What sells off-market in Harris County, TX
By Josh MillerUpdated 4 min readExpired and cancelled listings sold best in Harris County, TX, and it wasn't close: about 15 of every 100 owners whose listing expired or was cancelled sold off-market within 12 months of the filing, against about 1.4 of every 100 houses picked at random in the county. More than half of those 2,208 sales came in the first 3 months, so the first letter has to go out fast.
In Harris County (Houston), about a third of the home sales recorded over 12 months never went through an agent's listing. The list those sellers were most often on is one you can pull every week: expired and cancelled listings.
Below is every list we could measure in Harris County, out of about 1.2 million single-family homes, with how many owners on each sold off-market and when.
Lists that start with a filing
Foreclosures, expired listings, liens and judgments start on a date: something got filed with the county. Here is how many owners on each list in Harris County sold off-market afterward, sorted by how many of every 100 sold within 12 months.
| List | Owners on the list | Sold off-market within 3 months | Sold off-market within 12 months | Of every 100, sold within 12 months | Busiest quarter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expired or cancelled listing | 14,473 | 1,241 | 2,208 | 15.3 | Months 1 to 3 |
| Foreclosure filed | 1,004 | 29 | 85 | 8.5 | Months 1 to 3 |
| Lien filed against the property | 3,490 | 94 | 245 | 7.0 | Months 1 to 3 |
| Judgment against the owner | 4,511 | 19 | 66 | 1.5 | Months 1 to 3 |
Nothing else came close in Harris County. The next best, foreclosure filings, sold off-market at about 8.5 of every 100 within 12 months, against about 15 for expired and cancelled listings.
Judgments against the owner barely cleared a random house in Harris County: about 1.5 of every 100 sold off-market within 12 months, against about 1.4 of every 100 houses picked at random.
Lists that just sit there
Vacant houses, back taxes, equity and owners who live somewhere else don't start on a date. Those owners can sit on a list for years. Read the shaded bottom row first: it's a house picked at random in Harris County, and a list that can't beat it is buying stamps and nothing else.
| List | Owners on the list | Sold off-market within 12 months | Of every 100, sold within 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sitting vacant | 13,868 | 470 | 3.4 |
| Behind on taxes, 2 to 4 years | 61,543 | 1,708 | 2.8 |
| Behind on taxes, 5 or more years | 24,899 | 524 | 2.1 |
| High equity, living elsewhere | 140,997 | 1,869 | 1.3 |
| Owns it free and clear | 457,073 | 5,195 | 1.1 |
| Owner 65 or older, living elsewhere | 28,333 | 146 | 0.5 |
| Any house, picked at random | 1,205,933 | 16,589 | 1.4 |
The best of them in Harris County was vacant houses: about 3.4 of every 100 sold off-market within 12 months, against about 1.4 of every 100 houses picked at random.
High-equity owners who live elsewhere, houses owned free and clear and owners 65 and older who live elsewhere sold off-market less often than a random house in Harris County over the same 12 months. Those lists are buying stamps, not sellers, here.
Equity tells you what a deal is worth once you have one. In this county it was a poor clue about who was selling.
When to mail in Harris County
Every list we could measure in Harris County sold fastest in the first 3 months after the filing. That makes this a county for fast first letters: of the 2,208 off-market sales within 12 months on expired and cancelled listings, 1,241 came in the first 3 months.
Whatever the list, take out anyone who already sold or listed the house before every drop.
How we counted
For filings from October 2024 through March 2025, we counted every off-market, arm's-length sale recorded in the county afterward. Counted from the county's own records by FirstPulse, the data engine GoForClose runs on.
Lists that sit there, like vacant houses or back taxes, and the house picked at random are counted over 12 months. Probate and divorce are left out: there are too few on record in most counties to measure honestly.
Nearby counties
- What sells off-market in Bexar County, TX: expired and cancelled listings led there.
- What sells off-market in Dallas County, TX: expired and cancelled listings led there.
- Every county page
For the method behind these tables, read which motivated seller lists actually sell, when to mail each list and how the lead services compare.
Questions investors ask about Harris County
What list sells best in Harris County?
Of the lists we could measure in Harris County, TX, expired and cancelled listings sold off-market most often: about 15 of every 100 owners whose listing expired or was cancelled sold within 12 months of the filing, against about 1.4 of every 100 houses picked at random in the county over 12 months.
When should I mail foreclosure filings in Harris County?
Early. In Harris County, the first 3 months after a foreclosure filing were the busiest for off-market sales: 29 of the 85 that sold within 12 months. Keep mailing after that, because the rest came over the following nine months.
Do absentee owners over 65 sell in Harris County?
Rarely. In Harris County, TX, about 0.5 of every 100 owners 65 and older who live somewhere else sold off-market within 12 months, against about 1.4 of every 100 houses picked at random. That list did worse than mailing the county blind.
Can I see this for my county?
Yes. Any of 563 counties can be read free at goforclose.com/read, counted from that county's own records, with no call needed to see it.