Texas publishes most of the records that signal an owner in trouble, but they sit in five different offices, and the state leaves out the number most investors start with: the sale price. This playbook covers each signal, where its record is kept, what the missing prices do to value and equity, and how to work Texas leads in Propertiz.
How distress shows up in Texas public records
Trustee sales under a deed of trust
Most Texas home loans are secured by a deed of trust with a power of sale, which lets the lender foreclose without a lawsuit. Texas Property Code §51.002 sets the sequence. For a residence, the servicer first sends the borrower a notice of default by certified mail, giving at least 20 days to cure (§51.002(d)). The law doesn't require that letter to be filed or recorded, so you won't find it in county records. The first record the public can find is the notice of trustee's sale, or substitute trustee's sale. At least 21 days before the auction, it must be posted at the courthouse door, filed with the county clerk and sent by certified mail to each borrower on the debt (§51.002(b)). Each county also has to post the filed notices on its website, free and with no registration (§51.002(f-1)). The auction is held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday of a month (§51.002(a)).
Home-equity loans need a court order
Home-equity loans made under article XVI, §50(a)(6) of the Texas Constitution, home-equity lines of credit included, can be foreclosed only by court order (§50(a)(6)(D)). Before the trustee can sell, the lender has to get that order. For these loans, the court's civil cases are a second place the foreclosure can show up. A few lenders skip the trustee route altogether and sue in an ordinary foreclosure case.
Tax suits, tax sales and the right to redeem
Unpaid property taxes follow their own track. The school district and other taxing units bring a delinquent-tax suit in court. A judgment and an order of sale follow, and the officer in charge of the sale, a sheriff or constable, auctions the property on the first Tuesday of the month (Tax Code §34.01(r-1)). The sale can run online if the commissioners court has authorized it (§34.01(a-1)). Under Tax Code §34.21, the owner of a homestead or agricultural land can redeem until the second anniversary of the buyer's deed being filed for record, plus a premium of 25% in year one or 50% in year two. Other property can be redeemed for 180 days, at a premium of up to 25%. A buyer at a tax sale can lose the property to a redemption. For reaching an owner, the tax suit is the earlier record: it comes before the judgment and the sale.
Code requests
Code complaints are handled by each city. In Dallas, problems reported through 311 to Code Compliance are published as open data and updated daily. Most are filed under one generic code-concern type, so a single request says less than a confirmed violation case would. A few types point straight at landlords, such as a single-family rental that needs to be registered. Houston's open code-violation dataset stopped updating in June 2023.
Evictions in the Justice of the Peace courts
Landlords file evictions in the Justice of the Peace courts. Harris County's 16 justice courts offer a free bulk download of newly filed civil cases, evictions included. Most are apartment cases over unpaid rent, and a small share are evictions after a foreclosure. The case address is the rental, so a filing ties a landlord's tenant problem to a specific property and its owner. Dallas County offers nothing comparable in bulk.
Where each record lives
| Record | Office | How it is published |
|---|---|---|
| Notices of trustee's sale | County clerk | Filed with the clerk, posted at the courthouse and on the county website (§51.002(f-1)). Clerks may dispose of them once the sale date passes (§51.002(f)). |
| Deeds of trust, releases, liens | County clerk | The clerk's official records search, by index |
| Delinquent-tax suits and home-equity foreclosure cases | District clerk | The district clerk's civil case search. Harris County's requires a login. |
| Evictions | Justice of the Peace courts | Harris publishes a bulk extract; elsewhere, the courts' case portal |
| Owner, mailing address, values, exemptions, deed date | Appraisal district | Bulk files in Harris and Dallas, plus each district's property search |
| Code complaints | The city (311 or code department) | Open data in Dallas |
Records that aren't posted can be requested under the Texas Public Information Act (Gov't Code ch. 552). The office may ask you to clarify or narrow a request, but it may not ask what you will use the information for (§552.222(b)). The Act doesn't cover the judiciary (§552.003), so court files come from the clerk's own search or copies. Expect a few roll rows with no address: Tax Code §25.025 lets protected groups, such as peace officers and judges, keep their home address confidential in appraisal records.
A non-disclosure state: value and equity
Texas doesn't disclose sale prices. The appraisal district rolls record the date of the last deed and have no price field. Two things follow.
- Value comes from the appraisal district's market value for the tax year, because there are no public sale prices to build comparable sales from.
- Equity can't be estimated from a purchase price that isn't public. The other route is the recorded deed of trust and any release at the county clerk, which you can look up by hand for a property you're serious about. Propertiz shows equity on Texas leads as unknown until a mortgage record is found.
The homestead exemption as an owner-occupancy marker
Texas grants the residence homestead exemption only on a home that the owner occupies as a principal residence (Tax Code §11.13), and the appraisal district records which parcels carry it. Harris County's roll marks it as a residence homestead exemption, and Dallas County's lists each homestead exemption with its effective date. A parcel with the exemption points to an owner who lives there. A house without one, especially when the owner's mailing address is in another state, may be a rental or a second home. That changes the letter you write.
Using Propertiz in Texas
Propertiz covers Harris County (Houston) and Dallas County (Dallas). In each county it loads every parcel and owner from the appraisal district, then adds the distress records that county publishes:
- Trustee-sale notices in Houston, from the county clerk's online postings. The notices are scanned images, so the property is read from the scan.
- Eviction filings in Houston, from the justice courts' extract. Tenant names are dropped.
- 311 code requests in Dallas, matched to parcels by street address.
Each lead is underwritten as a rental: value from the appraisal district's market value, rent from HUD market rents, and a DSCR at your purchase price. Equity shows as unknown. Before you pursue a property, check the tax office and the district clerk for unpaid taxes and tax suits.
The Texas page has the state overview, and each county page lists what that county includes and what it doesn't yet: Houston (Harris County) and Dallas (Dallas County). See also Houston and Dallas distressed owners and Texas trustee sales on the first Tuesday.
See this week's Texas leads in Houston and Dallas.
Contacting Texas owners
Contact owners respectfully. Mail first. Texas requires telephone solicitors to register with the Secretary of State unless exempt (Bus. & Com. Code ch. 302); follow it, the Texas no-call list and federal rules (TCPA, Do Not Call) for calls and texts.
No leaseback or "save your home" offers to owners in foreclosure. If you assign contracts, Texas requires you to disclose the nature of your contract interest in writing to the seller and to every potential buyer (Occ. Code §1101.0045).
Propertiz gives you the owner's mailing address from the appraisal roll. It has no phone numbers and no skip tracing.
Not legal advice. This is a general overview of Texas records and procedures. Laws change, and every property has its own facts. Check with a local real-estate attorney before you contract on a property.