Arizona's trustee sale, from recorded notice to deed
How an Arizona trustee sale works: the 91 days after the recorded notice, the lender's bid released the day before, the $10,000 deposit and next-day payment.
Blog · Investing
91 days
An Arizona trustee's sale cannot be held before the 91st day after the notice of sale is recorded, and the last newspaper printing must come at least ten days before it.
Key takeaways
- An Arizona trustee sale starts with a recorded notice of trustee's sale. The sale cannot be held before the 91st day after recording, and the notice is mailed, posted on the property and at the superior court, and published once a week for four weeks.
- The borrower can reinstate until 5 p.m. on the last business day before the sale, and any objection is waived unless a court order stops the sale by then.
- From 9 a.m. on the last business day before the sale, the trustee must give out the lender's actual bid or a good faith estimate of its credit bid, so the opening price can be known a day ahead.
- Every bidder except the lender puts down a $10,000 deposit to bid, and the winner pays the rest by 5 p.m. the next business day. A winner who does not pay forfeits the deposit, and the property can go to the second-highest bidder.
- The trustee's deed conveys the property without any right of redemption, clear of liens junior to the deed of trust and subject to senior ones. On a home on two and a half acres or less, the lender cannot sue the borrower for a deficiency.
An Arizona foreclosure under a deed of trust ends at a trustee's sale, an auction held by the trustee with no court involved. Our records hold 2,259 upcoming Arizona sales in 15 counties, and the next is on October 13, 2026. The rules for them are in chapter 6.1 of title 33 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, and they reward a bidder who prepares: the timetable is fixed, the lender's bid is available the day before, and a winning bidder has until the next afternoon to pay. This article sets them out in the order a sale meets them, each quoted from the statute.
Who can be the trustee
An Arizona trustee must be a regulated business, such as a bank, trust company or escrow agent, or an Arizona lawyer, broker or insurance producer, and the lender can replace the trustee at any time.
Arizona limits who may act. The list begins with "An association or corporation doing business under the laws of this state as a bank, trust company, savings and loan association, credit union, insurance company, escrow agent or consumer lender." [1] and includes "A person who is a member of the state bar of Arizona." [2] and "A person who is a licensed real estate broker under the laws of this state." [3] The lender is not stuck with the trustee named in the deed of trust: "The beneficiary may at any time remove a trustee for any reason or cause and appoint a successor trustee, and such appointment shall constitute a substitution of trustee." [4] That is why the trustee named on a notice is often a firm that handles foreclosures rather than the one named in the deed of trust. Trustee firms lists the ones in our records.
The notice of trustee's sale, and the 91 days
The process starts when the trustee records a notice of trustee's sale; the sale date must be at least 91 days later, and in between the notice is mailed, posted on the property and at the courthouse, and published for four weeks.
The recorded notice. Recording the notice of sale is the first public step, and it fixes the earliest sale date: the date must be "no sooner than the ninety-first day after the date that the notice of sale was recorded" [5]. A recorded notice cannot be reused: "The notice of trustee sale may not be rerecorded for any reason." [6] If the sale lapses, the trustee starts again with a new notice and a new 91 days.
Mailing. "The trustee, within five business days after the recordation of a notice of sale, shall mail by certified or registered mail, with postage prepaid, a copy of the notice of sale to each of the persons who were parties to the trust deed except the trustee." [7] Others with a recorded interest, and anyone who recorded a request for notice, are mailed "Not later than thirty days after recording the notice of sale" [8].
Posting. The notice goes up on the property, "Posting a copy of the notice of sale, at least twenty days before the date of sale in some conspicuous place on the trust property to be sold" [9], and at the courthouse: "Notice shall also be posted at one of the places provided for posting public notices at any building that serves as a location of the superior court in the county where the trust property is to be sold." [10]
Publication. The notice is "published at least once a week for four consecutive weeks" [11], and "The last date of publication shall not be less than ten days prior to the date of sale." [12] Those printings are where most people first see an Arizona sale, and they are where our records come from. An Arizona notice we hold first appears in print a median of 77 days before its sale, across 1,374 sales. Arizona trustee sale laws keeps that figure beside the statutory minimum.
