a period of one year (12 months) from the date of the sale to redeem the property by paying the amount for which the property was sold, plus interest.

It is possible to obtain a deficiency judgment against the borrower for the difference between the amount the borrower owed on the original loan and the foreclosure sale price, but only if the borrower was personally served with the lawsuit, or failed to answer.