Please watch the Introductory Video below
What is important to know post-sale?
- The sheriff doesn’t show up unless we first lose an eviction lawsuit which involves a process
- Tip – We can generally agree to a settlement months and even years after the auction – even on the day of an eviction trial – which would prevent the sheriff from ever getting involved.
- Title generally transfers to the winning bidder 15 days after the auction.
- Tip – if a certain notice is received by the foreclosing trustee on or before 5:00 PM on the 15th day after the auction, issuance of the trustee’s deed is held until 45 days after the auction.
- Within days of issuance, the trustee’s (transfer) deed will be recorded at the county recorder.
- The winning bidder or its agent will want to assess the situation. They may knock on the door or leave a note and/or business card and invite a conversation. Their goal will always be to get you out as quickly and cheaply as possible (for them).
- Less is More. The safest thing is to simply not answer the door to strangers.
- We know of no law that states that we have to open the door to strangers.
- We know of no law that states that we must let a stranger into our home – even if that stranger says he’s the new owner.
- If we do answer the door, a safe general response to any question (even “are you John/Jane Doe?”) is simply “I will listen to what you have to say but you may not come in and I will not answer questions.”
- We would not make any statements suggesting inhabitability issues (otherwise, we might invite a “just cause” eviction which would be bad).
- Less is More. The safest thing is to simply not answer the door to strangers.
- After the trustee’s deed is recorded, the winning bidder can serve a Three/Ninety-Day Notice to Quit.
- When we don’t leave in the three days (ninety days for some tenants), the winning bidder can file and become the plaintiff in an Unlawful Detainer (eviction) lawsuit.
- Once filed, the eviction lawsuit can then be served on us (we are the defendants).
- Tip: We know of no law that requires us to answer the door to strangers (even process servers).
- If we don’t timely respond to the lawsuit (within 10 court days) we can be defaulted.
- If we jump directly to an answer (which is what Legal Aid will guide us to do), we collapse the timeline and can get to a trial or summary judgment hearing within weeks.
- If we are defaulted or if a trial or summary judgment is won by the plaintiff, a Writ of Possession is generally issued and then delivered to the sheriff.
- The sheriff can then schedule to serve a Notice to Vacate which generally sets a lock-out date 5 – 10 days after service.
- When all of the wrong actions are taken, this process can complete in about a month.
- When we exercise all of our rights, this process can take many months and sometimes years.