The total cost of a foreclosure has two main parts: attorney’s fees and out-of-pocket costs (court filing fees, service costs, title work, publication, sheriff’s sale fees, etc.). Nationally, foreclosure attorneys often charge somewhere in the $1,500–$5,000 range for routine cases, with hourly rates commonly between $150 and $500+ per hour, depending on the lawyer’s experience and the complexity of the case.
In Oklahoma, many institutional lenders and investors benchmark fees against the flat-fee schedules used by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, and USDA, which generally put a routine judicial foreclosure in the low-to-mid thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees, plus several hundred dollars in court and service costs.
Who actually pays those fees depends on the loan documents and the outcome. Most Oklahoma mortgage and note forms allow the lender to add reasonable foreclosure costs and attorney’s fees to the debt, so they’re effectively recovered from the borrower if there is enough equity or sale proceeds. If the property is upside-down or the owner has strong defenses, the lender may end up eating some or all of the legal fees—one reason it’s important to get a clear cost-benefit analysis up front.
Oklahoma foreclosures typically fall in the 4–12 month range from filing to sheriff’s sale confirmation, assuming a fairly standard case and a cooperative or non-responsive borrower.
The basic milestones often include:
- A federal servicing rule that requires the borrower to be 120 days delinquent before foreclosure starts on most residential loans.
- Filing the petition and serving all defendants.
- A response deadline (usually 20 days from service for an answer).
- Motion for summary judgment or default judgment and hearing.
- Sheriff’s sale, followed by a motion to confirm the sale and order of confirmation.
Contested cases, bankruptcies, loan-modification attempts, or title problems can extend the process substantially.
Partition in kind (physical division): The court splits the land itself into separate parcels—typically rural/acreage where equal division is practical.
Partition by sale: If physical division is impracticable or inequitable, the court orders a sale and divides net proceeds.
Partition by appraisal/buyout: One co‑owner buys out the others at an appraised value (sometimes court‑supervised). It avoids public sale and preserves the property for a single owner.
Oklahoma allows both judicial and nonjudicial (power-of-sale) foreclosures, but judicial foreclosure is the norm, especially for residential property.
In a judicial foreclosure, the lender files a lawsuit in district court, obtains a judgment, and the property is sold at a sheriff’s sale under court supervision.
In a nonjudicial/power-of-sale foreclosure, the mortgage or deed of trust includes a power-of-sale provision and the lender follows the detailed notice and sale procedures in the Oklahoma Power of Sale Mortgage Foreclosure Act (Title 46).
Because judicial foreclosure is familiar to courts, title companies, and investors—and because power-of-sale foreclosures have strict statutory requirements—almost all lenders use the judicial route, particularly where there is any risk of borrower challenge, title issues, or a potential deficiency claim. We practically always use judicial foreclosure.
An uncontested foreclosure is one in which the borrower (and other defendants) either do not respond at all or respond in a way that doesn’t actively fight the foreclosure—sometimes even signing a stipulation or consent. In that scenario, the case can usually be resolved through default judgment, agreed judgment, or straightforward summary judgment, with minimal discovery or hearings. That’s the model used by the Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA flat-fee schedules.
A contested foreclosure occurs when a borrower or other party:
- Files an answer with affirmative defenses or counterclaims
- Seeks injunctions, TROs, or stays of the sale
- Raises servicing, TILA, RESPA, or fraud issues
- Files bankruptcy to stop or delay the sale
- Takes other action to oppose, delay, or complicate the process
Once that happens, the case stops looking like a “flat-fee default” and starts looking like full civil litigation—with discovery, motion practice, evidentiary hearings, expert issues, and sometimes trial. At that point, many lenders and servicers move to hourly billing, often in line with national foreclosure-defense cost ranges of $100–$500+ per hour for attorneys.
On our pricing page, we reflect this reality by quoting fixed or narrow ranges for uncontested cases, and then handling contested matters under our litigation fee structure with phase-based estimates.
In a judicial foreclosure, the sheriff’s sale itself only transfers title once the court confirms the sale. After confirmation and issuance of the sheriff’s deed, any remaining occupants who don’t voluntarily move out are typically removed through a separate possessory/eviction action (forcible entry and detainer).
From an owner or investor’s perspective, the post-foreclosure timeline usually looks like this:
- Judgment of foreclosure and order of sale.
- Sheriff’s sale and report of sale.
- Motion to confirm sale and order confirming sale.
- Sheriff’s deed issued to the successful bidder.
- If needed, filing of a separate eviction action to obtain physical possession, followed by coordination with the sheriff for lock-out if occupants remain.
Our foreclosure pricing separates the uncontested foreclosure itself from post-sale possession proceedings, because the eviction piece can vary widely depending on whether occupants cooperate, raise defenses, or file bankruptcy.
Yes. Before you spend time and money on a full foreclosure, it’s often wise to consider pre-foreclosure alternatives, especially if:
- The borrower is communicating in good faith
- There’s a realistic path to cure or pay off
- The property is underwater and you want to minimize legal spend
Common alternatives include:
- Loan modification or repayment plans (changing terms to cure the default over time)
- Short sale (agreeing to a sale for less than the debt, with the lender’s consent to release the lien)
- Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure (borrower deeds the property back in exchange for release of the mortgage and, sometimes, the deficiency)
- Forbearance or temporary payment relief during a hardship
Federal guidance and many consumer-oriented resources emphasize that these tools can save time, money, and credit damage relative to a completed foreclosure. On the lender side, they can also reduce legal fees, avoid property-preservation and REO management costs, and limit exposure to counterclaims.
On our foreclosure matters, we can optionally start with a Loan & Default Analysis to confirm that foreclosure is warranted and then advise clients whether a demand letter, workout, deed-in-lieu, or full foreclosure is the smartest economic play given the specific loan, collateral, and borrower profile.
