Why sheriff sales move

Sheriff sales move. The date on a listing is the date the sheriff has set, not a promise that the property will be sold that day. Of the 7,701 upcoming sales in our records, 1,934 have already been postponed at least once. A postponement keeps the case alive and moves the sale to a new date; a cancellation takes it off the calendar. This guide sets out why sales move, and what the moves can tell a bidder.

Adjournments by the parties

Both the plaintiff and the owner can usually move a sale, within limits each state sets, and a court can move it further.

The plaintiff postpones most often. A lender adjourns because the borrower is being reviewed for a loan modification, a payoff or short sale is pending, the paperwork for the sale is not ready, or the investor that owns the loan has not approved the sale. The owner asks for time to refinance, sell or file papers. Each state sets its own limits:

• New Jersey. A sheriff "may make five adjournments of the sale, two at the request of the lender" ^[1], two at the debtor's request and one by agreement, each for no more than 30 calendar days. Beyond those, only "a court of competent jurisdiction may, for cause, order further adjournments" ^[2]. The sheriff must also hold the sale within 150 days of receiving the writ ^[3].
• Pennsylvania. A sale postponed to a date within 130 days, announced to the bidders at the sale, needs no new advertising ^[4]. The plaintiff can stay the sale by written direction to the sheriff ^[5], and if no one appears for the plaintiff, "the real property shall not be sold" ^[6].
• Ohio. On the official sheriff sale site, the plaintiff may postpone a sale "one time for up to one hundred eighty days" ^[7], and every bid placed before a postponement is void ^[8]. A sale run by a private selling officer can be postponed more than once, as long as each new date is within 180 days of the first ^[9].

Bankruptcy and the automatic stay

Filing a bankruptcy petition "operates as a stay, applicable to all entities" ^[10], of among other things "any act to create, perfect, or enforce any lien against property of the estate" ^[11]. A sheriff sale is such an act, so a petition filed before the sale stops it, even one filed that morning. A sale held in violation of the stay is at risk of being undone, which is why sheriffs pull a property as soon as they learn of a filing.

The stay has limits that matter to a bidder watching a repeat filer:

• If the owner had a case dismissed within the past year, the stay on the new filing ends on the 30th day unless the court extends it ^[12].
• If two or more cases were dismissed within the past year, the new filing brings no stay at all ^[13].
• If the court finds the filing was part of a scheme to delay or defraud creditors, including multiple filings affecting the property, it can grant the lender relief as to the real estate itself ^[14].

The lender can also ask the bankruptcy court to lift the stay. When it does, or the case is dismissed, the sale usually comes back on the calendar.

Loss mitigation and loan modifications

Federal servicing rules stop a sale while a borrower is being reviewed for help. If a borrower submits a complete loss mitigation application "more than 37 days before a foreclosure sale, a servicer shall not move for foreclosure judgment or order of sale, or conduct a foreclosure sale" until the review has run its course ^[15]. A trial modification, a repayment plan or a pending short sale often produces a string of short postponements while it runs. Court mediation programs, such as New Jersey's for owner-occupied homes, can hold a case for months.

Court orders, military service and notice defects

• Court stays. A court can stay a sale on a party's motion, while the defendant challenges service, the amount due or the plaintiff's right to foreclose. Pennsylvania's rule also stays execution wherever "an Act of Congress or an Act of Assembly" gives a right to a stay ^[5].
• Military service. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a foreclosure sale on a mortgage taken out before military service "shall not be valid if made during, or within one year after, the period of the servicemember's military service" without a court order or a waiver agreement ^[16].
• Notice problems. If the owner or a lienholder was not properly notified, the sale has to move so notice can be given. In Pennsylvania, notice served late is cured by postponing the sale to a date at least 30 days after the last service ^[17]. In Ohio, a sale held without the required notice is to be set aside on the motion of any interested party ^[18], so plaintiffs move a sale rather than risk losing it.

Payoffs and reinstatement

The owner can end the matter by paying. Before the sale, a payoff or reinstatement cancels it, and in some states the owner can still redeem after the auction: in Ohio, until the court confirms the sale ^[19]. A sale that disappears from the sheriff's list with no new date has usually been stayed, cancelled or paid off. Our records then mark it removed and drop it from every count, as the methodology explains.

How to read a postponement history

Each sale in this register carries its postponement count and the dates it moved from, taken from the sheriff's own list each night. Read it like a docket, not a forecast:

• One or two moves of a few weeks are routine. In New Jersey they may be the debtor's statutory adjournments; elsewhere, a scheduling or paperwork matter.
• A long chain of short moves by the plaintiff usually means something is happening off the list: a modification review, mediation, a short sale or a payoff negotiation. These can end without an auction, or come back once the talks fail.
• A sudden removal with no new date often means a bankruptcy filing, a court stay or a cancellation. Search the bankruptcy court's records by the owner's name; the debtor's earlier filings tell you whether a stay applies, and for how long.
• A sale that returns after months away often follows a dismissed bankruptcy or a failed modification. It may go ahead quickly, and a repeat filer's next petition may bring a short stay or none.
• In New Jersey, count against the limit. Once the five statutory adjournments are used, the next move needs a court order.

Two practical rules follow. Do not pay for a full title search until the date looks firm, and confirm with the sheriff's office on the morning of the sale: a sale stayed that morning will still be on that morning's list here.

For the rest of the process, see how sheriff sales work and how to buy a house at a sheriff sale. The sheriff sale calendar shows which counties have sales coming, and the state guides cover New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.