California foreclosure runs on a statutory clock. Almost every genuinely bad outcome we see comes from a homeowner not knowing which day on that clock they are standing on — and in particular not knowing that the right to reinstate survives much longer than most people assume, and that money left over after an auction belongs to them.
This page lays out the timeline with the code sections attached, so you can check any of it yourself. It is general information about California law, not legal advice about your loan.
California uses non-judicial foreclosure — the lender forecloses through the power-of-sale clause in your deed of trust rather than by suing you, under the Civil Code section 2924 series. No courtroom, no judge, and a timeline set entirely by statute.
| Stage | Statutory timing | Code section |
|---|---|---|
| Servicer must contact you | At least 30 days before a Notice of Default can be recorded (owner-occupied 1–4 units) | Civ. Code §2923.55 |
| Notice of Default recorded | Day 0 of the public timeline. Recorded with the County Recorder | Civ. Code §2924 |
| Reinstatement period | Approximately 90 days. No sale date may be set until roughly 90 days after the NOD records | Civ. Code §2924c |
| Notice of Trustee’s Sale | Recorded, mailed, posted and published. Sale no sooner than 21 days after recording | Civ. Code §2924f |
| Right to reinstate ends | Five business days before the sale date in the initial recorded notice of sale | Civ. Code §2924c(e) |
| AB 2424 postponement #1 | At least 45 days — deliver a signed listing agreement to the servicer ≥5 business days before the sale | AB 2424, eff. 1/1/2025 |
| AB 2424 postponement #2 | Roughly another 45 days — deliver an executed purchase agreement on the same timeline | AB 2424, eff. 1/1/2025 |
| Surplus funds after sale | Proceeds above all liens belong to the former owner, distributed in lien priority | Civ. Code §2924j |
Day counts are statutory minimums. Servicers routinely take longer, and a sale can be postponed repeatedly. Never assume you have more time than the recorded notice states — but also never assume you have less.
The clock does not start with a missed payment. Most servicers wait until a loan is roughly 90 days delinquent before beginning, and for owner-occupied one-to-four unit properties they must first satisfy the contact requirement in Civil Code section 2923.55: reach you by phone or in person, or document the diligent attempts the statute spells out, at least 30 days before recording a Notice of Default. The purpose of that call is to assess your financial situation and explain your options.
Nothing is public at this stage. This is the quietest and most useful window you will get, and it is the one most often wasted.
The Notice of Default is recorded with the San Diego County Recorder. Two things follow immediately. First, a roughly 90-day reinstatement period begins — no sale date may be set until it runs. Second, because the recording is public, your mailbox fills up. Investors, foreclosure-rescue outfits, and surplus-fund companies all pull recorded NODs daily. Some of the mail is legitimate. Some of it is not.
The thing to understand about reinstatement: you are not being asked for the entire loan balance. Civil Code section 2924c lets you cure by paying the arrears — the missed payments plus permitted fees and costs. People routinely walk away from houses with real equity because they believed they needed to produce a full payoff.
Once the reinstatement period runs, the trustee can record a Notice of Trustee's Sale setting a specific date, time and place. It must be mailed to you, posted on the property, and published. The sale cannot happen sooner than 21 days after that recording.
Your right to reinstate does not end when this notice appears. Under section 2924c(e) it continues until five business days before the sale date in the initial recorded notice of sale. Past that cutoff, the lender can insist on payment in full.
This is the most important recent change in California foreclosure law and it is not widely known yet. AB 2424 took effect on January 1, 2025 and applies to residential properties of one to four units.
The practical effect is that a homeowner with equity who acts in time now has a legally protected runway of roughly three additional months to sell on their own terms instead of at auction. That is the difference between choosing your price and accepting whatever the courthouse steps produce.
If the property sells at auction for more than the total of all liens against it, the excess does not belong to the lender and it does not belong to the buyer. Under Civil Code section 2924j the trustee distributes proceeds in lien priority order, and whatever remains belongs to the former owner.
These surplus funds are real and frequently substantial in San Diego County, where a long-held property can carry a small loan against a large value. The trustee is required to give notice — but that notice goes to the last known address, which is often the house the former owner just lost. An entire industry exists to find these people and take a percentage. You can claim surplus funds yourself, directly from the trustee, without paying anyone a finder's fee.
Usually not, on a first mortgage. Code of Civil Procedure section 580d generally bars a deficiency judgment after a non-judicial trustee's sale, and section 580b separately protects purchase-money loans on owner-occupied residences. Second mortgages, HELOCs drawn for other purposes, and judicial foreclosures do not all behave the same way. This is genuinely a question for a California attorney about your specific loan documents.
None of the above requires you to sell. Reinstating, a loan modification, a repayment plan, or a forbearance may be better if your income has recovered. Selling is the right answer in one specific situation: you have equity, you cannot cure the default, and the sale date is approaching. In that case the goal is simply to convert equity into cash before a trustee converts it into a statistic.
There are two realistic ways to do that, and which one is better depends entirely on how much time is left on your clock:
A cash sale can close in as little as 7 days with clean title, because there is no loan underwriting to wait on. You take a below-market price in exchange for certainty and speed. The payoff goes through escrow; the equity above it is yours.
Selling in foreclosure →Listing on the MLS nets more — often far more — and AB 2424 exists precisely to give you room to do it. A flat 1% listing fee keeps more of that difference with you instead of spending it on commission at the worst possible moment.
How the 1% listing works →Send the address and what the recorded notice says. We will tell you plainly where you are on the timeline and whether a cash sale or a 1% listing nets you more — including when the answer is “neither, go reinstate.”
Get my options in writingSources: California Civil Code §§2923.55, 2924, 2924c, 2924f, 2924j; California Code of Civil Procedure §§580b, 580d; Assembly Bill 2424 (2024), effective January 1, 2025. Statutes change. Verify current text before relying on any deadline. This page is general information about California law and is not legal advice. For free help, contact a HUD-approved housing counseling agency.