She had the date written on the kitchen calendar in red. The eleventh.
Not circled. Just written, in the square, the way you write a dentist appointment, because she did not know what else to do with it.
When I told her that most of the auctions scheduled in this county do not actually happen, she did not believe me. Nobody had told her that in four months.
In September there were 316 foreclosure auctions scheduled in Duval County. 209 of them were cancelled.
That is two thirds. Having a sale date on the calendar is not the same as losing your home on that date, and it never has been.
I’m Kady. I help Florida homeowners through foreclosure, hardship, inherited property, illness, divorce, and the rest of it. I am a Realtor with Momentum Realty and I buy houses, and I track the Jacksonville foreclosure numbers every month because nobody else around here publishes them.
Now I am going to do something unusual for a page like this, and spend the first real section telling you why that headline number is not as good as it sounds.
Because cancelled does not mean saved. Some of those 209 are families who genuinely got out of it. Some are delays that will come back round in six weeks. Some are bankruptcies, which stop a sale and start something else entirely. If I let you read that number as “two thirds of people keep their homes” I would be lying to you, and the whole point of publishing a number is that it is true.
What it does mean is this. A sale date is a deadline, not a verdict. Things happen between now and then, constantly, and almost all of them have to be started by you.
Duval County had 316 foreclosure auctions scheduled in September 2026 and 209 were cancelled, about two thirds. That rate is in line with, and somewhat above, the only comparable Florida data I could find: a twelve week South Florida study of 518 resolved auctions found 54.8 percent cancelled, with Miami-Dade at 58.6 and Broward at 51.3. In that study, of 282 cancellations with a recorded reason, roughly 38 percent were bankruptcy filings, 35 percent were cancelled by the county over procedural or service defects, and 25 percent were cancelled by court order, which usually reflects a modification, reinstatement or settlement. Under Florida law the sale is set 20 to 35 days after the judgment, and the single most important thing most homeowners never learn is in section 45.0315: you may cure the default and redeem the property at any time before the later of the clerk filing the certificate of sale or the time specified in the judgment. That window runs past the auction itself.
- A sale date is a deadline, not a verdict. Two thirds of them here did not happen last month.
- Cancelled is not saved. Know which kind of cancellation you are chasing.
- You can redeem until the certificate of sale is filed, which is after the auction, not before it.
- Nearly all cancellations are caused by somebody doing something. Usually the homeowner.
- Bankruptcy stops a sale and is a serious step with long consequences. Attorney first.
- Selling before the hammer keeps your equity. The auction does not care what the house is worth.
01The September Numbers
Here is what September looked like in Duval County.
I want to be careful about what that figure is and is not, because a number is only worth publishing if the method behind it is clear.
Scheduled means a foreclosure sale date was set and appeared on the calendar. Cancelled means the auction did not take place on that date. It does not mean the lawsuit went away, it does not mean the debt was cleared, and it absolutely does not mean 209 families are safe.
Is two thirds unusual? Not wildly. The only comparable Florida dataset I could find is a twelve week study of South Florida auctions running from July to October 2026. Of 518 residential auctions that reached a final outcome, 284, or 54.8 percent, were cancelled and 234 went to sale. Miami-Dade cancelled 58.6 percent and Broward 51.3 percent.
Another tracker puts it more bluntly: for every property that sells to a third party bidder, roughly three are cancelled.
So Duval at about 66 percent sits above South Florida’s 55 percent but in the same territory. The pattern is real and it is not a Jacksonville quirk. Most scheduled foreclosure auctions in Florida do not happen on the day they are scheduled.
02Cancelled Is Not The Same As Saved
Now the honest part, and the reason I would rather publish this with the caveats than publish a headline that gets shared more.
The South Florida study recorded a reason for 282 of its cancellations. Here is roughly how they broke down, and it is sobering.
| Reason | Share | Is it a save? |
|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcy filing | about 38% | A stay, not a cure. It stops the sale and starts a different process with long consequences |
| Cancelled by the county | about 35% | Usually procedural or service defects. The sale gets corrected and reset, not abandoned |
| Cancelled by court order | about 25% | This is where the real saves live. Usually a modification, reinstatement or settlement |
| Redeemed in full | about 1% | Yes. The debt was paid before the sale |
Read that table properly and the picture changes. Roughly a third of cancellations are a bankruptcy stay. Another third are the court correcting its own paperwork. Only about a quarter are the outcome you actually want, and about one in a hundred is a full payoff.
