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Foreclosure sale date set in California: what you can still do

If a trustee sale date is set on your California home, you may still have options, but most of them end 5 business days before the sale. Count business days, not calendar days, and do not wait for the last one. First confirm the date, because California sales are often postponed. Then work down this list with your servicer, the trustee and a counselor or lawyer.

Free HUD counselor: (800) 569-4287

Reviewed against California law and official sources on October 11, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

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Options still open before a sale in California

  • Confirm whether the sale is still on

    Now, and again the day before the sale

    Your Notice of Sale lists a phone number or website and a file number for checking postponements. This information must be free and available 24 hours a day. It may lag behind very short or last-minute postponements, and the law says the surest way to know is to attend at the time and place in the notice.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(b)

  • Get a complete loan modification application to your servicer

    At least 5 business days before the sale

    If a complete first lien loan modification application is in by then, the servicer cannot hold the sale while it is pending. Send it in a way you can prove, ask your single point of contact to confirm in writing that it is complete, and tell the trustee.

    Cal. Civ. Code §§ 2923.6(c), 2924.18(a), 2923.7

  • Reinstate the loan

    Until 5 business days before the sale date

    Ask the servicer or the trustee for the reinstatement amount in writing and pay it the way they tell you to. There is no right to reinstate in the last 5 business days.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 2924c(e)

  • Send the trustee a listing agreement

    Received by the trustee at least 5 business days before the sale

    A listing agreement with a California licensed real estate broker, sent by certified mail or a tracked overnight courier with signature, forces a 45-day postponement. You can use this once. It also moves your reinstatement cutoff to match the new date.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(e)

  • Ask the servicer to postpone

    Before the sale is completed

    Call your servicer and ask it to tell the trustee to postpone. The trustee must postpone when you and the lender agree, but the lender can say no. Check the new date with the trustee afterward.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 2924g(c)

  • Pay off the whole loan

    Up to the day of the sale

    The California Courts say that you, or a bank or other institution with an interest in your home, can pay off the entire loan plus fees up to the day of the sale. Ask the servicer for a written payoff amount right away.

  • Court order or bankruptcy stay

    Before the sale is held

    A trustee must postpone a sale when a court orders it or when the sale is stayed by law, such as by a bankruptcy case. Both need a licensed attorney or legal aid, and neither is a sure thing. After a court order or stay ends, the trustee generally must wait until at least the seventh day before holding the sale, and a bankruptcy stay must end first.

    Cal. Civ. Code § 2924g(c) to (e)

Call today, not tomorrow

With a sale on the calendar, every option above has a cutoff. A free HUD-approved housing counselor can call your servicer with you today: (800) 569-4287. For legal aid and court help, see free foreclosure help in California.

Common questions in California

How do I find out if my California trustee sale was postponed?

Call the number or visit the website printed on your Notice of Sale and enter the file number. Postponements are also announced out loud at the time and place set for the sale. If a sale on your first mortgage is postponed by at least 10 business days, you must also get written notice of the new date within 5 business days (Civil Code section 2924).

When and where are trustee sales held in California?

They are public auctions held in the county where the property is, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a business day, Monday through Friday. The sale must start at the time and place stated in the Notice of Sale (Civil Code section 2924g).

I missed the 5 business day cutoff to reinstate. Is there anything left?

The legal right to reinstate is gone for that sale date, but it comes back if the sale is postponed by more than 5 business days (Civil Code section 2924c). The California Courts say you can still pay off the entire loan up to the day of the sale. You can also ask the servicer to postpone or to accept payment anyway, though it does not have to.

Can the 67 percent rule stop my California sale?

It can delay it, not cancel it. On a first mortgage for a home with 1 to 4 units, the trustee cannot sell at the first auction for less than 67 percent of fair market value. If no bid reaches that, the sale is postponed at least 7 days, and then the home can go to the highest bidder (Civil Code section 2924f).

Step by step

More on foreclosure in California

Understand the process

What is happening and how much time there is.

Weigh your options

What can stop it, and what happens if it goes ahead.

Get help now

Who to call, and what to do when a sale is scheduled.

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Sources for this page

  1. California Courts Self-Help Guide: The eviction process for tenants
  2. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Summons, Unlawful Detainer, Eviction (form SUM-130)
  3. California Courts Self-Help Guide: What happens if you lose your eviction case
  4. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1167
  5. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 715.010
  6. California Civil Code, Division 3, Part 4, Title 14, Chapter 2, Article 1 (Mortgages in General, §§ 2920 to 2944.10), California Legislative Information
  7. Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f (two versions; the one operative until January 1, 2031 was used)
  8. AB 2424 (Stats. 2024, Ch. 311), Mortgages: foreclosure
  9. AB 1521 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 200), Committee on Judiciary: judiciary omnibus
  10. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 580b
  11. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 580d
  12. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 580e
  13. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 726
  14. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 729.010
  15. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 729.030
  16. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1161a
  17. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1161b
  18. Cal. Civ. Code § 2945.3 (foreclosure consultant contracts)
  19. Cal. Civ. Code § 2945.4 (foreclosure consultant prohibitions)
  20. Cal. Civ. Code § 2945.45 (foreclosure consultant registration)
  21. Cal. Civ. Code § 1695.4 (home equity sales contracts: right to cancel)
  22. Cal. Civ. Code § 1695.6 (equity purchaser duties)
  23. Cal. Civ. Code § 1695.13 (unconscionable advantage)
  24. Cal. Civ. Code § 1695.14 (rescission within two years)
  25. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Guide to foreclosures
  26. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Your rights in a nonjudicial foreclosure
  27. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Tenants' rights in a foreclosure
  28. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Foreclosure and mortgage help
  29. California Attorney General: California Homeowner Bill of Rights
  30. California Attorney General: Foreclosure Rescue Scams
  31. California Mortgage Relief Program
  32. U.S. Department of the Treasury: Homeowner Assistance Fund
  33. CalAssist Mortgage Fund (CalHFA)
  34. California State Controller: Property Tax Postponement
  35. California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA)
  36. DFPI: Submit a Complaint
  37. eCFR: 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41, Loss mitigation procedures