Foreclosure in Oklahoma

How an Oklahoma foreclosure works, step by step

1. Generally, the legal foreclosure process can't start until you're at least 120 days behind.
2. The lender files a petition in court and has you served with a summons. Unless the law sets a different time, you have 20 days after you're served to file an answer.
3. Pledged real estate can be sold only under a court judgment that orders the sale. Three sworn, disinterested people, or a company that swears it's impartial, view the home and appraise it.
4. The sheriff signs a written notice of sale with the date, time and place. It's mailed by first-class mail to you at least 10 days before the sale, if your address is known. The sale is also published for two weeks in a row in a local newspaper, and it can't be held less than 30 days after the first publication.
5. The sheriff's sale is held at the county courthouse, at another place in the county the judge picks, or as an online auction. The home can't be sold for less than two-thirds of the appraised value.
6. The court then holds a hearing to confirm the sale. You must get mailed notice of it at least 10 days before. Anyone who objects to the sale can file a written objection before that hearing. If the court finds the sale was legal, it orders the sheriff to give the buyer a deed.
7. In the order confirming the sale, the court can have the sheriff put the buyer in full possession of the home.

If your mortgage has a power of sale

An Oklahoma mortgage can give the lender a power to sell the home itself. The mortgage must warn, in bold and underlined words, that this may let the lender sell without going to court.

• First, the lender must send you a written notice of intent to foreclose by certified mail. It must tell you that you have 35 days from the date it's sent to fix the default and reinstate the mortgage.
• The notice of sale must be personally served on you at least 30 days before the sale. It must also be published once a week for four weeks in a row, starting at least 30 days before the sale.
• The sale happens on a day that isn't a Sunday or legal holiday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., on the property, at the courthouse, at another named place or at the lender's office.

If the home is your homestead, you can force a court case. Send the lender a certified letter, at least 10 days before the sale, saying it's your homestead and you elect judicial foreclosure, and record a copy with the county clerk.

If your mortgage has a power of sale, read every notice the day it arrives. The homestead choice has a short window, and a lawyer can tell you whether it fits your case.

Paying off before your rights end

Anyone with an interest in property under a lien has the right to redeem it, meaning pay off the lien, any time after the debt is due and before that right is foreclosed.

In a court foreclosure, Oklahoma's Supreme Court has said the right to redeem isn't wiped out at the sale, but when the court confirms it.

In a power of sale foreclosure, the notice must tell you that you can redeem by paying everything the mortgage secures before the lender signs and delivers the deed. After that deed, the transfer is absolute, without a right of redemption.

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 Oklahoma, that's 14 months, and the first legal action is filing a petition in court.

Inside a court case, you have 20 days to answer after you're served, and the sale can't happen less than 30 days after the sale notice is first published. If your mortgage waived appraisal, no order of sale can issue until six months after the judgment.

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 the sale doesn't cover the debt, the lender must ask the court for a deficiency order when it asks to confirm the sale, or within 90 days after the sale. The court subtracts the home's market value as it finds it, or the sale price, whichever is higher. If the lender doesn't ask in time, the sale money counts as full payment of the mortgage debt, no matter the amount.

After a power of sale on a home that isn't your homestead, you owe any shortfall unless you agreed otherwise, but the lender must sue for it within 90 days after the sale. On a homestead, you can send the lender a certified notice saying you elect against a deficiency judgment, and then the lender can't sue you personally for it.

If a sheriff's sale brings in more than the judgment, interest and costs, the sheriff must pay the extra to you when you ask. After a power of sale, any money left once the debt and junior liens are paid goes to whoever owned the home just before the sale.

Your right to redeem lasts until the court confirms the sale. After a power of sale, the lender's deed ends it.

Protections when you sell, lease or get offers

• A contract for deed is treated as a mortgage. It's subject to the same foreclosure rules as a mortgage.
• It's illegal to publicly market an equitable interest in a contract to buy a home without an active real estate license.
• A wholesaler must tell you in writing, before you sign, that they plan to assign or sell their interest in your home for more than they're offering you. You can cancel without penalty within two business days of signing. The contract must warn you that the wholesaler can't ask you to sign a deed or any other document until your right to cancel has ended.
• A wholesaler can't put a lien on your home or cloud its title. If the required disclosures are missing, the wholesaler can't enforce the contract, and you're entitled to any earnest money.
• Companies offering mortgage or foreclosure help can't collect fees up front. A push to sign over the title to your home, sometimes called a rent to buy scheme, is a warning sign of a scam.

Two of these can touch how I buy: the contract for deed rule, if seller financing is set up that way, and the wholesaler rules, if a contract is ever assigned. I don't charge you anything, and don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in Oklahoma

• OHFA: Homeowner Assistance Fund. The state's Homeowner Assistance Fund closed to new applications on March 20, 2024. The agency points homeowners to other groups to talk through their options.
• Oklahoma Attorney General: Consumer Protection Unit. The unit mediates consumer complaints and takes legal action against deceptive or unfair sales practices.
• Oklahoma Real Estate Commission: consumers. Guides for homeowners, including one on wholesaling.
• Oklahoma State Courts Network: docket search. Look up your case in your county's district court.
• CFPB: find a housing counselor. Search HUD-approved counseling agencies in Oklahoma.