Contact your lender's loss mitigation department immediately and ask about listing the home for sale while foreclosure is pending. Most lenders will pause or postpone a scheduled foreclosure sale if you have an active listing or accepted contract, but you typically have only 90 to 120 days from the notice of default to close.
Understand your actual timeline
Foreclosure timelines vary by state, but most start with a notice of default, followed by a reinstatement period, then a scheduled auction or sale date. In many states this window runs 90 to 120 days total, though judicial foreclosure states can take longer. Ask your servicer for the exact date of your scheduled sale in writing, that date is your hard deadline.
List immediately, price to sell
This is not the time to test a high asking price. Price competitively based on comparable sales from the start, since every week that passes without an accepted offer is a week closer to the auction date. An experienced agent can also request a formal postponement from the lender once you have an accepted contract, buying additional time to close.
Traditional sale vs. short sale
Say you owe $250,000 and your home is worth $310,000, a traditional sale before the foreclosure date pays off the loan in full and still leaves you with real equity, instead of losing the home and that value to a forced auction. If you owe more than the home is worth, you will need a short sale, which requires separate lender approval on top of the foreclosure timeline, so start that conversation even earlier.
Talk to a HUD-approved housing counselor
Free HUD-approved foreclosure counseling can help you understand your specific state's timeline, negotiate with your servicer, and evaluate whether a sale, a loan modification, or another option makes the most sense for your situation. This is a resource, not a substitute for listing quickly if selling is your chosen path.
What if you cannot sell in time
If a sale will not close before the scheduled foreclosure date, ask your lender about a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or in some cases a short postponement, though approval is never guaranteed. Selling before that date is almost always better for your credit and your future borrowing ability than letting the foreclosure complete.
Documents to have ready before you call your lender
Have your most recent mortgage statement, a list of any other liens on the property, an estimate of your home's current value, and a brief written explanation of your hardship ready before you call loss mitigation. Lenders move faster on files that arrive complete, and a servicer who sees you are already organized and actively listing is generally more willing to grant a short postponement than one who senses you are still deciding what to do.
Additional resources worth calling
Beyond your lender and a HUD counselor, many states run their own foreclosure prevention hotlines and mediation programs that can pause proceedings while you pursue a sale, sometimes at no cost to you. Local legal aid organizations can also review your loan documents for errors in the foreclosure filing itself, which occasionally extends your timeline further. None of these replace listing the home quickly if a sale is your chosen path, but they are worth a same-day phone call while your listing goes live.
Bottom line
Speed is everything in a pre-foreclosure sale. Call your lender the same day you decide to sell, get your exact deadline in writing, price the home to move immediately, and work with an agent who has handled foreclosure timelines before, since the paperwork and lender coordination are more demanding than a typical sale.