Taxes on vacant land are easy to forget and expensive to ignore. Texas adds penalties and interest from February, hands the account to a law firm in July, and eventually sues. Here is the timeline, and where a direct sale fits.
Updated October 2026
Taxes are due January 31. From February 1 the account is delinquent and accrues a penalty plus interest each month; on July 1 most taxing units add an additional penalty for attorney collection costs. At some point the taxing unit files suit, gets a judgment, and the sheriff or constable sells the land at auction to satisfy it. The exact months and percentages are in the statute and vary by unit; the county tax office will tell you your own number.
Texas gives the former owner a right to redeem: two years for a residence homestead or land with an agricultural appraisal, 180 days for other property (Tax Code 34.21), by paying the purchaser the price plus a premium. Redemption is possible, but it means buying your own land back from a stranger.
A sale before the auction pays the taxes, penalties and fees out of the proceeds at closing and leaves you whatever equity is left, which the auction would not. A direct buyer can usually close inside the time a tax suit takes; say the stage you're at (notice, suit filed, judgment, sale date) in the form, because the date decides everything.
No. They're paid from the sale price at closing. The buyer's offer accounts for them.
Usually, until the sale is held. Tell the buyer the cause number; the title company works with the tax attorney on the payoff.
Then a sale may not clear them, and the buyer will say so. There's no fee for finding that out.
You get a call within 24 hours, usually the same day. One Texas land buyer checks the parcel and gives you a written offer with a closing date. No survey, no clean-up, no commission, no fee to you, and no list of companies calling. Buyers in this network typically pay the closing costs; the written offer spells out exactly what they cover.
Plain answers about selling Texas land as-is, anywhere in the state, and one introduction to a land buyer when you want a written offer.
Sell My Land Direct is an independent referral service, not a land buyer, broker, or agent. We don't make offers, hold funds, or handle closings; any offer, contract, and closing are between you and the independent buyer we connect you with, through a title company you choose. That buyer may buy the land or assign the contract, and Texas law requires them to tell you which. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.
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