Sell before a Phoenix foreclosure sale

By Huge Cash Offer, Phoenix · Updated October 3, 2026

Read your notice of trustee's sale

The notice is recorded with the county recorder, mailed to you, published in a newspaper for four weeks, and posted on the house at least 20 days before the sale (ARS 33-808). It lists the sale date, time, and place, and the trustee who is handling it. You can look it up on the Maricopa County Recorder or Pinal County Recorder site. That date is the one that counts, not a date someone tells you on the phone.

Your options, from the most time left to the least

• Reinstate. Pay the past-due amount plus the lender's allowed costs and fees by 5 p.m. on the last business day before the sale (ARS 33-813). Ask the trustee for a written reinstatement quote.
• Loss mitigation. Under federal rules, a complete loan modification application received more than 37 days before the sale generally has to be decided before the sale can go forward. Closer than that, the servicer is not required to wait.
• Sell. If you owe less than the house is worth, a sale pays off the loan, fees, and other liens at closing, and you keep what is left.
• Short sale or deed in lieu. If you owe more than it is worth. Both need the lender's approval, and approvals take time.
• Bankruptcy. Filing pauses the sale. Talk with a bankruptcy attorney first; it is not a fix by itself.

How close to the sale date can I still sell?

A sale needs a signed contract, a payoff statement from the servicer, and title work. On a cash sale with clean title, that can happen in about two weeks; more time is always safer. If the sale date is very close, ask the servicer or trustee whether they will postpone for a pending sale. Some will, with a signed contract in hand, but none have to.

What happens after a trustee's sale?

The winning bidder pays by 5 p.m. the next business day and receives a trustee's deed (ARS 33-811). You no longer own the house. If you are still living there, the new owner can file a forcible detainer (eviction) action.

If the sale brings more than what was owed, the extra money, called excess proceeds, goes to junior lienholders and then to the former owner. The trustee may deposit it with the county treasurer and ask the superior court to decide who gets it (ARS 33-812). You can usually claim it yourself. Be careful with anyone who offers to "recover" it for a large cut.

Will I owe money after a foreclosure?

Arizona limits deficiency judgments after a trustee's sale in many cases involving a home of two and a half acres or less used as a one- or two-family dwelling (ARS 33-814). Whether that applies depends on the property and the loan, and second loans can be different. Ask an attorney.

When a cash sale is the wrong choice

If you can afford to reinstate and want to keep the house, do that. If you owe more than the house is worth, we probably cannot help, and a short sale, a loan modification, or a housing counselor is a better place to start. A HUD-approved counselor costs nothing: use the CFPB counselor finder.

How a sale to us works with a sale date

Tell us the sale date first. We order the payoff and title the same day we sign, and we schedule closing ahead of the sale with room to spare. The title company pays the lender directly, records the release, and pays you what is left. If the numbers do not work, we will tell you quickly so you can use the time for another option.

General information for Arizona homeowners, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Huge Cash Offer is a home buyer, not a law firm, lender, or housing counselor. Laws and fees change; check the linked sources.