Second Mortgage in Dallas

Not when the rental is not your homestead. Article XVI, section 50 of the Texas Constitution allows liens on a homestead only for a closed list of debts, and a lien outside that list is invalid. The Texas home equity rules come from that list: consent of each owner and spouse, an 80% cap on all homestead debt against value, a 2% fee cap with some exclusions, and foreclosure only by court order. Those rules protect the homestead, not a rental you do not live in. The catch is that homestead status turns on use and intent, and title companies can treat a borrower's only Texas residential property as homestead by default, so expect occupancy to be confirmed, not assumed. This is not legal advice; your attorney or title company has the final say on your property. Terms are on the second mortgage program page.

On the north side of the George Allen Courts Building, and a senior sale can wipe the second out. Dallas County holds trustee sales on the north side of the George Allen Courts Building, facing Commerce Street at 600 Commerce Street, under Commissioners Court Order 2009-0463. Texas sales run on the first Tuesday of the month after at least 21 days of notice under Property Code section 51.002, and the county says a sale begins no earlier than 10:00 a.m. and no later than three hours after that. Texas courts have held that foreclosure of a senior lien extinguishes junior liens, so a second only holds while the first mortgage stays current. Check your first mortgage before you add a second: the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 1-4 Family Rider used on investment property bars any inferior lien without the first lender's prior written permission. Read lien position explained before you stack debt.

$25 for the first page and $4 for each additional page. Dallas County builds that from a $5 recording fee, a $10 records preservation fee and a $10 archiving fee. A 12-page deed of trust would record for $69 ($25 + 11 x $4), an illustration, not a quote for your documents. Collin and Rockwall Counties publish the same $25 and $4 schedule; Denton County's fee schedule page, as read in August 2026, adds a required $4 recording information page. Dallas County accepts eRecording through six vendors, limited to filers under Local Government Code section 195.003, and says those documents are processed within a 24-hour period. The Texas Constitution bars a transfer tax on a conveyance of fee simple title, and we found no Texas tax on recording a mortgage.

The program covers short-term rentals, but Dallas's own rules are unsettled, so check their status the day you apply. The City of Dallas's 2023 short-term rental ordinances (Ordinances 32482 and 32473, Chapter 42B) are blocked by a temporary injunction won by the Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance and several owners, which the Fifth Court of Appeals largely affirmed. The city has asked the Texas Supreme Court to take the case (City of Dallas v. Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance, No. 25-0748). As of October 8, 2026, the court had not granted review. That status comes from a real-estate firm's summary rather than the court docket, and it can change at any time, so re-check it before you rely on it. What does not change with the case: the City of Dallas says all short-term rental owners must register their property with the city, and registration is free. The same firm's summary says hotel occupancy tax applies whatever the case outcome. Subject to underwriting.

Texas draws the line at purpose. The state's secondary mortgage loan chapter (Finance Code chapter 342) applies to loans extended primarily for personal, family or household use, and the residential mortgage licensing chapters define a covered loan the same way. Whether a loan is business purpose depends on its facts, which is why we ask what the funds are for and whether you live in the property. We found no Texas regulator guidance that speaks to business-purpose seconds directly, so this is not a licensing opinion. Talk to your attorney about your own structure.

The full rate, with no homestead relief. Investor-owned property gets no homestead exemption and no 10% appraisal cap. For tax year 2025, the combined rate in the City of Dallas with Dallas ISD was 2.235030 per $100 of value, against 1.675480 for Frisco with Frisco ISD in Collin County, so the city and school district combination matters more than the metro. On a rental valued at $400,000, the Dallas rate works out to about $8,940 a year ($400,000 / 100 x 2.235030), an illustration, not your bill. Municipal utility and public improvement districts add on top of those totals, some at a full 1.000000 per $100. Test the payment on your own numbers with the second mortgage calculator, and talk to your CPA about the tax side.