One issue most homeowners in foreclosure worry about is when they will be kicked out of their home by the county sheriff. Often, the bank, other financial experts, and even foreclosure help companies will continually bring up the threat of eviction in order to convince homeowners to act sooner rather than later and attempt to save their homes before they are set out on the street. But the idea of quick impending evictions carried out weeks after the first missed mortgage payment is little more than a myth

The first action every homeowner should take when attempting to stop foreclosure or just find out how long they have to remain in their home is to look up their state foreclosure laws. Time frames for every part of the process is determined at the state law level, and there are many different terms and circumstances that can postpone a foreclosure for weeks, months, or even an entire year. This is why it is so important to look up the laws first; this helps borrowers understand exactly what steps the bank will take in order to put the house through the legal process due to nonpayment of the mortgage.

But even the foreclosure laws of the state in which the property is located are not the final answer to how long homeowners have before eviction. The owners can and should work with the lender to have the sheriff sale postponed for as long as they are trying to negotiate a mortgage modification, sell the house, or work on any other solution. The lender can and will delay the process as often as they are convinced to do so; of course, they will want to be assured the borrowers are working on a reasonable plan to save the house. Mortgage companies will not be willing to delay the auction forever, but getting a postponement multiple times can be done through a simple request.

The important idea to remember is for homeowners to keep in contact with their lender and request in writing more time to work out a solution. The best that will happen is the bank will grant the additional thirty days or longer; the worst that will happen is the bank will deny the request and the owners will be forced to postpone the sale in other ways. This may be done through bankruptcy or filing motions in the court system, but there are always additional methods by which homeowners can gain more time to avoid foreclosure.

This is not to say that the threat of eviction is not a real one, however. Homeowners should be working diligently on keeping their home, rather than simply requesting more time and then sitting on their hands until the new sale date and then requesting more extensions. Following this plan is probably the quickest way for the bank to deny any further requests for time and proceed with the auction and eviction as soon as possible. But borrowers should also not accept that eviction is inevitable, and having an extra month to sell or refinance may mean the difference between losing the home and avoiding the worst consequences of foreclosure.