Dorman Capital is a private real-estate investment company in Albemarle, in Stanly County. We buy houses for cash, as-is, for our own account, across Stanly County and the Charlotte metro. When you call (704) 706-0124 you reach Titus Dorman, who runs the company, or his voicemail.
We are the buyer, not your parents’ agent — in these purchases we do not represent the seller. Titus Dorman is a licensed North Carolina real estate broker (#282463). We never charge a fee, a deposit, or an advance payment of any kind.
Everything below is general information about North Carolina law, written by a real estate company, not a law firm. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and no one here is your family’s attorney. Your parents’ dates and amounts can differ from anything described here — confirm them with the Clerk of Superior Court, a HUD-approved housing counselor, or a North Carolina attorney before anyone acts.
Where do I start if my parents are losing their house?
Start with one phone call: get your parents connected with a free foreclosure counselor at 1-888-442-8188, before they talk to any buyer, including us. That is the NC Housing Finance Agency’s line for the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project. Counseling is free at any stage of foreclosure, and counselors can work with the servicer on your parents’ behalf and refer low-income homeowners to free legal help (NCHFA).
Expect one wall. Your parents’ mortgage company will not discuss their loan with you, a counselor, or a lawyer unless your parents authorize it, usually on a third-party authorization form. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes a plain explanation and a model form. Have your parents sign one for the counselor, and for you if they want you on the calls. The model form has the third party promise not to charge illegal fees, which is one more reason to name only people your parents trust.
If your parents may qualify by income, Legal Aid of North Carolina takes applications at 1-866-219-5262. A private foreclosure or bankruptcy attorney is the other door, and an attorney’s fee is lawful. The county pages list local counselors and Legal Aid offices: Charlotte · Concord and Kannapolis · Albemarle and Stanly County.
How do I find my parents’ foreclosure case?
You can look it up yourself, from anywhere, on the state court system’s eCourts Portal. A home foreclosure in North Carolina is filed with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the house sits, as a special proceeding, so the file number usually has “SP” in it. All 100 counties have been on eCourts since October 13, 2025.
Use Smart Search with a parent’s name, or the SP number if you have any paper that shows it. Search Hearings finds scheduled court dates by name and county. A case that began before the county moved to eCourts can be incomplete there, so call that county’s Clerk’s office if something is missing. The staff can tell you what has been filed. They can’t give legal advice, and neither can we.
The papers usually land in this order:
- Notice of hearing — the date your parents can appear before the Clerk.
- Order authorizing the sale — the Clerk’s findings.
- Notice of sale — the auction date, time, and place.
- Report of sale — filed after the auction. The last 10-day window runs from this filing, not from the auction.
The portal shows what has been filed, not what happens next. Check again whenever new mail arrives.
How much time do my parents have left?
It depends on which papers are already in the file, and there is usually more time than the sale date suggests. Under G.S. 45-21.20, the power of sale ends if the full debt plus the sale expenses is paid before the sale, or after the auction but before the time for upset bids runs out. That period is 10 days from the filing of the report of sale, and each new upset bid restarts it (G.S. 45-21.27). Once the last period expires, it is over.
A few checkpoints to find in your parents’ papers:
- The 45-day letter. Before filing, the servicer must mail a notice at least 45 days ahead that itemizes what is past due and lists HUD-approved counselors and the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project (G.S. 45-102).
- A complete loss-mitigation application. If the servicer receives a complete one more than 37 days before a scheduled sale, it generally may not hold the sale until it has evaluated it and your parents have been turned down, declined what was offered, or failed to keep up with a workout (12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(g)). A counselor can help your parents put it together.
- The hearing. Your parents can attend, and bring the counselor.
The full sequence, every notice, and the federal servicer rules are on our North Carolina foreclosure guide. Confirm your parents’ own dates with the Clerk or an attorney, not with a web page.
Why do my parents have to sign everything? Can I sell the house for them?
No, not on your own. The house is your parents’, so the people on the deed make the decisions and sign the papers, unless a valid power of attorney gives someone else authority over real property. Being the child who handles everything doesn’t give you that authority.
North Carolina’s power of attorney law is Chapter 32C. A power of attorney that grants general authority over real property lets the agent sell and convey it, unless the document says otherwise (G.S. 32C-2-204). One made under that chapter keeps working if the parent later loses capacity, unless it expressly says it ends then (G.S. 32C-1-104). Every power of attorney ends when the parent dies (G.S. 32C-1-110). Whether a particular document is enough for a sale is a question for the closing attorney and your family’s own attorney. They will read it; we won’t guess at it.
If a parent can no longer make decisions and there is no power of attorney, the usual route is a guardianship proceeding, and the Clerk of Superior Court has original jurisdiction over those (G.S. 35A-1103). That takes time a foreclosure calendar may not have, so talk to an attorney early.
If one of your parents has died, the rules on who signs change. Our page on an inherited house in foreclosure covers that.
Can I take over my parents’ mortgage?
Usually only if the lender agrees in writing, and even then it doesn’t erase the missed payments. Under federal rules, a loan is assumed when the lender expressly agrees in writing to accept the new person as a primary obligor on the loan (12 C.F.R. § 1026.20(b)). Making the payments yourself, or having the house deeded to you, doesn’t make you the borrower. The loan stays in your parents’ names, and so does the default.
You may read that a lender “can’t call the loan” if the house goes to a child. The Garn-St Germain Act bars a lender from using a due-on-sale clause on a home of one to four units for certain transfers, including a transfer to a relative resulting from the borrower’s death, and a transfer where the borrower’s spouse or children become an owner (12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)). The regulation applies it to a home the borrower occupies, and for those family transfers the relative must live there or plan to (12 C.F.R. 191.5(b)).
