Sell your house as-is in Houston
Houston has no municipal zoning, so the housing stock changes block by block: 1950s patio homes inside the Loop, 1970s ranch houses out past the Beltway, 2000s subdivisions in Katy and Cypress. Two subjects come up in almost every conversation here, and neither of them is cosmetic: water, and the slab the house sits on.
What the housing stock here actually looks like
Inside the Loop the houses are mostly 1940s to 1970s, on small lots, brick veneer over wood frame, often with additions made at different times by different owners. There is no zoning to have stopped any of it, which is why a four-bedroom house can sit next door to a machine shop.
Further out the pattern is newer and more uniform. Katy, Cypress, Spring, Pearland and Sugar Land filled in through the 1990s and 2000s with slab on grade subdivisions. Those houses are now at the age where a roof, an air conditioning system and a water heater arrive as one bill.
Flood history belongs to the house, not the seller
Since 2019 Texas seller disclosure has asked directly whether the property sits in a 100-year floodplain, a 500-year floodplain, a floodway, a flood pool or near a reservoir, whether it has flooded before, whether a flood insurance claim has ever been filed, and whether FEMA or SBA money was received for flood damage. That is a state form rather than a Houston rule, but it matters here more than almost anywhere else.
The consequence for a seller is that flood history follows the property. A buyer who needs a mortgage will be quoted flood insurance whether or not the last owner ever filed, and a house that took water in 2017 is priced differently from one that did not. We ask early, because an offer built on the wrong assumption wastes a month for everybody.
The slab, and what movement means here
Houston sits on clay that moves with the water table, so slab movement is ordinary. Hairline cracks in the brick, doors that stick in August and free up in January, and a foundation repair with a transferable warranty are all normal parts of a Houston house's history.
Texas disclosure asks about the foundation and slab and about previous structural repair, so the record travels with the property either way. If there is an engineering report, we read it before we quote a number.
How foreclosure works in Harris County
Most Texas residential foreclosures are non-judicial and run by a trustee under a deed of trust. The notice of sale must be given at least 21 days ahead, by posting at the Harris County courthouse door, filing with the county clerk, and certified mail to the borrower. Sales are held on the first Tuesday of the month between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. A residential lender also owes an earlier notice giving at least 20 days to cure.
A purchase contract does not pause any of that. The sale stops when the loan is paid off at closing, so the closing date has to sit comfortably before the auction rather than alongside it.
Delinquent taxes and the Harris County tax sale
Taxes are due October 1 and become delinquent after January 31. The penalty is 6 percent for the first month plus 1 percent a month after that, settling at a flat 12 percent once the bill is still unpaid on July 1, with 1 percent monthly interest on top of it.
Harris County runs a delinquent tax sale on the first Tuesday of each month. Properties are sold as-is and where-is, for cash or certified funds, with no warranty as to condition or title. The former owner keeps a right to redeem: two years on a homestead, 180 days on anything else, with a 25 or 50 percent premium on a homestead depending on the year. The right does not include the right to occupy the property, and it cannot be transferred.
An unpaid HOA balance is not an auction here
Texas associations cannot simply foreclose on their own. Under Property Code chapter 209 an association must first obtain a court order through an expedited foreclosure procedure before it can sell a house over unpaid assessments, and it cannot foreclose at all on a debt made up solely of fines.
In practice an unpaid balance is usually a line item at closing rather than a race against a sale date. We confirm the balance with the association during escrow so the number is real.
Common in Houston
- Houses that took water in 2017, repaired or not
- Slab movement and an older foundation repair
- Roofs with patched hail damage
- Additions and conversions made without permits
- Houses held in a trust or an estate
Common questions
Will you buy a house that flooded?
Yes, including houses where the repairs were never finished. What changes is the number, not whether we will look. Send whatever documentation exists for the repair, the claim and any FEMA assistance, because a documented repair is worth more than an assumption.
Do I have to fix flood damage before selling?
No. That is the point of an as-is purchase. If the drywall is open and the floors are gone, we buy it that way and account for the work in the offer.
Can you buy a house with an open HOA balance?
Yes. The balance and any collection costs come out of the proceeds at closing. We confirm the figure with the association during escrow so nobody is arguing about it at the closing table.
Does signing a contract stop a foreclosure sale?
No. The auction stops when the loan is paid off and the trustee records it, which is why the closing date matters more than the signature date. We will say plainly if a sale date is too close to work with.
Do you buy in Katy, Cypress, Spring and Pearland?
Yes, along with the rest of Harris County and the surrounding counties. We confirm in writing whether we can buy in a specific county before we make an offer, so you are not left guessing.
Related
Next step
Tell us the address and what is going on with it. We will look at the property and put a number in writing. Sending a message creates no obligation, and we will say plainly if we are not the right buyer for it.