Mortgage Relief Guides for Wisconsin Homeowners

Wisconsin Is Judicial Only, And Its Long Statutory Periods Run Between Judgment And Sale — Not After It (Wis. Stat. ch. 846).

Wisconsin has no power of sale and no non-judicial track. Every mortgage foreclosure runs through the circuit court under Wis. Stat. ch. 846, and under § 846.01 a judgment of foreclosure and sale may not be entered until 20 days after the lis pendens has been filed. The federal 12 CFR § 1024.41(f) 120-day floor applies first, so no complaint may be filed until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent. What follows is the feature Wisconsin is known for — and the one most often described backwards.

Wisconsin’s redemption right runs before the sale, not after it. Under § 846.13, the mortgagor “may redeem the mortgaged premises at any time before the sale by paying to the clerk of the court in which the judgment was rendered, or to the plaintiff, or any assignee thereof, the amount of such judgment, interest thereon and costs, and any costs subsequent to such judgment, and any taxes paid by the plaintiff subsequent to the judgment.” The measure is the judgment — the accelerated debt — not a bid price. And once the sale is confirmed, § 846.16(2m) and § 846.17 provide that the deed vests the mortgagor’s title in the purchaser and is “a bar to all claim, right of equity of redemption.” There is no post-sale statutory redemption period in Wisconsin. The 6, 8 and 12-month figures are pre-sale statutory delays, not buy-back windows.

Those delays sit in § 846.10(2)(a), for an owner-occupied one-family to 4-family residence, a farm, a church or a tax-exempt nonprofit charitable organization: 12 months from judgment where the mortgage was executed before April 27, 2016; 6 months where executed on or after; and 8 months “upon motion of the mortgagor before judgment is entered, if the court finds that the mortgagor is attempting in good faith to sell the mortgaged premises and has entered into a listing agreement with a real estate broker licensed under ch. 452.” That subdivision is the only lever in Chapter 846 the homeowner controls, and its deadline is counterintuitive — the motion must precede the judgment. Under (b), the parties may also stipulate to an earlier sale, so the period is a maximum rather than a guarantee.

Two provisions change the schedule. § 846.101 is the deficiency-waiver election — frequently confused with the periods above. It requires that the mortgagor “agreed in writing at the time of the execution of the mortgage,” an owner-occupied 1-4 family residence, farm, church or tax-exempt nonprofit of 20 acres or less, and a mortgage recorded after January 22, 1960. The plaintiff waives any deficiency and consents that the mortgagor “may remain in possession…and be entitled to all rents, issues, and profits therefrom to the date of confirmation of the sale,” in exchange for a sale at 6 months, 3 months, or 5 months where the mortgagor is actively marketing through a licensed broker. § 846.102 collapses the clock on abandonment: on an affirmative judicial finding based on the totality of the circumstances — boarded or damaged windows and doors, missing or continuously unlocked doors, terminated utility accounts, accumulated trash, at least two reports to law enforcement of trespass or vandalism, unsafe or unsanitary conditions — a sale may be held any time after 5 weeks from judgment, though the plaintiff must within 12 months either hold and confirm the sale or release the lien and have the judgment vacated with prejudice. § 846.103 governs non-owner-occupied, commercial and multifamily property at 6 months, or 3 months with a written agreement and deficiency waiver.

The sale itself is noticed under § 846.16(1) and § 815.31: posted in a public place at least 3 weeks before the sale and printed each week for 3 successive weeks in a newspaper of the county, held between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Under § 846.165, “no sale on a judgment of mortgage foreclosure shall be confirmed unless 5 days’ notice has been given to all parties that have appeared in the action.” And at that hearing sits Wisconsin’s strongest deficiency protection, § 846.16(2m)(ae): where the premises sell for less than the amount due, “there is no presumption that the mortgaged premises sold for their fair value, and the court may not confirm the sale or render a judgment for deficiency until the court is satisfied that the fair value of the mortgaged premises sold has been credited on the mortgage debt, interest, and costs.” Under § 846.04 any deficiency judgment is separately rendered on or after confirmation, with a 10-year limit for qualifying agricultural land.

Wisconsin maintains no statewide court-administered foreclosure mediation program. Chapter 846 contains no mediation provision, which leaves the federal framework carrying the negotiating weight: the 120-day floor under 12 CFR § 1024.41(f), the early-intervention duties under 12 CFR § 1024.39, the investor-identification right under 12 CFR § 1024.36, the completeness designation under 12 CFR § 1024.41(b)(2)(i)(B), the 30-day evaluation under 12 CFR § 1024.41(c), the dual-tracking ban under 12 CFR § 1024.41(g), and the 14-day appeal under 12 CFR § 1024.41(h). The modification available depends on the investor — the Fannie Mae Flex Modification under Servicing Guide D2-3.2, the Freddie Mac Flex Modification under Servicing Guide Chapter 9203, the FHA waterfall under 24 CFR § 203.605 with the Partial Claim under 24 CFR § 203.371 and the face-to-face requirement under 24 CFR § 203.604, or the VA framework under 38 CFR § 36.4350. Homeowners across the Milwaukee metro, Madison and Dane County, the Fox Valley, Green Bay, Eau Claire and rural Wisconsin operate under the same statewide framework, with Fort McCoy, the 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field, the 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee and Volk Field at Camp Douglas adding significant VA-specific considerations. The guides below walk through each stage.