St. Croix County Foreclosure Resources

A St. Croix County foreclosure is a lawsuit. The lender files a foreclosure complaint in the Circuit Court, in St. Croix County, under Wis. Stat. § 846.01, and serves the homeowner with a summons and complaint. Venue follows the property, so every St. Croix County foreclosure is filed in the same circuit court in Hudson — covering Hudson, New Richmond, River Falls, Somerset, Baldwin, Woodville, and the county's townships.

Wisconsin requires a lis pendens — notice of the pending action — filed against the property, making the case a matter of public record and binding later purchasers. The response to the complaint is where defenses are raised, and defenses not raised are generally waived. St. Croix County's housing market is influenced heavily by its position on the Twin Cities commuter corridor: the Hudson and River Falls areas trade at levels connected to the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan market, while the county's western and southern townships are considerably more rural — a split that can make valuation genuinely contestable.

Because the foreclosure is a court case, the tools of litigation are available — the plaintiff can be required to prove it holds the note and to document the assignment chain. Federal law runs alongside the state case: 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 requires a servicer to evaluate a complete loss-mitigation application before referring a consumer loan to foreclosure, and prohibits dual tracking. Legal Action of Wisconsin's Wausau office serves St. Croix County, and WHEDA administers statewide foreclosure-prevention assistance.

If the lender prevails, the circuit court enters a foreclosure judgment. Wisconsin's judgment stage is where the state's elective system is fixed: at the time of judgment the lender must elect either to waive a deficiency — giving the homeowner a 6-month redemption period — or to preserve a deficiency claim, which entitles the homeowner to a 12-month redemption period. The lender cannot take a short redemption period and a deficiency at the same time. Which election was made in the judgment controls everything that follows.

The St. Croix County sheriff conducts the public sale — not a trustee, because Wisconsin has no power-of-sale track. The notice of sale must be published and posted. St. Croix County has been among the faster-growing counties in Wisconsin, its growth tied to the Twin Cities commuter corridor along the St. Croix River, alongside manufacturing in communities such as New Richmond and River Falls and agriculture in the county's western townships.

Wisconsin gives the homeowner a redemption period after the sale under Wis. Stat. § 846.13 — 6 months from the date of sale for most residential property when the lender waives deficiency, and 12 months when the lender preserves a deficiency claim. The period shortens to 5 weeks where the property is abandoned and the mortgage was executed after April 27, 2016. Because the period runs from the sale rather than the judgment, a St. Croix County homeowner has a defined window in which to redeem.