Tax-delinquent, Texas
Selling a Texas House Behind on Property Taxes — Arrears Paid at Close
Texas has no state income tax, so the burden falls on property taxes — the median effective rate, around 1.245 percent, is one of the highest in the country. When the bills get away from you, the penalties and attorney fees compound fast. The good news: when you sell to us, every dollar of the delinquency — original bills, 7 percent penalty, accruing interest, 20 percent attorney collection fee, court costs — comes out of the closing proceeds. You do not bring money to the table. You do not negotiate with the county. You walk with the remaining equity.
How it actually works
How Texas property tax delinquency actually works
Texas is one of seven states with no state income tax, which is part of what draws people here and part of why the population has grown so fast. The trade-off is the property tax. Because the state has no income-tax revenue to lean on, school districts, counties, cities, and special districts fund themselves almost entirely on ad valorem property taxes — and the rates are correspondingly high. The median effective rate for Texas homeowners is around 1.245 percent of market value per year, well above the national median of roughly 1.02 percent, and that is the median. The tail is much heavier: many homeowners in newer suburban developments or in counties with high municipal-utility-district overlays end up paying effective rates closer to 2.5 to 3 percent of market value annually. On a $350,000 house, that is between $4,300 and $10,500 a year, every year, forever.
For most homeowners with a mortgage, the property tax flows through escrow and the servicer pays it on your behalf — you feel it in the monthly payment but not as a separate bill. The owners who end up on this page are usually outside that flow: they own the property free and clear, they inherited it, they let an old loan pay off and never reset escrow, they bought with a cash purchase, or the property generates rental income and the owner pays the tax bill directly. When that direct bill goes unpaid, the Texas property-tax timeline takes over, and it moves on a calendar that does not care about your circumstances.
The annual timeline has five fixed points, and the entire collection process is built around them. Knowing each one is the difference between knowing your real financial exposure and guessing at it.
- Jan 1
Tax year assessed
On January 1, the county appraisal district sets a market value on every parcel in the county as of that date. That January 1 valuation is the basis for the entire year\'s tax bill, applied across all the taxing entities the property sits inside — school district, county, city, MUD, hospital district, college district, and so on. The value is initially preliminary and you have a window (generally through mid-May) to file a formal protest with the appraisal review board. After the protest deadline closes, the value is certified and the taxing entities set their rates against it.
- Oct 1
Tax bills mailed
On or around October 1, the county tax assessor-collector\'s office mails the combined tax bill — one statement covering every taxing entity at the certified rates. The bill arrives at the address on file with the appraisal district, which is the single most important detail in this entire process. If you moved, if the property is inherited and the old owner is on file, if you are an out-of-state landlord whose registered address is stale, that bill goes to the wrong place and the clock starts running without your knowledge. Always keep the appraisal district\'s address-of-record current, especially on inherited or rental property.
- Jan 31
Payment due (no penalty if paid)
The bill is due by January 31 of the year after the tax was assessed. Most counties accept partial payments, online payments, mailed checks, and in-person cashier\'s checks; some accept credit cards with a service fee. As long as the payment is received or postmarked by January 31, no penalty attaches. This is the last clean payment date.
- Feb 1
Delinquent — 7% penalty + interest begins accruing
On February 1, an unpaid tax bill becomes legally delinquent. A 7 percent penalty attaches that day — 6 percent statutory penalty plus 1 percent interest for the first month under Texas Tax Code §33.01. From there, the penalty steps up each month (typically reaching 12 percent by July) and interest continues to accrue at roughly 1 percent per month for as long as the balance remains unpaid. The monthly interest never stops. A balance that sits delinquent for two or three years will accumulate substantial additional charges on top of the original tax just from the interest line alone.
- Jul 1
+20% attorney collection fee added
On July 1 of the delinquency year, if the county has turned collection over to a private law firm — which the vast majority of Texas counties do, contracting with firms like Linebarger, Perdue Brandon, McCreary Veselka, or others — an additional 20 percent attorney fee is added to the entire delinquent balance. This is authorized under Texas Tax Code §33.07 and §33.08 and is the single largest jump in the timeline. A $5,000 delinquent tax bill becomes a $6,000 balance overnight on July 1 just from this fee, before any interest. After July 1, the law firm assumes day-to-day collection on the case, and any future communication, payment, or settlement runs through them rather than the county tax office directly.
