How to check whether a house is in foreclosure
A foreclosure becomes public when the trustee records, files or posts a notice. Where to look for one, state by state, and how to confirm the sale date.
Blog · Basics
21 days
the least notice a Texas trustee's sale can get. The notice is on file before the auction is.
Key takeaways
- A house is in foreclosure, as far as the public record goes, once a notice is recorded, filed or posted. Missed payments alone are private.
- County indexes are searched by owner name or parcel number, so start at the assessor's site with the address.
- The notice names the sale date and the trustee to call. Confirm the date with the trustee, because sales are often postponed.
What "in foreclosure" means in the record
A house is in foreclosure, as far as the public record goes, once the lender's trustee records, files or posts a notice: in a deed-of-trust state, a notice of default or a notice of trustee's sale.
Missed payments are private. So are the servicer's letters. What makes a foreclosure public is the first notice the law requires on the record, and in the states that foreclose under a deed of trust, outside court, that is the trustee's job (trustee sale vs foreclosure covers the difference).
Which notice comes first, and where it goes, is set state by state:
- California records a notice of default with the county recorder first [1], then records the notice of sale at least 20 days before the auction [2], publishes it once a week for three weeks [3] and posts it on the property [4].
- Arizona records the notice of sale, and the sale can be held no sooner than the 91st day after that [5].
- Nevada records a notice of breach and election to sell [6].
- Colorado files the foreclosure with the county's public trustee [7].
- Texas records no notice of default at all. The notice of sale is posted at the courthouse door [8] and filed with the county clerk [9], at least 21 days before the sale [10].
The notice of default article sets out each state's first notice and how long it runs before a sale can be held.
Step 1: get the owner's name and parcel number
Start at the county assessor's site with the address: county records are indexed by owner name and parcel number, not by street address.
The assessor's record gives the owner of record and the assessor's parcel number (APN). Write both down. A recorder's search by street address often finds nothing even when a notice is on file, because the notice is indexed under the borrower's name and the parcel.
Step 2: search the county's records
Search the county recorder's records (in Texas, the county clerk's foreclosure notices) by owner name or parcel number for a notice of default or a notice of trustee's sale.
Many recorders let anyone search their index online for free and charge only for copies. Look for these document types:
| Where you are | What to search for | Where it is kept |
|---|---|---|
| California | Notice of default, then notice of trustee's sale | County recorder's official records |
| Nevada | Notice of breach and election to sell, then notice of sale | County recorder's official records |
| Arizona | Notice of trustee's sale | County recorder's official records |
| Colorado | Notice of election and demand | The county public trustee's foreclosure search |
| Texas | Notice of trustee's sale or notice of substitute trustee's sale | The county clerk's foreclosure notices, posted on the county's website [11] |
| Other deed-of-trust states | A notice of default or a notice of trustee's sale, by the state's rules | County recorder; each state's rules are in trustee sale laws by state |
A Texas county has to post the notices filed with its clerk on its own website, free and without registration [11], so in Texas this step is usually the quickest of all: open the county's foreclosure page for the coming first Tuesday and look for the owner's name.
Step 3: read the newspaper and the posting
In most deed-of-trust states the notice of sale is also published in a local newspaper and posted at the courthouse or on the property, so the legal notices are a second place to find it.
California publishes the notice once a week for three weeks [3], Arizona once a week for four weeks [12]. The newspaper's legal notices are searchable by name or street in many counties. A posted copy on the front door is the most visible sign of all, and the least reliable, because it can be taken down.
Step 4: confirm the sale with the trustee
Call the trustee's sale line, or check the trustee's sale list, with the trustee sale number on the notice: it is the only current word on whether the sale is still on.
Sales move. California requires the trustee to make a good-faith effort to give current sale dates to anyone who asks [13], and Arizona requires the trustee to give the next date after a postponement on request [14]. Why sales move, and each state's limit on it, is in trustee sale postponements.
Search every notice at once
Instead of searching county by county, you can search the notices of trustee's sale we hold across every state we cover.
We hold 43,507 notices of trustee's sale from 21 deed-of-trust states, with 13,959 sales scheduled in the next 30 days. Search them by street, city or county; a match shows how many sales are on record. With a plan, search also matches the exact address, the parcel number and the owner's name, and opens the sale date, the trustee to call and, where the notice prints it, the unpaid balance. Or browse trustee sale coverage by state down to the county.
What the notice tells you
A notice of trustee's sale names the sale date, time and place, the trustee and its sale number, and usually the lender, the original loan and the amount owed.