So no, two thirds of Duval homeowners with a September sale date did not keep their houses.
But look at what that quarter represents, because this is the point. Those are modifications that got approved. Reinstatements that got funded. Settlements that got negotiated. Sales that closed before the hammer. Every single one of those happened because somebody did something, usually in the last few weeks, usually after being told there was no point.
And the thirty five percent that get cancelled on procedural grounds? Those are free weeks. Weeks you did not pay for and did not expect, which land in your lap and which most people waste because they assume the reset is bad news.
03What Actually Cancels A Sale
Seven things, in roughly the order I would want them to happen to you.
Reinstatement
You bring the loan current by paying the arrears plus fees and costs. The case ends and the mortgage carries on as if nothing happened. Expensive, and frequently more achievable than people assume once family, a credit union or an equity line is in the picture. Ask the servicer for a written reinstatement quote good through a stated date.
Payoff in full
Rare, about one percent of cancellations in the South Florida data, but worth naming because a refinance or a sale that pays the judgment in full is a payoff. If you have real equity, this is more available than it sounds.
A loan modification gets approved
This is the single biggest category of genuine rescue, and it is why I keep telling people to apply even when they are sure they will be refused. Most people who do not get one never applied. I have written the whole process up in can I get a loan modification in Florida, and for veterans there is a new VA partial claim covered in behind on a VA loan in Florida.
You sell before the auction
A closing that pays the judgment cancels the sale, and if there is equity you walk away with the difference instead of handing it to the process. This is the option most people discover too late, and it is the one I most often end up involved in.
Short sale or deed in lieu
Where the house is worth less than the debt, a lender approved short sale or a deed in lieu ends the case without a judgment of foreclosure on your record. Both land softer than a completed foreclosure on your credit and your future borrowing.
Bankruptcy
A Chapter 7 or 13 filing creates an automatic stay that halts the sale, and it is the largest single category of last minute cancellation. It is also a serious legal step with consequences that run for years, and a Chapter 13 is a multi year repayment plan rather than an erasure. Speak to a Florida bankruptcy attorney before anybody else sells you on it.
A procedural defect
Missing proof of publication, a service of process problem, an incorrect notice period, a title issue found after the lis pendens. The sale gets cancelled and reset. You did not earn these weeks and you should use every one of them.
04The Real Saves And The Delays
If you take one practical thing from this page, make it this distinction, because it decides what you should spend your remaining time on.
Real save
The case ends
Reinstatement, payoff, an approved modification, a closed sale, an accepted short sale, a deed in lieu. The lawsuit is resolved and there is no sale date waiting behind it. This is the outcome worth every phone call you can make.
roughly a quarter of cancellations
Delay
The clock resets
A procedural cancellation, a continuance, a postponement. The case is alive, the judgment stands, and a new date will be set. Valuable, because time is exactly what you needed, but only if you spend it rather than exhale.
roughly a third of cancellations
Something else entirely
A bankruptcy stay
The sale stops immediately, which is why it is the most common eleventh hour cancellation. But you have moved the problem into a different court with its own rules, costs and consequences. Sometimes exactly right. Never a decision to make from a web page.
roughly a third of cancellations
What to do about it
Find out which one you got
If your sale is cancelled, ring your attorney or check the docket and establish why. “Cancelled” on a calendar tells you nothing about whether you have six weeks or your life back. People lose houses to that ambiguity.
the question nobody asks
05The Deadline Almost Nobody Knows About
I have saved the most useful fact on this page for here, because it is the one that surprises even people who have been living with a foreclosure for a year.
Florida Statutes section 45.0315 gives you a right of redemption. The mortgagor, or the holder of any subordinate interest, may cure the default and redeem the property at any time before the later of:
the filing of the certificate of sale by the clerk of the court, or the time specified in the judgment, order or decree of foreclosure.
Now read that again and notice what it does not say. It does not say “before the auction.” The clerk files the certificate of sale promptly after the sale, not before it. Which means the right to redeem runs past the moment the gavel falls.
If a judgment has been entered, curing means paying the amount specified in that judgment. If no judgment has been rendered yet, it means tendering the performance due under the security agreement including accelerated amounts, plus the reasonable expenses of proceeding to foreclosure incurred up to the time of tender.
And then the statute closes the door, bluntly. “Otherwise, there is no right of redemption.”
