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The following definitions are from lectlaw.com:

OWNERSHIP - title to property. The right by which a thing belongs to some one in particular, to the exclusion of all other persons.

POSSESSION - A person has possession of something if the person knows of its presence and has physical control of it, or has the power and intention to control it. [More than one person can be in possession of something if each knows of its presence and has the power and intention to control it.] The law recognizes several kinds of possession. A person may have actual possession or constructive possession. A person may also have sole possession or joint possession. A person who has direct physical control of something on or around his person is then in actual possession of it. A person who is not in actual possession, but who has both the power and the intention to later take control over something either alone or together with someone else, is in constructive possession of it. If one person alone has possession of something, possession is sole. If two or more persons share possession, possession is joint.

There is a great deal of confusion about the implications of these legal concepts when applied to the foreclosure process.

The reality of the situation is this:

Just because a homeowner is foreclosed on does not necessarily mean the homeowner immediately loses possession of the property. It depends on the laws of the jurisdiction in which the property is located. For example, when a mortgage is foreclosed in New Hampshire, the homeowner is entitled to remain in possession of the property until and unless that homeowner is evicted in accordance with the state's legal eviction process. At the conclusion of the process (which can take a few months or more), the court issues a "writ of possession" to the new owner - if he proves his case, of course.

Unfortunately, thousands of homeowners across the country have been so intimidated by the foreclosure process that they immediately "threw in the towel" and left - not knowing that they may have had months to relocate. Worse yet, thousands homeowners have vacated their properties not knowing that their foreclosures had legal deficiencies and may not have been valid.

In their uniquely applicable explanation of the saying, "Possession is nine-tenths of the law," the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. offers the following:

"....If you actually possess something, you have a stronger legal claim to owning it than someone who merely says it belongs to him or her." The example given to illustrate the point is, "Dana may say he owns this house, but we actually live in it, and possession is nine-tenths of the law."

Sometimes possession is more than nine-tenths of the law.

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual