The Arizona notice of trustee sale, field by field

In an Arizona deed of trust foreclosure, the notice of trustee sale is the document that makes the foreclosure public and sets the earliest possible auction date. It is recorded with the county recorder, so anyone can find it, and the statute dictates what it must say. If you learn to read one quickly you can tell, in a minute or two, when the property can be sold, who to call about it, and which loan is being foreclosed.

What the notice is, legally

A.R.S. § 33-808(A) requires the trustee to give written notice of the time and place of sale, with a legal description of the property, in four ways: by recording it with the county recorder in each county where the property is located, by mailing it under A.R.S. § 33-809, by posting it on the property at least twenty days before the sale and at a superior court building in the county, and by publishing it in a local newspaper of general circulation once a week for four consecutive weeks.

The recorded copy is the one investors use. It carries a recording number and recording date, and that recording date starts the clock: the sale cannot happen before the 91st day after it (A.R.S. § 33-807(D); A.R.S. § 33-808(C)(1)).

The required fields

A.R.S. § 33-808(C) lists what every notice must contain. Here they are in plain terms, with what each one tells you.

1. Date, time and place of sale

The sale date must be no sooner than the 91st day after recording and cannot be a Saturday or legal holiday. The sale itself must take place between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time, on the property, at a superior court building, or at the trustee’s place of business in the county (A.R.S. § 33-808(B)). This is the date as of recording. It can change later by postponement (see below).

2. Street address and legal description

The notice gives the street address, if there is one, or another identifiable location, plus the legal description. The legal description controls. An error in it does not invalidate the sale if, taken as a whole, the notice still identifies the property (A.R.S. § 33-808(E)).

3. Assessor’s tax parcel number

The county assessor’s parcel number (APN), or the number of a larger parcel the property is part of. This is your key for matching the notice to assessor records: lot size, building size, year built and the county’s full cash value.

4. Original principal balance

The original principal shown on the deed of trust, or “unspecified” if the deed of trust does not show one. This is the loan amount when the loan was made. It is not the current payoff, the reinstatement amount or the opening bid. It is useful only as a rough sense of how large the loan was.

5. Names and addresses

The names and addresses of the beneficiary and the trustee as of the recording date, the name and address of the original trustor as stated in the deed of trust, the trustee’s signature, and the basis on which the trustee is qualified to act under A.R.S. § 33-803, naming the specific paragraph. The beneficiary’s address cannot be “in care of” the trustee.

The beneficiary is the party that can credit bid at the sale. The trustee is who you contact about status and bid figures. The original trustor is the borrower named in the loan, who may or may not still own the property.

6–7. Trustee’s phone number and regulator

The notice must give the trustee’s telephone number and the name of the state or federal body that licenses or regulates the trustee.

8. The bold warning

The first paragraph must carry a statement, in bold capitals, that anyone with a defense or objection must file an action and obtain a court order under Rule 65 of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure stopping the sale by 5:00 p.m. mountain standard time on the last business day before the sale, or may have waived those defenses and objections. A.R.S. § 33-811(C) gives that warning its effect.

The deed of trust reference

The statutory form in A.R.S. § 33-808(D) identifies the deed of trust being foreclosed by its recording reference (docket or book and page, in the form’s words). Pull that deed of trust. It tells you the loan date and, by comparing it with other recorded loans on the parcel, whether this is a first or a junior loan.

How to read a notice in five minutes

1. Note the recording number and date. Add 91 days to see the earliest legal sale date and check that the stated sale date respects it.
2. Read the sale date, time and place. Put it on a calendar, but treat it as tentative.
3. Copy the APN. Look it up with the county assessor to see what the property is and what the county says it is worth.
4. Find the foreclosed deed of trust. Use the recording reference to pull it, then look for older loans still open on the parcel. If an older loan exists, a buyer at this sale may take subject to it (A.R.S. § 33-811(E)).
5. Note the trustee’s phone number. Starting 9:00 a.m. on the last business day before the sale, the trustee must make available the actual bid or a good-faith estimate of the beneficiary’s credit bid (A.R.S. § 33-809(F)).

What the notice tells you about timing

A newly recorded notice means the earliest sale is at least 91 days away. During that window the borrower, or a junior lienholder, can reinstate the loan up to 5:00 p.m. on the last day before the sale that is not a Saturday or legal holiday (A.R.S. § 33-813(A)). After the first thirty days, the trustee must on written request give the unpaid principal balance, the owner of record and a list of recorded liens, if actually known (A.R.S. § 33-809(E)).

Three later documents tell you how the story ended. A cancellation of notice of sale is recorded after reinstatement, payoff, or when the sale is not held or not properly postponed (A.R.S. § 33-813(E)–(F)). A new notice may be recorded for the same property; the original notice itself may not be re-recorded (A.R.S. § 33-808(F)). And a trustee’s deed is recorded after a completed sale (A.R.S. § 33-811(B)). A postponement, by contrast, needs no recorded document: it is announced by public declaration at the time and place of the sale, and no other notice is required (A.R.S. § 33-810(B)). Our postponement guide covers how to track that.

Finding notices at the Maricopa County Recorder

The Maricopa County Recorder keeps the official index of recorded documents and offers a recorded document search. Documents are indexed by a document code. The recorder’s own public search system returns notices of trustee sale for code NS (indexed as “N/TR SALE”), cancellations of notice of sale for code CQ, and trustee’s deeds for code TD (indexed as “TRST DEED”).

1. Open the recorded document search and choose a recording date range, for example the last week.
2. Filter the document code to NS.
3. Open each result. The index row gives you the recording number and date; the details are in the document image.
4. Read the notice for the fields above and record the APN, sale date, trustee and the foreclosed deed of trust.
5. Repeat with CQ and TD over the same period to remove notices that were cancelled or already sold.

That last step matters. A list built only from notices goes stale fast. Our step-by-step pre-foreclosure guide shows the full workflow, including matching each notice to the assessor’s parcel records.

Common mistakes when reading notices

• Treating original principal as the debt. It is the starting loan amount, not the payoff or the bid.
• Assuming the sale date is fixed. It is the date as of recording and can be postponed by announcement.
• Assuming it is a first loan. A second deed of trust can be foreclosed by trustee sale too. Check the deed of trust reference against older recorded loans.
• Ignoring small errors that do not matter. Under A.R.S. § 33-808(E), most errors and omissions do not invalidate the sale. Errors in the date, time or place, or a legal description that cannot identify the property, require the trustee to record a cancellation.

For the full process from notice to trustee’s deed, read how Arizona trustee sales work, or see current upcoming sales on the Maricopa County page.

Frequently asked questions