Stop a Sheriff Sale in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

A sheriff sale in Luzerne County is the last step of a judicial foreclosure, not the first. The lender sued you in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, obtained a judgment, and asked the sheriff to sell the property. Everything before that step had an option attached to it, and so does this one: a Chapter 13 filed before the sale takes place stops it by operation of law.

This page covers how foreclosure actually runs in Luzerne County — where the sale happens, what the court offers, and what filing looks like from here. It is general information about Pennsylvania and federal law, not advice about your loan.

Luzerne County sheriff sales are conducted on a published cycle at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, with the sale list maintained by the Sheriff's Office. Confirm the current status of your property there — continuances are frequent.

Luzerne County's Court of Common Pleas has used mortgage foreclosure conciliation practice for owner-occupied residential cases. Availability shifts; the Court and a HUD-approved counselor in the Wyoming Valley are where to confirm it.

Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, and the surrounding boroughs have low property values, small mortgage balances, and long municipal delinquency histories, and flood-zone insurance lapses are a recurring cause of default here in a way they are not statewide. A forced-placed insurance escrow shortage can push a current borrower into arrears within a year. That is fixable through a Chapter 13 plan in the Middle District.

The automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 takes effect the moment the petition is docketed in the Middle District. That stops a scheduled Luzerne County sheriff sale — I have filed cases the morning of a sale.

From there, 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5) lets you cure the arrears over the three-to-five-year plan while resuming the regular monthly payment. The lender cannot demand a lump sum and cannot refuse the cure. If your first mortgage exceeds the home's value, a wholly unsecured second mortgage or HELOC can also be stripped and discharged with the unsecured debt — relief that does not exist in Chapter 7.

To file quickly we need your mortgage statement, the foreclosure complaint or sale notice, the last six months of income, and a credit-counseling certificate. When a sale is imminent, a case can be filed within hours.

• Confirm your sale status with the Luzerne County Sheriff's office rather than the last letter you received.
• Open a written loss-mitigation file with your servicer through their portal and keep every submission dated.
• If an Act 91 notice arrived within the last 30 days, meet with a HUD-approved counselor and ask about HEMAP through PHFA — that window does not reopen.
• Get a straight read on whether the ongoing payment is affordable. If it is not, surrendering through Chapter 7 and discharging the deficiency is often the cleaner exit, and saying so early is worth more than a plan that fails in month eight.