HOAdata

Houston Area HOA Foreclosure-related Filings
References

Updated
1-Jan-13

Web addresses change from time to time, so some of these links may no longer work. Please send an email if you encounter a broken link.

HOA, Subdivision, and Property References

Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) - Subdivision data Important reference for gathering data on subdivisions. HAR provides price trends, median appraised value, number of homes, median year built, median square footage, etc.
Usage by HOAdata researchers: Subdivision names from HAR are matched to HOA names from court records to determine HOA size, median year built, and median home value. The comparison is imperfect, since some names may be incorrectly listed and since some HOAs may govern multiple subdivisions. Name matching is successful for 77% of the filings. HOAs and filings without a successful match are not included in HOAdata analyses by size, year built, value, or trend.

City of Houston Planning & Development Department Assorted information on neighborhood programs. "Super Neighborhood" program includes graphical map to find neighborhoods and neighborhood associations.

City of Houston Mayor's Assistance Office Includes link to listing of HOAs in Houston.

Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) Records Online database. Access to HCAD property values, ownership history, maps, etc. Data seems to be out of date by approx one year.

The Real Estate Almanac, Inc. (REA) Online database of subdivision information for the Houston area including homeowners association dues, maintenance fees, tax districts and rates, amenities, school district information, census data, house and lot counts, high, low and average sale prices, utility information and more. Subscription service. Includes free download area with mapping tables, zip codes, and related census data.

LANDATA Online database merging public and private sector data. Subscription service. Includes various property information such as ownership, assessed values, descriptions, title, liens, etc.

Harris County Court References

Harris County Civil Courts General info on the 4 county civil courts. The online database for these courts has yielded many foreclosure-related filings.

Harris County Clerk's Office Maintains numerous county records, including Harris County Civil Court records.

Harris County Civil Court Dockets Database Online database. Provides access to the court database, but not directly to the court records. The court database lists cases by docket number, giving dates, plaintiff and defendant names, attorney names, etc. Sometimes the online entries include more detailed info such as amount of judgments, attorney fees, etc, but, this is not consistently presented. Spellings of plaintiff HOAs are not uniform. The online search capabilities are limited, requiring a painstaking search by HOA name and each variant thereof. URL of this database seems to change often, so if the link doesn't work try the Harris County Clerk's Office and click on "Search Our Data Bases".

Harris County Civil Court Real Property Database Online database. Sometimes helpful in trying to determine ownership history of a given property. URL of this database seems to change often, so if the link doesn't work try the Harris County Clerk's Office and click on "Search Our Data Bases".

Harris County Justice of the Peace Courts General info on the 16 county JP courts. An online database for these courts has not been found, though there are indications of foreclosure-related activity in these courts.

Harris County District Courts - Civil General info on the 25 county district civil courts. An online database is available, but most useful info seems to require access fees. Records obtained on paper indicate that these courts handle a lot of foreclosure-related filings.

Harris County District Clerk This is where the District Court records are maintained. Subscriber access to the database is fee-based.

Harris County District Courts - Docket Database Simple online database that retrieves a limited amount of data, one case at a time. Must know the case number to search.

Daily Court Review Useful publication listing legal notices, events, and auctions for Harris County. Fee based.

Fort Bend County Court References

Fort Bend County Clerk's Office Maintains numerous county records, including Fort Bend County Civil Court records.

Fort Bend County Civil Court Records Database Online database. Provides access to the court database, including court documents. Exploring the documents can reveal considerable detail of the cases. It is possible to search on all cases of type "Suit on Debt", which seems to include HOA actions. However, many cases have not been properly "typed", so it's best to search for each HOA by name and all variant names - a much slower process.

Fort Bend County District Clerk This is where the Fort Bend County District Court records are maintained. Records access to the database is not on-line and appears to be fee-based.