I am telling you about section 45.0315 so you understand that the situation is not over the instant an auction ends, and because people have genuinely redeemed in that narrow window. I am not telling you to aim for it. The clerk files promptly, you will not control the timing, you need the full judgment amount in certified funds, and relying on a window measured in hours is how people lose houses they could have saved a month earlier. Treat this as your last line of defence, not your plan. And if you are anywhere near it, you need a Florida foreclosure attorney today, not tomorrow.
While we are on deadlines, three more from the same chapter that are worth having in your head. The sale itself is set not less than 20 days and not more than 35 days after the judgment, unless the plaintiff agrees to a later date. Objections to the sale must be filed within 10 days after the certificate of sale is filed. And if no objections are filed in that window, the clerk files the certificate of title, which is the point at which ownership has genuinely changed.
06What To Do With The Days You Have
Work out roughly how long you have and start at the matching rung. All of these can be done at once and most of them are free.
Apply for everything, properly
This is the window where a modification genuinely gets decided on its merits. Submit a complete application, because completeness is what switches on your federal protections, and a partial one does nothing. Ring a HUD approved housing counselor on 800-569-4287, which is free and which is the single most underused resource in this entire process.
Get the two numbers that decide everything
A written reinstatement quote and a written payoff figure from the servicer, each good through a stated date. Then a realistic value on the house. Those three numbers tell you in five minutes whether you are fighting to keep it, selling it with equity, or looking at a short sale. Guessing at this stage costs people everything.
If there is equity, decide about selling now
A sale that closes before the auction and pays the judgment cancels the sale and puts the difference in your pocket. Thirty days is tight for a financed buyer and perfectly workable for a cash one. This is the decision people most often make three weeks too late.
Get an attorney in front of the file
A Florida foreclosure defence attorney can see things on a docket that you cannot, including the procedural defects that produce a third of all cancellations. Many offer a free first consultation, and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid serves qualifying households in Duval and the surrounding counties.
Say the words “the sale is in nine days”
Servicers escalate on imminent sale dates, and files move faster when that sentence is in the first thirty seconds of the call. Ask for loss mitigation, state the date, ask what can be done before it, and get the answer in writing. Then ring the attorney and the counselor the same day.
Do not assume it is finished
Redemption runs until the certificate of sale is filed. Objections run for 10 days after that. And if the property sold for more than the judgment, the surplus belongs to you and you have to claim it. People walk away from money they are owed because nobody told them it existed.
07The Procedural One
About a third of cancellations in the South Florida data were the county cancelling, mostly over procedural or service defects. That is a big enough share to understand, and it is the category homeowners know nothing about.
The most common one is publication. Under Florida Statutes section 45.031 the notice of sale has to be published on a publicly accessible website for at least two consecutive weeks before the sale, or once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper in the county, and if the newspaper route is used the second publication must be at least 5 days before the sale. If proof of publication is not filed on time, or does not meet the standard, the sale gets delayed.
Others include service of process problems, incorrect notice periods, missing documentation, and title issues such as competing claims or prior liens discovered after the lis pendens was recorded.
Two honest things about this.
It is not a strategy. You cannot sit back hoping the plaintiff’s law firm makes a filing error. Most of the time they do not, and the ones that happen buy you weeks rather than ending anything.
But it is a reason to have somebody reading the docket. These defects are invisible to a homeowner and obvious to a foreclosure defence attorney. That is most of what you are paying for. And when one of them lands, the weeks it buys are only worth something if you already have an application in and a plan running.
If you have been served and have not yet responded, the clock that matters most to you is a different one entirely: Florida is a judicial foreclosure state and the response window is generally 20 days from service. That is covered in you have 20 days, here is what to file.
08How To Check Your Own Sale
You can establish your own position this afternoon, for free, without asking anybody’s permission.
The Duval County Clerk of Courts. Look your case up in the circuit civil records using your name or the case number from any paper you have been served with. The docket shows what has been filed, what has been ordered and whether a sale has been set, continued or cancelled.
The county’s foreclosure auction site. Duval sales run online. You can search by case number and see the scheduled date and the status, including when a sale has been cancelled or rescheduled.
The legal notices. Notices of sale are published, which is how the publication requirement is satisfied, and they confirm the date and the property.
Your servicer. Ring and ask three questions in writing: what is the reinstatement amount, what is the payoff amount, and is there a loss mitigation review open on this file. Keep the answers.
