Foreclosure - When Two Mortgage Companies File At Once
By Nick Adama
"When it rains, it pours." Homeowners with more than one mortgage who have fallen behind on all of them know that old cliche possibly more than anyone else. When a financial hardship comes up, and there is not enough income to make all of the mortgage payments, more than one of the lenders may initiate foreclosure proceedings in the county court at roughly the same time. In fact, if one starts the process of filing paperwork in the court system, all of the others may also file as soon as they are aware of the first foreclosure, and that the homeowners are behind on all of their bills. This situation can be somewhat confusing for homeowners, though, if the second mortgage files first, followed by the first; or the HELOC holder filing first, followed by the first and then the second.

But, to put it in as simple terms as possible, filing foreclosure is simply one creditor, who has had the house pledged as collateral for a mortgage loan, asking the appropriate local court to sell the house, in order for the mortgage company to regain any losses experienced on the nonpayment of the loan. The fact that more than one lender is claiming losses at once, when all of the lenders are behind on payments, should not be surprising at all.

It will be the court itself that orders the sheriff sale of the property, as long as the plaintiff in the case, the bank, can prove that the loan is in default and that the property is collateral. This, of course, is usually quite easy to prove, and, far too often, homeowners do not even make an appearance at the foreclosure hearing to make an answer or request more solutions outside of the legal foreclosure process. However, in any case, it does not matter if one mortgage company or lienholder files foreclosure paperwork first or second, as the proceeds from the eventual foreclosure auction will be paid out the same way. The order of payments is determined far in advance, even before the house is sold to the foreclosure victims to begin with.

At the sheriff sale, any back property taxes will be paid off first. Then, the first recorded mortgage will be paid off. After that, any other parties will be paid off in order of when their lien was filed with the county recorder. The only exception would be for a mechanics lien, which may not be recorded at the time of the foreclosure or auction, but the creditor may be able to collect a portion of the proceeds before an earlier-recorded lienholder. This is a somewhat more uncommon event, though, and most homeowners in foreclosure will not experience it. It is also a broader topic than can be discussed fully in this post.

It is the order in which the parties had filed their liens, for the most part, that will determine who is paid off with the proceeds from the auction first, second, third, and so on. Not surprisingly, county property taxes are always paid off first, since the government needs to make sure it gets its share before anyone else. Also, this prevents the new purchaser from having to pay off the back taxes or worry about a tax foreclosure if the transfer does not take place quickly. County property taxes are almost always paid to a current status or otherwise settled in any sale of real estate, whether through foreclosure or otherwise.

Thus, the payment of proceeds from a sheriff sale is not determined by which lienholder files for foreclosure first; rather it is decided solely by the recorded date of the lien. Any lien is counted in the determination of order, whether it is a first mortgage, second mortgage, judgment lien, income tax lien, or other assessment.

This is also a major reason that second mortgage companies are often far more willing to work with homeowners in setting up a repayment plan or taking less money on a short sale they know that, in a foreclosure auction, they will probably not be paid any of the proceeds after the taxes and first mortgage are paid. Other liens beyond the second mortgage often have even less of a chance of getting any real benefit from forcing a sale of a property through foreclosure.

However, any lienholder who has had the property pledged as collateral for a loan can initiate foreclosure proceedings. Even second mortgage companies will start the process if the homeowners are not in contact with the bank and have not expressed an interest in getting the monthly payments back on track. They may hesitate to file for foreclosure, but no response by the owners will eventually force them to take action in the courts. Homeowners will most likely be facing only one foreclosure action against them by a first mortgage company, but this does not preclude the possibility of facing more than one foreclosure lawsuit at a time.