Foreclosure realizes the lender’s security by forcing a sale. States differ fundamentally in how.

Judicial foreclosure proceeds as a lawsuit: complaint, judgment, sheriff’s sale. Slower and more expensive, but the resulting title is cleaner and the process resolves competing interests within it.

Non-judicial foreclosure, where permitted and where the instrument contains a power of sale, proceeds by advertisement and sale without court involvement. Faster and cheaper, and strictly regulated — the notice, publication and timing requirements are technical, and defects can void the sale.

Two consequences drive strategy. Redemption periods, which in some states allow the borrower to reclaim the property for a period after sale, delay the lender’s ability to realize value and vary by route. And deficiency judgments — the right to pursue the borrower for the shortfall — are restricted in many states and are sometimes unavailable after a non-judicial sale, which can make the slower route the better one where the borrower has assets.

Junior lienholders, tenants in possession, and any federal lien each require specific handling, and a sale conducted without addressing them produces title nobody wants to buy.