If you are behind on your mortgage, the worst thing anyone can do is tell you it will be fine. The second worst thing is to scare you.
So here is the straight version. You have seven options. Most people only know about two of them, and the two most people know about are usually the worst ones.
One thing before the list. Every option on it gets harder the longer you wait. Not because of pressure or sales tactics — because the law in Nevada runs on a clock, and once that clock starts, some doors close. More on the clock in a minute.
1. Catch up
The simplest one, and the one people skip past because it feels impossible.
If the thing that caused you to fall behind has ended — the job came back, the medical bills are done, the divorce closed — you may be able to bring the loan current and carry on as if nothing happened. In Nevada you keep the right to reinstate the loan by paying what you owe, plus fees, up until fairly late in the process.
If you can do this, do this. Everything else on this list costs you more.
2. Loan modification
You ask the lender to change the terms so the payment fits what you can actually pay. That might mean a lower rate, a longer term, or moving the missed payments to the back of the loan.
Servicers do this more often than people expect, because a modified loan that gets paid beats a foreclosure that costs them money. It is paperwork-heavy and slow, and you have to be able to show income that supports the new payment. If you have no income at all, this is usually not the one.
3. Forbearance
A temporary pause or reduction, usually a few months, for a problem you can show is temporary.
It is not forgiveness. The paused payments come back, either as a lump sum, spread out, or added to the end of the loan — and which of those three you get matters enormously. Ask that question before you sign anything.
4. Sell it the normal way
This is the option almost nobody mentions, and for a lot of people it is the right one.
If you have equity, you are not a distressed seller. You are a seller. You list the house, you sell it, you pay off the loan, and you walk away with the difference and your credit intact. Nobody has to know anything about why you sold.
Most people assume they have no equity when they actually do. Las Vegas values moved a long way between 2020 and 2024. If you bought before then, run the numbers before you assume the worst. It takes one conversation.
5. Short sale
If you owe more than the house is worth, the lender can agree to accept less than the full balance and release the lien so the sale can close.
It is slower than a normal sale because the bank has to approve the price, and it does hit your credit. But it is generally treated better than a foreclosure, and in many cases you can be in position to buy again sooner. We wrote the full Nevada short sale process out here, and the honest comparison against foreclosure is here.
6. Deed in lieu of foreclosure
You hand the deed back to the lender voluntarily and they cancel the debt.
Lenders do not always accept it, and they usually will not if there are other liens on the property. It is faster and quieter than a foreclosure, and sometimes the lender will contribute moving costs. You get nothing out of the house, but you also stop the bleeding.
7. Let it go to foreclosure
Sometimes this really is the answer, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
If there is no equity, no income to support a modification, and no buyer, foreclosure may be the cleanest end to it. But choose it — do not drift into it. The difference between deciding to let a house go and simply not opening the mail is the difference between controlling your timeline and losing it.
The clock, and why it matters
Nevada handles most foreclosures outside of court, through the trustee named in your deed of trust. That process has a defined sequence, and it does not move quickly.
It starts when a Notice of Default is recorded against the property. From that recording, you have a window to cure the default, and a longer statutory period has to pass before the lender can even schedule a sale. After that, a Notice of Sale has to be given before the auction can happen.
In practice that means several months, not several weeks. That is real time, and it is time you can use — but only if you know the clock is running. The detailed timeline is here.
One thing specific to Nevada that is worth knowing
Nevada law limits when a lender can come after you personally for the shortfall after a foreclosure sale. There are meaningful protections for certain purchase-money loans on an owner-occupied home.
Whether those protections apply to your loan is a legal question, not a real estate one. If there is any chance you are exposed, that is a conversation with an attorney, not with me. But do not assume you are on the hook for a number you have not had anyone look at.
What I would do first
Three things, in this order.
Find out what the house is actually worth. Not a Zestimate — a real number, with what you would net after costs. That single figure decides whether you are on the equity side of this list or the no-equity side, and those are two completely different conversations.
Open the mail. All of it. The dates on those documents are the clock.
Call your servicer before you are sixty days behind, if you can. Options narrow as the days pile up.
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If you want the first one, I will run it for you and tell you straight where you stand — including if the answer is that you do not need me. Call or text 702-825-7763.
This is general information about real estate in Nevada, not legal, tax, or credit advice. Foreclosure law and timelines change, and every loan is different. Please talk to a Nevada attorney about your specific situation before making a decision.
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