What is a foreclosure sale?
A foreclosure sale is the public auction where a home is sold after the owner falls behind on the mortgage and the required foreclosure notices have gone out. Buyers, including the lender, bid, and the home goes to the highest bidder.
Updated
Where you’ll see the word
-
A notice of sale
Names the date, time and place of the planned auction. It's the document that sets the sale date.
-
Court papers
In a state that forecloses through a court, a judgment of foreclosure and sale comes before the auction.
-
A property record
After the sale, the deed to the buyer is recorded, and the county's records show the new owner.
You might see it called
- Trustee’s sale The CFPB's name for the sale in a non-judicial foreclosure, where a trustee runs it. CFPB
- Auction sale The New York Courts' words for the court-ordered sale, run by a referee at the courthouse. New York Courts
- Sheriff’s sale Michigan's name for its foreclosure sale, used by the state's housing agency. MSHDA
What a foreclosure sale means for you
Until the sale, you still own the home. After it, the CFPB says, state law sets how the home is conveyed to the winning bidder and the steps that follow.
Federal rules can hold a sale for many covered loans. Under the loss mitigation rules, once your mortgage company has a complete application you sent more than 37 days before the sale, it has to tell its lawyers not to seek a judgment or an order of sale, and not to conduct a sale. The rule lists its exceptions.
Questions about a foreclosure sale
Does every foreclosure sale follow a court case?
No. In a judicial foreclosure the lender files a lawsuit and a court orders the sale. In a non-judicial one, the lender follows the written notices required under the power-of-sale clause in the mortgage or deed of trust, with no court case first.
What happens if the lender is the highest bidder?
The lender takes the home at its bid price. If that bid was less than you owed, whether you still owe the difference depends on your state's law; our deficiency judgment entry explains.
Can a foreclosure sale be postponed?
Yes. Under Regulation X, a servicer that can't finish answering your written notice of error before the sale may cancel or postpone the sale to meet its deadline.
Free help if you have a sale date
Housing counselors approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development work at nonprofit agencies. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes free foreclosure-avoidance counseling, including help with mortgage-company conversations and available options Source CFPB.
-
HUD-approved housing counselors
Our help directory lists 1,010 agencies approved for foreclosure counseling, by state.
-
Legal aid
Nonprofit law offices give free civil legal help to people with low incomes. Our help directory lists the 120 offices the Legal Services Corporation funds.
Our pages that use it
- How foreclosure works →The legal steps before an auction.
- After the sale →Title, moving out and the leftover balance.
Related terms
- Pre-ForeclosureThe time after you've fallen behind on the mortgage and before a foreclosure sale. You still own the home.
- Right of RedemptionThe right, in some states, to get your home back after a foreclosure sale by paying what the state's law requires before a deadline.
- Non-Judicial ForeclosureA foreclosure done without a court case, by the written notices required under a power-of-sale clause, ending in an auction.
- Deficiency JudgmentA court judgment for an unpaid mortgage balance left after a foreclosure sale.
Sources and method
This page uses none of our own data. The auction description comes from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's foreclosure explainer and the sale-hold rule from Regulation X, each opened on Oct 22, 2026.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · How does foreclosure work? at consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Regulation X loss mitigation procedures, at consumerfinance.gov
- California Courts · Your rights in a nonjudicial foreclosure, at selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
- New York Courts · Foreclosure Judgments, at nycourts.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Obduskey amicus brief, at files.consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Regulation X error resolution, at consumerfinance.gov
- Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Stages of Foreclosure, at michigan.gov
We write with assistance from AI tools. Figures come from the data and sources named on this page.