Texas tax deed question

[Mark C.]

I have thought about investing in real estate for years and I'm starting to more seriously  research different opportunities.  I've read up on texas tax deeds and have a couple of questions.

1.  When a property does not have a homestead exemption in the county appraisal records, does it automatically fall into a 6 month redemption?  If it doesn't, can you define homestead?

2.  Since these are tax deeds, does that mean when the county foreclosed on the property that the title was cleared including IRS liens and other types of senior liens?

Thanks in advance.

Mark