Frequently Asked Questions

We represent creditors: lenders, note holders, equipment finance companies, commercial landlords, and businesses that are owed money. We do not represent borrowers or debtors. If you hold a note, a deed of trust, a guaranty, or a security interest and someone is not paying, we are on your side of that problem. On occasion, we will represent the borrower, but not normally.

Yes. We handle foreclosures and creditor rights matters in every county in Texas. The courthouse-steps process is the same whether the property is in Dallas County, Bexar County, or a small county in West Texas. Distance is not an obstacle.

Send us an email or call us at 214-368-4686. We will ask to see the basic documents: the promissory note, the deed of trust or security agreement, and a summary of what has happened so far. We review these quickly and give you a clear picture of where things stand and what the process looks like before any engagement begins.

We bill foreclosure work on an hourly basis. We discuss our fee structure when we review your specific matter. There are no surprises.

From the date we are engaged and have the documents in hand, a standard Texas non-judicial foreclosure, with no bankruptcy, no IRS liens, and no cure-period requirements, can typically be completed in 45 to 60 days. The legal minimum for commercial loans is 21 days of notice before the sale, but getting from document review to the courthouse steps in less than 45 days is uncommon because the pieces (title search, substitute trustee appointment, notices, posting) all have to come together correctly.

In most cases, no. Texas allows non-judicial foreclosure under a deed of trust, which means the entire process, from notice to courthouse sale, can be completed without filing a lawsuit. The exception is home equity loans on Texas homesteads, which require a court order before the sale can proceed. We handle both.

The sale is held at the county courthouse on the first Tuesday of the month, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The substitute trustee, usually our attorney, announces the sale, opens bidding, and accepts bids. As the lender, you can bid up to the full amount of the outstanding debt without paying cash. This is called a credit bid. If a third party bids more than you, they pay cash on the spot and you receive the proceeds up to the amount of the debt. If no one else bids, you acquire the property through the trustee's deed.

Yes, in a few ways. They can pay off the full debt before the sale. They can file for bankruptcy, which immediately stops all collection activity including the sale. They can seek a temporary restraining order from a Texas court if they believe there is a procedural defect in the foreclosure process. They cannot stop it by refusing to cooperate.

A credit bid is when the lender bids at the foreclosure sale using the amount the borrower owes rather than paying cash. If you are owed $300,000 and you credit bid $300,000, you acquire the property and the debt is considered satisfied to that extent. You are exchanging the debt for the property. This is the common outcome at Texas foreclosure sales where no third-party buyers appear.

You may have the right to sue the borrower for the remaining deficiency. In Texas, that suit must be filed within two years of the foreclosure sale date. After that deadline passes, the right is gone. We advise every client on this deadline immediately after a sale that does not cover the full debt.

The bankruptcy immediately stops the foreclosure through the automatic stay. You cannot proceed with a scheduled sale once you have notice of the bankruptcy filing. Contact us immediately. We file for relief from the stay in the bankruptcy court, which typically takes several weeks to resolve depending on the chapter and the debtor's conduct.

That is exactly why we order a title search at the start of every foreclosure. Liens that are senior to yours, meaning they were recorded before your deed of trust, survive your foreclosure sale. A buyer at your sale takes the property subject to those senior liens. Liens junior to yours are generally extinguished by your sale. The title search tells us the complete picture before we commit to a sale strategy.

Yes, and it is a long list, which is why you need experienced counsel. Accepting a partial payment after accelerating the debt can give the borrower grounds for a TRO. Sending notices to a stale address can invalidate the process. Missing the IRS notice when there is a federal tax lien means the IRS lien survives your sale. A defective substitute trustee appointment can void the entire sale. An incorrect sale date or location is grounds for a wrongful foreclosure claim. We have seen all of these. Our process is designed to prevent every one of them.

Stop all collection activity immediately. Do not proceed with any scheduled foreclosure sale. Do not send demand letters or make collection calls. Then call us. The automatic stay is in effect from the moment the petition is filed and applies to virtually all collection activity. Violating it, even accidentally, can result in sanctions.

The automatic stay is a federal court injunction that goes into effect the instant a bankruptcy petition is filed. It stops all creditor collection activity: lawsuits, foreclosures, repossessions, even collection phone calls. It is broad, it is immediate, and it has teeth. A creditor who violates the stay can be ordered to pay the debtor's attorney fees and, in serious cases, additional damages.

Yes. We file motions for relief from the automatic stay in the bankruptcy court when appropriate. Common situations where we seek stay relief include: the debtor is missing post-bankruptcy mortgage payments, the collateral has no equity and is not necessary to any reorganization, or the debtor is a serial filer using bankruptcy purely as a delay tactic. Courts routinely grant stay relief in appropriate cases.

No. A bankruptcy discharge wipes out the debtor's personal liability on the debt, meaning you cannot sue them personally after the discharge, but your lien on real property survives the discharge. After the bankruptcy is over, you still have the right to foreclose the lien if the debt is not paid.

A proof of claim is the formal document you file with the bankruptcy court stating the amount you are owed and the basis for your claim. In most Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 cases, you should file a proof of claim before the court-set deadline, called the claims bar date. Miss the bar date and you may lose the right to receive any distribution from the bankruptcy estate. We file proofs of claim on behalf of our clients and monitor the deadlines.

Not on the primary residence. The Bankruptcy Code specifically protects mortgage holders from having their home loan terms modified in a Chapter 13 plan. The debtor can catch up on arrears through the plan and must continue making regular payments, but the lender's contractual terms (interest rate, payment amount, maturity date) cannot be changed without the lender's consent. This protection does not apply to investment property or commercial real estate.

A cram-down is when a bankruptcy plan proposes to reduce the secured portion of your claim to the current value of the collateral rather than paying the full debt. It applies in Chapter 13 and Chapter 11 for most secured claims other than home mortgages on a primary residence. If a debtor tries to cram down your claim, the two things we fight over are the value of the collateral and the interest rate the plan proposes to pay. We object to cram-downs where the value is understated or the interest rate is too low.

If you have a valid security interest in the equipment, you have the right to repossess it after default, as long as you can do so without a breach of the peace. After repossession, you must give the debtor proper written notice before selling the equipment, and the sale must be conducted in a commercially reasonable manner. Getting this process wrong can cost you the right to collect the remaining balance after the sale. Contact us before you take any steps.

A personal guaranty must be in writing to be enforceable in Texas. Texas courts read guaranties strictly, meaning any ambiguity tends to favor the guarantor. Before filing suit on a guaranty, we review the document carefully for any gaps in coverage, missing waiver-of-defenses language, or provisions that might give the guarantor an argument to escape liability. A guaranty that looks airtight can have problems that are not obvious until you are in litigation.

Yes. Pursuing both tracks simultaneously is often the right strategy. We foreclose the real property, apply the sale proceeds to the debt, and then pursue the guarantor for whatever deficiency remains. The two processes run in parallel. The first one to produce recovery reduces what the other must collect.