Real-estate agent Brett Barry had a neighbor who lost his north Phoenix home to foreclosure last fall. People from the group that purchased the home at the foreclosure auction showed up at the house right after the sale.

Barry said the couple in the house had a daughter and grandchildren living with them. They were kicked out and had to hire movers and find a hotel all in one day. The buyers, likely concerned the couple might damage something or take the home’s appliances, refused to let the pair back inside the home to get their belongings. So during the two days the movers took to pack up the house, the couple could only watch from the sidewalk while the buyers stood nearby.

Rick Lott of Chandler suffered three heart attacks in less than two years. He lost his job. Medical bills mounted. And he fell behind on mortgage payments. He landed a new, lower-paying job and has tried several times to work out a loan modification with his lender. But so far he hasn’t succeeded.

His home was scheduled to sell at a foreclosure auction in mid-February. Lott planned to go to the auction and ask whoever bought it for more time for his family to pack and move.

On the day the auction was scheduled, Lott left his two adult sons at his home to make sure no one tried to change the locks or move his family’s belongings before he returned.

“A real-estate agent told me my house was bound to sell at auction,” Lott said, “and I should be ready to be evicted the day it sold.”

Less than two hours before the scheduled auction, Lott found out his home wouldn’t go on the block that day. He told his sons they could leave.

But he stayed at home in case the postponement was a mistake, his home did sell and someone tried to kick him out. Lott is now hoping he won’t have to repeat the stressful scenario in April when the foreclosure auction on his home is now scheduled.

Legal process

The foreclosure-auction process is regulated by Arizona law, but no state or county agency monitors the auctions or the initial eviction efforts by new owners.

“Few people understand the state’s foreclosure laws,” said Jay Butler, director of realty studies at Arizona State University. “A homeowner trying to figure out a loan modification and how to pay their utility bills or find another job isn’t going to have time to figure the laws before they get an eviction knock at their door.”

Arizona Revised Statutes 12-1171 through 12-1183 are the state’s laws for the foreclosure-eviction process.

Michelle Lind, general counsel for the Arizona Association of Realtors, explained how the state’s eviction laws work.

“The buyer of a foreclosure home has to give the home’s former owner notice to move out,” she said. “If after five days the former owner doesn’t move out, the new owner can file with the courts for a forcible eviction.”

A foreclosure home’s new owner can file for a forcible eviction in a local municipal court. If the court grants the eviction request, then the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office sends a constable to the home to make the former owner leave. In 2009, the Sheriff’s Office was involved in 1,416 forcible evictions, compared with 280 in 2007.

The whole foreclosure auction process is overloaded. Foreclosure cancellations and revocations filed with the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office by lenders are at an all-time high. A cancellation is filed by a lender to stop a foreclosure against a borrower before the home is sold at auction. A revocation can be filed by a lender to repeal or nullify an illegal or invalid foreclosure sale.

If homeowners believe they are losing their home illegally, they can hire an attorney and fight the sale and the eviction.

Little wiggle room

Many new buyers taking over recently purchased foreclosure homes know they can’t legally evict the former owners for five days. And some new buyers don’t want angry people trashing a home, so they might offer more time to move out.

Anyone who is told to leave a home after a foreclosure auction should ask for proof of purchase. But beyond having a window of time to move, there is not much a homeowner can negotiate once the home is sold at a foreclosure auction. The goal is really about making the process less painful.

“Homeowners are scared, and they don’t understand the law. They are listening to bullies at their door telling them they have to be out now,” said real-estate attorney Diane Drain. “But if a homeowner can prepare and leave with some dignity, it will help them recover from a foreclosure faster.”

Homeowners may be able to get more than five days to leave.

Lenders have been offering homeowners facing foreclosure money for cooperation. The program, endorsed by the federal government’s housing plan, is known as cash for keys. Homeowners are typically offered $1,000 or more if they don’t strip or vandalize a home after losing it to foreclosure.

There are also instances of new buyers offering former owners cash to move out quickly and leave behind appliances and other fixtures.

Some new buyers may rent the house to the former owners to give them more time to find another place.

Arizona legislation was recently introduced to allow lower-income homeowners to stay in the house after foreclosure and rent it from the new owner.

John Smith is president of the Mesa-based non-profit Housing Our Communities, which helps homeowners facing foreclosure. Smith said, “If people have time to find a decent place to move and can negotiate some help from whoever bought their home, it’s going to make the experience better for everyone involved.”