That protection stops a lender from demanding the whole balance because of the transfer. It does nothing about a loan that is already in default. The foreclosure keeps moving against the house no matter whose name is on the deed. The same categories of family member can be confirmed by the servicer as a “successor in interest” and then treated as a borrower under the servicing rules (12 C.F.R. § 1024.31). That gets you information. It doesn’t cure the default.
Before anyone signs a deed, talk to a North Carolina attorney. A deed changes who owns the house, it can carry tax and Medicaid consequences for your parents, and it does not change what is owed.
Can a family member buy the house before the foreclosure sale?
Yes, if the purchase pays the loan off in full before the last upset bid period runs out. This is your family’s own option, and it has nothing to do with us. We make no offer tied to it.
It works when the family buyer has the cash, or qualifies for a new loan, to cover the full payoff plus the foreclosure expenses, and a North Carolina closing attorney can close it inside the window in G.S. 45-21.20. That means the whole debt plus the trustee’s fees and sale costs, not just the missed payments.
It doesn’t work when “buying” means taking over payments informally, or taking a deed without paying the loan off. Neither one stops the foreclosure.
Two cautions. If the price is below what the house is worth, the difference can have tax consequences; that is a question for a CPA. If either parent may need long-term care, a sale for less than value can raise Medicaid questions; that is a question for an elder-law attorney. Ask both before anyone signs.
My parents have a reverse mortgage and got a default notice
A reverse mortgage can be foreclosed while your parents are alive if they stop paying property taxes or homeowners insurance. The CFPB’s guidance is short: if they can pay the taxes and insurance, pay right away. If they can’t, contact a reverse mortgage housing counseling agency or an attorney. State and local programs may help with missed property charges; the CFPB points to the local Area Agency on Aging through the Eldercare Locator at (800) 677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov.
If the last borrower on a reverse mortgage has died, different federal rules apply to the heirs. Our inherited-house foreclosure page covers that.
How do I bring this up with my parents?
Lead with the counselor, not the house. “There’s a free state line that helps people in exactly this spot. Can we call together?” is easier to hear than “You need to sell.”
- Ask to see every letter, including the ones they haven’t opened. The dates are in those envelopes.
- Offer to sit in on calls, in person or on speaker. Write down who said what, and when.
- Slow down anyone pushing a signature. A real option survives a counselor reading it first.
Pride is why many families hear about this late. It is also why the decisions have to stay your parents’.
Why are my parents getting so many letters, and which ones are scams?
Because a foreclosure is public. The court file can be searched online, and the notice of sale has to be posted at the courthouse, published in a local newspaper once a week for two weeks, and mailed to your parents (G.S. 45-21.17). Investors, lenders, and scammers all read those notices.
The NC Department of Justice warns homeowners about “We Buy Homes” scams. Walk away from anyone who:
- Wants your parents to sign over the title on a promise.
- Asks for money up front to deal with the bank. Taking an advance fee to act as a go-between with a lender is debt adjusting under G.S. 14-423, a Class 2 misdemeanor under G.S. 14-424. Licensed attorneys and qualifying nonprofit counseling agencies are exempt (G.S. 14-426).
- Promises your parents can stay and rent the house back or buy it back later. North Carolina regulates these deals as “foreclosure rescue transactions” (G.S. 75-120 and 75-121).
- Promises to stop the foreclosure. Nobody can promise that.
Report a scam to the NC DOJ consumer hotline at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM. Before your parents sign with any buyer, ask whether the buyer will close in its own name or assign the contract to someone else, and check any license a buyer claims with the NC Real Estate Commission. Ours are at the top of this page.
Where a cash sale fits, honestly
For some families, after the counselor and the attorney, selling first is the right answer. For many it isn’t. If selling is the answer, listing with a broker is one option and a cash sale is another. A cash as-is offer is below retail, so if the calendar leaves room for a listing, compare both; we’ll put our number in writing so you can, and if we think listing would net your parents more, we’ll tell you.
A cash sale fits when time is short, nobody in the family can carry the house, or the family wants a firm number and date instead of showings and a buyer’s loan. We buy in any condition. From us, that means your parents sign as the sellers. We walk the house once, as it stands. Your parents get a written cash offer as quickly as we can, at no cost or obligation, and the house doesn’t need repairs, cleaning, or showings. A licensed North Carolina closing attorney orders the written payoff and pays the loan from the proceeds. We close in our own name, in as little as 14 days when title is clean, or on your parents’ schedule. There is no fee, commission, or deposit of any kind. If you live out of state, you don’t need to make the trip.
What we will not do. We do not contact your lender or servicer on your behalf. That goes for your parents’ lender too: we don’t call it, and we don’t arrange or negotiate short sales or loan modifications. That belongs to your parents, their attorney, or a HUD-approved counselor. We don’t rent the house back, offer a buy-back, or let anyone stay on after closing. If your parents need time to move, the closing date moves instead. Nobody, us included, can promise to stop a foreclosure.
We buy across Stanly County and the Charlotte metro, including Charlotte, Concord and Kannapolis, and Albemarle. The full list is on our areas we serve page.
How it works — three steps.
Reach out
Call or text (704) 706-0124, or use the form below. Two minutes, no obligation.
Get your cash offer
A fair, no-pressure cash offer, as quickly as possible.
Close on your timeline
As little as 14 days, or whatever date works for you. We handle the paperwork.