What the notice tells you. The notice must give the date, time and place, the address and legal description, the tax parcel number, the names of the lender and trustee and the basis of the trustee's qualification. Its one dollar figure is "The original principal balance as shown on the deed of trust." [13] That is the loan's size at closing, not the debt today and not the opening bid. The notice of trustee's sale decoder reads the rest of a notice line by line.
On most home loans the notice cannot come early: a federal rule bars the first foreclosure notice or filing until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent [14]. With the 91 days after it, the earliest Arizona sale of a typical home comes about seven months after the first missed payment.
The last business day: reinstatement and objections
The borrower can reinstate the loan, and anyone with an objection can get a court order stopping the sale, until 5 p.m. on the last business day before the sale; after that the sale goes ahead.
Reinstatement. The borrower, or a junior lienholder, can cure by paying the arrears and costs, not the whole loan, "before 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time on the last day other than a Saturday or legal holiday before the date of sale" [15]. The costs include the trustee's fee, capped at "six hundred dollars or one-half of one per cent of the entire unpaid principal sum secured, whichever is greater" [16], and on a written request for the exact reinstatement figure, "The trustee shall provide that information within five business days after receipt of the written request." [17] A sale on the calendar can therefore disappear the afternoon before.
Objections. The first paragraph of every notice carries a warning in capital letters: anyone with a defense "must file an action and obtain a court order pursuant to rule 65, Arizona rules of civil procedure, stopping the sale no later than 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time of the last business day before the scheduled date of the sale" [18]. The statute means it. The borrower and everyone the trustee mailed "shall waive all defenses and objections to the sale not raised in an action that results in the issuance of a court order granting relief pursuant to rule 65, Arizona rules of civil procedure" [19]. For a buyer, that is the reason an Arizona sale is hard to unwind: an objection not raised and won before the deadline is gone.
Postponements
An Arizona sale is postponed by public declaration at the time and place of the sale, to a fixed date within 90 days, and the trustee must tell anyone who asks when the next sale is.
The trustee postpones "by giving notice of the new date, time and place by public declaration at the time and place last appointed for the sale" [20], and "Any new sale date shall be a fixed date within ninety calendar days of the date of the declaration." [21] Nothing is mailed or published: "No other notice of the postponed, continued or relocated sale is required except as provided in subsection C of this section." [22] But the information is available: "After a sale has been postponed or continued, the trustee, on request, shall make available the date and time of the next scheduled sale" [23].
Two kinds of postponement happen on their own. "A sale is postponed by operation of law to the next business day at the same scheduled time and place if an act of force majeure prevents access to the sale location for the conduct of the sale." [24] And a sale held in breach of an undisclosed bankruptcy is not a sale: "A sale shall not be complete if the sale as held is contrary to or in violation of any federal statute in effect because of an unknown or undisclosed bankruptcy." [25] Trustee sale postponements compares Arizona's limits with every other state's.
Where and when sales are held
Arizona sales are held between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a business day, at the property, a superior court building or the trustee's office in the county, and nearly all in our records are set at a superior court building.
"The sale shall be held at the time and place designated in the notice of sale on a day other than a Saturday or legal holiday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time" [26], "at a specified place on the trust property, at a specified place at any building that serves as a location of the superior court or at a specified place at a place of business of the trustee" [27], in the county where the property is. One trustee can run a whole morning's sales in one place: "The sale shall not be set for a Saturday or legal holiday. The trustee may schedule more than one sale for the same date, time and place." [28]
In practice the courthouse wins: 80% of the upcoming Arizona sales in our records are set at a superior court building, most often the east entrance of the Pima County courthouse at 110 West Congress Street in Tucson or the main entrance of the Pinal County courthouse on Jason Lopez Circle in Florence. 68% are set for 10:00 a.m., and 27% fall on a Tuesday. The statute's times are Mountain Standard Time, which Arizona keeps all year.
The lender's bid, available the day before
From 9 a.m. on the last business day before the sale, the trustee must give out the lender's actual bid or a good faith estimate of its credit bid, and must postpone the sale if it cannot.
