Auction vs. Foreclosure — What's the Difference?

An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exist and are described in the section about different types.

Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.Formally, a mortgage lender (mortgagee), or other lienholder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower (mortgagor)'s equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law (after following a specific statutory procedure).Usually a lender obtains a security interest from a borrower who mortgages or pledges an asset like a house to secure the loan. If the borrower defaults and the lender tries to repossess the property, courts of equity can grant the borrower the equitable right of redemption if the borrower repays the debt.

A public sale in which property or items of merchandise are sold to the highest bidder.

The act of foreclosing, especially a legal proceeding by which a mortgage is foreclosed.

(Games) See auction bridge.

A property that has undergone foreclosure

To sell at or by an auction

(legal) the proceeding, by a creditor, to regain property or other collateral following a default on mortgage payments

A public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder.

(psychoanalysis) The absence of a symbolic father for a fatherless child, as a cause for psychosis.

(bridge) The first stage of a deal, in which players bid to determine the final contract.

The act or process of foreclosing; a proceeding which bars or extinguishes a mortgager's right of redeeming a mortgaged estate.

To sell at an auction.

The legal proceedings initiated by a creditor to repossess the collateral for loan that is in default

A public sale of property to the highest bidder, esp. by a person licensed and authorized for the purpose; a vendue.

The things sold by auction or put up to auction.

To sell by auction.

A variety of bridge in which tricks made in excess of the contract are scored toward game; now generally superseded by contract bridge

The public sale of something to the highest bidder

Sell at an auction