Can't afford your DFW house anymore? What to do before any foreclosure notice

Free steps first, in this order

1. Call your servicer. The number is on your monthly statement. The CFPB says to call “right away” if you can’t pay or are worried about missing a payment (CFPB). Say what changed (a lost job, medical bills, a payment that went up) and ask what it offers:
   • Forbearance. Payments pause or shrink for a while. It doesn’t reduce what you owe, and interest on the paused amounts can keep adding up (CFPB).
   • A repayment plan. You catch up by paying extra on top of your regular payment for a set time (CFPB).
   • A loan modification. A change to your loan’s terms that can lower the payment.
2. Apply in writing, and finish the file. If your application reaches the servicer 45 days or more before any foreclosure sale, it has to tell you in writing within 5 business days whether it’s complete and what’s missing (12 CFR §1024.41(b)(2)). If it’s complete more than 37 days before a sale, the servicer has 30 days to review you for every option it has (§1024.41(c)(1)). It doesn’t have to offer any particular one (§1024.41(a)).
3. Call the HOPE™ Hotline. 888-995-HOPE (4673) answers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with advice from HUD-approved housing counseling agencies (CFPB). Their foreclosure prevention counseling is free, and a counselor can help you talk with your servicer. A counselor can’t promise you’ll keep the house (CFPB).

These federal rules cover a loan on the home you live in, and small servicers are exempt from most of them (12 CFR §1024.30(b), (c)(2)).

Why the months before the notices are worth the most

By the 36th day you’re behind, your servicer has to try to reach you about its options. By the 45th day, it has to send a letter listing examples and where to find a housing counselor (12 CFR §1024.39). It generally can’t make the first foreclosure notice or filing until you’re more than 120 days behind (§1024.41(f)(1)). If your complete application is in before that first notice, it generally can’t start a foreclosure until it has turned you down and any appeal is over, or you’ve turned down or stopped following what it offered (§1024.41(f)(2)).

That same window is when selling leaves you the most:

• The payoff is smaller. Every missed payment, plus any late charges your loan allows, is added to what the title company pays off at closing, out of your share.
• You can still pick the highest number. Listing usually brings the most, but it takes time for showings and a buyer’s loan. Once a sale date is posted, there’s often only time for cash.
• Your payment history stays clean. Sell before payments go late and there’s nothing late to report.

A sale pays off the loan by itself only if the house brings more than the payoff plus the cost of selling. If it won’t, ask your servicer about a short sale, where it agrees to take less than you owe. It’s one of the options a servicer might offer (CFPB), but it doesn’t have to (§1024.41(a)). If a certified default letter or a notice of sale has already arrived, read Facing foreclosure in DFW and The Foreclosure Clock instead.

Your options, side by side

Option	When it usually wins	What it costs you	Who does it
Forbearance or repayment plan	The hardship has an end date	Every skipped dollar is still owed	Your servicer
Loan modification	The income drop is permanent, but a lower payment would fit	The servicer decides what, if anything, to offer	Your servicer, with a free counselor
List	There’s equity and you can keep paying a few more months	Commission, plus payments until closing	A listing agent; J.D. is licensed and can list it
Cash	Payments are slipping or the house needs work	The lowest of the three numbers	RESE, as-is, about 10 days once title is clear
Fix-then-list	It needs work to bring full price, and you can wait a few weeks	Repairs repaid out of the sale at closing	RESE fronts the repairs, then lists it
Rent it out	The rent covers the payment, full property tax, insurance and repairs	The homestead exemption ends	You, or a property manager

If a forbearance or modification keeps you in the house with a payment that fits, that beats any number we can send. If not, we send three written numbers within 24 hours: our cash offer, what it should list for and what you’d net, and a fix-then-list number. Cash is always the lowest of the three. That’s the trade for speed and certainty.

When RESE buys, J.D. Thorne buys for his own account or a company he controls, and you get that in writing before any contract. If we bring in a partner buyer instead, you get that in writing too. You pick the closing date, and you can stay up to 30 days after a cash closing on a written leaseback. We can’t negotiate with your servicer or apply for help for you. A HUD-approved housing counselor can help you talk to your servicer, for free.

If you’re thinking of renting it out

Renting can cover the payment through a bad stretch, but the math changes once the house stops being your home. The homestead exemption requires that it be your principal residence (Texas Comptroller). As a rental, the whole value is taxed. In Dallas at 2025 rates, that’s about $6,680 a year on a $300,000 house, or $557 a month (the rental math for six DFW cities).

Take the rent you could get and subtract the payment, that tax, insurance, repairs and a month or two empty. If what’s left is close to zero, renting moves the problem instead of fixing it.

If your payment went up because your property taxes did, the same guide shows how to protest the value.

Questions people ask

What should I do about my mortgage if I lose my job?

Call your servicer before the first missed payment and ask about forbearance or a repayment plan. Send a complete application in writing and keep a copy. The HOPE™ Hotline at 888-995-4673 is free.

How do I sell a house I can no longer afford?

Start while you’re current, or close to it. Ask your servicer for a payoff statement and compare it to what the house would bring on each path. Cash is the fastest and the lowest number.

Can I sell my house fast if I’m already behind on payments?

Yes, if the price covers the payoff and closing costs. At closing, the title company pays off the loan out of the price, past-due payments included. Our cash path closes in about 10 days once title is clear. If a foreclosure notice has arrived, start here.

Will a repayment plan hurt my credit?

It can. The servicer may keep the loan delinquent until every missed payment is made up, and may still report it that way (CFPB). Ask how it will report your loan before you sign.

Should I pay a company that says it can save my house?

No. The CFPB warns that foreclosure scammers promise to save your home when they’re really taking your money. Two red flags it names: a guarantee you won’t lose your home, and being told to stop paying your mortgage (CFPB). HUD-approved foreclosure counseling is free.