Pre-foreclosure is the period of time leading up to the sale of a property for mortgage and/or tax delinquency.  A pre-foreclosure property has not yet set at the auction and can still be sold by the existing homeowner.

A post-foreclosure property, or R.E.O., is a property that has been sold at the auction and is now owned by the lienholder.  At this time, an investor can attempt to contact the lienholder to see if they are willing to sell the property.  Our exclusive Confirmation Report will provide you with the quickest access to the results of the auction allowing you to immediately begin reaching out to the lienholders who recently acquired the property.  The information in this report comes to you so quickly that sometimes the lienholder hasn’t even learned of the results from the auction yet!  Do note: Shortly after the property sells at auction, most lienholders will obtain the services of a local broker to attempt to sell the property on the open market for fair market value. 

Redemption periods for tax foreclosures vary in many ways depending on the type of sale.  The most common sales are property tax foreclosures.  The redemption periods for these properties first depends on whether or not the property has been homesteaded.  The Tax Pre-foreclosure Report will provide you with the exemption status, which will help you determine the appropriate redemption period.  If a property is homesteaded, the redemption period in Texas is 2 years.  If the property is non-homesteaded, the redemption period in Texas is 6 months. 

There isn’t a redemption period for Mortgage Foreclosure in Texas.  The only exception to this situation is the non-judicial foreclosure of Association liens and Tax Transfer liens.  These foreclosures will have redemption periods.  Association foreclosures have a 180 day redemption period.  Tax Transfer Liens have a redemption period of 2 years. 

Prior to the sale of a property at the foreclosure auction, the homeowner in default is still the owner of the property.  Therefore, if you wish to have access to the property you will need permission from the homeowner.  Otherwise, you will be unable to get inside.

The final day a property can be posted for foreclosure in the State of Texas is 21 days prior to the auction per the Texas Property Code.

Using Harris County as an example, trustees file between 700 and 1500 Notices of Foreclosure each month in county records under the requirements of the Texas Property Code.  However, the Texas Property Code does not require the filing of Notices of Default. Most of the major Trustees who represent the most active financial institutions do not file Notices of Default.  Seeing as how most trustees do not file these Notices of Default and the Texas Property Code does not require such filings it comes as no surprise that a recent review of deed filings yields only a small handful of actual Notices of Default and certainly not by the major lienholders.  F.I.L.S. chooses not to deceive its customers by providing a list of these minimal and inconsequential Notice of Default filings.

In most cases, the trustees are attorneys that have been hired by the lienholder to foreclose on the property.  However, a trustee does not have to be an attorney.

The trustees' general obligations are to their clients, the banks and mortgage companies, and they are generally very reticent to disclose pending foreclosure information. They also have privacy disclosure concerns.

As is the case with Trustees, the banks will generally not disclose any information from their files which concern the rights of privacy of their customers, the homeowners.

The mortgage foreclosure process in Texas is governed by the Texas Property Code, Section 51.002. To read this statute, visit the Texas Legislature website at www.capitol.state.tx.us, click the Statutes link, then the Property Code link.

First, the homeowner purchases a property and takes out a new loan.  At some point during the course of the next several months/years, the homeowner begins defaulting in payments to the lender.  The lender will send a demand letter to the borrower providing a final 20 days to bring the note current or face foreclosure.  After non-payment during this period of 20 days, the lender will post the Notice of Trustee’s Sale at the designated location per the Texas Property Code and a copy will be mailed to the homeowner.  The first Tuesday of the following month will result in the property being sold by a trustee who has been appointed if the homeowner has not cured the note.  By selling to an investor, filing bankruptcy, or bringing the note current the homeowner can avoid the pending foreclosure.

No. Under no circumstances does F.I.L.S. authorize, allow, or encourage the use of our copyrighted information for means of re-selling and/or sharing with other individuals.  Such behavior is in direct violation with the copyright and will result in legal ramifications.  Please see our policies page for more detailed information.

Current listings for use of this website are considered active postings for the upcoming auction (the first Tuesday of the upcoming month).  When F.I.L.S. refers to “next” month’s listings we are referring to the early postings for the NEXT month’s auction, which is the auction following the upcoming auction.  For example, if it is October 10th then the current listings are for the auction on the first Tuesday of November.  The next month’s listings (or early postings) are for the auction on the first Tuesday of December.