Residents of The Baxter in far northeast Dallas received an email recently informing them they could either transfer to a sister community or have 30 days to vacate their home.
Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News
The first clue something was wrong was when the mail stopped.
Last year, Jo Summers said she stopped receiving mail at her apartment complex. The mailboxes needed to be repaired, but the issue was never fixed. In hindsight, she said the mail problems may have been a sign the apartments would be shut down.
Residents of The Baxter, a 239-unit apartment complex in far northeast Dallas, received an email Monday evening that said they could either transfer to a sister community or have 30 days to vacate their home. The change comes after The Baxter, at 9737 Forest Lane, was sold during an April foreclosure auction.
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The email told Baxter residents they need to notify the apartment’s management team if they are planning to transfer to The Bernard community, a nearby apartment complex with the same owners. If they choose not to move to the community, residents will get the notice to vacate.
Several Dallas-Fort Worth apartment buildings have faced foreclosure as real estate capital firms confront a challenging market. In the case of The Baxter, changes are putting residents like Summers in the position to rush to find a new place to live.
Forced to move
After Summers got the email, she acted quickly.
“I got with them the morning after because I don’t want to be homeless. … I was able to tour another unit today,” Summers said Wednesday. “It’s just really unfortunate because the only options are more expensive.”
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The Baxter apartment complex was sold during an April foreclosure auction.
Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News
She said she looked at an apartment that cost $865 per month, a $120 increase from her current unit. Summers initially said she would have to pay a pet fee again after paying the previous property management company. She said on Wednesday that her wallet wasn’t prepared for the total cost.
Summers said on Friday that she ultimately paid under $1,100 to move apartments. Initially, she expected the cost would be higher. She said it would still be a big hit, but a little bit lighter than expected. According to the email, residents who transfer to The Bernard will receive one month of free rent after the first full month of rent is paid.
Dallas has a limited number of apartments with rents below $1,000. Between 2021 and 2023, the city went from over 98,000 units with a gross rent under $1,000 to just over 47,000 units, according to a report from the Child Poverty Action Lab.
Texas law requires landlords to give a three-day written notice to vacate before filing an eviction.
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Earlier in August, residents of the Bonnie apartments were told to vacate their homes within three days. However, city staff said the landlord agreed to postpone eviction filings until the end of the month. The Bonnie is the complex next to an Oak Cliff building that was destroyed in a deadly gas explosion earlier this year.
Related: Longtime Bonnie residents race to find home after 3-day notice to vacate
Ownership changes
The Baxter apartments — and four other nearby apartment buildings — had been owned by the Dallas-based multifamily syndicator WindMass Capital, which purchased the portfolio of five apartments in 2021, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District.
WindMass Capital said in a statement that ownership of the portfolio was transferred to its investment partner Fundamental Partners. The transfer happened amid a legal battle between the companies, according to reporting from The Real Deal.
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In May 2025, the portfolio was sold to the Pecos Housing Finance Corp. as part of a housing finance corporation deal. In that type of deal, a nonprofit entity owns the land the property is on, making it tax-exempt, often in exchange for the private company agreeing to make units affordable.
The portfolio faced a foreclosure sale on the five apartments after Fundamental Partners defaulted on a $120 million loan tied to the property, according to Dallas County records. The sale occurred in April.
The properties were purchased by Oconee Real Estate Holdings XIX BX5 LLC, an entity with the same address as Voya Investment Management that had issued the $120 million loan. The sale price for the properties was about $78 million.
Voya Investment Management declined to comment for this story. Fundamental Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Apartment distress
D-FW apartment syndicators are facing financial challenges as interest rates have reached higher levels. Dallas apartment buildings owned by companies like S2 Capital, which owns about 40 apartment properties in D-FW, have repeatedly faced foreclosure auctions this year.
Related: One of Texas’ largest apartment owners faces $560M in loan issues, tied to D-FW sites
Residents of the Baxter apartment (above) were informed that those who transfer to the sister complex Bernard will receive one month of free rent after the first full month of rent is paid.
Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News
The Houston-based company Nitya Capital announced the refinancing of The Interlace Apartments — a 432-unit apartment community near the Shops at Redbird — on Monday after it had faced foreclosure.
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In a news release, the firm said it is facing one of the most challenging real estate capital markets in decades due to high interest rates and a 10-year U.S. Treasury near 4.7%. Because of those factors, lenders are selective and refinancing requirements are stricter, the firm said.
Rush for units
If she had more time, Summers said she would be looking at other apartments. Summers said she has had problems communicating with property managers at The Baxter.
When she toured The Linden, one of the other properties in the portfolio, she was told they already sent the lease over to her. On Thursday, Summers had not yet received the lease. On Friday, Summers said she got the keys to a new apartment. Just a few days before, getting a unit was in doubt.
“The thing is that they told me this morning that other people have already been looking at this unit,” she said on Wednesday. “And I’m sure, because everyone’s being displaced and this was the recommendation, that we all moved to this new community. It’s kind of like a rush of who can get in where first.”
This article was updated to reflect that Summers was able to move to a new unit and what she paid to move.
Correction: 10 p.m., Aug. 14, 2026: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated what apartment complex a resident toured. The resident toured The Linden apartments under the same ownership.