What is the term used for a public meeting held to sell property to repay a defaulted mortgage?

The correct answer, which identifies the term for a public meeting held to sell property to repay a defaulted mortgage, is foreclosure sale. A foreclosure sale specifically refers to the process in which a property is sold after the owner has defaulted on their mortgage obligations. This is typically conducted as a public auction where the property is sold to the highest bidder.

In this scenario, the primary objective is to recover some of the money owed to the lender by liquidating the asset. A foreclosure sale usually follows legal proceedings, in which the lender has sought to reclaim the property due to non-payment.

While a public auction can be associated with various types of sales, including estate sales or other forms of property liquidation that might not be tied to mortgage default, it does not specifically denote the context of mortgage default like a foreclosure sale does. Private sales and short sales are different processes altogether; private sales involve direct transactions between parties without public bidding, while a short sale occurs when the lender agrees to accept less than the full mortgage amount owed when the homeowner sells the property.