And if what you find is confusing, that is normal. Dockets are written for lawyers. An attorney or a HUD approved counselor will read it with you, and both of those are available without a large bill attached.
What people believe
I have a sale date, so it is over and there is no point doing anything.
What is true
Two thirds of scheduled Duval auctions were cancelled last month, and nearly every cancellation happens because somebody acted.
What people believe
My sale got cancelled, so I am in the clear.
What is true
About a third of cancellations are procedural resets. Find out which kind you got, because a new date may already be coming.
What people believe
Once the auction happens, every option is gone.
What is true
Section 45.0315 runs redemption to the filing of the certificate of sale, objections run 10 days after that, and surplus funds may be owed to you.
The woman with the date on the calendar had a modification application sitting half finished on her dining table since July. Half finished, because she had decided there was no point.
We finished it. It took an afternoon and two phone calls to find the documents the servicer said were missing.
Her sale was cancelled by court order eleven days before it was due to happen. Not because of anything clever. Because somebody finally sent in the paperwork.
I did not make a penny on that one and it is the reason I keep publishing these numbers. 209 of 316. Somebody in that number was her.
About these numbers
I publish the Jacksonville area foreclosure figures every month because nobody else in this city does, and because a frightened homeowner deserves to know that several hundred of their neighbours are in the same position this month. I count scheduled auctions and cancellations in Duval County for the calendar month, using the same method every time, and I would rather skip a month than guess at a number. If a figure here ever looks wrong to you, tell me and I will check it. The comparison figures in this article come from a published twelve week study of Broward and Miami-Dade auctions and are labelled as such, because those are not my counties and I am not going to present somebody else’s data as mine.
Tell me the date and roughly what you owe and what the house is worth, and I will tell you honestly which way I would be running, even when the answer is a counselor and an attorney rather than me.
Questions People Ask Me
How many Duval County foreclosure auctions actually happen?
Fewer than people assume. In September 2026 there were 316 foreclosure auctions scheduled in Duval County and 209 were cancelled, roughly two thirds. That is broadly consistent with a twelve week South Florida study which found 54.8 percent of 518 resolved auctions were cancelled, with Miami-Dade at 58.6 percent and Broward at 51.3 percent. Another tracker puts it at roughly three cancellations for every property sold to a third party bidder.
Does a cancelled auction mean I keep my house?
Not necessarily, and this is the most important caveat on the page. In the South Florida data, of 282 cancellations with a recorded reason, about 38 percent were bankruptcy filings, about 35 percent were cancelled by the county over procedural or service defects, and about 25 percent were cancelled by court order, which usually reflects a modification, reinstatement or settlement. Only around 1 percent were redeemed in full. So find out which kind of cancellation you got, because a procedural reset means a new date is coming.
Can a foreclosure sale be stopped in Florida?
Yes, and it happens constantly. The routes are reinstatement by paying the arrears plus fees and costs, a full payoff including by refinancing or selling, an approved loan modification, a sale that closes and pays the judgment before the auction, a lender approved short sale, a deed in lieu, a bankruptcy filing which creates an automatic stay, or a procedural defect that forces the sale to be reset. Almost all of these require you to start them.
How soon after the judgment is the sale?
Under Florida Statutes section 45.031 the court’s order or judgment sets a sale date not less than 20 days and not more than 35 days after the date of the judgment, with a later date permitted if the plaintiff or its attorney consents. So the window between judgment and auction is short, which is why the work needs to start well before judgment rather than after it.
Can I still save my house after the auction has happened?
There is a narrow window and you should not plan around it. Florida Statutes section 45.0315 provides that the mortgagor, or the holder of any subordinate interest, may cure the default and redeem at any time before the later of the filing of the certificate of sale by the clerk or the time specified in the judgment. Since the clerk files the certificate promptly after the sale, that right runs past the auction itself. But you will not control the timing and you need the full judgment amount in certified funds, so treat it as a last line of defence rather than a strategy, and get a Florida foreclosure attorney involved immediately.
What is a certificate of sale and a certificate of title?
After the sale the clerk promptly files the certificate of sale and serves copies on each party. Objections to the sale must be filed within 10 days after that. If no objections are filed in that period, the clerk files the certificate of title, which is the point at which ownership has genuinely transferred. Those two filings are the real milestones, not the auction itself.
Why do so many auctions get cancelled for procedural reasons?