This rule lets a bidder prepare. "Beginning at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time on the last business day preceding the day of sale" [29], and again on the morning of the sale, "the trustee shall make available the actual bid or a good faith estimate of the credit bid the beneficiary is entitled to make at the sale" [30]. The obligation is enforced by delay: "If the actual bid or good faith estimate is not available during the prescribed time period, the trustee shall postpone the sale until the trustee is able to comply with this subsection." [31]
A credit bid is the lender's bid made with the debt rather than money: it "means a bid made by the beneficiary in full or partial satisfaction of the contract or contracts which are secured by the trust deed" [32]. It is the price a third party has to beat, so call the trustee the day before, and again on the morning of the sale, since an estimate is only an estimate.
The liens, on request. Weeks earlier you can ask for more. From 30 days after the notice is recorded, "the trustee shall upon receipt of a written request, provide, if actually known to the trustee, the following information relating to the trustee's sale and the trust property" [33]: the unpaid principal, the owner of record, and "A list of the liens and encumbrances upon the trust property as of the date of recordation of the notice of trustee's sale" [34]. The trustee "shall not be subject to liability for any error or omission in providing the information requested" [35] short of a willful failure, so treat the list as a starting point for your own title search.
The auction: $10,000 to bid, the rest the next day
Every bidder except the lender puts down a $10,000 deposit to bid, the highest bid wins, and the winner pays the balance by 5 p.m. the next business day or forfeits the deposit.
The deposit. The trustee "shall offer to sell the trust property at public auction for cash to the highest bidder" [36], and "Any person, including the trustee or beneficiary, may bid at the sale." [37] To take part, "The trustee shall require every bidder except the beneficiary to provide a ten thousand dollar deposit in any form that is satisfactory to the trustee as a condition of entering a bid." [38] Trustees commonly take it as a cashier's check; ask the trustee what form it accepts before the sale. The lender is the only bidder that can bid without money: "Only the beneficiary may make a credit bid in lieu of cash at sale." [39]
Bids bind. "Every bid shall be deemed an irrevocable offer until the sale is completed, except that a subsequent bid by the same bidder for a higher amount shall cancel that bidder's lower bid." [40]
Paying the balance. Arizona gives the winner until the next business day. The highest bidder "shall pay the price bid by no later than 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time of the following day, other than a Saturday or legal holiday" [41], and "The price bid shall be paid at the office of the trustee or the trustee's agent, or any other reasonable place designated by the trustee." [42] That is time to visit a bank, not to arrange a mortgage. The cashier's check calculator works out checks that cover any winning bid up to your maximum.
If the winner does not pay. "The deposit of the highest bidder who fails to pay the amount bid shall be forfeited" [43], and the trustee can either reopen the bidding or "immediately offer the trust property to the second highest bidder who may purchase the trust property at that bidder's bid price" [44]. The defaulting bidder can owe more than the deposit: "In addition to the forfeit of deposit, a highest bidder who fails to pay the amount bid by that bidder is liable to any person who suffers loss or expenses as a result, including attorney fees." [45] Everyone else's deposit comes back: "The trustee shall return deposits to all but the bidder or bidders whose bid or bids result in the highest bid price." [46] How to buy at a trustee sale covers the preparation that applies in every state.
The trustee's deed, and what it carries
The trustee records the deed within days of payment, the sale is treated as complete on the sale date, and the deed conveys the property without any right of redemption, clear of junior liens and subject to senior ones.
Recording. "Within seven business days after receipt of payment by the trustee or the trustee's agent, made in a form that is satisfactory to the trustee, the trustee shall execute and submit the trustee's deed to the county recorder for recording" [47]. If the deed is recorded "within fifteen business days after the date of the sale, the trustee's sale is deemed perfected at the appointed date and time of the trustee's sale" [48], so the buyer's title runs from the auction itself.
Finality. "A trustee's deed shall constitute conclusive evidence of the meeting of those requirements in favor of purchasers or encumbrancers for value and without actual notice." [49] And the deed is final in the fullest sense: "That conveyance shall be absolute without right of redemption and clear of all liens, claims or interests that have a priority subordinate to the deed of trust and shall be subject to all liens, claims or interests that have a priority senior to the deed of trust." [50]
That last sentence is the one to read twice. A sale under a first deed of trust wipes out a second mortgage, judgment liens and other junior interests. A sale under a second deed of trust does not touch the first, and the buyer takes the property subject to it. Find out which deed of trust is being foreclosed before you bid.
