Georgia Foreclosure Process
More about how foreclosures work in GA
What is Foreclosure?
A foreclosure is the legal process where your mortgage company obtains ownership of your home (i.e., repossess the property). A foreclosure occurs when the homeowner has not been able to make a mortgage payment.
Pre-foreclosure is the first step in the foreclosure process. It’s designed to give homeowners options to stay in their pre-foreclosure homes before a foreclosure.
How Does Foreclosure Affect You
A foreclosure in your credit report lowers your credit score and can make it difficult to get new loans at the best interest rates. A foreclosure won’t ruin your credit forever, but it will have a considerable impact on your score, as well as your ability to obtain another mortgage for a while.
It can even make it more difficult to find a job or a rental property since many employers and landlords use credit reports to assess your reliability. On the upside, however, your foreclosure will disappear from your report after seven years, and you can rebuild your credit by working on your debt and paying your bills on time.
What are the Foreclosure Steps in GA?
Step 1 – A 30 day Notice of Intent to Foreclose
A lender is required by law to notify the borrower 30 days prior to scheduling a foreclosure sale. The notice usually includes a copy of the foreclosure advertisement published in the official county newspaper (see “Notice of Sale” below), and must include the name, address, and telephone number of the individual or entity with full authority to negotiate, amend, and modify all terms of the loan. There are specific parameters that must be met when providing this notice, and if not met, then the notice and the foreclosure can be deemed invalid.
Step 2 – Publicized Sale
The lender must run a public advertisement for at least four weeks. This advertisement must be in an official county newspaper where the property is located and must run at least once a week for four weeks before the sale.
Step 3 – Reinstating the Loan
At this point, the borrower has the option to reinstate the loan. In Georgia, residents have the right to pay back money owed and reinstate the loan up to 5 days before the foreclosure sale. In some limited circumstances, a loan can be reinstated before the foreclosure sale is even scheduled.
Step 3 – A Foreclosure Sale
If a borrower is unable to pay the money owed and reinstate the loan, then a lender has the right to hold a foreclosure sale on the first Tuesday of the month.
What are the Foreclosure Steps in GA?
The steps vary in a different state and depend largely on whether the state is considered to be a judicial or non-judicial state. Georgia is a non-judicial state, which means that lenders do not have to sue homeowners and take them to court to foreclose on them. That means that foreclosure in Georgia can be finished in 30 days. On average, it takes about 1-3 weeks to complete. If your property was sold at a foreclosure auction, the eviction process takes about 14-30 days. When the paperwork is approved, the new owner has a right to serve you a 3-day “Notice to Quit”. When this ends, the sheriff will appear to assign an eviction date. You and any other inhabiting the property must leave by this date and take all personal items with you.
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