Foreclosure in Wisconsin

How a Wisconsin 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 starts a court case with a complaint. After filing it, the lender must record a lis pendens, a notice naming the parties and describing the land, with the register of deeds in the county.
3. If you're served with the summons in person, you have 20 days, not counting the day of service, to serve your answer.
4. The court can't enter a judgment of foreclosure and sale until 20 days after the lis pendens was filed.
5. For an owner-occupied home of 1 to 4 units, the sale can't be held until a waiting period after the judgment ends: 12 months if the mortgage was signed before April 27, 2016, 6 months if it was signed on or after that date, or 8 months if, on your request before judgment, the court finds you're trying in good faith to sell and have a listing agreement with a licensed broker.
6. The sheriff or referee gives notice of the time and place of the sale. It's posted in a public place, and on the county's website if it has one, at least 3 weeks before the sale, and printed in a county newspaper each week for 3 weeks in a row.
7. The sale is an auction held between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
8. The court can confirm the sale only after at least 5 days' notice to everyone who has appeared in the case.
9. Once the sale is confirmed, the deed gives the buyer all of your right, title and interest in the home, and the buyer can take possession, with a court writ of assistance if needed.

Catching up or paying off before the sale is confirmed

If what you owe is missed interest or installments, with more installments still to come, the court must dismiss the case if you pay the principal and interest due, plus costs, into court before judgment. If you do that after judgment, proceedings on the judgment are put on hold.

You can also redeem the home before the sale by paying the judgment amount, interest, costs and any taxes the lender paid after judgment, to the clerk of court or to the lender. Court decisions noted with the statute say the sale, for this rule, means the court's confirmation of the sale. If you plan to redeem, pay before a scheduled confirmation hearing begins, or you risk losing the chance.

If you apply to your servicer for help, a complete application received more than 37 days before a sale must be reviewed within 30 days.

In my view, the wait after judgment is a window worth using, whether you catch up, refinance or sell.

Mediation depends on your county

Dane County's court says its foreclosure mediation provider, now known as MediateWisconsin, is no longer continuing the program, and mediation through that program is no longer available.

Ask the clerk of courts in your county whether a local program exists, and talk to a housing counselor either way.

The sheriff's sale and confirmation

• The sale is run by the sheriff or a referee, under the court's judgment.
• The sheriff can postpone the sale more than once, but not for more than 3 months in all.
• Bidders who aren't part of the case must meet minimum qualifications, such as not owning Wisconsin property with taxes more than 120 days overdue.
• If the home sells for less than what's owed, the court can't assume the price was fair. It can't confirm the sale or enter a deficiency judgment until it's satisfied that the home's fair value has been credited to the debt.

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 Wisconsin, that's 12 months, and the first legal action is a court complaint.

Inside that, the waiting period after judgment alone is 6 or 12 months for an owner-occupied home, depending on when the mortgage was signed. Then the sale notice must run for at least 3 weeks, and the sheriff can push the sale back by up to 3 months in all.

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

In its complaint, the lender can ask for a deficiency judgment, for any amount still owed after the sale, against each person who is personally liable for the debt. The deficiency is ordered in the original judgment and entered against the person liable when or after the court confirms the sale. Before that, the court must be satisfied that the home's fair value has been credited to the debt.

If you agreed to it in writing when you signed the mortgage, the lender can choose in its complaint to give up any deficiency. Then you can stay in the home, unless you abandon it, until the court confirms the sale. For a mortgage signed on or after April 27, 2016, the sale in that case waits 3 months after judgment.

Sale money goes first to the debt and costs in the judgment, and any surplus is up to the court. Any party, or anyone who had a lien on the home at the time of sale, can file a claim for the surplus with the clerk of court.

Once the sale is confirmed, the deed bars any further right to redeem by the parties to the case.

Protections when you sell, lease or get offers

Wisconsin regulates foreclosure reconveyances: deals where you transfer title during a foreclosure and the buyer gives or promises an interest back that lets you stay, such as a lease, an option to buy or a land contract.

• The buyer must use a written contract.
• You can cancel until midnight of the 5th business day after you sign, or until 8:00 a.m. on the last day of your redemption period, whichever comes first.
• The buyer must check and be able to show that you can reasonably afford the deal that gives you an interest back.
• If the home isn't deeded back to you, the buyer must make sure you receive at least 82 percent of its fair market value within 150 days after you move out or are evicted.
• You can cancel a contract with a foreclosure consultant until midnight of the 3rd business day after you sign.
• Under federal and Wisconsin law, a company can't collect any fee until your lender has offered you relief and you've accepted it. And no company can tell you to stop talking to your lender.
• Wisconsin's consumer protection agency says to avoid any business that tells you to transfer your deed or title to it, or offers to buy your house for cash for much less than similar houses nearby sell for.
• If you buy a home on a land contract and fall behind, the seller can ask for strict foreclosure, and the court must give you at least 7 working days to redeem.

Some of these touch how I buy. The warnings about signing over your deed and about low cash offers describe parts of my cash offer and taking over payments, so weigh any offer like that carefully. The reconveyance rules cover deals that let you stay or buy the home back, and the land contract rule matters if we use seller financing on a land contract. And don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in Wisconsin

• WHEDA: foreclosure prevention. Help is available if you have a WHEDA mortgage and are having trouble paying it.
• WHEDA: housing counseling resource program. WHEDA says residents struggling with mortgage payments should contact one of the program's counseling agencies.
• Wisconsin DATCP: mortgage assistance relief scams. The state's guide to spotting foreclosure rescue scams.
• Wisconsin State Law Library: foreclosure. Links to Wisconsin foreclosure law, county forms and guides.
• CFPB: find a housing counselor. Search HUD-approved counseling agencies in Wisconsin.