Foreclosure Process in Delaware
• Once payments are three or four months past due, a collection letter is sent to the homeowner. At this time, the homeowner can choose to go into loss mitigation to try to save the home from foreclosure.
• The delinquent loan is sent to an attorney.
• Within 30 days, a complaint is filed with the court. This is the foreclosure filing, a public record that anyone can access.
• Within 20 days, the homeowner must appear in court to state why foreclosure must not proceed.
• The court rules that the mortgage holder is in default.
• During the next three months, a home appraisal is completed, a sheriff's sale date set, and the sale of the home is advertised.
• Ten days before the sheriff's sale, the homeowner receives a notice of the pending sale.
• The sheriff's sale occurs. At this point, the loan will be around eight months delinquent.
• Thirty to 90 days after the sheriff's sale, the property is officially transferred to the new owner.
• If the delinquent payer is still in the home, the sheriff gives him or her 10 to 15 days to move out.
