Here is an answer from an experienced Texas land buyer over at checklands.com:
A question that land investors often hear is, can I sell land if I have a mortgage on it in Texas? I have a picture here of a map of the state of Texas with all the different counties and many people will say, ‘How do I sell land?’ ‘What’s the process to sell my property in Texas when I have a mortgage?’
If I have a mortgage on my property, what literally is in legal terms: a deed of trust. Basically it is the equivalent of a lien. A lien on the property, means that you’re not going to be able to sell that property without settling for satisfying that lean. No buyer would buy that from you without settling the lien because then they would be responsible for settling it. You need to pay this mortgage off or pay the lien off, which is what a mortgage actually is, on the property in order to have the legal right to transfer the property.
The first thing that you need to do if you have a mortgage on your land is you need to request a mortgage statement from the bank or the lender. You need to know how much you owe and how much is left on this property. Now, if you owe more than the property is currently worth, it could be a problem. In many cases the property will be worth more than what you actually owe.
The second thing, is to find a cash buyer. You’re going to advertise the property yourself or, you could, if you’re looking for a quick sale, fill out a form on the site and talk to a land investor like myself. You need to find a Cash Buyer that’s willing to give you amount of cash for this property and then you’re going to sign a purchase agreement and you’re going to take it to title to the title company and in that closing process you are going to be required to settle or to pay the mortgage off in order to complete the closing.
How that’s going to work is pretty simple: The buyers are going to bring the money to the closing and put it into escrow. The title company is then going to take from that money and pay off the lender, to satisfy or settle the mortgage, and then they’re going to give you the difference. If you owe $20,000 and a mortgage on the property and you sell it for $30,000, you would keep the $10,000 difference minus the closing costs or taxes or any other expenses for the transaction.
It’s fairly simple you can sell a property of a mortgage on it simply a matter of finding a cash buyer is willing to pay you for that property and you’re going to then take it to a title company that will settle that mortgage at the sale of the property. For more information on this topic, feel free to reach out to one of the land investors at Checklands.com for a free conversation.