What Is The Foreclosure Process In Georgia?
The foreclosure process in Georgia is non-judicial. This means that the lender can foreclose on your home without going through the court system.
A lender will usually seek to foreclose when a home borrower has defaulted on their mortgage payments and the lender has been unable to work out a repayment plan with the borrower.
What is a foreclosure?
Foreclosure is a legal process that allows a lender to seize and sell a property in order to recover the remaining debt on a mortgage loan.
The foreclosure process is fairly consistent throughout the United States, however each state has its own procedures and protocols for handling foreclosures.
Georgia Foreclosures
A foreclosure in Georgia typically takes anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks.
Below is a general timeline outlining the steps leading up to a foreclosure in Georgia.
1. Mortgage Default
First Missed Payment: A default is the failure to repay a loan according to the terms agreed upon in the loan contract.
In the context of a mortgage, a default occurs when a borrower fails to make the required payments on their home loan. A lender may consider you to be in default as early as 15 to 30 days after the first missed payment.
Once a borrower is in default, the lender will typically begin the foreclosure process by providing the borrower with a notice of default.
2. Notice of Default
15 to 30 Days After First Missed Payment: Georgia law requires the lender to send you a notice of default within 36 days of a missed payment that states the amount you owe and inform you that you have a certain amount of time to repay what you owe in order to "cure" the default.
Georgia homeowners typically have 90 days to cure the default. If the default is not cured, the lender will then proceed to give notice of their intent to foreclose on the property.
3. Notice of Intent to Foreclose
90 Days After Default: A notice of intent to foreclose informs the borrower that the lender intends to sell the property on a given date to recover the unpaid loan balance.
Georgia code § 44-14-162.2 states that the lender must send the borrower a written foreclosure notice at least 30 days before the proposed foreclosure date.
This notice must include the name, address, and phone number of the person who the borrower can contact to negotiate and modify the loan terms. The notice must be sent by registered mail, certified mail, or overnight delivery with a return receipt requested, to the property address or any other address provided by the borrower in writing to the lender. The notice will typically include a copy of the public advertisement of the upcoming sale.
4. Public Notice of Sale
90 Days After Default: Georgia lenders are required to publicly advertise a foreclosure sale in the official country newspaper for at least 4 consecutive weeks prior to the scheduled sale.
For example, if the home were located in Dekalb County, then the advertisement would appear in The Champion Newspaper. If the foreclosure was taking place in Fulton County, then the notice would be published in The Fulton County Daily Report.
The notice will state the date, time and location of the foreclosure sale.
5. Foreclosure Sale
30 Days After Foreclosure Notice: Foreclosure sales occur once a month, on the first Tuesday of the month between 10 am - 4pm on the courthouse steps.
At a foreclosure sale, a property is sold at auction to the highest bidder. The foreclosure sale transfers title to the person who purchases the property for the highest bid. If there are no bidders, or if the highest bid is not enough to pay off the outstanding debt on the loan, the property will typically be returned to the lender.
If the home sells for more than the amount owed on the property, the sale will generate excess funds, which the homeowner is entitled to if there are no liens or competing claims for the funds.
If your home was sold at a foreclosure auction for more than what you owed, I can help you claim surplus funds that you may be entitled to. At E. Albert Law, we work diligently to process claims as quickly as possible. While the amount of time it takes to recover excess funds will vary, we often hear that clients are grateful for how we have expedited their claim.
Call us at 678-664-4878 for your free consultation or email us at surplusfunds@ealbertlaw.com.
Attorney Esther Mesidor
E. Albert Law
