Can the lender come after you for the rest? Deficiency judgments in Nevada

Deficiency rules in Nevada, point by point

• The lender must apply within 6 months

  Within 6 months after the foreclosure sale

  The lender or beneficiary must ask the court for a deficiency judgment within 6 months after the sale date. If the loan was secured by more than one property, the 6 months runs from the last sale, but never more than 2 years after the first sale.

  NRS 40.455(1), (2)

• A fair market value hearing comes first

  Notice at least 15 days before the hearing

  Before any deficiency is awarded, the court must hold a hearing on what the home was worth on the sale date, and you must get at least 15 days' notice. Any party can ask, at least 10 days before the hearing, for the court to appoint an appraiser.

  NRS 40.457

• Limits on the amount

  At the hearing

  The judgment cannot be more than the debt minus the fair market value, or the debt minus the sale price, whichever is less. If you lived in the home and it had 1 to 4 units, a buyer of the debt can collect no more than what it paid for the right, minus the value or sale price, and insurance payments the lender received do not count toward the debt.

  NRS 40.459

• Purchase loans on your home from a financial institution

  Applies to the first mortgage and to purchase-money second loans

  A financial institution cannot get a deficiency if the home is a single-family dwelling you owned at the sale, the loan was used to buy it, you lived there continuously, and you never refinanced. The same protection stops a financial institution holding a purchase-money second loan from suing you after the sale.

  NRS 40.455(3); NRS 40.4638

• Second mortgages: 6 months to sue

  Within 6 months after the sale or sale in lieu

  A second mortgage or other junior lien holder that is not barred from suing must file within 6 months after the foreclosure sale or sale in lieu of foreclosure. A debt buyer of a junior loan on your 1 to 4 unit home cannot recover more than it paid for the debt, plus interest and costs.

  NRS 40.4639; NRS 40.4636

• Short sales with a written waiver

  When you sign the short sale agreement

  A financial institution cannot get a deficiency after an agreed short sale of your single-family purchase-money home if the agreement does not state an amount still owed and contains a conspicuous, signed statement waiving the balance and naming the amount waived. For a deed in lieu, we found no separate Nevada rule, so the written agreement controls.

  NRS 40.458

• If a deficiency judgment is entered

  Suits on a Nevada judgment must be brought within 6 years

  Wage garnishment is limited to 18 percent of disposable earnings if your gross weekly pay is $770 or less, and 25 percent if it is more, with extra protection for very low earnings. If you get a deficiency letter or court papers, answer by the deadline and call Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada or Nevada Legal Services.

  NRS 31.295; NRS 11.190

The short answer in Nevada

Common questions in Nevada