Tarrant County Foreclosure List: What It Means If Your House Is On It

If you found your address, or heard that it showed up, on the Tarrant County foreclosure list, the first thing to know is that the list is a set of notices, not a record of sales. A notice means a lender has scheduled your house for a public auction on a specific first Tuesday. It does not mean the house is gone. Here is how to read it, and what Arlington homeowners can still do.

A short disclosure first: I work with House Buyers Texas, which buys houses in Texas. This is general information about Texas law, not legal advice. If your home is posted for sale, a Texas real estate attorney or a HUD-approved housing counselor can look at your actual papers.

What is the Tarrant County foreclosure list?

The Tarrant County foreclosure list is the collection of notices of sale that lenders have filed for properties in the county, Arlington included. Most Texas home loans use a deed of trust with a "power of sale," which lets the lender sell the house at auction without a lawsuit. Texas Property Code Section 51.002 sets the rules for those sales.

Under that statute, the sale "must be a public sale at auction held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. of the first Tuesday of a month," at the county courthouse in the area the commissioners court has designated. When the first Tuesday falls on January 1 or July 4, the sale moves to the first Wednesday. Every notice on the list points to one of those monthly sale days.

The list exists because the law requires public notice: at least 21 days before the sale, the lender must post a written notice at the courthouse door, file a copy with the county clerk, and send the notice by certified mail to each borrower. The clerk must keep those filed notices "available to the public for examination during normal business hours." The county must also post each filed notice on its website, free and without registration, along with the date, time and location of the sale. You can read the full text of Texas Property Code Chapter 51 on the Legislature's site.

How do I check whether my house is on the list?

Start with your mailbox. The notice filed with the clerk must also be mailed to you by certified mail, so a certified letter from a law firm or "substitute trustee" naming a sale date is your notice.

If you moved or are unsure what you received, check two public places:

First, the county's own foreclosure or auction web page, where Section 51.002(f-1) requires the county to post every notice of sale filed with the clerk. Search it by your street address or by the borrower's name as it appears on the loan.

Second, the Tarrant County Clerk's office, which keeps the paper file of notices open to the public during business hours. The clerk is allowed to discard notices once the sale date passes, so an old notice may not still be there.

When you find your notice, read three things: the sale date, the "earliest time" the sale will begin, and the name and address of the person or firm who sent it. That sender is who you, or anyone helping you, will need to contact.

What do the dates on a foreclosure notice mean?

Each date on the notice ties to a step the lender had to take, and knowing the order tells you how much time you actually have.

Before a notice of sale can go out on a home you live in, the servicer must send a separate notice of default by certified mail, "giving the debtor at least 20 days to cure the default." Only after that window runs can the notice of sale be given, and it must be given at least 21 days before the sale. The day the notice is given counts toward the 21 days; the sale day does not.

The notice must also state the earliest time the sale will begin. The statute says the sale must start at that time or "not later than three hours after that time." So a notice that says 10 a.m. means your house could be auctioned any time from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. that Tuesday.

Does being on the list mean the house will be sold?

No. A notice of sale is the lender's announcement that it intends to sell on that date if nothing changes. The posting itself transfers nothing. Ownership changes only if the auction is actually held and someone is the winning bidder.

Many things can stop a posted sale from happening: the loan is brought current, the house is sold and the loan paid off at closing, the lender agrees to a payment plan or a modification, or the lender simply postpones. Each depends on getting the agreement in writing; a phone promise does not cancel a posted sale. If the sale is postponed, ask the sender in writing for the new date and watch for a new notice.

The notice also has to include a statement asking you to tell the sender right away if you or your spouse is on active military duty. If that applies to your family, send that written notice immediately.

What can I still do before the first Tuesday?

Call the servicer, ask for a written reinstatement figure (the amount to bring the loan current) and a written payoff figure (the amount to pay the loan off entirely), and ask what loss-mitigation options are open on your loan. Write down who you spoke with and when.

Talk to a professional who works for you, not the lender. A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk through your options with you, and a Texas attorney can tell you whether the notices you received were given correctly and whether filing for bankruptcy makes sense in your situation. Our guide on when is it too late to stop foreclosure walks through how the options narrow as the sale date gets closer.

Look honestly at whether keeping the house is realistic. If the reinstatement amount is out of reach and the payment will not be affordable even after a modification, selling before the sale date is often the option that protects whatever equity you have. A traditional listing, a sale to a relative, or a direct sale to an investor can all work if they close before the auction and the payoff is handled at closing. If a direct sale is one of the routes you are weighing, here is how we buy houses in Grand Prairie and nearby cities, so you can compare it with listing the house.

What happens if the foreclosure sale goes through?

If the auction is held, the house belongs to the winning bidder, and the former owner has to move out. A former owner who stays can face an eviction case brought by the new owner, so the conversation about where you will go should start before the sale date, not after it.

The debt may also not be finished. If the house sells for less than what you owed, the lender can sue for the difference, called a deficiency. Under Property Code Section 51.003, that lawsuit "must be brought within two years of the foreclosure sale," and the borrower can ask the court to determine the home's fair market value on the sale date. If the court finds the fair market value was higher than the auction price, the borrower can get an offset against the deficiency.

If your house is on the Tarrant County foreclosure list today, read the notice, write down the sale date and the sender, and make the first call this week.