Excess proceeds, deficiency and possession
Money above the debt goes to an association with a subordinate lien, then other junior lienholders, then the former owner; a home on two and a half acres or less carries no deficiency; and occupants are removed by written demand and a forcible detainer case.
Proceeds. "The trustee shall apply the proceeds of the trustee's sale in the following order of priority" [51]: the costs of sale, the foreclosed debt and the lender's advances, then "To any condominium association or planned community association as defined in chapter 9 or 16 of this title that had a subordinate lien as provided by law" [52], then the junior lienholders, and finally the former owner: "After payment in full of all sums due to all junior lienholders and encumbrancers as of the date of the sale and excluding any postsale attorney fees, payment shall be made to the trustor" [53]. The trustee must mail notice of any excess "within fifteen days of the completion of the trustee's sale" [54], or it may instead "deposit the balance of the proceeds with the county treasurer in the county in which the sale took place pending an order of the superior court in the county" [55]. What happens after a trustee sale follows a surplus claim from start to finish.
Deficiency. For a home, there is none: if the property is two and a half acres or less and used for a single one- or two-family dwelling, "no action may be maintained to recover any difference between the amount obtained by sale and the amount of the indebtedness" [56]. For other property, the lender must act quickly: "within ninety days after the date of sale of trust property under a trust deed pursuant to section 33-807, an action may be maintained to recover a deficiency judgment" [57], and the debt is reduced by the fair market value "or the sale price at the trustee's sale, whichever is higher" [58], so a cheap sale does not inflate the deficiency.
Possession. An occupant "who retains possession of any land, tenements or other real property after he receives written demand of possession may be removed through an action for forcible detainer" [59], a remedy that applies "If the property has been sold through a trustee's sale under a deed of trust pursuant to title 33, chapter 6.1." [60] It does not reach everyone: "The remedies provided by this section do not affect the rights of persons in possession under a lease or other possessory right which is superior to the interest sold" [61]. Tenants can have rights beyond these, so take advice before serving one.
Before you bid in Arizona
- Check the lien being foreclosed. A first deed of trust clears what is junior to it; a second leaves the first for you to pay.
- Ask the trustee for the lien list. From 30 days after recording, a written request gets the trustee's list of liens and encumbrances, as far as it knows them.
- Get the lender's bid the day before. From 9 a.m. on the last business day before the sale, the trustee must give out the actual bid or a good faith estimate.
- Bring the deposit, and line up the balance. $10,000 in a form the trustee accepts to bid, and the rest by 5 p.m. the next business day.
- Expect no second chances either way. There is no redemption after the sale, and a winner who does not pay loses the deposit.
- Plan for possession. A former owner who stays is removed by demand and a forcible detainer case; a tenant may have rights that survive the sale.
Upcoming sales, county by county, are on Arizona trustee sales; trustee sale laws by state compares Arizona's rules with the other states we cover.
Sources
61 primary- [1]A.R.S. § 33-803(A)(1) — Arizona Legislature“An association or corporation doing business under the laws of this state as a bank, trust company, savings and loan association, credit union, insurance company, escrow agent or consumer lender.”
- [2]A.R.S. § 33-803(A)(2) — Arizona Legislature“A person who is a member of the state bar of Arizona.”
- [3]A.R.S. § 33-803(A)(3) — Arizona Legislature“A person who is a licensed real estate broker under the laws of this state.”
- [4]A.R.S. § 33-804(B) — Arizona Legislature“The beneficiary may at any time remove a trustee for any reason or cause and appoint a successor trustee, and such appointment shall constitute a substitution of trustee.”
- [5]A.R.S. § 33-808(C)(1) — Arizona Legislature“no sooner than the ninety-first day after the date that the notice of sale was recorded”
- [6]A.R.S. § 33-808(F) — Arizona Legislature“The notice of trustee sale may not be rerecorded for any reason.”
