Buyer Walked Out On A Contract For Deed

[temple]

I live in Texas and have a home that was rented to one individual for 2 yrs. Then he wanted to stop renting and start putting his payments toward the purchase of the home. Although he had always paid his rent on time, it had always been in cash, as he did not trust banks. (No tax issues here, all has been disclosed to the IRS) He requested I owner-finance the sale, since he did not have the credit to qualify for a loan that would work for him. I agreed, and had a complete, formal "contract for deed" drawn up by a real estate atty, and same was signed by both renter and myself, notarized and filed. Things went as planned for abt 1.5 years. In Nov 2006 renter abandoned property. Renter purchased newly constructed home not far fm the rental house in his name. My atty has attempted contact with the renter via certified mail, in order to "try and settle" the contract, and he has filed the "Notice of Default" via certified mail, as of this time, renter has not been heard from. Atty is "working on it and monitoring it" but since this past August has sent/filed nothing. I have no $ to find another atty need information to locate a website or other source that gives step-by-step inst on how I can do this myself.

I do not want the house sold/forclosed on. I want to keep the house. I just need to find a way to settle the debt owed. HELP PLS!

[Mr. Knowitall]

Check with the county law library, or an area law school library, as they may have a real estate law guide for practitioners that covers the forfeiture process. I truly doubt you'll find a free guide online.