Most real estate foreclosure procedures in the State of New Hampshire are conducted out-of-court. Typically, an out-of-court foreclosure procedure in this state would take about three months to complete, and this period is inclusive of the pre foreclosure period.
New Hampshire is state of "power-of-sale". Almost every mortgage has a included in it a power-of-sale clause, that empowers the lender to dispose off the property in sale to recover the dues in the event of any failure on the part of the borrower to pay the dues. The mortgages often include a clause requiring the lender to send a notice of default, with details of the default amount, to the borrower giving a moratorium period of 30 days to remit the amount in default.
The notice shall also contain a warning that the lender shall exercise the right to initiate foreclosure proceedings in case the borrower fails to remit the default amount within the period stipulated. If the borrower fails to remit the demanded default payments in full, within the specified period, the lender shall initiate the foreclosure procedure and schedule the sale of foreclosure.
The borrower shall have the option of halting the foreclosure process and retain the property prior to the sale scheduled, by remitting the entire default amount in full, along with necessary costs and damages to the lender.
Once the lender has proceeded with the foreclosure procedure, the notice of the sale shall be published in a local daily newspaper once per week, for a period of three consecutive weeks. The date of the first publication shall be at least 21 days before the date of the scheduled sale. The borrower shall be given a notice of the sale within a period not less than 26 days prior to the date of the scheduled sale.
Among other things, the notice of the sale shall include within it;
The scheduled sale notified mostly is held at the premises of the mortgaged property and is usually conducted by the attorney of the lender or an authorized auctioneer. The minimum bid for the property at the auction is typically 70-85 percent of the prevailing fair market value of the property. Any member of the public, including the lender, may submit a bid for the property. The property shall be sold to the highest bidder.
Within a period of 60 days of the completion of the foreclosure sale, the winning bidder shall remit the entire bid amount. The lender shall, after such a remittance, file the requisite recorded documents in order to transfer the ownership rights in favor of the winning bidder.
If you need more information about New Hampshire foreclosure laws, you should contact a foreclosure lawyer, or contact us so we can recommend one for you.
