Texas buyer guide
How to buy a home in Texas.
The whole process in order — plus the Texas-specific rules that catch buyers off guard: the option period, the survey affidavit, MUD districts and the homestead exemption.
Buying a house works differently in Texas than in most states. There is no attorney at the closing table — a title company handles it. You get a paid termination window that most states do not offer. And the property tax bill is high enough that the exemption you file after closing is worth real money.
This guide walks the process in order and flags the Texas-specific pieces as they come up. It is written for buyers in Austin, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth and San Antonio, but the contract and the rules are statewide.
Timeline
How long it actually takes.
From the day you start looking to the day you get keys, most Texas purchases run 60 to 90 days. Financing is usually the long pole, not the search.
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Mortgage pre-approval | 1–3 days |
| House hunting | 2 weeks – 3 months |
| Offer to accepted contract | 1–3 days |
| Option period | 5–10 days |
| Contract to closing, financed | 30–45 days |
| Contract to closing, cash | 10–21 days |
The clock that matters most is the option period. It is short, it starts immediately, and it is the only window in which you can walk away for any reason at all.
The process
Six steps from search to keys.
Every Texas resale purchase runs through the same six stages. Knowing what happens in each one is most of the advantage.
Get pre-approved
Talk to a lender before you tour anything. A pre-approval letter tells you what you can actually borrow, and in a competitive market most listing agents will not present an offer without one. Expect to provide two years of tax returns, recent pay stubs and two months of bank statements. Ask the lender for an estimated monthly payment that includes taxes and insurance, not just principal and interest — in Texas that difference is large, and a national mortgage calculator will understate your payment badly.
Define your criteria
Separate what you cannot change from what you can. Location, school district, lot and floor plan are fixed. Finishes, paint and most fixtures are not. Write down three or four non-negotiables and let everything else flex. Check the tax rate for the specific address rather than the city: Texas rates vary parcel by parcel depending on which school district, MUD and PID the property sits in, and a one-point difference can swing the monthly payment by hundreds of dollars.
Tour and evaluate
Tour with intent. Look at the roof, the age of the HVAC, the grading around the foundation and which way the house faces — west-facing glass is a real summer cost here. Ask how long the home has been listed and whether it has been under contract before; a previous termination usually means something surfaced in an inspection. Read the seller’s disclosure notice early. Texas requires most sellers to complete one, and it is the cheapest due diligence you will ever do.
Make a strategic offer
Your offer is more than a price. The TREC contract sets your option fee and option period, your earnest money, your financing terms, your closing date and who pays what at closing. In a slower market there is room to ask for a seller contribution toward closing costs; in a fast one, a shorter option period or a flexible closing date can matter more than a few thousand dollars on price. Both your earnest money and your option fee are due within three days of the effective date, so have them ready before you sign.
Option period and inspection
This is the most important window in a Texas purchase. Paragraph 5 of the TREC contract gives you an unrestricted right to terminate within a negotiated number of days after the effective date, typically five to ten. For a modest option fee you can walk away for any reason, or no reason, and get your earnest money back. Use it: get a licensed inspector out immediately and add specialists if the general report flags foundation, roof or sewer. Then negotiate repairs or a credit. Under the current contract the option fee is credited to the sales price at closing, so if the deal closes it is not lost money.
Financing, appraisal and close
Your lender orders the appraisal and works through underwriting while the title company clears title. If the appraisal lands below the contract price, the gap becomes a negotiation. Review your Closing Disclosure the moment it arrives — you are entitled to it three business days before closing — and compare it line by line against your original loan estimate. Do a final walkthrough the day before or the morning of. Then you sign at the title company, the lender funds, the deed records, and the house is yours.
Texas specifics
Five things that catch Texas buyers off guard.
These are the items out-of-state buyers — and plenty of Texas ones — learn about too late.
1. The option period is your way out
Most states rely on contingencies that require a reason. Texas gives you an unrestricted right to terminate: you pay an option fee, you negotiate the number of days, and inside that window you can cancel for any reason at all and keep your earnest money. It is the most valuable clause in the contract and it is short. Both the option fee and the earnest money are due within three days of the effective date.
2. A title company closes your sale, not an attorney
Texas is not an attorney-closing state. The title company runs the title search, issues the policy, holds escrow and hosts the signing. In most of Texas the seller customarily pays for the owner’s title policy, but that is negotiable and the custom varies by region — it is a line item worth asking about before you write an offer.
3. You may not need to buy a new survey
If the seller has an existing survey, they can provide it with either a T-47 affidavit or the newer T-47.1 declaration, and the title company can often rely on it instead of making you pay for a new one. The 2025 contract update tightened this: the seller now has to make representations going back to the date of the survey, so a seller who is not comfortable doing that will order a new survey instead.
