This is not legal advice. A lawyer reads your notice, your loan, and your state. A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk through the loan at no charge to you. We buy houses. We do not stop a foreclosure, we do not negotiate with your lender, and we do not promise a price or a closing date.
Equity: what the sale actually pays
At a sheriff's sale or a trustee sale, the house goes to the high bidder. Sale costs and the debt the sale is collecting are paid from that bid before anyone talks about money left over. Other liens can take what remains. A surplus is possible. It is not promised, and it is not the same thing as the price a neighbor's house listed for.
A sale before the auction uses a price you and the buyer agree on. A title company pays the liens it requires out of that price. If the price does not cover the loan, the sale does not pay the loan off unless the lender agrees in writing. That written agreement is a short sale, which is a different path. We do not promise that our price will cover what you owe, and we do not promise a surplus.
The listing-cost estimate shows costs a listing often carries. It does not name our price.
Deficiency: the part of the debt the sale did not pay
A deficiency is the gap when the sale price does not cover the debt. Whether anyone can still collect that gap is not one national rule.
In Louisiana, the sale papers matter. If the foreclosure used a waiver of appraisement, Louisiana Revised Statutes 13:4106 generally treats the debt as satisfied as your personal obligation when the property was sold under that waiver. There are exceptions. If the sale was with appraisement, a lender may be able to ask a court for a deficiency. How the appraisal and the bids are credited is in Code of Civil Procedure article 2336. It is not automatic. The longer split is on short-sale deficiency in Louisiana and Texas.
In Texas, a trustee sale under a deed of trust is not a Louisiana sheriff's sale, and it is not governed by R.S. 13:4106. Texas Property Code section 51.003 covers a deficiency after a sale under section 51.002. An action to recover that deficiency has to be brought within two years of the sale, and the person sued can ask the court to look at fair market value. A Texas lawyer reads the note and the notice. We do not.
A sale before the auction can still leave a deficiency if the price does not pay the loan and the lender does not waive the rest in writing. Silence is not a waiver.
Timeline
On a Louisiana mortgage foreclosure, the first sheriff's sale is not earlier than 60 days after the judge signs the order, under R.S. 13:3852. Caddo Parish sales are Wednesdays at 10 AM at 501 Texas Street in Shreveport. Bossier Parish sales are online on Wednesdays through Bid4Assets. The statute order, including the ads, is on the Louisiana sheriff's sale timeline.
On a Texas deed of trust, Property Code section 51.002 sets a public auction between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, at the courthouse in the county where the land is. If that Tuesday is January 1 or July 4, the sale is on the first Wednesday. The notice is posted, filed with the county clerk, and sent by certified mail at least 21 days before the sale. A residence is supposed to get at least 20 days to cure before that notice goes out. The day the notice is given counts. The sale day does not. Section 51.002 does not give a post-sale right to buy the house back. Local pages: Caddo, Bossier, and East Texas trustee sales.
A cash sale often closes within a couple of weeks after everyone agrees, and you can take longer if you need the time. The title company and any loan payoff set the real pace. We do not promise a set number of days, and we do not promise to close before the auction date on your notice.
Federal servicing rules can also affect when a servicer starts foreclosure. 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 is the regulation. It has exceptions. Your notice is the date that counts.
Credit
A completed sheriff's sale or trustee sale is a public record. Servicers commonly report missed payments before that day. A sale that pays the loan is a different event from a completed foreclosure, but payments that are already on a credit report do not disappear because the house sold. We do not quote a point drop. We are not a credit counselor. Ask the servicer, or a HUD-approved housing counselor, what is already being reported.
Not legal advice
Rules change, and your papers control your case. This page cites general Louisiana and Texas rules only. It is not a plan for your sale date. Talk to a lawyer in the state where the house sits before you rely on any of it.
Call or text Charlie at (318) 714-4321. Cash is not promised on every house.
Updated November 14, 2026