DFW Distress Report — October 2026
Trustee sales posted for the October auctions across nine North Texas counties, year-to-date tax suits and probate filings, and who the posted owners actually are — from the courthouse records, refreshed weekly.
Konda··6 min read·Counts live as of
DFW Distress Report — October 2026
956 residential properties are posted for trustee sale at the October 2026 auctions across the nine North Texas counties where we read the postings, as of September 24, 2026. Dallas County carries 311 of them, Tarrant 256, Collin 152 and Denton 124. Every number on this page is read from the county records themselves and refreshes each week; nothing here is typed in.
This is the first edition of a monthly report. The idea is simple: the courthouse already publishes what is happening to distressed owners in Dallas–Fort Worth, but it publishes it across thirteen counties, a dozen portals and three kinds of court. We match each record to its appraisal parcel, so the numbers below are counts of houses, not of filings that might or might not be a house.
The national and Texas backdrop
Two outside figures set the scene, both from published reports rather than our data:
- ATTOM's mid-year 2026 report counted 227,548 U.S. properties with a foreclosure filing in the first half of 2026, up 21% from the first half of 2025. Texas led every state in foreclosure starts with 20,739. (ATTOM, July 2026)
- In the four core DFW counties (Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant), more than 2,700 residential properties entered foreclosure in January through April 2026, roughly a third more than the same months of 2025 — while about 47% of mortgaged homes in the metro are equity-rich. (Hoodline, September 2026)
That second point is the one that matters for an investor. This is not 2008. The owners being posted mostly bought years ago and owe far less than the house is worth; what changed is the monthly payment, through property-tax and insurance escrow. An owner with equity and a payment they cannot make is a seller, not a short sale.
Trustee sales posted for the October 2026 auctions
Texas foreclosures are non-judicial. A notice of trustee sale is filed with the County Clerk at least 21 days before the first Tuesday of the month, and the sale happens on the courthouse steps that day. The next first Tuesday is Oct 6, 2026. These are the postings on file for it:
| County | Properties posted |
|---|---|
| Dallas | 311 |
| Tarrant | 256 |
| Collin | 152 |
| Denton | 124 |
| Ellis | 39 |
| Rockwall | 28 |
| Wise | 17 |
| Hunt | 15 |
| Parker | 14 |
| All nine counties | 956 |
Two things to know about a posting count. First, a posting is a threat, not an outcome: a large share of posted sales are postponed or pulled when the owner reinstates, sells, or files bankruptcy, and postponements are announced at the courthouse without a new filing. Second, a posting is the single most time-sensitive lead in real estate. The owner has three weeks and every option except doing nothing. Every posted property is browsable free, with the trustee's phone number on the record so you can confirm the sale is still on.
Who is being posted
Matching the 1,026 posted residential properties to the appraisal roll tells you who these owners are:
- Median appraised value: $339,908. These are ordinary DFW houses, not the bottom of the market.
- 53.3% carry a homestead exemption — the owner lives there. 15.8% are absentee-owned, mostly rentals where the landlord has stopped paying.
- 43.1% bought before 2020, before the run-up in values. The median owner has held the house for 5 years. That is where the equity comes from.
- 9.9% have an over-65 exemption.
An owner who bought in 2017 at a 2017 price, in a house now appraised near the median above, is not underwater. They are cash-poor and asset-rich, which is exactly the seller a cash offer helps.
Tax suits and probate, year to date
Foreclosure is the loudest distress signal but not the earliest. Two court dockets run ahead of it.
Delinquent-tax suits. When property taxes go unpaid long enough, the taxing units sue in district court, and a judgment leads to a sheriff's sale. Filings we have matched to a parcel since January 1:
| County | Tax suits filed in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Tarrant | 584 |
| Dallas | 353 |
| Collin | 78 |
| Ellis | 44 |
Probate. An estate almost always has to deal with the house, and the heirs rarely want to keep it. Estates opened since January 1 with a matched residential parcel:
| County | Probate filings in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Tarrant | 1,238 |
| Dallas | 329 |
| Denton | 145 |
| Collin | 112 |
Court coverage is uneven by county because each district and probate clerk publishes differently; a county missing from a table is one where we do not yet read that docket, not one with no filings. See which counties each lead type covers →
What this means if you buy in DFW
- Work the postings first, and fast. A posted owner has until the first Tuesday. A letter that arrives in week one gets read; one that arrives after the sale does not.
- Lead with the payment, not the price. The typical posted owner has equity. The problem is the escrow-inflated payment, and a clean cash close that pays off the lender and hands them their equity is a genuine solution.
- Stack the signals. A posted property that also has a tax suit or an estate behind it is a different conversation from one that does not. Every lead here shows every record on the parcel, with the case or instrument number so you can pull the document yourself.
- Stay compliant. Cold texting is now registered telemarketing in Texas (the SB 140 guide); a postcard or letter to a public-record address is not.
Browse the posted properties in every DFW county — free →
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Frequently asked questions
Where do these numbers come from? Notices of trustee sale filed with each County Clerk, district-court and probate dockets, and the county appraisal rolls, matched parcel by parcel. They are recomputed weekly from the records; here is how long each record takes to reach the feed.
Why do the counts change after this report is published? Because the report reads live data. Postings are added and withdrawn right up to the sale date, and courts post filings on their own schedules. The "as of" date at the top is the date the numbers on this page were last refreshed.
Does a posting mean the house will sell at auction? No. Many posted sales are postponed or cancelled when the owner reinstates, sells or files bankruptcy. Call the trustee listed on the notice to confirm a sale is still on.
Is it legal to contact a posted owner? Yes. A notice of trustee sale is a public record and a letter offering to buy is ordinary commerce. Be plain about who you are, never imply any connection to the court, the lender or the trustee, and follow the Do-Not-Call rules for any number you skip-trace.
Can I get this report every month? Yes. It publishes on the blog after each first-Tuesday cycle; the numbers behind it are live on the site every week.
All counts are live from SmartPropLeads' DFW data as of September 24, 2026, across 13 counties and 3,166,249 parcels. They refresh weekly.