Selling Land With Back Taxes in Texas

If you are behind on property taxes, the first thing worth knowing is that you can still sell. Owing back taxes does not freeze your property or take away your right to sell it. The taxes get paid out of the sale at closing, and you are not the one writing the check.

The second thing worth knowing is that waiting is the expensive part. Texas delinquent taxes grow fast, and the clock does not care whether the land is sitting empty in a county you have not visited in years.

What delinquent taxes actually cost in Texas

Texas property taxes are due January 31. On February 1 the account goes delinquent and a penalty plus interest starts, and it climbs every month it stays unpaid. Then on July 1 the taxing unit typically turns the account over to a delinquent tax law firm, and an additional collection fee of up to 20 percent is added on top of everything else.

That is why a bill someone ignored for a couple of years is so much larger than they expect. It is not just the tax. It is the tax, the penalty, the monthly interest, and the attorney fee, on each year that went unpaid.

A tax lien attaches to the property on January 1 of each year, and it stays with the land, not with you personally. That is important for two reasons. It means the county can eventually foreclose on the property itself, and it means the lien has to be cleared when the property changes hands, which is exactly what closing takes care of.

What happens if it goes all the way

Eventually a taxing unit can file suit to foreclose the tax lien. If that judgment is granted, the property is posted and sold at a tax sale, held on the first Tuesday of the month at the county courthouse.

Even after a suit is filed, there is usually still room to sell. These cases take months, and a sale that pays the county in full stops the process. The window closes at the tax sale itself, so the earlier you deal with it, the more choices you have.

If a tax sale has already happened, Texas gives a right of redemption. For a residential homestead or land in agricultural use, the redemption period is two years. For most other property it is 180 days. Redeeming means paying the buyer what they paid plus a redemption premium set by state law, which is why acting fast matters. If you are in this situation, call a Texas attorney this week, not next month.

How a sale clears the taxes

This is the part that surprises people, and it is the simplest part of the whole thing.

1. We agree on a price for the property as it sits, taxes and all.
2. The title company requests an exact payoff figure from the county tax office, good through the closing date.
3. At closing, the back taxes, penalties, interest, and any liens are paid directly out of the sale proceeds.
4. Whatever is left over is yours. You are paid by the title company, and the tax bill stops following you.

You do not pay anything up front, you do not catch the taxes up first, and we cover the closing costs. If you owe more than the property is worth, tell us anyway. Sometimes it still works, and if it does not, we will tell you straight rather than string you along.

Selling is not your only option

Many Texas county tax offices will set up an installment agreement on delinquent taxes, and owners who are 65 or older or disabled may qualify for quarter payments or a deferral affidavit on a homestead. Those are worth a call to the tax office. They mostly help with a home you live in, though. For bare land in another county, the bill just keeps arriving every October.

What we look at on a tax delinquent tract

People sometimes assume back taxes make a property worthless to a buyer. They do not. The taxes are just a number that comes off the top, the same way a mortgage payoff would. What actually drives the offer is the land itself.

• Access. Whether the tract touches a public road, or only reaches one across someone else's property.
• Utilities at the road. Electric and water availability matter more than almost anything else on rural acreage.
• Recent nearby sales. What comparable tracts in that county have actually closed for, not what they were listed for.
• Total owed. Every delinquent year, with penalties, interest, and any collection fees, plus other liens on the property.
• Anything unusual. Old pipelines, easements, heir title questions, or a mobile home sitting on the land.

You do not have to research any of this. Give us the county and a rough acreage, and we will pull it.

Why sell to us instead of listing it

An agent can sell land with back taxes, but the timeline is the problem. Rural land often sits for months, buyers who need financing fall through, and a commission comes off the top at the end. Meanwhile the interest and fees keep stacking.

We buy directly with our own funds. As is, no cleanup, no survey required from you, no repairs, no commissions, and we pay the closing costs. We are a local East Texas family, not a national call center, and we have been doing this since 1993.

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