- [7]A.R.S. § 33-809(C) — Arizona Legislature“The trustee, within five business days after the recordation of a notice of sale, shall mail by certified or registered mail, with postage prepaid, a copy of the notice of sale to each of the persons who were parties to the trust deed except the trustee.”
- [8]A.R.S. § 33-809(B) — Arizona Legislature“Not later than thirty days after recording the notice of sale, the trustee shall mail by certified or registered mail”
- [9]A.R.S. § 33-808(A)(3) — Arizona Legislature“Posting a copy of the notice of sale, at least twenty days before the date of sale in some conspicuous place on the trust property to be sold”
- [10]A.R.S. § 33-808(A)(3) — Arizona Legislature“Notice shall also be posted at one of the places provided for posting public notices at any building that serves as a location of the superior court in the county where the trust property is to be sold.”
- [11]A.R.S. § 33-808(A)(4) — Arizona Legislature“published at least once a week for four consecutive weeks”
- [12]A.R.S. § 33-808(A)(4) — Arizona Legislature“The last date of publication shall not be less than ten days prior to the date of sale.”
- [13]A.R.S. § 33-808(C)(4) — Arizona Legislature“The original principal balance as shown on the deed of trust.”
- [14]12 CFR § 1024.41(f)(1) — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau“A servicer shall not make the first notice or filing required by applicable law for any judicial or non-judicial foreclosure process unless: (i) A borrower's mortgage loan obligation is more than 120 days delinquent”
- [15]A.R.S. § 33-813(A) — Arizona Legislature“before 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time on the last day other than a Saturday or legal holiday before the date of sale”
- [16]A.R.S. § 33-813(B)(4) — Arizona Legislature“Payment of the trustee's fees, in an amount not to exceed six hundred dollars or one-half of one per cent of the entire unpaid principal sum secured, whichever is greater.”
- [17]A.R.S. § 33-813(D) — Arizona Legislature“The trustee shall provide that information within five business days after receipt of the written request.”
- [18]A.R.S. § 33-808(C)(8) — Arizona Legislature“you must file an action and obtain a court order pursuant to rule 65, Arizona rules of civil procedure, stopping the sale no later than 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time of the last business day before the scheduled date of the sale”
- [19]A.R.S. § 33-811(C) — Arizona Legislature“shall waive all defenses and objections to the sale not raised in an action that results in the issuance of a court order granting relief pursuant to rule 65, Arizona rules of civil procedure”
- [20]A.R.S. § 33-810(B) — Arizona Legislature“by giving notice of the new date, time and place by public declaration at the time and place last appointed for the sale”
- [21]A.R.S. § 33-810(B) — Arizona Legislature“Any new sale date shall be a fixed date within ninety calendar days of the date of the declaration.”
- [22]A.R.S. § 33-810(B) — Arizona Legislature“No other notice of the postponed, continued or relocated sale is required except as provided in subsection C of this section.”
- [23]A.R.S. § 33-810(B) — Arizona Legislature“After a sale has been postponed or continued, the trustee, on request, shall make available the date and time of the next scheduled sale”
- [24]A.R.S. § 33-810(D) — Arizona Legislature“A sale is postponed by operation of law to the next business day at the same scheduled time and place if an act of force majeure prevents access to the sale location for the conduct of the sale.”
- [25]A.R.S. § 33-810(C) — Arizona Legislature“A sale shall not be complete if the sale as held is contrary to or in violation of any federal statute in effect because of an unknown or undisclosed bankruptcy.”
- [26]A.R.S. § 33-808(B) — Arizona Legislature“The sale shall be held at the time and place designated in the notice of sale on a day other than a Saturday or legal holiday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time”
- [27]A.R.S. § 33-808(B) — Arizona Legislature“at a specified place on the trust property, at a specified place at any building that serves as a location of the superior court or at a specified place at a place of business of the trustee”
- [28]A.R.S. § 33-807(D) — Arizona Legislature“The sale shall not be set for a Saturday or legal holiday. The trustee may schedule more than one sale for the same date, time and place.”
