Foreclosure in Ohio

How an Ohio foreclosure works, step by step

1. Generally, the legal foreclosure process can't start until you're at least 120 days behind.
2. If you get a certified letter from the clerk of courts and you haven't been paying your mortgage, it's probably a foreclosure case.
3. You have only 28 days to file an answer with the court, even if you're talking with your lender to work things out. An answer can be a formal legal document or a simple letter.
4. When the mortgage is foreclosed, the court orders the home sold.
5. The sheriff picks three people who live and own property in the county, with no stake in the case, to view the home and appraise it. For a home, they must return their value within 21 calendar days after the clerk issues the order of appraisal.
6. You and the other parties must be served a written notice with the date, time and place of the sale, or its start date and website if it's online. A copy must be filed with the court at least 7 calendar days before the sale. The sale is also advertised once a week for at least three weeks in a row in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
7. The sheriff, or a private selling officer the court approves, sells the home at a public auction. At the first auction, it can't sell for less than two-thirds of the appraised value.
8. If no one buys the home, a second auction is held 7 to 30 days later, and the home goes to the highest bidder with no minimum bid.
9. If the sale followed the law, the court confirms it within 30 days after the writ is returned. Once the court confirms the sale, no more motions to set it aside can be filed.
10. The buyer must pay the rest of the price within 30 days of confirmation, and the officer records the deed within 14 days after that payment. The Supreme Court of Ohio's advice is to keep the home lived in and in good shape until the sheriff tells you that you have to leave.

Mediation is available in every county

The Attorney General says foreclosure mediation is available in every Ohio county, to help you and your lender reach an agreement that ends the case. Look for mediation information in your court papers. If there isn't any, ask the judge on your case to send it to mediation. The Supreme Court of Ohio encourages you to ask your local court for mediation as soon as you get notice of the case.

• Taking part in mediation doesn't count as filing your answer.
• The case keeps going until you and your lender reach a final agreement and the lender dismisses it.
• A judge can order both sides to attend, but no one can be forced to agree.
• A case can be mediated before it's filed and up until the court confirms the sale.

Catching up or paying off before confirmation

Even after the auction, you can redeem the home until the court confirms the sale. You pay the clerk the judgment amount, all costs, and 8% yearly interest on the purchase money from the sale date. The court then sets the sale aside. The court can also hold off on confirming a sale to give an owner time to redeem.

Before it gets that far, the Attorney General says your lender may be able to offer options like these, often for a fee:

• Forbearance: your payment is lowered or paused for a while.
• A repayment plan: a higher payment for a set time until you've caught up.
• A short sale: your lender lets you sell for less than the full payoff.

If you apply to your servicer for help, get your complete application in more than 37 days before a scheduled sale.

The sheriff sale and online auctions

The county sheriff runs the auction unless the lender asks the court to name a private selling officer instead. A private selling officer's online auction must stay open for bids for at least 7 calendar days. Sales on the state's official sheriff sale website also stay open for at least 7 days.

When a private selling officer runs the sale, the lender can have it postponed more than once, but every new date must fall within 180 days of the first one.

How long it takes

Foreclosure generally can't legally start until you're at least 120 days behind. Once it starts, how long you have until the sale depends on your state.

For FHA loans, HUD's time frame runs from the first legal action until the lender has clear title to the home and possession of it. In Ohio, that's 13 months, and the first legal action is a court complaint.

Inside that, you have 28 days to answer, the sale is advertised for at least three weeks, and the court confirms a proper sale within 30 days after the writ is returned. The Attorney General says an Ohio foreclosure can take anywhere from six to 18 months or longer.

These are official markers, not a forecast. Your case can move faster or slower, so don't count on extra time.

Deficiency, surplus and redemption

If a court gave the lender a money judgment on your mortgage debt, any shortfall left after the sale can't be enforced once two years have passed from the date the court confirmed the sale. That limit covers a property with a home for no more than two families that was used as a home or farm dwelling. You can waive it only in writing, signed within those two years and filed with the court clerk within the same two years.

Sale money is generally paid out to the court, the sheriff, the county treasurer and then the lienholders. Anything left goes to the person whose home was foreclosed. The officer must turn any extra over to the clerk within 45 days after confirmation. If it's $500 or more, the clerk must send you a notice with the amount, saying you're entitled to it and how to claim it. You can ask the clerk for the money whether or not you got that notice. If no one claims it for 90 days after the last notice, the clerk handles it as unclaimed money.

Your right to redeem under Ohio's sale law runs until the court confirms the sale.

Protections when you sell, lease or get offers

• The Attorney General warns about people who ask for your deed, promise to pay your mortgage and rent the home back to you. They don't pay the mortgage, and when the foreclosure case ends, you're evicted. Never sign over your deed unless you're selling the home.
• Never pay for foreclosure help. Real help is free. Under federal rules, a mortgage relief company can't ask for or take a fee until you've signed a written agreement with your lender or servicer.
• Ohio's wholesaler law covers anyone who signs a contract to buy a home and then assigns or novates that contract to someone else. Before you sign, a wholesaler buying from you must give you a separate written disclosure in bold type of at least 12 points. If they don't, you can cancel the contract any time before closing without penalty. A violation counts as an unfair or deceptive act under Ohio law.
• A right-to-list home sale agreement is one where you're paid to give someone the exclusive right to list your home for sale in the future. In Ohio, one made, changed or extended after the law took effect is void and can't be enforced.
• Under Ohio's land installment contract law, the seller must record the contract within 20 days after both sides sign. A buyer who falls behind has 30 days from the missed payment before the seller can enforce forfeiture. Once the buyer has paid for five years or paid at least 20% of the price, the seller can take the property back only through foreclosure and a court sale. An option to buy is not a land installment contract under that law.

Three of these touch how I buy: the land contract rules if we use seller financing, the option rule if we do a lease option, and the wholesaler law, which can reach a novation. And don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in Ohio

• Ohio Attorney General: foreclosure FAQs. The Attorney General says never to pay for foreclosure help, because real help is free.
• Ohio Attorney General: foreclosure resources. Statewide and local places to get help.
• Supreme Court of Ohio: foreclosure mediation resources. How mediation works, and who to contact in your county.
• Ohio Housing Finance Agency: Save the Dream Ohio. Save the Dream Ohio mortgage assistance stopped taking applications on October 31, 2023. The agency points homeowners who need help with mortgage payments to a local HUD-approved housing counseling agency or legal aid office.
• CFPB: find a housing counselor. Search HUD-approved counseling agencies in Ohio.