The Foreclosure Title and Lien Research Workbook
A research workbook for a Texas trustee sale: senior liens, taxes, association assessments, federal tax liens under 26 U.S.C. §7425, and the clerk, court, and tax-roll searches that surface them. Worksheets include the seven launch counties. It does not rank a lien for you.
Not legal advice. Consult a Texas attorney before you bid, and order a title report when a worksheet line is still blank.
$27
PDF · 30 pages. Pro includes every paid guide.
Who it is for. People searching the county clerk's records before a bid.
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What is inside
- Why lien priority matters at a trustee sale
- Searching the county clerk's official public records
- The grantor and grantee index
- Reading a deed of trust
- Assignments and releases
- The notice of sale
- Appraisal district and tax office
- HOA resale information
- Court records
- Judgment liens and lis pendens
- When to order a title report
- Reading the legal description
- A second pass the day before the sale
- Worksheets
Questions
Does the trustee's sale wipe out property taxes?
No. A tax lien attaches under Tax Code §32.01, and §32.05 addresses its priority. Call the assessor-collector for the balance. The sale does not escrow it.
What is the IRS 120-day period?
26 U.S.C. §7425(d) gives the United States a right to redeem for 120 days from the sale in the circumstances that subsection describes. Section 7425(b) is the notice rule that can keep a nonjudicial sale from cutting off a federal tax lien.
Is an association 'estoppel' in the statute?
For many subdivisions the document is a resale certificate under Property Code §207.003. Condominiums are under Chapter 82. If the certificate has not arrived, the balance is unknown, not zero.