Note: The following is based on my years of experience in this state. It is a general description of what happens most of the time. Your case may vary.
The foreclosure Process in Virginia
Once your house reaches 90 days late, most lenders will turn it over to an attorney to conduct an auction.
When your house is given to the attorney, your late fees suddenly go up between 5,000 and 7,000 dollars on top of what you already owe the bank.
The bank is often no longer willing to communicate with you, and the attorney has no motive to help you. They get paid to aucution your house and collect the money
Once the attorney notifies you, you rapidly begin to run out of options.
Virginia law allows a 14 day notice to you, and public notice 3 times in a local newspaper before your house is sold at auction on the court house steps. My experience has been that sometimes a bank will auction your house before you fully realize how fast it is happening.
I have seen cases where people in your situation have only had 14 days notice prior to auction to make a last ditch effort to sell their house. In most cases, that’s waiting too long.
The best thing to do is to sell your house fast. The longer you wait, the less options you have.
The Auction:
The trustee typically conducts the sale at the local courthouse between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The trustee announces the opening bid at the sale and may accept higher bids, with the property selling to the highest bidder. If no one bids, the foreclosing lender will win the bidding with the opening bid.
The trustee completes the necessary documents to transfer ownership of the property to the highest bidder.
The sale can’t be postponed, but it may be canceled, in which case the trustee would need to start the foreclosure process at the beginning to schedule a new sale.
After the auction
In general, once the sale is final the borrower cannot redeem the property, but the lender may cancel the sale if the borrower is able to pay off what is owed.
A lender may pursue a borrower for a deficiency judgment if the highest bid does not pay off the total amount due plus applicable expenses
We can try to help you avoid a foreclosure auction all of it’s related consequences. Contact us at 804/719-1489.