When a foreclosed home sells for more than what was owed, the leftover money — the surplus — belongs to the previous owner or their heirs. Most never find out it exists. We do the work of finding it, verifying it, and helping you claim it.
When a homeowner falls behind on property taxes or defaults on a mortgage, the county or lender can foreclose and sell the property at auction. But they're only entitled to keep what they were actually owed — not a penny more.
If the winning bid comes in higher than the debt, that difference is called the surplus, and by law it belongs to the previous homeowner, or their heirs if they've passed away. Here's roughly how the math plays out on a typical case:
The catch: the county mails a notice to the address that was just foreclosed on. The owner isn't living there anymore, the letter goes nowhere, and the county has neither the budget nor the obligation to track anyone down. That's the gap we work in.
We monitor county tax sale and foreclosure auction records to identify properties that sold for more than the debt owed — and trace who's entitled to the difference.
Before we ever contact you, we verify the sale, check that no one else has already filed a claim, and check for other liens against the property, using county and court records.
We walk you through a simple agreement, file the claim directly or route it through our attorney network when the county requires it, and you receive your funds once approved.
We're paid a percentage of the funds we recover for you, and only once you're actually paid. If there's no recovery, you owe us nothing.
We show you the auction sale results, the county surplus list, and the underlying court or county documents — not just our word for it.
For judicial foreclosures and probate cases, we route your claim through attorneys who specialize in surplus fund recovery in your state.
Search the case yourself in the public county record. We'll point you to exactly where to look before you sign anything.
This assistant can explain how surplus funds work, walk through your situation in plain language, and tell you what to expect next. It doesn't give legal advice and won't ask for sensitive personal or financial information.
General information only, not legal advice. For a real case review, use the form below and a member of our team will follow up directly.
We check public county and court records for a matching sale, confirm no one else has already filed, and check for competing liens. There's no cost and no obligation for this step.
If we find a case, we'll call or email you directly, walk you through exactly what we found, and show you the underlying documents before asking you to sign anything.