thank you Wayne, is the amount you are referring to called the "judgement" on the county website?

The judge might ask to see the pay-or-quit notice or the lease and he will probably grant immediate judgement.

In the county I live in, the judge always tells everyone in the court before hearings start, "I don't care what your excuse is, lost a job, lost your paycheck, disagreement with your landlord, the bottom line is if you haven't paid the rent, then you are in violation, and a judgement will be granted to the plaintiff."

There is a case to be made for affecting the tenant credit for the next landlord to view, but that should be looked on as just the right thing to do, collecting after a judgement is doubtful at best.

@Aaron Yates is a little off in that any deficiency judgement the bank may have claim to, lies with the original owner, not with any buyer at a sheriff sale.If you purchase the $80k second note, highly discounted, say for $2k (as example) you can only foreclose for the amount you paid not the original value of the note.

The underwriting agent in question was unwilling, for whatever reason, to admit her judgement was in error, and based on her recommendation the bank declined to proceed with their refinancing and gave us 60-days notice they would be calling the note.

Full possession would be the mortgagee taking back a deed to the property or having a favorable judgement granting possession.

In the example above, insurance covered the suit, but let's say the plaintiffs were awarded a $20M judgement.

Now when I hear my friends talk about certain purchases (mind you, it's not a judgement, because I was JUST like them many years ago), I just think about how that $$ could go towards something that could be building wealth.

A mechanics lien falls off in a year if he doesn't win a judgement, which I dont see in this case as you describe it.