Past the July 1 marker, the case sits in the law firm\'s collection portfolio. Most cases stay there for months or years, accruing interest and absorbing periodic phone calls, demand letters, and notice of intent to sue. Eventually — on a schedule that varies materially by firm and by county — the law firm files a property-tax suit in district court. The suit is judicial, meaning a judge has to enter a judgment for the delinquent taxes plus penalties and fees before the county can take the property to a sheriff\'s sale. That distinction matters: tax sales in Texas are not non-judicial trustee sales like mortgage foreclosures. They are court-ordered sales of property to satisfy a tax judgment, and the timeline from suit to sale is generally measured in many months, not weeks.
The sheriff\'s sale itself happens on the first Tuesday of the month in many Texas counties — the same first-Tuesday cadence as mortgage foreclosures, which is why people confuse the two. The property is sold at auction on the courthouse steps to the highest bidder, the proceeds satisfy the tax judgment, and the buyer receives a sheriff\'s deed subject to the former owner\'s statutory right of redemption: two years for residence-homestead or agricultural-use property, six months for everything else, under Texas Tax Code §34.21. The redemption right is real but expensive and rarely exercised — almost always a worse outcome than selling the property before the sale.
The Texas Comptroller publishes a free plain-English overview of the property-tax collection process, and the Texas State Law Library has a research guide on tax delinquency and sheriff\'s sales. We are a cash buyer, not your attorney, and we will say this throughout the page: this information is general background to help you understand the mechanics. For legal advice specific to your case — especially if a suit has been filed or a sale has been posted — talk to a Texas real-estate attorney. The State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with one, often the same day.
Honest framing
What your options actually are
A cash sale is one of four real options on the table for a Texas owner behind on property taxes, and it is not always the right one. The right path depends on how far behind you are, how much equity is in the home, your age and circumstances, and whether you want to stay in the house. Here is the honest landscape, with the trade-offs laid out side by side.
Installment plan with the county
Most Texas county tax offices offer installment agreements on delinquent balances — typically 12 to 36 months of structured monthly payments that bring the account current over time. Interest still accrues during the plan, but acting before July 1 of the delinquency year can avoid the 20 percent attorney collection fee entirely, which on a multi-year delinquency is real money. The catch: you have to be able to sustain the monthly payment in addition to the current year\'s taxes coming due, and missing a payment generally voids the plan and accelerates the full balance. If your cash-flow problem was temporary and you can sustain the payment, this is often the cleanest option and we will say so.
Section 33.06 deferral (65+ or disabled)
Texas Tax Code §33.06 lets homeowners who are 65 or older, or who are disabled under the Social Security definition, defer collection of property taxes on their residence homestead for as long as they own and occupy it. The taxes do not go away — interest accrues at the statutory rate — but penalties stop, collection lawsuits stop, and the threat of a sheriff\'s sale stops while the homeowner is alive and in the home. The deferred balance becomes due on sale, on permanent move-out, or on death. If you are eligible and your plan is to stay in the home indefinitely, deferral is often a better tool than selling. File the affidavit with your county appraisal district; the Comptroller publishes the form.
Property tax loan
Texas is one of a small number of states that allows private property-tax lenders to pay your delinquent taxes for you and transfer the tax lien to themselves under Texas Tax Code §32.06. You then pay the lender back over a period of years, with interest typically in the 8 to 14 percent range plus closing costs and fees. We generally do not recommend property tax loans except as a last resort: the lien transfer is real, the interest is high, the loans are aggressively marketed, and most homeowners would be better served by either an installment plan with the county (which is cheaper) or a sale that clears the arrears in cash. There are edge cases where a tax loan makes sense, but they are narrow.
Sell to a cash buyer
Close the property with a direct cash buyer (us, or someone like us). The proceeds pay off the full tax delinquency at the closing table — original bills, penalties, interest, attorney fees, court costs — alongside any mortgage payoff and other liens. Whatever is left goes to you. The tax lien is cured. The case comes off the law firm\'s desk. You walk with the equity (minus arrears) in cash. The trade-off: a cash sale prices in the repairs we will absorb and the speed-and-certainty premium, so the offer is below an open-market listing. The math works when there is equity in the home, the arrears are large enough to be painful, and you do not want to stay in the property.
If you are not sure which option fits, the conversation is free. Our broader situations index covers other complex sales, our how-it-works page documents the cash-buyer path end to end, and our general FAQ answers the questions most sellers ask first.
