There is no way to definitively answer your question. 1) Foreclosure can take months, so even after they start the process, it can be awhile.2) Having to leave a foreclosed home is not "automatic": the new owners after the foreclosure sale/auction (typically the bank) have to first ask you to leave--which they may not do immediately, since it's presumably a large lender, with higher priorities than one homeowner where he/she/they should not be--and if you don't then leave, then actually file an action to remove you, which will take at least weeks more. So if you are just at the start the process, you could be looking at 6 months or more--possibly over a year--until you'd have to leave.3) In addition to, or instead of, foreclosing on the property, the lender has the right to sue you and your wife for the money and to take collections actions (e.g. wage garnishment) against you. They don't have to do this, but bear in mind that you and your wife are obligated for the money, and foreclosure is just one way the lender can try to get it. If the foreclose and the home is, as you write, underwater on the mortgage, after foreclosing, they could even sue you for the shortfall.