Wisconsin runs foreclosures through a court, and it is the one state we have covered whose statute gives a homeowner extra time specifically for trying to sell. It also cuts the wait to five weeks if the house is found abandoned. Here is what generally applies before you sell, in plain language.
Generally not until more than 120 days delinquentBefore Any State Clock Starts: the Federal 120-Day Rule
Every state timeline on this page sits behind a federal one, and it is the single most
useful thing to know if you have missed payments. Under
Regulation
X, 12 CFR 1024.41(f)(1), a mortgage servicer generally
“shall not make the first notice or filing” required for a judicial or
non-judicial foreclosure unless the borrower's mortgage loan obligation is
more than 120 days delinquent.
That is roughly four months of missed payments before the state process is even allowed to
begin. It is why a state sequence that looks alarmingly short on paper is usually longer in
practice than the statute alone suggests.
The exceptions, because they are real. The rule does not apply where the
foreclosure is based on a violation of a due-on-sale clause, or where the servicer is joining the
action of a superior or subordinate lienholder. Small servicers are not exempt from this
particular prohibition. Loan types and servicing arrangements vary, and some loans are outside
Regulation X altogether.
So treat 120 days as the general floor rather than a guarantee, and work from the dates on your
own paperwork. If a notice has arrived and you do not believe you are past that point, that is a
question worth putting to a HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney before you do anything
else.
Three months after judgment, or six for a pre-April 2016 mortgageWisconsin Gives You Extra Time For Trying To Sell, If You Ask Before Judgment
This is the most useful thing on this page, and almost nobody knows it.
Wisconsin foreclosures run through a court. Where the lender elects to
waive its deficiency judgment under Wis. Stat. 846.101, on a mortgage covering
twenty acres or less, the sale cannot be held until a waiting period runs out:
- Six months from judgment, if the mortgage was executed before
27 April 2016.
- Three months from judgment, if it was executed on or after that date.
And then there is a third option that exists for sellers specifically:
“Upon motion of the mortgagor before judgment is entered, if
the court finds that the mortgagor is attempting in good faith to sell the
mortgaged premises and has entered into a listing agreement with a real estate broker
licensed under ch. 452 ... upon the expiration of 5 months from the date
when the judgment is entered”
Read the conditions, because all three have to be true together. The motion has
to be made before judgment is entered, not after. The court has to find you are genuinely
trying to sell. And you need an actual listing agreement with a licensed broker in place.
We will say the obvious thing here even though it points away from us. If you
can list the house and you have the time to wait a sale out, do that. On a mortgage executed on or
after 27 April 2016 Wisconsin will give you two extra months for it. That is the statute rewarding
exactly the route that usually nets a seller more money, and we are not going to pretend otherwise
to win your business.
Check your mortgage date before you rely on that. Where the mortgage was
executed before 27 April 2016 the default wait is already six months, so the five-month
route is one month shorter, not longer. It would still be the right move if you
want the court to know you are selling in good faith, but it is not extra time, and anyone telling
you otherwise has not read the dates.
Where a listing is not realistic, for the reasons further down this page, the shorter route is a
cash sale, and this extension is not a reason to sign a listing agreement you cannot perform on.
Note also what the lender gets out of 846.101: it gives up the right to chase you for a
deficiency. In exchange, you may remain in possession and keep the rents and
profits to the date the court confirms the sale, unless you abandon the property.
The federal rule above generally sits in front of all of it.
Official source: Wis. Stat. §846.101
Five weeks after judgment if the court finds the house abandonedMoving Out Can Cut Your Timetable To Five Weeks
Wisconsin puts a number on this, and the number is short.
Under Wis. Stat. 846.102, on a motion by the lender or by the city, town, village or
county, if the court makes an affirmative finding that the premises have been abandoned,
“any sale of the mortgaged premises may be held at any time after the expiration of
5 weeks from the date when the judgment is entered”.
Five weeks, instead of three months or six. And the municipality can raise it even when your
lender has not.
“Abandoned” is broader than people assume. The statute defines it as
the relinquishment of possession or control, whether or not you have given up equity and
title. The court weighs the totality of the circumstances, and the statute lists what it looks at:
boarded, closed or damaged windows or doors; missing, unhinged or continuously unlocked doors;
terminated utility accounts; accumulated trash or debris; at least two
reports to law enforcement of trespassing, vandalism or other illegal acts; and conditions
making the premises unsafe or unsanitary.
Turning the utilities off to save money is on that list. So if you have moved out of a Wisconsin
house in foreclosure, that decision may have shortened your own clock rather than bought you room.
It is worth knowing before you decide anything else.
Redeeming, and when the window shuts. Under Wis. Stat. 846.13 you may redeem
at any time before the sale by paying the judgment, interest, costs and any taxes the
lender has paid. Three things narrow that in practice: Wisconsin courts read
“sale” as meaning confirmation of the sale; a court has no authority to
accept a payment plan, so it is full payment or nothing; and you need to pay
before the confirmation hearing begins, not during it. Once the court confirms,
846.16 says the deed is a bar to all right of equity of redemption. There is no second window
afterwards.
Official sources: Wis. Stat. §846.102 and §846.13
The Transfer Fee Is 30 Cents Per $100, And The Statute Puts It On You
Wis. Stat. 77.22 is unusually direct about who pays:
“There is imposed on the grantor of real estate a real estate
transfer fee at the rate of 30 cents for each $100 of value or fraction thereof on
every conveyance not exempted or excluded”
The grantor is the seller. That is 0.3% of the price, so on the Wisconsin median
of $358,507 it is roughly $1,076. The register of deeds collects it at recording,
and a completed transfer return is a prerequisite to the deed being accepted.
One distinction worth holding onto. The statute says who the fee is imposed on.
It does not stop a purchase contract from allocating who actually bears the cost, and contracts do
sometimes move it. The tax duty and the deal terms are two different questions, and a seller
comparing offers should read which one each offer is talking about.
Some conveyances are exempt. Wis. Stat. 77.25 lists them, and several matter to
people reading this page: transfers by will, descent or survivorship; between
husband and wife, or between domestic partners under ch. 770;
between parent and child, stepparent and stepchild, or grandparent and grandchild,
but only for nominal or no consideration; under a foreclosure or a deed in
lieu of foreclosure; and real estate worth $1,000 or less.
Do not read those too generously. The family exemptions turn on nominal or no
consideration, so an ordinary sale at market price from a parent to a child is not exempt. Wisconsin
courts construe these exemptions strictly against granting them. Your title company
or attorney should confirm which subsection, if any, your transaction sits in.
On the auction itself. Some Wisconsin counties have adopted ordinances requiring
foreclosure sales to run as internet auctions, with notice posted at least three
weeks beforehand on the county website. Whether yours has is a county-by-county question and we have
not surveyed it, so check your own county's site rather than assuming. Separately, if the house sells
for less than what is owed, the court cannot confirm the sale or enter a deficiency judgment until it
is satisfied the property's fair value has been credited against the debt.
What this page does not tell you. We have not summarized Wisconsin's seller
condition report requirements or their exemptions, because we have not read them closely enough to
state them and an approximation would be worse than nothing. What holds generally is that selling
as-is describes who pays for repairs, not what you are allowed to leave unsaid.
Official sources: Wis. Stat. §77.22 and §77.25
