How Long Does Foreclosure Take in Michigan? Stages and Redemption

Foreclosure in Michigan usually takes about eight to fourteen months from your first missed payment to the day you lose the property, assuming your lender uses the common non-judicial route called foreclosure by advertisement. A judicial foreclosure, filed as a lawsuit in circuit court, generally runs 14 to 18 months and often longer. Where you land in that range depends on which method your lender uses, how long your redemption period is, and whether anything you do, such as filing bankruptcy or applying for a loan modification, pauses the process.

The First Four Months: Before Foreclosure Can Start

Federal rules give you a built-in cushion before any foreclosure begins. Your loan servicer cannot start the foreclosure process until you are at least 120 days behind on payments.¹

Those four months are not quiet. The servicer must try to reach you by phone or in person no later than 36 days after each missed payment, and must send written notice of the delinquency and available loss mitigation programs by day 45.² This window is the best time to negotiate a modification, repayment plan, or other workout. If you submit a complete loss mitigation application more than 37 days before a scheduled foreclosure sale, your servicer must review it and respond in writing within 30 days.³ Miss that 37-day cutoff and the servicer has no duty to evaluate it at all.

Foreclosure By Advertisement: The Common Path

Most Michigan foreclosures use foreclosure by advertisement, a non-judicial process that happens outside court. It’s faster and cheaper, so lenders prefer it whenever the mortgage contains a power-of-sale clause and the loan is properly recorded.⁴

Notice, Publication, and the Sheriff’s Sale

Once the 120-day threshold passes, the lender publishes a notice of foreclosure sale in a newspaper in the county where the property sits, once per week for four straight weeks. A copy of the notice must also be physically posted on the property within 15 days of the first newspaper publication.⁵ The notice names the borrower, describes the property, states the amount owed, and sets the sale date.⁶

After the four-week publication period, a sheriff’s sale is held at the county courthouse. The property goes to the highest bidder, which is usually the lender itself, and a sheriff’s deed is recorded transferring title. Count on roughly four to six months from your first missed payment to the day of the sheriff’s sale.

The Redemption Period

The sheriff’s sale is not the end. The day the sale happens, a redemption period begins. During that window you can reclaim the property by paying the full winning bid plus interest and fees. The length depends on your property and loan:⁷

Six months is the standard for residential property of four units or fewer when more than two-thirds of the original mortgage balance was still owed at the time of foreclosure.
One year applies when less than two-thirds of the original balance was owed, or when none of the other specific categories fit.
One year also applies to agricultural property, if you filed a Schedule F with your federal taxes for the prior year and recorded an affidavit with the county register of deeds before the sale.
Thirty days applies if the lender inspects the property, finds it abandoned, posts and mails a notice of abandonment, and you don’t respond within 15 days.

Commercial, industrial, and multifamily property with more than four units gets six months regardless of how much was owed.

While redemption runs, you can keep living in the property. The purchaser can request interior and exterior inspections, but no more than once per calendar month and no more than three times in any six-month stretch. Refuse an inspection or damage the property, and the purchaser can ask a court to cut the redemption period short.

Add the pieces up for a typical owner-occupied home: roughly four months before foreclosure can start, about a month for publication and the sheriff’s sale, and six months of redemption gives you around 11 months. Stretch the redemption to a year and the total runs closer to 17.

Judicial Foreclosure: The Slower Court Path

Lenders sometimes file foreclosure as a lawsuit in the circuit court for the county where the property sits.⁸ You typically have 21 days to file a response. From there the case moves through standard litigation, which can involve discovery, motions, and possibly a trial before the court enters a judgment of foreclosure.

Even after judgment, the court cannot order the property sold until at least six months after the complaint was first filed.⁹ A redemption period then follows the judicial sale, with the same durations by property type and amount owed.⁷

Between the pre-foreclosure period, the litigation, the six-month minimum before sale, and the redemption window, a judicial foreclosure rarely finishes in less than 14 to 18 months. Contested cases often run past two years.

What Can Push the Timeline Longer

Any of the following can extend either method:

Filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay that halts foreclosure right away. In a Chapter 7, the lender will usually ask the court to lift the stay within a few months. In a Chapter 13, the stay runs through the length of your repayment plan, which can be three to five years, giving you time to catch up on arrears through the plan.
A complete loss mitigation application submitted more than 37 days before the scheduled sale forces the servicer to review it before moving forward, and the review and any appeals can add weeks or months.³
Lender mistakes in notice publication, chain-of-title recording, or service of documents can force a restart. Michigan courts have invalidated sales for procedural failures.
Heavy caseloads in circuit court slow down judicial foreclosure hearings and can add months.
Suing to challenge the foreclosure, on grounds like improper notice, lack of standing, or predatory lending, can delay the process substantially, especially if the court issues a temporary restraining order.

Timelines at a Glance

These estimates assume no bankruptcy, no contested litigation, and no extended loss mitigation review. Real cases run longer often enough that you should treat these as a floor.

Foreclosure by advertisement with a six-month redemption: roughly 11 to 13 months from first missed payment to loss of the property.
Foreclosure by advertisement with a one-year redemption: roughly 17 to 19 months.
Foreclosure by advertisement on abandoned property: as few as six to seven months if the lender moves quickly and establishes abandonment.
Judicial foreclosure with a six-month redemption: at least 14 to 18 months, and often longer.
Contested judicial foreclosure: two years or more is common.

The redemption period is the single biggest variable. For most homeowners with a standard residential mortgage where more than two-thirds of the original balance remains, the six-month redemption applies and the lender uses foreclosure by advertisement. Figuring out where you fall tells you roughly how much time you have to work with.

1
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Will It Take Before I’ll Face Foreclosure if I Can’t Make My Mortgage Payments?
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1024.39 Early Intervention Requirements for Certain Borrowers
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Happens After I Complete an Application to Determine My Options to Avoid Foreclosure?
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.3201 – Foreclosure by Advertisement of Mortgage Containing Power of Sale
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.3208 – Notice of Foreclosure; Publication; Posting
6
Michigan.gov. Home Foreclosure
7
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.3240 – Redemption of Premises Sold
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.3101 – Jurisdiction of Circuit Court to Foreclose Mortgages of Real Estate and Land Contracts
9
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.3115