- [29]A.R.S. § 33-809(F) — Arizona Legislature“Beginning at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time on the last business day preceding the day of sale”
- [30]A.R.S. § 33-809(F) — Arizona Legislature“the trustee shall make available the actual bid or a good faith estimate of the credit bid the beneficiary is entitled to make at the sale”
- [31]A.R.S. § 33-809(F) — Arizona Legislature“If the actual bid or good faith estimate is not available during the prescribed time period, the trustee shall postpone the sale until the trustee is able to comply with this subsection.”
- [32]A.R.S. § 33-801(5) — Arizona Legislature“means a bid made by the beneficiary in full or partial satisfaction of the contract or contracts which are secured by the trust deed”
- [33]A.R.S. § 33-809(E) — Arizona Legislature“the trustee shall upon receipt of a written request, provide, if actually known to the trustee, the following information relating to the trustee's sale and the trust property”
- [34]A.R.S. § 33-809(E)(3) — Arizona Legislature“A list of the liens and encumbrances upon the trust property as of the date of recordation of the notice of trustee's sale”
- [35]A.R.S. § 33-809(E) — Arizona Legislature“shall not be subject to liability for any error or omission in providing the information requested”
- [36]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“the trustee shall offer to sell the trust property at public auction for cash to the highest bidder”
- [37]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“Any person, including the trustee or beneficiary, may bid at the sale.”
- [38]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“The trustee shall require every bidder except the beneficiary to provide a ten thousand dollar deposit in any form that is satisfactory to the trustee as a condition of entering a bid.”
- [39]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“Only the beneficiary may make a credit bid in lieu of cash at sale.”
- [40]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“Every bid shall be deemed an irrevocable offer until the sale is completed, except that a subsequent bid by the same bidder for a higher amount shall cancel that bidder's lower bid.”
- [41]A.R.S. § 33-811(A) — Arizona Legislature“shall pay the price bid by no later than 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time of the following day, other than a Saturday or legal holiday”
- [42]A.R.S. § 33-811(B) — Arizona Legislature“The price bid shall be paid at the office of the trustee or the trustee's agent, or any other reasonable place designated by the trustee.”
- [43]A.R.S. § 33-811(A) — Arizona Legislature“The deposit of the highest bidder who fails to pay the amount bid shall be forfeited”
- [44]A.R.S. § 33-811(A) — Arizona Legislature“immediately offer the trust property to the second highest bidder who may purchase the trust property at that bidder's bid price”
- [45]A.R.S. § 33-811(A) — Arizona Legislature“In addition to the forfeit of deposit, a highest bidder who fails to pay the amount bid by that bidder is liable to any person who suffers loss or expenses as a result, including attorney fees.”
- [46]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“The trustee shall return deposits to all but the bidder or bidders whose bid or bids result in the highest bid price.”
- [47]A.R.S. § 33-811(B) — Arizona Legislature“Within seven business days after receipt of payment by the trustee or the trustee's agent, made in a form that is satisfactory to the trustee, the trustee shall execute and submit the trustee's deed to the county recorder for recording”
- [48]A.R.S. § 33-810(A) — Arizona Legislature“within fifteen business days after the date of the sale, the trustee's sale is deemed perfected at the appointed date and time of the trustee's sale”
- [49]A.R.S. § 33-811(B) — Arizona Legislature“A trustee's deed shall constitute conclusive evidence of the meeting of those requirements in favor of purchasers or encumbrancers for value and without actual notice.”
- [50]A.R.S. § 33-811(E) — Arizona Legislature“That conveyance shall be absolute without right of redemption and clear of all liens, claims or interests that have a priority subordinate to the deed of trust and shall be subject to all liens, claims or interests that have a priority senior to the deed of trust.”