The math at closing
What we pay at closing on a tax-delinquent house
This is the load-bearing section of the page — the one that determines whether a sale is actually possible on a property with tax delinquency. The short version: every component of the delinquency is a recorded or recordable lien on the title, and recorded liens are exactly what the title company is set up to clear at closing. We pay all of it. You do not bring money to the table. You do not write a check to the county or the law firm. The settlement statement will show every line item, and you can verify each disbursement before signing.
Six things get paid out of closing proceeds on a tax-delinquent property:
- 01
Original tax bill — every delinquent year plus the current year
The principal tax amounts for every year that has gone unpaid, plus any portion of the current year\'s taxes that is due as of the closing date. On a property that has been delinquent for three years, that is three full annual bills plus the prorated current year. The title company pulls a full tax certificate from the county tax office to get every line exact — every taxing entity (school, county, city, MUD, hospital, college) separately and totaled.
- 02
7% Feb 1 penalty
The 7 percent penalty (6 percent statutory plus 1 percent first-month interest) that attached on February 1 of each delinquent year under Texas Tax Code §33.01. On a multi-year delinquency, this fee was applied each year separately to that year\'s bill and has been compounding since.
- 03
Accruing interest — roughly 1% per month
Interest accrues on the delinquent balance at roughly 1 percent per month from the date of delinquency until paid. On a $5,000 delinquent bill that has been outstanding for two years, that is approximately $1,200 of accrued interest alone, before any other fees. The interest line is the one most owners underestimate. It never stops compounding until the lien is cleared.
- 04
20% attorney collection fee (if July 1 passed)
If July 1 of the delinquency year has passed and the county has turned the case over to a private law firm (which virtually all Texas counties do), an additional 20 percent of the entire delinquent balance has been added under Texas Tax Code §33.07 or §33.08. The title company contacts the law firm directly for a current payoff that includes this fee plus any additional attorney charges. We pay whatever they confirm.
- 05
Court costs (if a suit has been filed)
If the law firm has already filed a property-tax suit in district court — even if no judgment has been entered yet — the case will have associated filing fees, service of process costs, abstract fees, and sometimes ad litem attorney fees for any unknown heirs or interested parties. Those costs roll into the payoff and come out of closing proceeds. The title company handles the dismissal of the suit with the law firm as part of the close.
- 06
All of it — out of closing proceeds, not out of your pocket
The total payoff figure — original bills plus penalty plus interest plus attorney fees plus court costs — gets wired from the buyer (us) through the title company to the county tax office or the delegated law firm at funding. The lien releases. The case closes. You sign the settlement statement, you receive the net proceeds, and your name comes off the parcel. No part of the tax balance is paid out of your pocket before closing, and no part of it shows up as a personal obligation after closing.
On a property with equity, the math on a tax-delinquent sale generally works. On properties where the arrears plus a mortgage payoff swamp the property value, the math may not, and we will tell you that on the first call rather than pretending it does.
The runway question
How urgent is your situation?
The single most useful question we ask on the first call is where exactly the case sits in the timeline. The right next step is different for an owner who is one year behind with no suit filed than for an owner with a sheriff\'s sale scheduled for next month. Below are the four buckets we see most often, and the honest framing for each.
Behind on the current year only (Feb–Jun)
You missed January 31 of this year but the delinquency has not yet rolled into the July 1 attorney-fee window. The 7 percent penalty has attached and interest is accruing, but the attorney 20 percent has not been added and no suit has been filed. You have plenty of runway. A standard cash close fits comfortably. An installment plan with the county also works if your cash-flow problem was temporary. Either way, acting before July 1 is the cheap window.
Behind 1+ year, no suit filed yet
The case has rolled past July 1, the 20 percent attorney fee has been added, and the file is sitting in the collection law firm\'s portfolio. The balance is compounding monthly with interest. No suit has been filed yet, but it is on the firm\'s schedule to file one eventually — exact timing varies by firm and county. Still standard runway. The math is uglier than Bucket 1 because the arrears are larger, but cash sale or county installment plan both still work cleanly.
Suit filed, no judgment yet
The law firm has filed a tax suit in district court but no judgment has been entered. Tight but doable. We coordinate with the law firm through the title company to settle the suit pre-judgment — they generally prefer to be paid over taking the property to sale, and a closing that pays the full balance dismisses the suit cleanly. Time matters here: every additional month adds interest and additional law-firm charges. Move with intent but you have weeks to months, not days.
Judgment + sheriff\'s sale scheduled
A judgment has been entered, a writ has issued, and the property is posted for a sheriff\'s sale on a specific first-Tuesday date. Urgent. Call us before filling out a form — voice gets to the right person faster than email. Honest framing: if the sale is within seven days, a cash close may not fund in time, and the right move may be paying the judgment directly to the county tax office to cancel the sale (if you have liquidity) or talking to a Texas attorney about other options. Two to three weeks out, we can usually still make it work.