4. MUD and PID districts show up on your tax bill
Many newer Texas subdivisions sit inside a Municipal Utility District or a Public Improvement District that levies its own assessment on top of city, county and school taxes. Sellers are required to give you notice — read it. A MUD can add a meaningful amount to the monthly payment, and it is rarely obvious from the listing.
5. File your homestead exemption — it is real money
Texas has no state income tax and among the highest property taxes in the country. As of 2026 the general residence homestead exemption takes $140,000 off your home’s appraised value for school district taxes, and you can file in the year you buy, prorated from your closing date, as long as the previous owner did not already claim it that year. It is free, it takes about ten minutes, and you file it with your county appraisal district — not the tax office, and never through a company that charges you a fee to do it for you.
Before you start touring.
- Check your credit and address any issues
- Get pre-approved with a lender
- Set a comfortable monthly budget
- Save for down payment and closing costs
- List your must-haves vs. nice-to-haves
- Research neighborhoods and commute times
- Review school zones and HOA details
- Line up a trusted inspector
- Understand option period and earnest money
- Ask us how your rebate works at closing
Common questions
Texas home buying, answered.
How much money do I need to buy a house in Texas?
Three separate amounts. The option fee and earnest money are both due within three days of signing — the option fee is typically a few hundred dollars and the earnest money commonly runs about 1% of the sales price. Then your down payment and closing costs are due at closing. Conventional loans start around 3% down, FHA at 3.5%, and VA and USDA can be zero down. Budget roughly 2% to 3% of the price for buyer closing costs on top of the down payment.
What is the option period and how long should it be?
It is a negotiated window — usually five to ten days after the effective date — in which you can terminate the contract for any reason and get your earnest money back. Longer gives you more time to inspect and negotiate; shorter makes your offer more attractive to a seller. In a slow market ask for ten days. In a competitive one, five days with an inspector already scheduled is often the better trade.
Is the option fee refundable?
It is not refundable if you terminate, but under the current TREC contract it is credited to the sales price at closing. So if the purchase closes, you get the value of it back. If you walk away during the option period, you keep your earnest money and the seller keeps the option fee.
What is the difference between earnest money and the option fee?
The option fee buys you the right to terminate for any reason. Earnest money is your good-faith deposit toward the purchase, held in escrow by the title company and applied to your costs at closing. If you terminate during the option period, the earnest money comes back to you. If you walk after the option period expires without a contractual reason, you can lose it.
Do I need a real estate agent to buy a house in Texas?
No, but the listing agent represents the seller, not you. If you go unrepresented, nobody at the table is working on your behalf during inspection negotiations or the appraisal gap. Texas also now requires a written representation agreement before an agent tours homes with you, so the arrangement is set out in writing before you start.
Who pays the buyer’s agent in Texas?
It depends on what you negotiate. Since the 2024 industry settlement, compensation offers are no longer published in the MLS, but in most Texas sales the seller still offers to cover some or all of the buyer agent’s fee — it is simply negotiated directly rather than advertised. How that offer is applied depends on your agreement with your own agent.
How long does closing take in Texas?
Thirty to forty-five days from accepted contract for a financed purchase, and ten to twenty-one days for cash. Underwriting is almost always the constraint. Cash purchases are limited mainly by how fast the title company can clear title.
Do I need a survey?
Not always. If the seller provides an existing survey with a T-47 affidavit or T-47.1 declaration, your title company can often accept it, which saves you the cost of a new one. If the seller cannot or will not provide those, a new survey gets ordered — and the contract specifies who pays.
When do I file my homestead exemption?
As soon as you close. You can claim it for the year you purchase, prorated from your closing date, provided the previous owner did not already have it on that property for the year. File Form 50-114 with your county appraisal district. It is free and there is no reason to pay anyone to do it for you.
Representation
Who represents you, and what it costs.
You are entitled to your own representation, and in Texas that is now something you agree to in writing before you start touring.
Buyer agents get paid in different ways — a percentage of the sales price, a flat fee, or an hourly rate. In most Texas sales the seller still offers to cover a buyer-agent commission, and how that offer is applied depends on the agreement you sign with your own agent. It is worth reading that agreement closely before you tour a single house.
KAT Realty Group is a full-service flat fee real estate service operating under Texas Ally Real Estate Group. Buyer representation is a flat $4,999 rather than a percentage of the price. Where the seller’s offered commission is larger than the flat fee and your lender permits it, the difference is rebated to you at closing. On lower-priced homes that gap narrows and the advantage is smaller; on a $700,000 house it is substantial.
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