How to avoid foreclosure in California

How foreclosure works in California, step by step

1. Missed payments and first contact

   Under a federal rule, your servicer generally cannot start foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind. For a first mortgage on a home you live in (1 to 4 units), California law also says the servicer must contact you, or try hard to, to talk about your finances and your options. It must then wait 30 days before it records a notice of default. You can ask for a follow-up meeting, which must be set within 14 days.

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f); Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2923.5, 2923.55

2. Notice of default is recorded

   The foreclosure starts formally when a notice of default is recorded in the county where your home is. At least 3 months must pass after that. During this time you can catch up on what you owe (reinstate) or apply to your servicer for a loan modification or other option.

   Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2924, 2924c

3. Notice of sale

   After the 3 months, the trustee can set a sale date. The notice of sale must be recorded, mailed to you by certified or registered mail, posted on the property and in a public place, and first published in a newspaper at least 20 days before the sale. The sale cannot be earlier than 3 months and 20 days after the notice of default was recorded.

   Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2924, 2924b, 2924f

4. Last chances before the sale

   You can reinstate the loan until 5 business days before the sale date. If you get a complete loan modification application to your servicer at least 5 business days before the sale, covered servicers must pause while they review it. If you list the home for sale with a California licensed real estate broker and the trustee receives the listing agreement by certified or tracked mail at least 5 business days before the sale, the sale must be put off 45 days. This can be used only once.

   Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2924c, 2923.6, 2924.18, 2924f(e)

5. Trustee sale (auction)

   The trustee sells the home at a public auction to the highest bidder. For a first mortgage on a home with 1 to 4 units, the trustee cannot sell at the first auction for less than 67 percent of the home's fair market value. If it does not sell, the sale is put off at least 7 days and can then go to the highest bidder. You cannot buy the home back after a trustee sale.

   Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2924f(f), 2924g

6. After the auction: bidding window and leftover money

   For homes with 1 to 4 units, the sale may not be final right away. Tenants who live in the home and certain other eligible bidders can send the trustee a notice of intent to bid within 15 days and a bid within 45 days. If the home sold for more than the debts and costs, the leftover money goes to other lienholders in order and then to you.

   Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2924m, 2924j, 2924k

7. Eviction

   The new owner cannot just change the locks. A former owner must get a written 3-day notice to quit. If you do not move, the new owner has to file an eviction case in court. Tenants renting the home generally get at least 90 days' written notice instead.

   Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 1161a, 1161b

California foreclosure deadlines to know

These are the periods written into the law. Your own dates are on the notices you received. If a notice and this page disagree, trust the notice and ask a counselor or lawyer.

Your rights as a homeowner in California

Other California protections

• Contact before foreclosure starts

  For a first mortgage on a home you live in (1 to 4 units), the servicer must contact you by phone or in person, or show it tried with due diligence, to review your finances and options. It must wait 30 days after that before recording a notice of default.

  Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2923.5, 2923.55, 2924.15

• No dual tracking

  If you send a complete first lien loan modification application at least 5 business days before a scheduled sale, the servicer cannot record a notice of default or notice of sale, or hold the sale, while it is pending. With larger servicers, if you are denied you get at least 30 days to appeal, and the foreclosure stays paused for at least 31 days after the written denial. The servicer also cannot foreclose while you are keeping up with an approved written plan.

  Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2923.6, 2924.11, 2924.18

• Single point of contact and the right to sue

  When you ask for a foreclosure prevention option, larger servicers (those that foreclosed on more than 175 California homes in the past year) must give you one person or team to work with. If a servicer breaks these rules in a material way, you can ask a court to stop the sale before the trustee's deed is recorded. After that you can sue for money damages, and a court can award attorney's fees if you win.

  Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2923.7, 2924.12, 2924.19

• Extra time if you list or sell the home, and a price floor at auction

  If the trustee receives your broker listing agreement at least 5 business days before the sale, the sale must wait 45 more days (one time). If it then receives, again at least 5 business days before the new sale date, a signed purchase agreement for at least what is owed, the sale must be put off until at least 45 days after the trustee got that agreement (one time). On a first mortgage, the first auction cannot sell the home for less than 67 percent of fair market value. These rules apply to homes with 1 to 4 units and are set to end on January 1, 2031 unless the Legislature extends them.

  Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(e), (f)

• Old second mortgages (zombie seconds)

  Since June 30, 2025, a servicer foreclosing on a second or other junior mortgage must record a sworn certification with the notice of default. It must say whether the servicer did things the law calls unlawful, such as sending you nothing in writing for 3 years or threatening foreclosure after the debt was written off. The servicer must mail you a copy by certified mail. You can ask a court for relief before the sale, and the court must pause the sale until it decides.

  Cal. Civ. Code § 2924.13

California mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

Sale money is paid out in this order: sale costs and trustee fees, the loan that was foreclosed, junior liens in order of priority, and then you (the former owner or your successor). If there is money left, the trustee must mail a notice within 30 days after the trustee's deed is signed, and you send a written claim to the trustee within 30 days of that notice. Keep your mailing address current with the trustee. If claims conflict, the trustee can deposit the money with the county superior court and you file your claim there. No one may contact you to claim your surplus funds for you until 90 days after the trustee's deed is recorded, and a foreclosure consultant may not arrange the release of surplus funds for you at all.

Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2924j, 2924k, 2924.21, 2945.4(h)

Ways to avoid foreclosure

Most of your options come from federal rules and from whoever owns or insures your loan, so they work the same way in California as anywhere else. What changes by state is how much time you have to use them.

• Repayment plan
• Forbearance
• Payment deferral or partial claim
• Loan modification
• Reinstatement
• Short sale
• Deed in lieu of foreclosure
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy