West Virginia · Get help now
Foreclosure sale date set in West Virginia: what you can still do
If a trustee's sale is set on your West Virginia home, act today. The notice runs only 2 weeks in the newspaper, and there is no right to buy the home back after the auction. Start by confirming the date with the trustee, then work down this list with your servicer, a counselor or a lawyer.
Reviewed against West Virginia law and official sources on October 12, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Tell us your sale date
Free. A person replies with the options and official help that fit. Messages about a scheduled sale are answered first.
Options still open before a sale in West Virginia
Confirm whether the sale is still on
Now, and again the day before the sale
Call the trustee named in the notice of sale, which must show the time and place of sale. Check the Legal Advertisements section of your county newspaper for a new or changed notice, and ask the trustee in writing whether any postponement will be published again.
W. Va. Code §§ 38-1-4, 59-3-2(d)
Finish your loss mitigation application and ask for a postponement
More than 37 days before the sale for federal review protection; any time before the sale to ask
Send your servicer every missing document and ask it, in writing, to postpone the sale while it reviews you. Ask it to tell the trustee, and get any agreement in writing.
12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(g)
Reinstate or pay off the loan
Before the auction
Ask the servicer or the trustee for a written reinstatement and payoff figure good through the sale date. After the right-to-cure period ends, whether you can reinstate depends on your deed of trust and servicer.
W. Va. Code § 46A-2-106
Get a lawyer to look at the notices
Before the sale
If you never got a right-to-cure notice, the newspaper notice did not run for 2 weeks, or your servicer moved to sale while a modification was pending, call Legal Aid of West Virginia or Mountain State Justice the same day.
W. Va. Code §§ 38-1-4, 46A-2-106
Bankruptcy stay
Before the auction
A bankruptcy filing stops the sale under the federal automatic stay. It has serious long-term effects, so talk to a licensed bankruptcy attorney or legal aid first.
11 U.S.C. § 362(a)
Short sale or deed in lieu
Before the auction
If you cannot keep the home, ask your servicer whether it will accept a short sale or a deed in lieu and whether it will waive any deficiency in writing. West Virginia lenders can otherwise sue for a shortfall.
W. Va. Code § 38-1-7(b)
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 West Virginia.
Common questions in West Virginia
What happens to my West Virginia sale if the deed of trust has no payment terms?
If the deed of trust is silent, the law says the buyer pays one third in cash, one third with interest in 1 year and the rest with interest in 2 years (W. Va. Code § 38-1-5). Most modern deeds of trust set their own terms, which the notice of sale must state (W. Va. Code § 38-1-4).
Where is a West Virginia trustee's sale advertised?
As a Class II legal advertisement in a qualified newspaper in the county where the home is, under the heading Legal Advertisements, once a week for 2 successive weeks (W. Va. Code §§ 38-1-4, 59-3-2). If no paper will run it, it is posted in at least three public places, including the county courthouse.
Can my West Virginia foreclosure sale go ahead if the certified letter came back to the trustee?
Yes. Under W. Va. Code § 38-1-4, mailed notice is complete when it is sent to the address in your deed of trust, or a newer address you gave in writing, even if it is returned as refused or undeliverable. Do not count on a returned letter to stop the sale.
Step by step
More on foreclosure in West Virginia
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.
- Free foreclosure help
- A sale date is set (this page)
Back to the West Virginia overview
Free, official, nationwide
Free help anywhere in the country
HUD-approved housing counselors
Free foreclosure prevention counseling from agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A counselor can review your budget and deal with your servicer alongside you.
(800) 569-4287CFPB: help for struggling homeowners
Plain-language guides from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and a complaint form if your mortgage servicer is not following the rules.
Legal Services Corporation: find legal aid
Find the free civil legal aid office for your county if you have been served with a foreclosure lawsuit or given a sale date and cannot afford a lawyer.
Sources for this page
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-5 (terms of sale)
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-13 (substitution of trustees)
- West Virginia Housing Development Fund: Help for Homeowners
- Mountain State Justice
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-3 (sales under trust deeds)
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-4 (notice of sale)
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-4a (statute of limitations for sales by trustees)
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-7 (application of proceeds; action to recover a deficiency)
- W. Va. Code § 46A-2-106 (notice of consumer's right to cure default)
- W. Va. Code § 59-3-2 (legal advertisements; frequency of publication)
- WVHDF news release: WV Homeowners Rescue Program closed to new applications
- Legal Aid of West Virginia: Foreclosure podcast
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-8 (return of account of sale)
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-8a (trustee's report of sale disclosure form)
- W. Va. Code § 38-1-16 (sale under deed of trust; preexisting tenancy)
- W. Va. Code § 46A-1-102 (definitions; consumer loan)
- W. Va. Code § 55-3-1 (unlawful entry and detainer)
- W. Va. Code § 55-3-3 (return day and service of summons)