When the home has been sold at the trustee's sale or the sheriff's auction: up to that moment you can stop it by reinstating the loan (paying the arrears and fees), paying it off, selling, or filing bankruptcy, and Nevada's non-judicial process gives the right to reinstate until five days before the sale date.
Foreclosure is a sequence of recorded notices with statutory waiting periods between them, and the periods exist to give the owner time to act. Every option is available at the start and they fall away one by one. The date that matters is the sale date on the notice of trustee's sale, and nothing before it is too late.
The Nevada clock
Payments are missed, and after about 120 days the lender may record a notice of default and election to sell (federal servicing rules forbid starting before then). Nevada then requires a 90-day wait during which the borrower can request mediation under the state's Foreclosure Mediation Program. After the 90 days and any mediation, the trustee records and mails a notice of sale at least 20 days before the sale date. The right to cure the default by paying the arrears, late charges and the trustee's costs runs until five days before the sale (NRS 107.080). From first missed payment to sale is rarely less than seven or eight months and is often over a year.
Judicial-foreclosure states (Florida, New York, Illinois and others) run through a lawsuit and take one to three years, and several give a right of redemption after the sale. Nevada gives none: once the trustee's deed records, the home belongs to the buyer at the sale.
The options, in the order they close
- Reinstatement: pay everything that is behind and the fees, and the loan continues as before. Available until five days before the sale in Nevada.
- Loss mitigation with the servicer: a repayment plan, forbearance, or a modification that adds the arrears to the balance. Federal rules require the servicer to review a complete application received more than 37 days before the sale and pause the sale while it does.
- Mediation: Nevada's programme, requested within 30 days of the notice of default, brings the lender to the table with a mediator and pauses the sale.
- Sale: a home with equity can be listed and sold, with the loan paid off at closing, at any point before the sale; a short sale if the debt exceeds the value, with the lender's approval.
- Deed in lieu: handing the property back to the lender by agreement, which avoids the sale on the record and sometimes comes with relocation money.
- Bankruptcy: a Chapter 13 filing stops the sale automatically and lets the arrears be repaid over three to five years while payments resume. It stops a sale the day before it; it does not undo one the day after.
After the sale
The new owner takes title and the former owner becomes a tenant at sufferance who can be evicted, in Nevada after a three-day notice. The only remaining questions are whether the sale price exceeded the debt (the surplus is the former owner's, by claim through the trustee) and whether the lender can pursue the shortfall (Nevada limits deficiency judgments and bars them on most purchase loans for owner-occupied homes). A sale can be challenged in court for a defective notice, but that is a lawsuit after the fact, not a way to keep the house.
Questions people ask
How many missed payments before foreclosure?
Federal rules stop a servicer from recording the first notice until a loan is more than 120 days delinquent, so four missed payments. The sale itself is months after that; in Nevada, at least 110 days after the notice of default.
Can you stop a foreclosure the day before the sale?
Reinstatement in Nevada ends five days before the sale, so the day before it is too late to cure. Bankruptcy stops the sale automatically on filing, even the day before, and a servicer's failure to review a timely loss-mitigation application can be raised the same way.
Can I sell my house to avoid foreclosure?
Yes, at any time before the trustee's sale, provided the sale can close in time; the loan is paid from the proceeds. If the home is worth less than the debt it is a short sale, which needs the lender's consent and takes longer, so start early.