Although timelines vary widely from state to state, there is a basic foreclosure procedure that you can expect. Here are the basics of what you can expect.

Missing the first payment. After you miss your first payment, you can expect to start getting calls from your mortgage company. The foreclosure procedure will not have started yet but as soon as you miss that first payment, you are headed down that road. If you miss a second payment, chances are that those calls from your lender will occur more frequently. In my own foreclosure procedure experience, these calls did not happen nearly as frequently as I would have thought.

This is the point where you will have the greatest opportunity to save your home and stop the foreclosure procedure. At this point, it is still just between you and your mortgage company. Do whatever you can to work with them at this point. Answer their calls and tell them why you are unable to make your mortgage payments.

60 to 90 days after you have missed your first payment. Typically, the mortgage company will start the foreclosure procedure at this point. They will hire lawyers and from this point forward, the money starts adding up quickly. This is also when courts typically get involved and court costs are also never cheap. In my own foreclosure procedure, there were several thousand dollars of lawyer fees and court costs that I had to pay.

Here is where the foreclosure timelines for your state come into play. Your foreclosure procedure could go relatively quickly after this or it could drag out for almost a year. How exactly your state's laws work are critical here. In my own situation, it went fairly quickly. It was 4 months from when I received the first letter from my mortgage company's lawyers to the sale date for my home.

Auction date or sheriff's sale. If you cannot find a way to stop your foreclosure procedure, your home will be sold. Again, your state's laws come into play here as to how exactly this will work out. In my own case, it would have been a sale at the courthouse. In some states, it is a sale on the front lawn. If you cannot save your home, knowing how it works in your state can at least get you prepared for this part of the foreclosure procedure.