Wherever you are in the timeline, the conversation is free and the answer is the truth. If a cash close is the right fit, we will tell you. If a county installment plan, a §33.06 deferral, or a Texas attorney is the right next call, we will tell you that too instead of selling you a timeline we cannot hit.
Overlapping situations
Where tax delinquency intersects with other situations
Tax delinquency rarely shows up alone. The owners who call us about back property taxes are almost always navigating something else at the same time — a foreclosure on the mortgage, a probate where the heirs never opened the tax bills, a vacant property that no one was watching, a code-enforcement file that piled up on the same parcel. Four patterns come up over and over. If any of these match where you are, the linked page goes deeper on that specific situation and the same arrears-at-closing process applies.
Tax-delinquent and the mortgage is also behind
When the property taxes are behind, the mortgage is sometimes behind too — and sometimes the mortgage servicer has already advanced the taxes through escrow, which means the servicer\'s payoff is now larger and a non-judicial foreclosure may be running on a faster clock than the tax case. The two timelines are different but the closing handles both: every lien gets paid at the table. See our foreclosure Texas guide for the non-judicial-trustee-sale mechanics and how the 41-day minimum timeline interacts with tax delinquency.
Tax-delinquent inherited property
One of the most common combinations. A parent passes, the heirs live out of state, the property tax bills keep mailing to the parent\'s old address, no one opens them, and three or four years later the heirs discover a tax suit on file and a lien stack against the parcel. The probate still has to be opened or the heirship affidavit recorded before the property can transfer, but the arrears get cleared at the same closing. See our inherited house Texas guide for the probate-path detail.
Tax-delinquent vacant property
Vacant houses produce tax delinquencies fast. The owner moved, never reset the tax-bill mailing address, the bills mailed to the empty house and sat in the mailbox or got forwarded to the wrong place. By the time anyone realizes, the arrears have been compounding for years. The vacancy also drives carrying-cost risk — insurance gaps, code-enforcement risk, squatter risk. See our vacant house Texas guide for the full carrying-cost picture.
Tax-delinquent plus code-enforcement liens
A property that has been delinquent on taxes for years is usually also a property that has triggered city code enforcement — overgrowth, broken windows, junk vehicles, unsecured structure. The two lien stacks (county tax + city code) sit against the same parcel and get cleared at the same closing. See our code violations Texas guide for the city-lien-at-closing mechanics, which work the same way as the tax-lien mechanics on this page.
How it works
Our process when you call about a tax-delinquent property
Four steps. No interior photos required. No money out of your pocket before closing. The process is built to absorb the tax-payoff research, the law-firm coordination, and the renovation budget — all the things that make a tax-delinquent property hard to sell on the open market.
- 1
Phone call — bring your most recent tax statement and any law-firm letters
The most useful documents on the first call are your most recent county tax statement (or the appraisal district\'s online record if you cannot find a paper bill) and any letters or notices you have received from a private collection law firm — Linebarger, Perdue Brandon, McCreary Veselka, or another. Those letters tell us which firm is handling the case and roughly where things stand. If you do not have them, that is fine; we can pull what we need from the county and the law firm directly. Address, situation, who is on title, and the timeline. That is the whole intake.
- 2
Title pull and county verification of the exact arrears
The title company orders a full title commitment that surfaces every lien on the parcel — first mortgage, junior liens, code-enforcement liens, HOA, tax liens, court judgments. Then they pull a current tax certificate from the county tax office to get the exact balance owed across every taxing entity. If a law firm is involved, they contact the firm for the current payoff figure including any additional attorney charges and court costs. This research is on our dime and takes one to three business days depending on how responsive the county and the firm are. You do not call the county. You do not call the firm. We handle it.
- 3
Written offer with the math shown — full payoff plus repairs plus margin
The offer comes in writing with the underwriting math laid out. Comparable retail sales for the neighborhood after renovation. Our renovation budget at investor-retail labor rates. The first-mortgage payoff and any junior liens we have payoff figures for. The full tax payoff — original bills, penalty, interest, attorney fees, court costs — line by line. Standard customary closing costs and title insurance. And the margin we need to take the risk. What is left is your check at closing. On properties where the math does not work — the payoffs plus repairs swamp the value — we will tell you that honestly and walk you through what to do next instead of stringing it along.
