Second Mortgage in McAllen

Not when the rental is not your homestead. Article XVI, section 50 of the Texas Constitution protects a homestead from forced sale except for a short list of debts, and any other lien on it is invalid. The Texas home equity rules come from that list: consent of each owner and each owner's spouse, all homestead debt capped at 80% of value, fees capped at 2% with some exclusions, and foreclosure only by court order. A rental that is not your homestead sits outside section 50. Homestead status turns on use and intent, and a title company may treat your only Texas residential property as homestead by default, so expect occupancy to be checked. This is not legal advice; your attorney or title company has the final say on your property. The Texas investment property second mortgage guide covers the details.

The second can be wiped out, so the first has to stay current. Texas courts hold that foreclosing a senior lien extinguishes the junior liens behind it. A deed-of-trust lien on a rental that is not a homestead is usually foreclosed outside court under Property Code section 51.002, with notice at least 21 days before a sale held on the first Tuesday of the month. Hidalgo County's clerk posted the October 6, 2026 sale at the Administration Building, 2802 S. Business Highway 281 in Edinburg, under the canopy on the west side, or as the commissioners court designates. That was one dated posting, not a standing designation, so check the notice for any later sale rather than assuming the place. Read lien position explained before you stack debt.

$35 for the first page and $4 for each additional page in both counties. Hidalgo's figure comes from its 2024 fee schedule, the latest we found; Cameron's schedule took effect January 1, 2026. A 6-page deed of trust records for $55 ($35 + 5 x $4), an illustration, not a quote for your documents, and each indexed name past five adds $0.25 in Hidalgo. Hidalgo records at the county courthouse, 100 North Closner in Edinburg. Cameron's clerk lists CSC, Simplifile and eRecording Partners Network as electronic filing providers.

The program accepts short-term rentals, but read McAllen's ordinance against your property first. McAllen's short-term rental rules, Code chapter 46, article VII, apply to residential single-family dwelling units used for stays of less than 30 consecutive days. The definition excludes structures that are not owner-occupied, and not tied to an owner-occupied principal residence, that offer multiple rooms or units for lease. So how the article treats a non-owner-occupied 2 to 4 unit rental is not settled by its text; ask the city before you count short-term income on one. Where the article applies, registration is annual at $100 per rental unit, each property gets its own registration number, entities register every property separately, and you need a local contact available 24 hours who can respond in person within one hour. A revoked registration bars reapplying for that property for twelve months. Subject to underwriting.

Texas draws the line at purpose. Finance Code chapter 342, the state's secondary mortgage loan chapter, applies only 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 money is for and whether you live in the property. We found no Texas regulator guidance on business-purpose seconds specifically, so read this as a description of the statutes, not a licensing opinion. This is not legal advice; your attorney has the final say on your structure.

Property tax first, then which side of the windstorm line you are on. A rental gets no homestead relief, and in Hidalgo County the county rate of 0.5750 per $100 is joined by Drainage District #1 at 0.1123 on essentially every parcel, so an investor's stack runs about 2.1 to 2.5 per $100 depending on city and school district. That range is our arithmetic on the county's published 2025 rates. Hidalgo County sits outside the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's coastal area and Cameron County sits inside it, so a Harlingen or Brownsville rental can need a different wind policy than a McAllen one. Price both before you size a second against the rent. Talk to your CPA and insurance agent about your own numbers.