After forcloser, Do you have to pay the balance after the sheriff sale if its not the balance pay off

The simple answer to your question is, yes, you do have to pay off the difference between the auction sale price of your home and the balance required to pay off the mortgage on the property. Basically if your house is foreclosed and you do not file bankruptcy before the foreclosure sale has taken place, you will be liable for the difference between the two. The problem arises as most banks no longer attempt to collect this debt from the debtor, they simply write it off as a loss and reported to the IRS which in turn will send you a 1099 form claiming that you receive income in the amount of the difference between the payoff figure of the entire mortgage and what the home sold for at foreclosure. To make math easy let's say you have a mortgage for $200,000, the house is foreclosed and is sold at foreclosure for $100,000; at that point the bank will report to the IRS that you had an income that year of $100,000 and you will have to pay income taxes on the $100,000. But if you file bankruptcy prior to the house being sold, the entire debt is discharged and you do not have to pay income taxes on the difference between the mortgage and the sale price. In this situation it is critical that you file bankruptcy and get a discharge prior to the house being foreclosed upon.   I have responded to your inquiry according to the laws of Massachusetts, where my firm is located. Laws can vary significantly from state to state and cases tend to be rather fact-specific, so you are best served by consulting with a knowledgeable attorney in weighing your options. Email messages/Online Correspondence are akin to conversations and do not reflect the level of analysis applied to formal legal opinions. Email/Online responses do not form an attorney-client relationship.    Joseph F. Botelho, Esq. BOTELHO LAW GROUP Attorneys At Law http://fallriverbankruptcyattorney.com/ 901 Eastern Ave.  Unit 2 Fall River, MA 02723  Office:  888-269-0688 FAX:    877-475-8147