How to read a notice of trustee's sale goes through it line by line. Two names matter most if you want to know who is foreclosing: the trustee, who runs the sale (see trustee firms), and the beneficiary, the lender the sale is held for (see trustee sales by lender).
If the house is yours
If the notice is about your own home, call your servicer and a HUD-approved housing counselor now: most states set a deadline for curing the default, and it falls before the sale.
Housing counseling from a HUD-approved agency is free; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists counselors by ZIP code. To see how many days your state leaves before the sale, use the trustee sale deadline calculator.
Sources
14 primary- [1]Cal. Civ. Code § 2924(a)(1) — California Legislature“shall first file for record, in the office of the recorder of each county wherein the mortgaged or trust property or some part or parcel thereof is situated, a notice of default”
- [2]Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(b)(4) — California Legislature“be recorded with the county recorder of the county in which the property or some part thereof is situated at least 20 days prior to the date of sale”
- [3]Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(b)(1) — California Legislature“publishing a copy once a week for three consecutive calendar weeks”
- [4]Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(b)(3) — California Legislature“A copy of the notice of sale shall also be posted in a conspicuous place on the property to be sold at least 20 days before the date of sale”
- [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]NRS 107.080(2)(b) — Nevada Legislature“first executes and causes to be recorded in the office of the recorder of each county wherein the trust property, or any part thereof, is situated a notice of the breach and of the election to sell or cause to be sold the property to satisfy the obligation”
- [7]C.R.S. § 38-38-101(1) — Colorado General Assembly“the holder or the attorney for the holder shall file the following with the public trustee of the county where the property is located”
- [8]Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002(b)(1) — Texas Legislature“posting at the courthouse door of each county in which the property is located a written notice designating the county in which the property will be sold”
- [9]Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002(b)(2) — Texas Legislature“filing in the office of the county clerk of each county in which the property is located a copy of the notice posted under Subdivision (1)”
- [10]Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002(b) — Texas Legislature“notice of the sale, which must include a statement of the earliest time at which the sale will begin, must be given at least 21 days before the date of the sale”
- [11]Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002(f-1) — Texas Legislature“A county shall prominently post a notice of sale filed with the county clerk under Subsection (b)(2) on the county's Internet website on a page where the county posts other auction information and that is publicly available for viewing without charge or registration.”
- [12]A.R.S. § 33-808(A)(4) — Arizona Legislature“published at least once a week for four consecutive weeks”
- [13]Cal. Civ. Code § 2924f(b)(8)(B) — California Legislature“A mortgagee, beneficiary, trustee, or authorized agent shall make a good faith effort to provide up-to-date information regarding sale dates and postponements to persons who wish this information.”
- [14]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”
Questions
Is a foreclosure public record?
Yes, once it reaches a notice. In a deed-of-trust state the trustee records a notice of default or a notice of trustee's sale with the county, and publishes or posts the notice of sale before the auction. Missed payments and the servicer's letters are private until then.
Can I check whether a house is in foreclosure by its address?
Usually not directly at the county, whose indexes are by name and document number. Look the address up on the assessor's site to get the owner's name and parcel number, then search the recorder or clerk with those. Our search matches street, city and county names for anyone, and the exact address, parcel number and owner's name with a plan.
How long before the auction does a foreclosure become public?
It depends on the state. A Texas notice of sale must be given at least 21 days before the sale. A California notice of sale is recorded at least 20 days before it, months after the notice of default. An Arizona sale can be held no sooner than the 91st day after its notice is recorded.
Does a notice of trustee's sale mean the house will be sold?
No. Many sales are postponed, and some are cancelled because the owner caught up, sold the house or filed for bankruptcy. The notice tells you a sale is scheduled; the trustee tells you whether it is still on.
What should I do if the house in foreclosure is mine?
Call your servicer about reinstatement or a workout, and talk to a HUD-approved housing counselor, which is free. Most states set a deadline for curing the default before the sale, so work out yours early.
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. "How to check whether a house is in foreclosure." Published October 23, 2026. https://www.trusteesaledata.com/blog/how-to-check-if-a-house-is-in-foreclosure
Related
- The notice of default: the first public step toward a trustee's saleWhat a notice of default is, what it says, and how long each state makes it run before a trustee's sale: three months in California and Nevada, 30 days in Washington.
- What a trustee does, and what a substitute trustee isLearn what a trustee does in a non-judicial foreclosure, why substitute trustees appear in notices, and which sale-line contact should be verified.
- Reverted to beneficiary: the lender won the auction"Reverted to beneficiary" means no bidder beat the lender's credit bid, so the property went back to the lender. How often that happens, and what comes next.