North Carolina foreclosure

The North Carolina foreclosure laws will allow both judicial and non-judicial foreclosures. The judicial foreclosure process requires that the lender file a lawsuit at the county courthouse in order to foreclose. The judge will determine how much the borrower needs to pay in order to stop the process.

The judge will also give the borrower a bit of time to make this payment. If the payment is not made in the time that is alloted, then the judge will allow the foreclosure to go through and the house will be sold at auction.

Now, if the mortgage or deed of trust contains a power of sale clause, then the non-judicial foreclosure process is used. In this power of sale clause, the borrower authorizes that the sale can be made if he/she defaults on the loan.

Before non-judicial foreclosure is carried out a preliminary hearing must take place. In this hearing, the clerk of courts will determine whether the sale can take place. If the sale is allowed, then the clerk of courts will issue a notice of sale allowing the sale to proceed.

If the power of sale clause in the mortgage or deed of trust states the time, place and terms of the sale, then those terms are followed, otherwise the non-judicial foreclosure process must be carried out as follows:

1. 20 days before the sale a copy of the notice of sale must be mailed to the borrower.


2. During the entire 20 days, the notice must be posted at the courthouse.


3. This notice must also be published in a newspaper of the county where the property is located. It must be published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks before the sale.


4. The last ad must appear at least 10 days before the sale


5. The sale is to occur at the courthouse steps between the hours of 10:00AM and 4:00PM on the date specified and will be sold to the highest bidder.