Sell My House Fast in Arkansas: We Buy Houses for Cash, As-Is, Any Condition

Before Any State Clock Starts: the Federal 120-Day Rule

Every state timeline on this page sits behind a federal one, and it is the single most useful thing to know if you have missed payments. Under Regulation X, 12 CFR 1024.41(f)(1), a mortgage servicer generally “shall not make the first notice or filing” required for a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure unless the borrower's mortgage loan obligation is more than 120 days delinquent.

That is roughly four months of missed payments before the state process is even allowed to begin. It is why a state sequence that looks alarmingly short on paper is usually longer in practice than the statute alone suggests.

The exceptions, because they are real. The rule does not apply where the foreclosure is based on a violation of a due-on-sale clause, or where the servicer is joining the action of a superior or subordinate lienholder. Small servicers are not exempt from this particular prohibition. Loan types and servicing arrangements vary, and some loans are outside Regulation X altogether.

So treat 120 days as the general floor rather than a guarantee, and work from the dates on your own paperwork. If a notice has arrived and you do not believe you are past that point, that is a question worth putting to a HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney before you do anything else.

You Can Cure Right Up To The Sale, And It Is The Arrears

Arkansas foreclosures usually run outside court, through a recorded notice of default and intention to sell. Two dates come off that document and both matter.

The first is sixty days. Under Ark. Code Ann. 18-50-104 no sale may happen until at least sixty (60) days have elapsed since that notice was recorded with the county recorder. The notice also has to be mailed within thirty days of recording, by certified and first-class mail, to you, to anyone whose interest in the property appears of record, and to junior lienholders. It must carry, in conspicuous type, the words “YOU MAY LOSE YOUR PROPERTY IF YOU DO NOT TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION”.

The second is the sale itself, and that is the useful one. Under 18-50-114 the mortgagor, grantor or their successors in interest may pay “at any time subsequent to the filing for record of a notice of default and intention to sell and prior to the sale” the entire amount then due, including costs actually incurred and trustee's and attorney's fees, “other than that portion of the principal which would not then be due had no default occurred”.

That last clause is the good news: the figure is the arrears, not the accelerated balance. Pay it and, in the statute's words, all proceedings “shall be dismissed or discontinued” and the mortgage is reinstated “the same as if no acceleration had occurred”. The lender then has to record a cancellation of the notice of default, so the record gets cleared too.

And one prerequisite almost nobody knows about. If you applied for a loan modification or forbearance, section 18-50-104(a)(3) says the lender must have certified that you were notified you do not meet the criteria, with that notice sent by certified and first-class mail at least ten business days before the sale. The statute adds that this duty is not delegable to the trustee or the attorney-in-fact. If you applied and never got that letter, it is worth raising with an Arkansas attorney.

The federal rule above generally sits in front of this whole sequence. Free HUD-approved housing counseling is available before you commit to anything, including to us.

Official sources: Ark. Code Ann. §18-50-114 and §18-50-104

Raise It Before The Sale, Or It Is Gone

This deadline is easy to miss because it is buried in a section called “Miscellaneous provisions”.

Ark. Code Ann. 18-50-116(d)(2)(B) says that “a claim or defense shall be asserted prior to the sale or the claim or defense is forever barred and terminated”. There are exactly two exceptions, which a mortgagor may still assert against the mortgagee or trustee: fraud by any party, and failure to strictly comply with the provisions of this chapter.

Two more limits travel with that. Under (d)(2)(D), a strict-compliance claim must itself be asserted within thirty days of the sale, which the statute says is to “ensure the finality of sales that substantially comply”. And under (d)(2)(C), none of these claims or defenses may be asserted against a subsequent purchaser for value of the property.

What that means for you. If something about the foreclosure looks wrong, the time to take it to an Arkansas attorney is before the sale, not after it. Waiting is not a neutral choice here.

On redemption, we will only say what the statute says. Section 18-50-116(d)(1) says that nothing in the chapter shall be construed to “create an implied right of redemption in favor of any person”. That tells you the chapter does not create one. It is not a statement that no redemption right exists anywhere in Arkansas law, and we are not going to turn it into one. Ask an Arkansas attorney.

And this chapter may not apply to you at all. Section 18-50-116(c) says the procedures apply only if the mortgagee is a mortgage company as the Code defines one, or a bank or savings and loan, and that the chapter does not apply to a mortgage on property used primarily for agricultural purposes. So a seller-financed or private mortgage, and a loan on farmland, sit outside it. Section 18-50-116(a) confirms that none of this impairs the right to foreclose through the courts instead.

Official source: Ark. Code Ann. §18-50-116

The Minimum Bid, The Shortfall, And What A Sale Costs

Arkansas puts a floor under the bidding, and it is measured against the debt. Section 18-50-107(b)(3) says “no bid shall be accepted that is less than two-thirds (2/3) of the entire indebtedness due at the date of sale”.

That protects you from a token bid without anyone having to appraise anything, which is a real advantage. But read the other half of it too: the floor is set by what you owe, not by what the house is worth. Where there is substantial equity, two-thirds of the debt can still be well under value. If you have been told that another state's two-thirds rule applies here, check it, because the neighboring ones are measured against an appraisal rather than against the loan.

The rest of how the sale runs is worth knowing so it is not a surprise. It is held between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., at the property or the front door of the county courthouse, and never on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. It must be conducted by a third party who is both a licensed real estate agent and a licensed auctioneer. Anyone may bid, including the lender, and the trustee may bid for the beneficiary but not for himself. It may be postponed by proclamation or posted notice, and only a postponement of more than thirty days requires the whole notice process again. Under 18-50-105 the sale is published weekly for four consecutive weeks, with the last publication no more than ten days before it, plus a courthouse posting and an internet notice service.

If the sale leaves a shortfall, section 18-50-112 gives the lender twelve months to seek a money judgment, and caps it at the lesser of the debt less the property's fair market value, or the debt less the sale price. Better still, the statute puts the burden of proving the indebtedness, the sale price and the fair market value on the party bringing the claim, not on you.

What a sale costs you. Ark. Code Ann. 26-60-105 charges $1.10 for each $1,000 of the consideration for the realty where it exceeds $100, and then adds $2.20 for each $1,000 which the statute says is “to be paid by the purchaser”. Together that is $3.30 per $1,000, or 0.33%, of which two dollars in every three are the buyer's by statute. On a $200,000 sale the total is $660, of which $440 is the purchaser's. The dollar-ten portion is levied without naming a payer, so who bears that part is negotiable in your contract like any other closing item. One useful detail: the tax is based solely on the consideration for the land and buildings, not on tangible or intangible personal property, so where appliances, equipment or furniture form part of the sale it is worth itemising them.

Official sources: Ark. Code Ann. §18-50-107, §18-50-112 and §26-60-105