Because the requirements are strict and the volume is high. Under section 45.031 the notice of sale must be published on a publicly accessible website for at least two consecutive weeks before the sale, or once a week for two consecutive weeks in a county newspaper with the second publication at least 5 days before the sale. If proof of publication is not filed on time or does not meet the standard, the sale is delayed. Service of process problems, incorrect notice periods, missing documentation and title issues discovered after the lis pendens produce the rest.
Should I file bankruptcy to stop the sale?
That is a question for a Florida bankruptcy attorney and not for a website, including this one. What I can tell you factually is that a filing creates an automatic stay that halts the sale, and that it is the single largest category of last minute cancellation in the data. What I would add is that it is a stay rather than a cure, that a Chapter 13 is a multi year repayment plan rather than an erasure, and that the consequences run for years. Get proper advice before anyone persuades you it is simple.
What is a reinstatement and how do I get the figure?
Reinstatement means bringing the loan current by paying everything past due plus fees and costs, after which the case ends and the mortgage continues on its original terms. Ring your servicer, ask for loss mitigation, and request a written reinstatement quote good through a specific date, along with a written payoff figure. Those two numbers plus a realistic value on the house will tell you in five minutes which route you are actually on.
Can I sell my house while it is in foreclosure?
Yes, right up until title changes, and it is frequently the best outcome available. A closing that pays the judgment cancels the sale, and if there is equity you keep the difference rather than handing it to the process. Florida values have risen enough that a great many people in default have substantial equity without realising it, because they have been looking at the payment rather than the value. Thirty days is tight for a financed buyer and perfectly workable for a cash one.
What happens to the extra money if my house sells for more than I owe?
If a foreclosure sale produces more than the judgment amount, the surplus belongs to the former owner subject to the claims of subordinate lienholders, and it has to be claimed through the clerk. People walk away from money they are owed because nobody told them it existed. That said, surplus funds are always a worse outcome than selling the property yourself, because at an auction you control neither the price nor the timing.
How do I find out whether my own sale has been cancelled?
Look your case up on the Duval County Clerk of Courts circuit civil records using your name or the case number from the papers you were served with, and check the county’s online foreclosure auction site by case number for the scheduled date and status. Legal notices of sale are also published. And ring your servicer to ask whether a loss mitigation review is open on the file. If the docket is confusing, an attorney or a HUD approved counselor will read it with you.
Where can I get free help in Jacksonville?
A HUD approved housing counselor on 800-569-4287, which is free and genuinely helps with the paperwork that applications actually fail on. Jacksonville Area Legal Aid serves qualifying households in Duval and surrounding counties. Many Florida foreclosure defence attorneys offer a free first consultation. And your servicer’s loss mitigation department is obliged to review a complete application, which is why completeness matters more than speed.
Is it too late if my sale is in two weeks?
No, and that is precisely when a large share of cancellations happen. Ring the servicer and open with the sentence “my sale is in nine days,” because files move differently when that is the first thing said. Ask for loss mitigation, ask what can be done before the date, and get the answer in writing. Ring a foreclosure attorney and a HUD counselor the same day. And if there is equity and no realistic way to keep it, a cash sale can close inside two weeks.
Why do you publish these numbers?
Because nobody else in Jacksonville does, and because the most useful thing a frightened homeowner can learn is that several hundred of their neighbours are in exactly the same position this month and that most of those sale dates do not happen as scheduled. I count scheduled auctions and cancellations in Duval County for the calendar month using the same method every time, and I would rather skip a month than publish a number I cannot stand behind.
Keep reading
A gentle note: I am a Florida Realtor with Momentum Realty and a home buyer, not an attorney, and this is general information rather than advice about your case. The Duval County figures are my own count of scheduled auctions and cancellations for the calendar month stated; the South Florida comparison figures come from a published twelve week study of Broward and Miami-Dade auctions running July to October 2026 and are labelled as such. A twelve week snapshot is not a long term trend. Statutory references reflect publicly available information as of October 2026, including Florida Statutes sections 45.031 and 45.0315. Deadlines in foreclosure are strict and fact specific. Please speak with a licensed Florida foreclosure attorney about your own case, and a HUD approved housing counselor on 800-569-4287 for free assistance.
Written by Kady Andreoli, founder of Helping Hand Home Solutions FL and a Realtor with Momentum Realty. Helping Florida homeowners explore every available option, from stopping foreclosure to selling on their own terms. Guidance without judgment, and people before profit. 904-400-2131 · kady@helpinghandhomesfl.com