From the monthly archives: "November 2012"

Oklahoma is a Judicial Foreclosure State.

If you are behind on your mortgage payments
, you probably already are aware that you might lose your house because of non-payment of your debt to your lender.

Have no fear. Oklahoma is a judicial foreclosure state. The chances are good that you will have the opportunity to go through the judicial foreclosure process, which allows homeowners to have due process.

Having said that, there is a possibility that there is a “right of sale” clause in your mortgage.

Oklahoma allows both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure of real property.

In non-judicial foreclosures, the mortgage gives the lender a “right of sale” and the lender can sell the house without having to sue the homeowner who is behind on mortgage payments. However, if there is no “right of sale” clause, then the lender must file a lawsuit against the delinquent homeowner in order to take back the house.

— Dan Nunley, What happens during the “judicial foreclosure” process in Oklahoma?

Don’t Move Out

You are better off staying in the house until you are thrown out. Nobody can throw you out without due process.

  1. If you are a homeowner living in a house that might be foreclosed on, stay there until the sheriff comes and tells you to leave. That would be a few days before the confirmation hearing, which is usually two to three weeks after the sheriff’s sale.
  2. If you are a tenant living in a house in danger of being foreclosed on, stay there. Laws in Oklahoma will protect you through the foreclosure process. You will pay the homeowner until he loses the house; after the confirmation hearing you will pay the mortgagee or the new owner of the home — whoever purchased the house at the sheriff’s sale (usually the bank or the guarantor).

Not every state is a judicial foreclosure state. Oklahoma is one only a handful of states that are considered foreclosure states.

That means that in Oklahoma, nobody can take your house away without going through a legal process of foreclosure. That’s due process.

File for a Homestead Exemption

If you have a homestead exemption, only the mortgagee can take away your house. The mortgagee is the one who owns the note. Think of Monopoly when you turn over the cards.

  1. The bank is the mortgagee.
  2. The homeowner is the mortgagor.

Note to self: file for your homestead exemption at the Tulsa County Tax Assessor’s Office or at the tax assessor’s office in whatever county you happen to live.

Find Out What Legal Options Are Available

  1. Pick up the rock and look underneath it.
  2. Face your fear and discover what is there and what your options are.
    1. Call a Tulsa, Oklahoma lawyer who can advise you with regard to consumer issues, bankruptcy, and foreclosures
    2. Call your lender (the bank, mortgage company, or lender) or guarantor. Lenders and guarantors encourage homeowners to reach out early to their lender or servicer if they face any hardship affecting their ability to pay their mortgage.
    3. Call the Help for Homeowners Hotline: 888-995-HOPE

Perhaps you may want to consider selling your midtown Tulsa home now while there are many buyers out in force taking advantage of record-breaking low mortgage rates.

Call Debbie Solano today at 918-724-8201 to list your midtown Tulsa home.

Get Shortlink: http://tulsashortsaleagents.com/?p=202

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Copyright© 2012 by Debbie Solano — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED — Tulsa Short Sale Agents — Oklahoma is a Judicial Foreclosure State

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