Miscellaneous References

Texas Property Code
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 203
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210
Chapter 211
Chapter 212
Chapter 215
If these chapter links do not work, suggest visiting Texas Constitution and Statutes, selecting Code: Property Code, and then selecting Article/Chapter: Chapter 201, etc. These links may change occasionally as the state updates access to statutes. A website visitor encountered this problem and suggested an alternate site Learn Stuff to learn about Texas laws and gain access to other state information.

Inwood North vs Harris Case record from the Texas Supreme Court.

Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) - Subdivision data	Important reference for gathering data on subdivisions. HAR provides price trends, median appraised value, number of homes, median year built, median square footage, etc. Usage by HOAdata researchers: Subdivision names from HAR are matched to HOA names from court records to determine HOA size, median year built, and median home value. The comparison is imperfect, since some names may be incorrectly listed and since some HOAs may govern multiple subdivisions. Name matching is successful for 77% of the filings. HOAs and filings without a successful match are not included in HOAdata analyses by size, year built, value, or trend.
City of Houston Planning & Development Department	Assorted information on neighborhood programs. "Super Neighborhood" program includes graphical map to find neighborhoods and neighborhood associations.
City of Houston Mayor's Assistance Office	Includes link to listing of HOAs in Houston.
Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) Records	Online database. Access to HCAD property values, ownership history, maps, etc. Data seems to be out of date by approx one year.
The Real Estate Almanac, Inc. (REA)	Online database of subdivision information for the Houston area including homeowners association dues, maintenance fees, tax districts and rates, amenities, school district information, census data, house and lot counts, high, low and average sale prices, utility information and more. Subscription service. Includes free download area with mapping tables, zip codes, and related census data.
LANDATA	Online database merging public and private sector data. Subscription service. Includes various property information such as ownership, assessed values, descriptions, title, liens, etc.

Harris County Civil Courts	General info on the 4 county civil courts. The online database for these courts has yielded many foreclosure-related filings.
Harris County Clerk's Office	Maintains numerous county records, including Harris County Civil Court records.
Harris County Civil Court Dockets Database	Online database. Provides access to the court database, but not directly to the court records. The court database lists cases by docket number, giving dates, plaintiff and defendant names, attorney names, etc. Sometimes the online entries include more detailed info such as amount of judgments, attorney fees, etc, but, this is not consistently presented. Spellings of plaintiff HOAs are not uniform. The online search capabilities are limited, requiring a painstaking search by HOA name and each variant thereof. URL of this database seems to change often, so if the link doesn't work try the Harris County Clerk's Office and click on "Search Our Data Bases".
Harris County Civil Court Real Property Database	Online database. Sometimes helpful in trying to determine ownership history of a given property. URL of this database seems to change often, so if the link doesn't work try the Harris County Clerk's Office and click on "Search Our Data Bases".
Harris County Justice of the Peace Courts	General info on the 16 county JP courts. An online database for these courts has not been found, though there are indications of foreclosure-related activity in these courts.
Harris County District Courts - Civil	General info on the 25 county district civil courts. An online database is available, but most useful info seems to require access fees. Records obtained on paper indicate that these courts handle a lot of foreclosure-related filings.
Harris County District Clerk	This is where the District Court records are maintained. Subscriber access to the database is fee-based.
Harris County District Courts - Docket Database	Simple online database that retrieves a limited amount of data, one case at a time. Must know the case number to search.
Daily Court Review	Useful publication listing legal notices, events, and auctions for Harris County. Fee based.

Fort Bend County Clerk's Office	Maintains numerous county records, including Fort Bend County Civil Court records.
Fort Bend County Civil Court Records Database	Online database. Provides access to the court database, including court documents. Exploring the documents can reveal considerable detail of the cases. It is possible to search on all cases of type "Suit on Debt", which seems to include HOA actions. However, many cases have not been properly "typed", so it's best to search for each HOA by name and all variant names - a much slower process.
Fort Bend County District Clerk	This is where the Fort Bend County District Court records are maintained. Records access to the database is not on-line and appears to be fee-based.