Illinois foreclosure process

In Illinois, the foreclosure proceedings are conducted only via court proceedings. It takes about a year for a foreclosure proceeding to get completed in the State of Illinois.

Period of Pre-foreclosure

The foreclosure proceedings begin in the State of Illinois when the lender decides to take action against the borrower in order to get the default amount. The borrower and any other affected party are given a notice of the court in person or by publication as necessary. Every party has a time period of up to 30 days to reply to the notice of the court. If the parties fail to respond with the stipulated time, then the lender can go ahead and pursue the request for court intervention by asking the court to pass a ruling on this matter. If the court ruling goes in the favor of the lender, then he/she is allowed to schedule a sale of the property in public so that he/she can recover the default amount as well as the applicable costs.

However, if the borrower pays the default loan amount as well as the fees and expenses incurred by the lender to initiate the process, within 3 months of having received the notice of the court, then the proceeding can be stopped. The borrower can also redeem the foreclosed property for no less than 7 months or longer after receiving notification from the court by making full payment.

Auction Notice

The sale notice has to be sent to every party involved and it must include default details such as the address for the property and it’s legal description, the time of inspection of the property prior to sale, the terms of the sale, the title of the case, number and the name of the court dealing with the lawsuit, name and information of the contact person, the time, day, date, and location of the sale. The sale notice will also be published under the real estate and legal notices column of any local paper, for at least 3 consecutive weeks, once each week. The first publication will be sent within 45 days from the date of the sale, while the last publication will be published no less than 7 days prior to the date of the sale. In case the sale is postponed for over 60 days from the original date of sale, then a new notice will be published.

The public auction in Illinois is conducted by the sheriff. Any person can bid, even the lender can bid, and the property is sold to the winner of the bid. Upon payment of the total bid price, the winning bidder receives the certificate of sale from the sheriff or the person who conducts the sale. However, the sale has to be confirmed by the court.

The winner of the bid gets the property’s ownership when the court confirms the sale. He/She is entitled to take complete possession of the foreclosed property except for when an eviction is needed. If there are occupants on the property, then the winning bidder will get possession no later than 30 days.