- [51]A.R.S. § 33-812(A) — Arizona Legislature“The trustee shall apply the proceeds of the trustee's sale in the following order of priority”
- [52]A.R.S. § 33-812(A)(4) — Arizona Legislature“To any condominium association or planned community association as defined in chapter 9 or 16 of this title that had a subordinate lien as provided by law”
- [53]A.R.S. § 33-812(A)(5) — Arizona Legislature“After payment in full of all sums due to all junior lienholders and encumbrancers as of the date of the sale and excluding any postsale attorney fees, payment shall be made to the trustor”
- [54]A.R.S. § 33-812(B) — Arizona Legislature“the trustee, within fifteen days of the completion of the trustee's sale, shall mail by first class mail and by certified or registered mail, postage prepaid, to all known addresses a notice of any excess proceeds to the trustor”
- [55]A.R.S. § 33-812(C) — Arizona Legislature“the trustee may elect to deposit the balance of the proceeds with the county treasurer in the county in which the sale took place pending an order of the superior court in the county”
- [56]A.R.S. § 33-814(G) — Arizona Legislature“no action may be maintained to recover any difference between the amount obtained by sale and the amount of the indebtedness”
- [57]A.R.S. § 33-814(A) — Arizona Legislature“within ninety days after the date of sale of trust property under a trust deed pursuant to section 33-807, an action may be maintained to recover a deficiency judgment”
- [58]A.R.S. § 33-814(A) — Arizona Legislature“less the fair market value of the trust property on the date of the sale as determined by the court or the sale price at the trustee's sale, whichever is higher”
- [59]A.R.S. § 12-1173.01(A) — Arizona Legislature“who retains possession of any land, tenements or other real property after he receives written demand of possession may be removed through an action for forcible detainer”
- [60]A.R.S. § 12-1173.01(A)(2) — Arizona Legislature“If the property has been sold through a trustee's sale under a deed of trust pursuant to title 33, chapter 6.1.”
- [61]A.R.S. § 12-1173.01(B) — Arizona Legislature“The remedies provided by this section do not affect the rights of persons in possession under a lease or other possessory right which is superior to the interest sold”
Questions
How does a trustee sale work in Arizona?
The trustee records a notice of trustee's sale, mails it within five business days to the parties to the deed of trust, posts it on the property and at the superior court at least 20 days ahead, and publishes it once a week for four weeks. The sale can be held no sooner than the 91st day after recording, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a business day. Bidders other than the lender put down $10,000 to bid, the highest bid wins, and the winner pays the balance by 5 p.m. the next business day.
How long does the trustee sale process take in Arizona?
At least 91 days from the recording of the notice of trustee's sale to the sale itself, and on most home loans a federal rule bars that first notice until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent, so the earliest sale comes about seven months after the first missed payment. Each postponement can move the sale up to 90 days at a time.
How much do you need to bid at an Arizona trustee sale?
A $10,000 deposit, in a form the trustee accepts, before you can bid; the lender is the only bidder exempt. If you win, the rest of the price is due by 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on the next day that is not a Saturday or legal holiday, paid at the trustee's office or another place it names. The deposit of a winner who does not pay is forfeited.
Can you find out the opening bid before an Arizona trustee sale?
Yes. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the last business day before the sale, and from 9 a.m. on the sale day until the sale, the trustee must make available the lender's actual bid or a good faith estimate of the credit bid it is entitled to make. If it cannot, the trustee must postpone the sale.
Is there a right of redemption after an Arizona trustee sale?
No. Arizona's statute says the trustee's deed conveys the property absolute, without right of redemption. The borrower's chance to keep the property is before the sale: reinstating by 5 p.m. on the last business day before it, or obtaining a court order stopping it by the same deadline.
What happens to a second mortgage after an Arizona trustee sale?
It depends on which lien was foreclosed. The trustee's deed conveys the property clear of liens junior to the deed of trust being foreclosed and subject to liens senior to it. A sale under a first deed of trust wipes out a second mortgage; a sale under a second deed of trust leaves the first in place, and the buyer takes the property subject to it.
Where are trustee sales held in Arizona?
At the place the notice of sale names, which must be on the property, at a building that serves as a location of the superior court, or at the trustee's place of business, in the county where the property is. In our records nearly all are set at a superior court building, such as the east entrance of the Pima County courthouse in Tucson or the main entrance of the Pinal County courthouse in Florence.
How to cite this article
Quote freely with a link. Where a claim rests on a statute, the source above is the authority; cite it alongside this page.
TrusteeSaleData. "Arizona's trustee sale, from recorded notice to deed." Published October 5, 2026. https://www.trusteesaledata.com/blog/arizona-trustee-sale-process
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