Charleston, SC · free information, not legal advice · offers come from a small list of local buyers who agreed to the rules on this page
South Carolina · Charleston, Berkeley & Dorchester counties

You got foreclosure papers. You have more time, and more options, than the letter makes it sound.

This page is the version a friend who works at the courthouse would tell you. How long you actually have. What each way out really does to you. A calculator showing what you keep if you sell before the sale instead of letting it go. And if selling is the answer, two written offers from local buyers, by email, with no one calling your phone.

Start with the clock Run my numbers
The clock

Where you are, and what to do at each stage

South Carolina is a judicial foreclosure state. Every step goes through the county courthouse, on paper, on a timeline. Find your stage.

Before anything is filed · 120 days behind, usually

Missed payments and letters

Federal rules stop most lenders from filing until you're more than 120 days late. Those months are the cheapest time to fix this, because nothing has been added to what you owe yet except late fees.

Do now: call the servicer's loss-mitigation line, not the collections line, and ask for a "loss mitigation application." Send it complete. Once it's in, they generally can't move to a sale while they review it.
Day 0 · Served with a Summons and Complaint

The lawsuit starts. Your 30 days start.

A process server hands you a Summons, a Complaint, and usually a Notice of Lis Pendens. The lis pendens is recorded at the courthouse, which is how buyers and everyone else finds out. The Complaint says what the lender claims you owe.

Do within 30 days: file an Answer with the Clerk of Court, even a short one. It keeps you in the case, gets you notice of every hearing, and often opens the door to court-ordered foreclosure intervention, where the lender has to sit down and talk options. Free legal help below will do this with you.
Month 1 to 3 · Intervention, or default

The talking window

If you answered and asked for it, the case pauses for loss-mitigation review: modification, repayment plan, forbearance, short sale, deed in lieu. If you didn't answer, the lender asks the court for a default and the case moves to the Master-in-Equity.

Do now: decide whether you want to keep the house or leave it with money. Everything below sorts by that one question.
Month 3 to 7 · Judgment of foreclosure and sale

The judge sets a number and a date

The Master-in-Equity enters a judgment for what's owed and orders the property sold at public auction. The sale is advertised three weeks in a row and lands on the county's sale day, in Charleston the first Tuesday of the month at 11 AM.

Do now: this is the last easy window to sell it yourself. A buyer can close in two to three weeks. Ask the lender's attorney for a written payoff and confirm the sale date on the county list.
Sale day · and the 30 days after

Auction on the courthouse steps

Anyone can bid; the lender opens the bidding at or near the judgment. If the lender waived a deficiency, bidding closes that day. If it didn't, bidding stays open 30 more days for upset bids. South Carolina has no right to buy it back after the sale is final.

Do now: if it sold for more than the liens, file for the surplus, it's yours. If it sold for less and the deficiency wasn't waived, get legal help before the 30 days end. You have until the deed is delivered to move out under the court's order.
Your options

Seven ways this ends. Four keep the house, three leave with money or a clean slate.

Each one, what it actually does, who it's for, and what it costs you later. No option below requires paying anyone up front.

Keep the house

Reinstate

Pay everything that's behind, plus the lender's fees and legal costs, in one payment. The loan goes back to normal like nothing happened.

For
A short setback that's over: a job gap, a medical bill, a bonus coming.
Cost later
None beyond the fees. Credit shows the late months.
Catch
Lenders usually allow it up to the sale; get the reinstatement figure in writing, it changes weekly.
Keep the house

Loan modification

The lender rewrites the loan: lower rate, longer term, or the missed payments moved to the end. The payment you can't make becomes one you can.

For
Income that dropped and stayed dropped, but is steady.
Cost later
More interest over a longer life. Usually a trial period of three payments first.
Catch
The application must be complete, and you keep sending documents until they say it's complete.
Keep the house

Repayment plan or forbearance

Repayment: your normal payment plus a slice of the arrears each month until caught up. Forbearance: payments paused or reduced for a set time, then a plan to make them up.

For
A gap you can see the end of: recovery from illness, a seasonal job, a lawsuit settlement.
Cost later
Higher payments for a while. Missing one usually voids the deal.
Catch
Forbearance is a pause, not forgiveness. Know how the balloon gets handled before you sign.
Keep the house

Chapter 13 bankruptcy

Filing stops the foreclosure the same day, automatically. You then repay the arrears over three to five years through a court plan while keeping the regular payment current.

For
Real income, real arrears, and a sale date too close for anything else.
Cost later
Attorney and trustee fees, on your credit for seven years, and five years of discipline.
Catch
Only works if you can afford the regular payment plus the catch-up. Chapter 7 only delays; it doesn't cure.
Leave with money

Sell it yourself before the sale

List it or sell to a cash buyer. The buyer's money pays the lender off at closing and the rest is yours. The foreclosure case is dismissed because the debt is gone.

For
Anyone with equity who can't or doesn't want to keep it. This is the option the auction quietly takes away from you.
Cost later
You move. Credit shows the late months but not a foreclosure.
Catch
Time. Listing takes 60 to 90 days to close; a cash buyer takes 10 to 21 but pays less. The calculator below shows both.
Leave clean

Short sale

The house is worth less than the loan, so the lender agrees to take the sale price as payment and the rest is negotiated away, usually in writing.

