The foreclosure time line in California is the following:
Miss 3 months of payments then a Notice of Default gets filed. You have three months from that date before a Notice of Trustee’s sale is filed. You have 28 days after that before auction date.
You can reinstate the loan by bringing the loan current at any time before the notice of Trustee’s sale. Once the notice of trustee’s sale gets filed, you will need to pay the entire loan off (or short sale) before the auction date.
You can do a short sale at any point. Most lenders will require you to be in default or miss a couple of payments first before doing a short sale. Also, keep in mind you can post pone the auction if you have a short sale package (including Purchase Offer from buyer) or if you make a payment to the lender. In California, the lender can post pone an auction 3 times if they wish to do so.
Satar Naghshineh
CA Licensed Broker/President
Amiri Property and Financial Services Corp