Wondering how long you have before your McHenry County foreclosure case concludes, and you are evicted? This article provides you with a basic timeline for what to expect in McHenry County foreclosure court.
DISCLAIMER: Every case is different. Your case may move at a different pace than what this article sets forth. This article is meant only to provide an average timeline for uncontested mortgage foreclosure cases in McHenry County. Numerous factors could vary the amount of time your case takes. You should not rely on the information contained within this article when making decisions about the current status of your foreclosure case or to decide much time you have left. If you really need a good answer, I am more than happy to chat with you at no cost. My contact information is at the top of this page.
Here is a rough timeline of what you can expect in McHenry County foreclosure court if you do nothing:
0-3 months from first missed payment. After your first missed mortgage payment, your bank is required to send you a “Grace Period Notice,” and in many cases conduct a “Face to Face” interview with the homeowner to discuss solutions to the late payments. The Grace Period Notice will advise you of your right to obtain housing counseling, and during the time you obtain counseling, the bank can take no further action. After three missed payments, so long as you are not in approved housing counseling, the foreclosure action can begin.
4-6 months from first missed payment. The bank has filed a foreclosure lawsuit against you. If you are unlucky, you are served with papers shortly after the lawsuit is filed. For 90 day from the date that the foreclosure complaint is filed, you have a right to reinstatement. Hypothetically, you could gather enough money to pay off what you owe on the mortgage (plus court costs and attorney fees) and reinstate your mortgage loan. If you had that kind of money laying around, you would not be in foreclosure in the first place.
6 months from the first missed payment. This is likely to be your first date in court. Historically, few of the banks’ attorneys are ready to proceed on this day. Better attorneys, however, are. An order finding you to be in default will be entered, and a future court date (approximately 6 weeks out will be set for the bank to prove the amount it is owed).
7.5 months from first missed payment. Bank proves up its case, a “Judgment of Foreclosure” is entered. This starts the clock for your redemption period. You now have three months to pay off all overdue amounts on the mortgage including attorney fees and costs.
8.5 months from the first missed payment. JUDGMENT EFFECTIVELY BECOMES FINAL, AND YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY LOSE YOUR HOUSE. Illinois law grants judges the discretion to modify any non-final orders or judgments. The Judgment of Foreclosure is not the final order in the case, the Order Approving Sale is. However, in my experience the foreclosure judges in McHenry County will not use that discretion to disturb the Judgment of Foreclosure after 30 days without a showing of exceptional circumstances. If you are thinking about hiring an attorney to defend the foreclosure you should do it well in advance of this point.
10.5 months from first missed payment. The bank has to publish public notice of the judicial sale in the newspaper. The bank will publish the required notice in the newspaper during the redemption period and will schedule the judicial sale to occur shortly after redemption expires. The bank will conduct the sale and sell your house for 60 to 80 cents on the dollar. About a week later, the bank files a motion for an “Order Approving Sale.”
11.5 months from the first missed payment. It takes about a month for the Motion for Order Approving Sale to be heard in McHenry County foreclosure court. On that date, the judge will enter an order approving sale and staying enforcement of the eviction order 30 days. If the proceeds of the judicial sale were not enough to satisfy the outstanding amount you owed, the judge will enter a judgment against you for the rest. Some of these judgments are huge—in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
12.5 months from the first missed payment. The eviction order attached to the order approving sale is actionable. The order is delivered to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department, which takes about two weeks to process the eviction order.
13 months from the first missed payment. You are evicted.
How an attorney can help.
Light at the end of the McHenry County foreclosure case tunnel.
Losing your house in foreclosure is terrible for two main reasons. First, you lose your house that you and your kids love. Because your credit is ruined from the foreclosure and judgment, you will have a very difficult time finding even a place to rent. Second, and even more terrifying, is that you will likely walk away with a judgment against you for the difference between what the bank is owed (including its attorney fees and costs) minus what your house sold for (which is about 60 to 80 cents on the dollar of what your house is actually worth). The bank can take this judgment and garnish your wages, freeze your bank accounts, and periodically drag you into court. It is the ultimate addition of insult to injury.
A competent, experienced McHenry County foreclosure defense attorney can help you. You have three primary options in foreclosure: attempt loss mitigation (a loan modification or short sale), fight the foreclosure as hard as you can (you will certainly lose, but you may extend the time you have the house for), or walk away (in most cases, you will still receive the personal liability judgment at the end of the day). None of these solutions are perfect, but obtaining competent legal counsel at the beginning makes your options much easier.
We have experience processing loan modification paper work for homeowners, arranging short sales (and we can give you a good referral for a short sale real estate agent, too), fighting foreclosures, and assisting McHenry County homeowners with dealing with the personal liability from the default.
We offer McHenry County mortgage foreclosure defense clients a free, no obligation consultation to discuss your issues. For most people, we are able to craft a solution that is cost effective and helpful to homeowners in distress. Give us a call today and sleep better tonight.