If you are behind on your mortgage in Spokane, the single most useful thing to know is where you are on the calendar. Washington foreclosures run on a statutory sequence, and at almost every stage you still have the right to sell the house yourself. This is that sequence in plain English. It is general information, not legal advice; the statute is RCW 61.24, and a housing counselor or attorney can confirm your dates.

Stage 1: Missed payments (day 1 to roughly day 120)

Nothing formal happens for the first few months. Late fees accrue and the servicer calls and writes. Federal rules generally prevent a servicer from starting foreclosure until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent. This is the cheapest time to act: a sale now pays the loan off with the least interest, fees and damage to your credit.

Stage 2: Notice of pre-foreclosure options and the meet-and-confer

Before a lender can issue a notice of default on an owner-occupied home, Washington’s Foreclosure Fairness Act requires it to send a notice of pre-foreclosure options and give you a window to request a meeting. Requesting the meeting pauses the process while it happens. Free housing counselors are available through the Washington Homeownership Hotline, and this is also where you can be referred to the state’s foreclosure mediation program.

Stage 3: Notice of default

The lender or trustee sends and posts a notice of default. It states the amount needed to bring the loan current and warns that a notice of sale can follow. The law requires at least 30 days between the notice of default and the next step.

Stage 4: Notice of trustee’s sale

The trustee records a notice of trustee’s sale with the county and mails it to you. The auction date it names must be at least 120 days out. This is the document with the actual deadline on it, and it is the point where many owners finally call us. You still have roughly four months.

Stage 5: The reinstatement and payoff window

Up to 11 days before the sale date, you can stop the foreclosure by reinstating the loan, meaning paying the missed amounts, fees and costs. Right up until the sale itself, the loan can be paid off in full, which is what happens when you sell. A cash sale that closes before the auction pays the lender through the title company, and the trustee cancels the sale.

Stage 6: The trustee’s sale

The house is auctioned at the county courthouse. Any surplus above the debt is yours, but in practice auction prices are low and a completed foreclosure stays on your credit report for years. After the sale, Washington gives the former owner 20 days to move out. Once the sale has happened, the option to sell is gone.

Where a cash sale fits

A traditional listing needs a buyer, then 30 to 45 days for that buyer’s financing, and it can fall apart at inspection or appraisal. When the notice of sale is already recorded, that is a gamble.

A cash sale to Horizon Home Buyers works on the foreclosure calendar instead:

Written offer within 24 hours of hearing from you.
Closing in as little as 7 days, because there is no lender on our side.
The title company pays your lender directly from the proceeds and gets the sale cancelled.
No repairs, no showings, so the house does not have to be presentable to sell.

If you owe close to or more than the house is worth, say so on the first call. Sometimes the numbers still work; sometimes the honest answer is that a short sale negotiated with your lender, or the state mediation program, is the better path. We will tell you which.

What to have ready

Your most recent mortgage statement, any notice of default or notice of sale you have received, and a rough idea of what else is recorded against the house, such as a second mortgage, HELOC or tax lien. With those, we can size the payoff and tell you within a day whether a sale clears it.

More detail is in our guides on four ways to stop foreclosure in Washington and how to sell a house in foreclosure, and the short version is on our foreclosure FAQ.