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Porter County, Indiana

Foreclosure in Porter County: how it works and what you can do

For homeowners and families in Valparaiso, Portage, Chesterton, Hebron, Kouts and the rest of Porter County. Most of this page has nothing to do with us. If none of the other options work, we buy the house. That's what a backstop is.

Your court case

Every Indiana foreclosure goes through a court.

Indiana is a judicial foreclosure state: the lender sues, a judge rules, and the county sheriff runs the sale. In Porter County, court case numbers start with 64, and a foreclosure has MF in the middle (for example 64D01-2609-MF-000123).

Search your name on MyCase, Indiana's public court site. It lists everyone in the case, the lender's attorney and phone number, any judgment, and when a sheriff's sale was requested. If you were served papers, the case number is printed at the top of the first page.

If you live in the house, Indiana law lets you ask for a settlement conference with the lender. The notice you were served explains how.

The sheriff's sale in Porter County

What happens at the end, if nothing else does.

The Porter County Sheriff's Civil Bureau runs sheriff's sales, once a court has entered a judgment in the foreclosure case. Civil Bureau: (219) 477-3155.

The sheriff says there is no redemption period after a sheriff's sale here: once the house sells, it's gone. The sheriff also notes a sale can be cancelled right up until the time of sale, so call to check the date close to it.

Until the sale, you can still catch up, sell the house or work something out with the lender. If the house sells for more than what's owed, the extra belongs to you or your family, and you claim it from the court. Our resources page explains how.

Free help, and your own attorney

Not us. Start here if you want to keep the house.

Finding a local attorney: Lake County Bar Association lawyer referral, (219) 738-1905, covers Porter County too.

Property taxes: check what's owed with the Porter County treasurer. Unpaid taxes are a separate tax sale, run by the county, not part of the foreclosure.

Your options

The right one depends on how far behind you are and whether you want to stay.

  • Catch up on the missed payments and fees, if the money is back.
  • Loan modification or forbearance through your servicer, if you want to stay and can afford a new payment.
  • Settlement conference with the lender through the court, if you live in the house.
  • Refinance, if your credit held up and there's enough equity.
  • List with a real estate agent, if the house shows well and the sale date is far enough away.
  • Sell to Backstop, as is, if time is short, the house needs work, or it's an estate.
  • Bankruptcy, through a bankruptcy attorney. Filing pauses the sale.
  • Let it go to sheriff's sale.

The full side-by-side comparison shows what each one takes, how long it needs and what happens to your equity. Waiting costs money either way: interest, fees and the lender's legal costs keep growing while the case runs.

Inherited a house in foreclosure?

This is most of what we do.

A parent passes, the payments stop, and months later the family finds out the house is in a court case, often naming "unknown heirs." The debt is usually tied to the house, not to you personally, and someone needs authority from the probate court to sell it. Our inherited house page walks through it, including several heirs and siblings who don't talk.

If you sell to us

What happens, start to finish.

  1. Call or text James at (219) 419-4114. A real person answers.
  2. We walk the house once. No cleaning, no repairs.
  3. A written offer, with how we got to the number.
  4. Close at a licensed Indiana title company on the date you pick. The lender is paid from the sale, and anything left over is yours.

We also buy in Lake · LaPorte · St. Joseph · Elkhart counties.

Links go to outside organizations we do not control. Nothing here is legal advice. Last checked October 21, 2026.