For
Underwater, and staying isn't realistic.
Cost later
Credit hit smaller than a foreclosure. Possible tax on forgiven debt; ask a preparer.
Catch
Get the deficiency waiver in writing before closing. Lender approval takes 30 to 90 days, so start early.
Leave clean

Deed in lieu

You hand the lender the keys and the deed; they cancel the foreclosure. Some programs pay relocation money.

For
No equity, no buyer, and a lender willing to take it.
Cost later
On your credit like a foreclosure, but faster and without a court record of a sale.
Catch
Lenders won't take it with other liens on the property. Get the deficiency waiver in writing.
Not an option

Doing nothing

The case goes to default, the judgment includes every fee and attorney hour, the house sells at auction for a number chosen by the lender, and if it sells for less than you owe you can still be chased for the difference unless the lender waived it.

Cost later
Foreclosure on your credit for seven years, and the equity you had goes to whoever showed up with a cashier's check.
The math

What you keep if you sell first, against what the auction leaves you

Rough numbers on purpose. Change anything. The point is the gap between the two columns, not the exact figures.

Your numbers

Sell it yourself · cash buyer, closes in 2–3 weeks
—

Cash to you at closing after the lender and liens are paid.

  • Sale price —
  • Payoff + liens —
  • Closing costs (buyer pays most) —
Sell it yourself · listed, closes in 60–90 days
—

Higher price, longer wait, agent fees. Only works if the sale date is far enough out.

  • Sale price —
  • Agent + closing (7%) —
  • Extra months of interest —
Let it go to auction
—

Surplus you'd have to claim, or the deficiency you could still owe if the lender didn't waive it.

  • Auction price —
  • Judgment grows by sale day —
  • Court and sale costs —
And the part that isn't money
7 years

A completed foreclosure stays on your credit report for seven years. A sale you arranged yourself shows late payments, then a paid-off loan.

—
Assumptions you can change above. Interest and fees on the judgment are estimated at 0.9% of the payoff per month. Auction costs estimated at $3,500. Cash-buyer closings assume the buyer pays title and transfer costs and you pay about $1,200 in payoff and recording fees. Listed sales assume 7% in commissions and closing costs and three extra months of carrying. None of this is a quote; it's a way to see the shape of the decision.
If selling is the answer

Two written offers from local buyers. By email. Nobody calls you.

Fill in the address and we send it to two vetted Charleston-area buyers who have agreed to the rules on the right. You get written offers by email within three business days, you take up to a week to decide, and you can say no to both. There is no fee to you, ever.

Every buyer on our list has agreed to this

  • Written offer by email, with the price, the closing date and every cost spelled out.
  • No calls, texts or visits unless you ask for them.
  • No fee, no "processing charge," nothing paid by you at any point.
  • You get at least seven days to decide, and a copy of the contract before you sign anything.
  • Closing through a licensed South Carolina attorney, as state law requires, who explains the settlement statement to you.
  • The lender is paid at closing and you get the rest by wire the same day.

Get my two offers

Pressing the button opens an email in your own mail app with these details filled in, addressed to us. Send it and two buyers from the list get it the same day, with a copy to you. Your address is never sold or shared beyond those two.

Free help, and what to run from

The people who do this for free, and the people who charge for nothing

Free, real, South Carolina

  • HUD-approved housing counselorsFree by law. They fill out the loss-mitigation application with you and talk to the servicer. Find one at hud.gov/counseling or 800-569-4287.
  • South Carolina Legal ServicesFree lawyers for lower-income homeowners, including foreclosure defense and filing your Answer. 888-346-5592, sclegal.org.
  • SC Bar Lawyer Referral ServiceA half-hour consult with a real estate or bankruptcy attorney for a small flat fee. 800-868-2284.
  • SC Housing, homeowner assistanceState-run relief programs open and close with funding. Check schousing.com before assuming there's nothing.
  • The Clerk of CourtThey can't give legal advice, but they will tell you the case number, what's been filed, the hearing date and the sale date, for free, in person or on the public index.

Walk away from

  • Anyone who wants money up front to "stop the foreclosure."Federal law bans charging in advance for mortgage relief. Real help is free.
  • "Sign the deed to me and rent it back."You lose the house and the equity and usually end up evicted anyway.
  • "Don't talk to your lender, talk only to us."Cutting you off from the servicer is how the arrears grow past saving.
  • Guaranteed modifications, government-sounding names, letters that look like court papers.Your case is public record, which is how they found you. So did we. The difference is what's asked of you.
  • A "buyer" who wants you to sign before the numbers are on paper.Every buyer on this page puts price, date and costs in writing first, or they're not on this page.
For buyers

The other side of the same page

Homeowners who fill in the form above are matched with two buyers from our list, by rotation, with the property details and the owner's stated timeline. In return the buyers keep the code: written offers only, no contact the owner didn't ask for, no fees to the owner, seven days to decide, attorney closing.

What you getOwner-initiated leads with equity math already done, before the auction, from someone who chose to sell rather than be sold to.
What it costsA monthly seat on the list. No per-lead fees, no referral cut. The homeowner never pays anything.
What gets you removedOne call an owner didn't ask for. One fee. One verbal-only offer. The rules are the product.
Email to join the list

A buyer seat is included with the Courthouse Morning list, $79 a month after 14 days free.