Your state’s law sets out the specifics of the foreclosure procedure, including how much notice you get, how the property will be sold (typically at a public auction), and what rights (if any) you have to reinstate the loan before the foreclosure date or recover title to the property after it’s sold.

Time may be short. You have to be on your toes when a foreclosure looms in a non-judicial state. That’s because you'll be given very little notice of the foreclosure sale, and once it happens, you may be permanently out of luck.

Notice of sale. In most states, your first notice of the proceeding will be the notice of sale. Depending on the state, this notice will be either served on you personally, published in the local newspaper, posted in the courthouse and on the property itself, or by some combination of the above.

Notice of default and notice of sale. Some states provide you with two notices -- a formal written notice that you are in default (usually about 30 days, but sometimes more and sometimes less) and another formal notice that your house will be sold at auction (again, usually about a month, but it can be as little as 15 days -- in Georgia, for example, and a few other states).

Right to reinstate. Between the notice of default and notice of sale, you typically are allowed to reinstate the mortgage by paying off what you owe, plus fees and costs (which can be very high). With a couple of exceptions, however, once the sale occurs, your house is gone.

The auction is held. If you don’t reinstate the mortgage, the home will be sold at auction. As with judicial foreclosures, if no one meets the minimum bid, the property goes to the lender.

Right to redeem. A few states give you some time after the foreclosure auction to redeem the property (to recover ownership of the property by paying off the successful bidder).