Monroe County Foreclosure Resources

Under Act 91 the lender must send a notice at least 30 days before filing the foreclosure complaint. It tells you that you may qualify for HEMAP and that you must meet with a HUD-certified housing counselor within 33 days of the notice date. That 33-day window is a real deadline — missing it can cost you HEMAP eligibility, and it runs long before any sheriff's sale is scheduled.

The Homeowner's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program is administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. It makes loans to bring a delinquent mortgage current and can pay monthly mortgage costs for up to 24 months when the default is due to circumstances beyond your control. You must apply before the sheriff's sale. HEMAP is Pennsylvania-specific and has no equivalent in most other states.

Foreclosures in Monroe County are heard at the Court of Common Pleas, in Monroe County. The lender files a complaint with the Prothonotary's civil division at 610 Monroe St, and the case proceeds before a judge. There is no non-judicial foreclosure track in Pennsylvania — every residential foreclosure goes through the court.

No. Pennsylvania does not provide a statutory right of redemption once the sheriff's sale is confirmed and the deed delivered. Your opportunities are all before the sale: responding to the Act 91 notice, applying for HEMAP, engaging any county conciliation or diversion program, and defending the foreclosure on its merits in court.

Yes, but only in a separate action brought within six months of delivery of the sheriff's deed. Pennsylvania also recognizes a fair-value defense, which limits the deficiency to the judgment amount minus the property's fair market value rather than the auction price. Where a property sold well below market at the sheriff's sale, that defense can substantially reduce the exposure.

Monroe County is the Poconos, and its housing market is unlike any other in Pennsylvania because so much of it was built for people who do not live there year-round. The dominant form is the private planned community — Pocono Farms, Arrowhead, Emerald Lakes, Towamensing Trails and dozens of others — where a large share of the housing was sold as second homes or vacation property to buyers from New York and New Jersey, governed by a homeowners association with dues and restrictions that run with the land. That creates two things a foreclosure here can involve that most Pennsylvania counties do not: HOA assessment liens that can survive a sheriff's sale and continue against the buyer, and a deeply seasonal market where comparable sales are sparse and an off-season sale can be far below an in-season one. Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg and the Route 611 and I-80 corridors are the year-round population centers with conventional housing stock.

Foreclosure complaints and responses go to the Monroe County Prothonotary — Civil Division at 610 Monroe St, Stroudsburg, PA 18360, and the sale itself is conducted by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Free help is available locally through North Penn Legal Services (Stroudsburg) at (570) 424-8614. If you have received an Act 91 notice, contact a HUD-certified housing counselor immediately — the 33-day deadline is the single most important date in the Pennsylvania process.