- 4
Close at title — arrears paid at closing, title transfers clean
The title company runs the close. We wire the purchase price; they wire the tax payoff to the county and (if applicable) the law firm, wire the mortgage payoff to the servicer, wire any other lien payoffs, and wire the net to you. A mobile notary comes to wherever you live for the signing — Texas or otherwise — so you do not have to travel. The deed records, the tax lien releases, the case dismisses if a suit had been filed, and your name comes off the parcel. The next tax bill goes to us.
The general cash-offer process is documented on the how it works page, and broader answers to seller questions live in the FAQ. For the full overview of selling any Texas property as-is, see sell your house.
Statewide service area
Where we buy tax-delinquent houses in Texas
Statewide. Tax-delinquency cases cluster especially heavily in two places: rural and small-county Texas, where the property-tax burden has been compounding against fixed incomes and declining tax-base economies, and in older urban neighborhoods where inherited properties have sat for years without anyone opening the bills. Both ends of that spectrum are normal for us. Each city link below opens our dedicated guide for that market, with the local mechanics and tax-office detail for that county.
Rural and small-county Texas — where tax delinquencies cluster
High effective property-tax rates, declining tax-base economies, and a higher share of fixed-income and inherited ownership combine to produce a steady flow of tax-delinquency cases in rural and small-city Texas. The arrears in these counties are often deep — three to five years is common — and the math generally still works because the equity, while modest, sits behind a much smaller mortgage (or no mortgage at all).
Mid-sized cities and metro suburbs
Mid-sized Texas markets — Tyler, Waco, Sherman/Denison, Granbury — produce their own steady volume of tax-delinquency cases, often on inherited properties or rental properties whose owners are out of state. The mechanics are identical; the county tax offices in these jurisdictions are well-run and responsive, and the title companies have closed these deals many times.
Major-metro Texas — Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin — also produces tax-delinquency cases, but the dynamic there leans more toward inherited urban property and out-of-state landlords than fixed-income owners. The closing mechanics are the same regardless of metro size.
Not sure which situation page fits your circumstances? Our broader situations index covers probate sales, foreclosure timelines, vacant-house carrying costs, hoarder properties, code violations, and other complex sales. Or go directly to sell your house for the general cash-offer process across any Texas property.
Tax-delinquent FAQ
The questions owners ask first
How much will I net after the arrears are paid?
That depends on the property value, the size of the arrears, and any other liens on the title — but the math is concrete and we can usually run it on the first call. Start with what we offer for the property. Subtract the first mortgage payoff if there is one. Subtract the total tax delinquency: the original delinquent bills, the 7 percent Feb 1 penalty, the roughly 1 percent monthly interest that has accrued, the 20 percent attorney collection fee if July 1 has passed, and any court costs if a suit has been filed. Subtract any other liens of record (HOA, code-enforcement, mechanic's). Subtract standard customary closing costs and title insurance. What is left is your check at funding. On properties with equity and a few years of tax delinquency, that net is usually meaningful — five figures is common. On properties where the arrears plus a mortgage swamp the value, the math may not work, and we will tell you that honestly instead of pretending it does.
What is the difference between mortgage foreclosure and a tax sheriff's sale?
They are two different processes that both end with a property sold at the courthouse, and people frequently confuse them. A mortgage foreclosure in Texas is non-judicial — the lender, through a substitute trustee, posts the property for sale under the power-of-sale clause in your deed of trust, and the auction happens on the first Tuesday of the month with no court order required. The minimum statutory timeline can run as little as 41 days. A tax sale, by contrast, is judicial — the county tax office (or its delegated private law firm) files a property-tax suit in district court, obtains a judgment for the delinquent taxes, and only then is the property posted for a sheriff's sale by court order. Tax sheriff's sales also happen on the first Tuesday in many Texas counties, but they are court-ordered sales of property to satisfy a tax judgment, not non-judicial trustee sales. The timeline is also generally longer — months or years from delinquency to sheriff's sale, versus weeks from default to mortgage foreclosure. If you are facing both at once, see our <a href="/situations/foreclosure-texas">foreclosure-texas page</a>.
Can you close before the sheriff's sale?
Usually yes, if there is enough runway. Three to four weeks out, a cash close is comfortable: the title company has time to pull the tax certificate, verify the full payoff with the county and any delegated law firm, coordinate any other lien payoffs, and fund. Two weeks out gets tight but is still doable on clean-title properties. Inside of seven days to a scheduled sheriff's sale, a cash close usually does not fund in time, and we will tell you that on the first call rather than running you in circles for a week. In some counties, paying the full delinquency directly to the tax office before the sale date will cancel the sale even without a closing — that is worth knowing if you have other liquidity. For most sellers, the cash sale is the path that both clears the arrears and puts money in your pocket; for some, a direct payoff plus a slower retail sale is better. We will help you think through which one fits.
