How to avoid foreclosure in Nevada

How foreclosure works in Nevada, step by step

1. Missed payments and a pre-foreclosure notice

   Under a federal rule, your servicer generally cannot start foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind. Nevada adds that at least 30 days after you default and at least 30 days before a Notice of Default, the servicer must mail you a summary of your account, the amount to catch up and the options it offers. It must also contact you, or try to, to talk about ways to avoid foreclosure, and wait 30 days after that contact.

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f); NRS 107.500, 107.510

2. Notice of Default and Election to Sell

   The trustee records a Notice of Default and Election to Sell in your county and mails you a copy by registered or certified mail. For a home you live in, the packet must include a person who can negotiate a loan modification, a HUD-approved housing counselor and a notice from Home Means Nevada, Inc. about foreclosure mediation. At least 3 months must pass before the trustee can give notice of a sale.

   NRS 107.080(2), (3); NRS 107.086(2); NRS 107.0805

3. Ask for foreclosure mediation within 30 days

   If the home is your primary residence, you can file a petition for mediation with the district court within 30 days after you are served with the Notice of Default. If you file on time and pay your fees, the sale cannot go forward until mediation is done. If you do nothing, Home Means Nevada issues a certificate that lets the trustee move ahead.

   NRS 107.086(3), (4)

4. Notice of Sale

   After the 3 months and after a mediation certificate is recorded, the trustee records a Notice of Sale and serves or mails it to you. The notice is posted in a public place for 20 days and published once a week for 3 weeks. For a home, a copy must also be posted on the property at least 15 days before the sale, and a separate notice goes to any tenants.

   NRS 107.080(4); NRS 107.087

5. Last chances before the sale

   For a home you live in, you can catch up on the missed payments and costs until 5 days before the sale date. A complete application for a loan modification or other option generally stops the servicer from recording notices or holding the sale while it is reviewed. If no Notice of Sale is recorded within 9 months of the Notice of Default, or no sale is held within 90 days of the Notice of Sale, the foreclosure must be cancelled, with some time limits paused for mediation, applications and bankruptcy.

   NRS 107.0805(1)(a); NRS 107.530; NRS 107.550

6. Trustee sale (auction)

   The trustee sells the home at a public auction to the highest cash bidder, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., at the place your county sets for these sales. The sale can be postponed out loud at the auction up to 3 times, and after that a new notice is needed. There is no right to buy the home back after a trustee sale.

   NRS 107.080(5); NRS 107.081; NRS 107.082

7. After the sale: deed, eviction and leftover money

   The trustee's deed must be recorded within about 30 days and a copy posted on the home. The new owner must give a former owner a written 3-day notice and then win a formal eviction case in court before you can be removed. Tenants generally get at least 60 days' notice. Any money left after sale costs, the loan and junior liens goes to you.

   NRS 107.080(10), (11); NRS 40.255; NRS 40.462

Nevada 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 Nevada

Other Nevada protections

• Nevada Homeowner Bill of Rights

  For a loan on a home you live in, the servicer must send a pre-foreclosure notice and contact you about options before a Notice of Default. If you apply for a loan modification or other option, it must confirm receipt within 5 business days, decide within 30 days of a complete application and give you at least 30 days to appeal a denial. It must give you a single point of contact and cannot charge application fees. Lenders that foreclosed on 100 or fewer Nevada homes in the past year are exempt.

  NRS 107.460, 107.500, 107.510, 107.520, 107.530, 107.540

• No dual tracking, and a right to sue

  While your application is pending, the servicer cannot record a Notice of Default or Notice of Sale or hold a sale. Before the trustee's deed is recorded, you can ask a court to stop a sale over a material violation. After the sale, you can sue for your actual economic damages, or the greater of three times those damages or $50,000 if the violation was intentional or reckless. A servicer that follows the federal mortgage servicing rules is treated as complying.

  NRS 107.530(1), (5); NRS 107.560

• Strict notice rules for trustee sales

  For a home you live in, the trustee must serve you, usually in person, a notice that says YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME at least 60 days before the sale. The Notice of Default must be posted on the home at least 100 days before the sale. If the trustee does not follow the notice rules, a court must award at least $5,000 or three times your actual damages, and can stop the sale until the rules are followed.

  NRS 107.085; NRS 107.087; NRS 107.080(8)

• Shutdown protection for government workers

  If you show proof that you are a federal, tribal or state worker affected by a government shutdown, or a household member or landlord of one, no one may start a foreclosure against you during the shutdown and for 90 days after it ends, unless a court orders otherwise.

  NRS 40.4395

• Limits on HOA foreclosures

  Your HOA can foreclose for unpaid assessments, and up to 9 months of regular assessments plus capped collection costs take priority over your first mortgage. Before collecting, the HOA must send a fee schedule, a proposed repayment plan and notice of your right to a hearing. It cannot foreclose only over fines for rule violations, except for health and safety threats, or while your mortgage foreclosure mediation is pending. You have 90 days after its Notice of Default to pay.

  NRS 116.3116; NRS 116.31162

Nevada mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

Sale money is paid out in this order: sale costs and fees, the loan that was foreclosed, junior liens in order of priority, and then you (the debtor or your successor). If people disagree about who gets the money, the trustee does not have to pay it out until the dispute is settled, for example in a court interpleader case. Keep your mailing address current with the trustee and ask the trustee in writing about any surplus. After an HOA sale, any excess also goes to the unit owner after the sale costs, the HOA lien and other liens.

NRS 40.462; NRS 107.030(7); NRS 116.31164(8)

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 Nevada 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