How tax delinquency snowballs in Texas
Taxes become delinquent February 1. Penalties and interest start immediately and stack month over month, and in July the account typically gets handed to a collections law firm that adds a substantial fee on top of everything owed. Within a couple of years the taxing entities can file suit and force a tax foreclosure sale, first-Tuesday auction, same courthouse steps as a mortgage foreclosure.
This catches paid-off homeowners most often: no mortgage company escrowing taxes means no safety net, and retirees and heirs are hit hardest. Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, and El Paso counties all offer payment plans and over-65 deferrals, and you should ask the tax office about those first. But a deferral postpones the debt while interest accrues; it does not erase it.
Selling with tax debt attached
Tax liens do not block a sale; they get paid out of it. The title company obtains the exact payoff from each taxing entity, pays them at closing, and wires you the balance. You bring nothing to the table. Even mid-lawsuit, and in many cases even with an auction date scheduled, a closing that satisfies the debt ends the case.
If you have substantial equity, do not let a tax auction take the house: auction sales rarely return owners anything close to what a direct sale does. Call us with your tax office statement in hand and we can move quickly.