What if my house is in tax suit but no judgment yet?
This is actually a workable window — often a better one than people think. Once the suit has been filed but before judgment has been entered, the county tax office (or the law firm handling collections on its behalf) generally still wants to be paid rather than to take the property to sale. They will provide a full payoff figure on request, and the closing on a cash sale satisfies the suit the same way it satisfies any other lien — the title company wires the payoff, the law firm dismisses the case, and the title transfers clean. You do not have to negotiate with the law firm yourself; the title company handles that conversation. The thing that matters in this window is moving with intent: every additional month adds another roughly 1 percent of accruing interest plus any additional attorney fees the firm has authority to charge. The arrears do not stop compounding just because a suit has been filed.
What about right of redemption — does it apply to me?
Right of redemption only matters after a tax sheriff's sale has actually happened — meaning the property was already sold at auction to a third party. If you are still pre-sale and selling to us, redemption is not part of the conversation. For context: under Texas Tax Code §34.21, if a property is sold at a tax sheriff's sale, the former owner has a window to redeem it by paying the buyer at the sale a statutory amount (the sale price plus penalties, fees, and improvements). The window is two years from the date of the sheriff's deed for residence-homestead or agricultural-use property, and six months for other property. The redemption premium is steep — 25 percent in the first year, 50 percent in the second year for homestead. Redemption is a real right, but it is also expensive, hard to actually execute on, and almost always a worse outcome than selling the property before the sale happens. If a sheriff's sale has already occurred and you are thinking about redemption, talk to a Texas real-estate attorney before you do anything else.
Section 33.06 deferral — should I use that instead?
Maybe. Texas Tax Code §33.06 lets a homeowner who is 65 or older, or who is disabled under the Social Security definition, defer collection of property taxes on their residence homestead for as long as they own and occupy the home. The deferral does not erase the taxes — interest still accrues at the statutory rate — but it stops penalties, stops collection lawsuits, and stops the threat of a tax sale while the homeowner is alive and in the home. If you are eligible, deferral is genuinely a good tool, and we will sometimes tell sellers on a first call that filing the deferral affidavit is the right move for them and a sale is not necessary. The trade-off: the deferred taxes plus accrued interest come due when the homeowner sells, moves out, or passes away, and the lien sits against the property the whole time. If your plan is to stay in the home indefinitely and the tax burden is the only pressure point, deferral may be the cleaner answer. If you want to sell anyway — to downsize, to move closer to family, to convert the equity to cash — selling now and paying the arrears at closing has the same financial effect with less paperwork. The Texas Comptroller publishes the §33.06 affidavit; your county tax assessor-collector's office can walk you through the filing.
Do you buy in rural Texas counties where the tax delinquency is the only issue?
Yes. We work statewide, and rural and small-county Texas is actually where tax-delinquency cases cluster the most heavily — properties on fixed-income family land, inherited rural parcels where heirs live out of state, declining tax-base counties where the effective rate has crept up faster than incomes. Our dedicated city guides cover Bonham (Fannin), Whitesboro and Sherman and Denison (Grayson), Glen Rose (Somervell), Mineral Wells (Palo Pinto), Gainesville (Cooke), Paris (Lamar), Canton (Van Zandt), Athens (Henderson), Lindale and Tyler (Smith), Hillsboro (Hill), Corsicana (Navarro), Waco (McLennan), Wichita Falls (Wichita), and Granbury (Hood), and we drive into the surrounding rural counties for the right deal. The process is identical regardless of how rural the property is — the further out we drive, the more travel factors into the offer math, but the closing mechanics are the same.
Is this page legal advice?
No. This page describes our process as a direct cash buyer of Texas properties with delinquent property taxes, plus general background on how the Texas property-tax timeline, suit, and sheriff's-sale process work. It is not legal advice and we are not your attorney. Property-tax mechanics vary in their specifics by county, the precedents that apply to your situation depend on the exact procedural posture of your case, and the tax consequences of a sale depend on facts we do not know. If you are inside an active tax suit, facing a scheduled sheriff's sale, or considering whether to file a §33.06 deferral, talk to a Texas real-estate attorney before making decisions you cannot reverse. The State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with one, often the same day.
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