Establish exactly where you are Has a Notice of Default been recorded? A Notice of Trustee Sale? Is there a sale date? Everything else depends on the answer, and you can confirm it with the servicer or the county recorder.
Open a line with the servicer and keep it open Ignoring letters removes options rather than delaying them. Ask specifically about forbearance, repayment plans and modification, and get the name of whoever you spoke to.
Get free HUD-approved counselling HUD-approved housing counsellors are free and are not selling anything. They will tell you plainly whether a modification is realistic in your situation.
Work out whether you have equity If the property is worth meaningfully more than you owe, selling on the open market almost always beats letting it go to auction. Equity is the thing worth protecting.
Get advice before signing anything Never sign over title, never pay an upfront fee to stop a foreclosure, and never redirect mortgage payments to a third party. Those are the three most common ways homeowners in default lose what they had left.
If the sale already happened
You may still be owed money
If the property sold for more than the total owed, the surplus belongs to you. It is held by the trustee or the county, and it is not listed on your state’s unclaimed property website because it never gets there.
People find out years later, and by then some jurisdictions have already absorbed it. If a foreclosure or tax sale has happened in your name, it is worth having somebody check.
Was a property already sold at auction?
If a foreclosure or tax sale has already happened, there may be money left over that belongs to you. The search is free and you owe nothing unless we recover funds.