foreclosure
noun
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Definition of foreclosure
Examples of foreclosure in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As Loury wrote in a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed earlier this month, the recent economic downturn put further pressure on historically under-resourced black neighborhoods in Chicago, increasing foreclosures and depressing real estate values. — Patrick Sisson, Curbed, "How a ‘reverse Great Migration’ is reshaping U.S. cities," 31 July 2018 Coming off foreclosure and bankruptcy, Neva Swims did not plan on her friend, Gathan Anderson, to engineer the sale of her property for $1,000 to a defunct non-profit group. — Mary Spicuzza, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Disgraced ex-real estate broker Gathan Anderson faces two more lawsuits over fake home sales," 27 Apr. 2018 Jackson moved out of Neverland after his 2005 trial for charges of child molestation, closing the property, and allowing it to go into foreclosure in 2008, Esquire reported. — Taylor Mead, House Beautiful, "Neverland Ranch Is Back on the Market, Here's Everything You Need to Know," 6 Mar. 2019 The residence has been owned by a bank since Anastasia Kirkeby, Burns’s former partner, lost it in foreclosure in 2016. — Bob Hohler, BostonGlobe.com, "Ailing former Patriots, feeling spurned by the NFL, turn to a clinic with a founder of dubious repute," 28 Apr. 2018 In 2017, an apartment that had been owned by shell companies linked to a Nigerian businessman sold in a foreclosure auction for $36 million, far less than the $50.9 million purchase price in 2014. — Candace Taylor, WSJ, "The Man Behind Billionaires’ Row Battles to Sell the World’s Tallest Condo," 17 Jan. 2019 The book includes a passage about her work as attorney general in negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement with five major banks for their role in the foreclosure crisis after the economic downturn a decade ago. — Ken Thomas, WSJ, "Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris Says She Is Running for President in 2020," 21 Jan. 2019 The sector seemed to get a boost from the foreclosure crisis, which seems reasonable given that millions of people who lost homes probably had to move into smaller rentals or share housing. — Ryan Dezember, WSJ, "Got Junk? Self-Storage Investors Hope So," 21 Dec. 2018 The money, about $800,000, was part of a $2.4 million transfer to the account following a foreclosure sale Prins conducted for a client. — Patrick Danner, San Antonio Express-News, "Disgraced ex-San Antonio lawyer Prins gets six-year prison sentence," 15 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'foreclosure.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for foreclosure
foreclosure
nounFinancial Definition of foreclosure
What It Is
Foreclosure occurs when a lender seizes and sells a borrower's collateral after the borrower has failed to repay the lender. The term is most often associated with real estate.
How It Works
In general, there are eight events involved in a foreclosure (in this example, we assume the borrower has obtained a mortgage for a house from the lender).
1. The borrower signs a contract agreeing to repay the lender over a period of time, usually in predetermined installments.
2. The borrower misses one or more payments.
3. The lender sends the borrower one or more notices of delinquency.
4. The borrower and the lender try to adjust the repayment schedule so that the borrower is more likely to make at least some of the payments until he or she gets back on his feet. (This process is called special forbearance or mortgage modification.)
5. The borrower misses additional payments.
6. The lender sends the borrower a notice of default and initiates foreclosure proceedings.
8. A public auction occurs during business hours, and the highest bidder is usually entitled to buy the property. At that point, the borrower cannot get the property back unless he or she buys it back.
Why It Matters
The foreclosure process can take several months, if not years, and it does long-term damage to a person's credit report. It is important to note that foreclosure laws vary by state, and they affect the order or duration of these steps. It is also important to note that the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act affects foreclosure proceedings by stipulating the methods lenders can use to go after bad debts.
[Click here to read Seven Ways to Stop a Foreclosure on Your Home]
Source: Investing Answers
foreclosure
noun
\
Legal Definition of foreclosure
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