If you found your address on the commissioner’s sale calendar, the question in your head is how much time is left. This page answers that, stage by stage, including the part most homeowners get wrong about getting the house back afterward.
The basics, so you know what you are looking at
- Who runs the sale
- The Jefferson Circuit Court Commissioner’s Office, not the lender and not the bank’s lawyer. Their site is jeffcomm.org and the office number is (502) 574-5934.
- When sales happen
- On scheduled Fridays at 9:30 a.m.
- Where
- Hall of Justice, District Courtroom 102, 600 W Jefferson Street, Louisville.
- How far ahead
- Sales are typically scheduled about four to six weeks in advance, so if your address is on the list you likely have weeks, not months.
- Check your own date
- The upcoming sale list is published on jeffcomm.org. Louisville Metro also publishes it as an open data set called Upcoming Foreclosure Sales.
Kentucky foreclosure goes through a court, and that works in your favor
Kentucky is a judicial foreclosure state. There is no trustee who can sell your house on the courthouse steps without a lawsuit. Your lender has to file suit in Circuit Court, get a judgment, and get a court order before any sale can happen.
That takes time. Commonly six to twelve months from filing to sale, and longer when a case is contested or a bankruptcy gets filed. We have seen faster and we have seen a lot slower, and no published data set tracks actual Jefferson County filing-to-sale times, so treat any number you read online, including ours, as a rough range.
The practical point is that a sale date is the end of a long process, not the start of one. If you are reading this, you are near the end of it. That is worth knowing plainly rather than softly.
Where You Are, and What You Can Still Do
Find the stage that matches your paperwork. Your options narrow at each step, which is why the date on your notice matters more than anything else on this page.
The lawsuit is filed
Your lender files in Jefferson Circuit Court and records a lis pendens with the County Clerk. That is a public notice that your house is tied up in a lawsuit.
You can still: sell, refinance, work out a plan with the lender, or answer the suit. This is the widest set of options you will ever have.
You have 20 days to answer
Once you are served, you generally have twenty days to file an answer with the court. Most homeowners do not, and the case moves to default judgment.
You can still: everything from stage one, and answering preserves arguments you otherwise give up.
Judgment and order of sale
The court rules for the lender and orders the property sold. The amount you would owe to stop it is now fixed, and it includes fees and costs.
You can still: sell the house. There is no rule that a judgment stops a sale. The payoff simply has to be satisfied at closing.
Two appraisers value the house
Kentucky requires two appraisers, and these are drive-by appraisals. Nobody comes inside. Condition problems that would lower a retail price often do not show up in the number.
Why it matters: this appraised figure decides whether you get any redemption right at all. Keep reading.
The sale gets advertised
Notice is posted at the courthouse and in three other public places, and published in a newspaper for roughly three weeks before the sale date.
You can still: sell, right up until the gavel. This is the last window where you control the outcome and the price.
Sale day
A public auction in Courtroom 102 at 9:30 a.m. The winning bidder puts down a deposit and posts a bond for the balance, due within thirty days.
What changes: control of the price leaves your hands. Whatever it brings is what it brings.
The court confirms the sale
The sale is reported to the court and confirmed, then a commissioner’s deed transfers ownership to the buyer.
What is left: only a redemption right, and only in one specific circumstance.
Ten days to move
The purchaser has to give anyone living there ten days’ notice before taking possession. If they do not leave, the buyer can get a writ of possession.
Reality check: plan on moving. Fighting this stage rarely buys meaningful time.
The part almost everyone gets wrong: you probably do not have a redemption right
People hear Kentucky has a six month redemption period and assume they can buy the house back for a year after the sale. That is not how it works.
Under Kentucky law, a redemption right exists only if the property sells for less than two thirds of its appraised value. If it sells for two thirds or more, there is no redemption right at all. The sale is final at confirmation.
When it does apply, the commissioner’s office describes it as six months to repay the purchaser the purchase price plus 10 percent per year. That is not a discount and it is not a payment plan. It means finding the full amount in cash inside six months, which is the same problem that brought you here.
So do not plan around redemption. Plan around the sale date.
If keeping the house is still possible, start there
The Commissioner’s Office points homeowners to the Legal Aid Society, which runs free foreclosure clinics in Louisville, and to the Kentucky Lawyer Referral Service. If either of those gets you a better outcome than selling, take it. Your own sale date is on jeffcomm.org, or call the office at (502) 574-5934.
Can I still sell the house before the sale date?
Yes. A recorded lis pendens does not stop you from selling. What it does is prevent any buyer from taking clean title until the case is resolved or the payoff is satisfied at closing. A sale that pays the lender off does both at once.
Whether selling is worth doing comes down to one question, and it is worth being blunt about it.
When selling before the sale makes sense
- The house is worth more than what is owed. Sell, pay the lender, and keep the difference instead of letting the auction decide the number.
- The house needs work you cannot pay for, which is exactly the situation where a retail listing will not close in time.
- You want the foreclosure resolved before it is completed, rather than after.
- You need a moving date you choose rather than a ten day notice.
When it does not, and you should hear this from us
- You owe more than the house is worth. A cash sale does not fix that. Look at a short sale, a deed in lieu, or talk to a bankruptcy attorney before you talk to any buyer.
- You can actually reinstate the loan. If you can cover the arrears and resume payments, keeping the house beats selling it.
- Your sale is already past confirmation. At that point ownership has transferred and there is nothing left for us to buy.
We buy houses, so obviously we would rather you sell. That does not change the fact that for some people on this list, the right move is not selling to anyone.
Find Out If Selling Before Your Sale Date Is Realistic
Fill out the form below with the address and your contact information. We will tell you whether a sale before your date is realistic, and if it is not, we will say so.
Or call or text (502) 547-8211
We buy in Jefferson and Bullitt counties and the surrounding area. See where we buy houses, or start with your options to stop foreclosure in Louisville if your case is earlier than a scheduled sale date.
This page explains how the Jefferson County commissioner’s sale process generally works. It is not legal advice, and your case turns on facts specific to you. Confirm your own sale date with the Commissioner’s Office at (502) 574-5934, and talk to a Kentucky attorney before making decisions about your property.