Foreclosures Book

the borrower can tell a judge why foreclosure shouldn’t be permitted. The better the defense, the longer the process will drag out. If the court decides in the lender’s favor, it will enter a judgment ordering the sale of the home to satisfy the debt. If the property is not sold at the foreclosure sale, ownership goes to the lender. Even when the borrower loses ownership of the home, most state laws don’t require moving out immediately. Typically, the tenant can remain in the home, payment-free, until receiving an official, written eviction notice. It’s often more practical to move out prior to eviction. EMOTIONAL COMPONENTS In the Introduction to this book, we touched on the fact that facing the prospect of foreclosure can affect our mood and thinking process. Foreclosure can seemoverwhelming, andwhen we’re overwhelmed, it’s hard to think productively. You might have read or heard about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This model was created to demonstrate the emotional states that terminally ill patients experience after a diagnosis. Since then, it’s been loosely applied to everything from a bad breakup to the death of a loved one. It’s natural for individuals and families faced with the prospect of foreclosure to experience their own range of emotions. Many homeowners experience self-doubt. “If only I had done things differently,” they tell themselves. But reasons for foreclosure are almost alwaysmore complicated than the actions of one individual. Consider job loss, for example. Were you or your partner laid off from a job? Your employer ultimately made that decision, and the reasons were probably more complex than they seem. Did the economy — or management’s own poor decision