Free Help for Austin Homeowners in a Tough Spot

The counseling and legal information ones are, yes. HUD-approved housing counselors are free by design, and that is the whole point of the program. TexasLawHelp and the Texas State Law Library guides cost nothing to read. Legal aid organizations are free if you qualify by income.

A few things on this page are not free in the same way. A lawyer referral usually means a reduced-cost first consultation, not a free one. A property tax deferral postpones the bill rather than erasing it, and interest keeps adding up. Ask each organization directly what it costs before you assume.

No. Nothing on this page requires you to sell anything, and none of it runs through us. We put the list together because a lot of people call us for a sale when a payment plan or a free counselor would serve them better.

If one of these programs solves your problem and you keep your house, that is a good outcome. We would rather be the company that told you about the free option than the one that hoped you never found it.

No. Talking to a HUD-approved counselor is not a credit event. They do not pull your credit to give you advice, and contacting one is not reported to anyone.

What does affect your credit is what happens to the loan itself. Missed payments, a completed foreclosure, or a settled short sale all show up. That is an argument for calling sooner, because the earlier you get advice, the more options are still open.

Often yes. In Texas the notice of sale has to be sent at least 21 days before the auction date, and the house is still yours until that sale happens. Reinstating the loan, a repayment plan, or a sale that pays off the balance can all end the process before the courthouse steps.

Twenty-one days is not much time, so the order matters. Call your servicer and a HUD counselor the same day the notice arrives. If a sale turns out to be the answer, that timeline is tight but workable — we have closed inside that window.

If you are 65 or older, Texas law lets you postpone property taxes on the home you live in for as long as you live there. While the deferral is active, the taxing unit cannot foreclose over those taxes. For someone on a fixed income watching their bill climb every year, that can be the difference between staying and moving.

The catch is that it is a postponement, not forgiveness. Interest continues to build, and the balance gets settled later, usually out of the estate when the house is sold or passed on. Heirs are sometimes surprised by the size of it. Confirm the current terms with your appraisal district before you file.

Legal aid organizations set eligibility mostly by household income, and the cutoffs change. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas both screen you when you apply, so the fastest way to find out is to ask them rather than guess.

TexasLawHelp has no income test at all. It is free legal information and court forms for any Texan, so start there while you wait to hear back from anyone else.

The State Bar of Texas runs a Lawyer Referral Service that matches you with a licensed attorney, usually for a low-cost initial consultation. That is a very different thing from picking whichever firm bought the top search ad.

For a straightforward divorce or an uncontested probate, one paid hour of real advice often prevents a much more expensive problem later. Ask what the consultation costs and what it covers before you book it.

It counts, and it moves faster than most people expect. Texas taxing units can add penalties and interest quickly, and unpaid property taxes can eventually lead to a tax foreclosure that is separate from anything your mortgage lender does.

Start with your county tax office and ask about an installment plan on a homestead, and check whether you qualify for an exemption you never filed for. If it has gone too far for that, a sale clears the whole balance at closing and stops the penalty clock.

Four signals cover most of it. Anyone charging a fee up front to negotiate with your lender. Anyone telling you to stop talking to your servicer or send payments to them instead. Anyone asking you to sign over the deed with a promise you can rent it back or buy it later. And pressure to sign papers you have not read.

Real help does none of those. HUD counselors charge nothing. Legitimate buyers close at a licensed title company and want your attorney to read the contract. The FTC and the Texas Attorney General both publish current warnings, and both take complaints.

No. We receive no referral fee, no commission, and no payment of any kind from anyone listed on this page. We are not affiliated with them, they have not endorsed us, and none of them have reviewed what we wrote here.

We also do not track which links you click or ask these organizations about you. If you use this page and never contact us, that is a completely fine outcome.

Tell us and we will fix it. Every link here was checked and working when the page was published, but government pages move and nonprofit funding changes without warning. A program that was open last year may be closed or full now.

This is also why you should confirm everything directly with the organization rather than relying on our summary. We cannot guarantee that any detail on this page is still accurate on the day you read it.

Yes, and that order is usually the smart one. Call the counselor, apply for the exemption, talk to legal aid. If those solve it, you keep the house. If they do not, selling is still there.

Nothing about contacting these organizations limits your options later. When you do want a number to compare against, we will show you how it is calculated and it stays open while you decide. No follow-up campaign either way.