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How long does foreclosure take in California?

For many mortgages, federal law generally prevents the first foreclosure notice until the loan is more than 120 days behind, with some exceptions. After the Notice of Default is recorded, the earliest a sale can generally happen is 3 months and 20 days later, if all other notice rules are met. These are minimums, not promises. Your timeline can be longer, and there is no single number that fits everyone.

By Guillermo Serafin, broker and owner of Serve First Realty. Updated October 2026.

Before you start: what this cheat sheet assumes

This is the usual path for a home loan foreclosed outside of court, which California calls a nonjudicial foreclosure. It assumes you keep missing payments, with no bankruptcy, no court order, no complete loan modification application under review, and no postponement. Any of those can change your dates. If you were sued in court, read our guide on judicial vs. nonjudicial foreclosure instead.

Step 1: The first missed payment

You become delinquent based on your loan's rules. A grace period for late fees does not always mean you are not behind.

  • By about day 36, your loan company generally must try to reach you live to talk about options.
  • By about day 45, it generally must send you written information about options.
  • Best move now: call your loan company and a free housing counselor. You have the most choices at this stage.

Step 2: California outreach, at least 30 days before the Notice of Default

For covered loans, your loan company must contact you, or make a set number of tries, to talk about ways to avoid foreclosure. Then it must wait 30 days before recording a Notice of Default. This can happen at the same time as the federal 120-day period, so it does not always add extra time.

Step 3: More than 120 days behind

For many loans, federal rules generally do not let the loan company make the first foreclosure notice or filing until you are more than 120 days behind, with some exceptions. If the servicer receives a complete loan modification application before that first filing, federal rules generally block the filing while it is reviewed. Only a complete application received by the servicer counts, and there is no guarantee of approval.

Step 4: The Notice of Default is recorded

  • It is recorded in the county and mailed to you within 10 business days.
  • Within about 5 business days, a covered loan company generally must send you information about options to avoid foreclosure.
  • It is not an order to move out.
  • See our guide: your first 7 days after a Notice of Default.

Step 5: At least 3 calendar months of waiting

The law generally requires 3 calendar months, not exactly 90 days, with a limited early-recording exception described in the next step. This is your most valuable time. Use it to apply for a loan modification, catch up, refinance, or sell.

Step 6: The Notice of Trustee's Sale

This notice can be recorded up to 5 days before the 3 months end. It must be recorded, mailed, and posted at least 20 days before the sale, and printed in a newspaper once a week for three weeks in a row. The earliest the sale can generally happen is 3 months and 20 days after the Notice of Default was recorded.

Step 7: 5 business days before the sale

This is an important date, but it is not the only deadline, and some options must be in place much earlier.

  • Your right to catch up, called reinstatement, generally ends. It can come back after certain postponements or a new notice of sale, but not after every postponement.
  • For California's loan modification protection, your servicer must receive a complete application at least 5 business days before the scheduled sale. Federal protections may require a complete application more than 37 days before a sale. Applying does not always stop a foreclosure.
  • For a 1 to 4 unit home, the AB 2424 listing delay requires the trustee to receive a qualifying listing agreement with a California-licensed broker by this point, sent by certified mail or tracked overnight courier, and the home must already be publicly marketed as the law requires. If all conditions are met, the sale cannot happen until at least 45 days after the scheduled date. Listing alone does not give you a delay.
  • Paying off the whole loan may still stop the sale until the sale is complete.

Step 8: The trustee sale

The sale is a public auction on a business day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. For most homes with 1 to 4 units, at the first sale the home cannot sell for less than 67 percent of a recent market value. If it does not sell, the sale is put off at least 7 days.

Step 9: After the auction

  • For many 1 to 4 unit homes, tenants and certain buyers get a 15-day window, and possibly up to 45 days, to make a qualifying bid. See our guide on what happens after the auction.
  • The new owner has 21 or 60 days to record the deed. This is not a move-out deadline.
  • If the home sold for more than was owed, you may be able to claim leftover money. See how to claim surplus funds.

Step 10: Eviction, only through the court

  • A former owner generally gets a 3-day written notice to leave after the sale is final.
  • Qualifying tenants generally get at least 90 days' notice, and some leases continue after foreclosure. Former owners should not assume the tenant notice periods apply to them.
  • The buyer cannot remove you just by changing the locks. If you do not leave, the buyer generally must win a court case first.
  • If an eviction case is filed, you generally have 10 court days to respond, not counting weekends and court holidays.
  • Trial is generally within 20 days after a request. After a judgment, the sheriff gives a 5-day notice before removal.
  • No one may change the locks without a court order and the sheriff.

The bottom line

These are the shortest times the law allows, not a promise of how much time you have. Postponements, applications, bankruptcy, and other protections can stretch them. The earlier you act, the more choices you keep.

General information, not legal advice. Statutory periods are minimums under specific conditions, and your timeline may differ. Sources: California Civil Code sections 2923.5, 2923.55, 2923.6, 2924, 2924b, 2924c, 2924.9, 2924f, 2924g, 2924h, and 2924m; Code of Civil Procedure sections 715.010, 1161a, 1161b, 1167, and 1170.5; 12 C.F.R. sections 1024.39 and 1024.41.

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Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.

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