What is Mortgage Foreclosure?

When most people purchase real property, they do not have enough money to simply purchase the property outright. In order to make the purchase, they are required to borrow money from a lender. In exchange for lending the money, the lender will hold a lien against the property. If the borrower does not make the required payments, then the loan goes into default and the lender can exercise the lien against the property, in order to take legal possession of the property for the purpose of selling the property to pay off the borrower's loan. This process is called mortgage foreclosure.