After foreclosure, homes go to sheriff’s sale to satisfy the amount owed on the mortgage. Whether you still owe money after the sale depends on a few factors.

Q: My house sold at Sheriff’s auction to my mortgage lender. They have recently sold it, how do I get information that my loan was covered and they were paid in full?

A: We assume you lost your home due to your inability or failure to make your mortgage loan payments. Then the lender foreclosed on your home. With the successful foreclosure, the home went to sheriff’s sale to satisfy the amount you owed.

But before it went to sale, your lender could have made the decision to write off your loan and release you from your obligations under the loan or decide to pursue an action against you for any deficiency on the loan.

Let’s say you owed $100,000 on your loan. If the lender received $75,000 from the sheriff’s sale, the bank would still be owed $25,000 on the note you signed. But if the lender wrote off any amount you might have still owed the lender, you’d be off the hook to have to repay any of that money back. If this is the scenario, and you’re not on the hook for any deficiency, it would be a moot point to know whether the lender received the full amount of the loan on the sale of the home.

On the other hand, if you’re on the hook for any deficiency owed the lender if the home didn’t sell for enough to cover your loan, your interest might be well placed. You can usually find out the value of a sale by reviewing the court records of your case at your local courthouse. You may also find that information on the public records site for your local recorder of deeds office or the office that handles the filing of real estate documents where your home is located.

You can even call the lender and find out if there is a deficiency on your loan or to get a final loan balance from the lender. Again, if your lender wrote off the loan, it doesn’t much matter to you from a legal perspective, but if you’re on the hook for the deficiency, the lender should be able to tell you. In fact, if they tell you, they will probably send the amount owed to collection to get that money from you.

Finally, if you’re still living in the home, you might have to vacate the home shortly as the sale may trigger a process to have you move out and deliver the home to the person that purchased the home at the sheriff’s sale.