Buying a Home in Central Texas

The short version

1. Get pre-approved by a lender so you know your budget and payment.
2. Choose your agent and sign a written buyer agreement. Texas law requires one before a license holder shows you a home.
3. Tour homes and check the local details: school district, flood zone, MUD, PID, HOA and the full tax picture for each address.
4. Make an offer on the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) resale contract, usually with a financing addendum.
5. Deliver earnest money and the option fee to the title company within 3 days after the contract's effective date.
6. Inspect during the option period and negotiate repairs or credits, or walk away and get your earnest money back.
7. Finish your loan, appraisal, title review and survey.
8. Review your Closing Disclosure at least 3 business days before closing, then sign, fund and get your keys.
9. File your homestead exemption with the appraisal district after you move in.

The rest of this guide covers each step in detail. For a quick look at dates, jump to the timeline table.

Step 1: Pre-approval and your real budget

Talk with a lender before you tour seriously. A pre-approval tells you what you can borrow and shows sellers you are likely to qualify. Compare Loan Estimates from more than one lender, because rates and fees vary. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains how to read one line by line.

The TREC Third Party Financing Addendum lists the loan types Texas contracts are built around: conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, Texas Veterans Land Board and reverse mortgage financing. Eligible Texas veterans can ask about Texas Veterans Land Board home loans. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation both run homebuyer assistance programs with their own income and price rules.

Budget for more than the mortgage

In Central Texas, two homes at the same price can have very different monthly costs. Before you fall for a house, ask about:

• Property taxes. Texas has no state income tax, and local property taxes fund schools, counties, cities and special districts. Total rates differ by address. See our property tax, MUD and PID guide.
• MUD or PID charges. Many newer neighborhoods pay a municipal utility district tax or a public improvement district assessment on top of regular taxes.
• HOA dues and any special assessments.
• Homeowners insurance. Hail and wind claims are common in Texas, and many policies use a separate or percentage-based wind and hail deductible. The Texas Department of Insurance's HelpInsure site compares companies.
• Flood insurance if the home is in or near a flood zone. Standard homeowners policies generally do not cover flooding.

Step 2: Your agent and the written buyer agreement

Two documents come first when you work with a Texas agent.

Information About Brokerage Services (IABS)

TREC requires license holders to give you the IABS form at the first substantive conversation about a specific property. It explains the ways a broker can work with you (representing the buyer, the seller, or acting as an intermediary with both parties' written consent) and the duties owed in each. It is a disclosure, not a contract. The current version is IABS 1-2.

The written buyer representation agreement

Written buyer agreements became standard nationally when practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024, following the National Association of REALTORS settlement. Texas then wrote the requirement into law: under Senate Bill 1968, effective January 1, 2026, a license holder must have a written agreement with a buyer before showing residential property, or before presenting an offer if no property is shown.

• The agreement must state the broker's compensation and say, in conspicuous language, that broker compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable.
• An agreement limited to showing homes cannot be exclusive and cannot run more than 14 days.
• Many Texas brokers use a buyer representation agreement published by Texas REALTORS; the terms (length, area, compensation) are filled in by you and your broker.

Read the agreement before you sign it and ask about anything unclear: how long it lasts, how it ends, and how compensation is paid. The TREC resale contract also lets a seller agree to contribute toward the compensation you owe your broker, which is one more term you can negotiate in your offer.

Step 3: Touring homes and checking each address

City names on a mailing address do not tell you much in Central Texas. School district lines, county lines, city limits and utility districts all overlap. For every home you are serious about, check these by address:

Do not estimate taxes from the seller's current bill. The seller's exemptions, any over-65 school tax ceiling and the 10% homestead cap do not transfer to you, so your bill can be higher.

Step 4: Writing the offer on the TREC contract

Texas license holders generally must use the contract forms the Texas Real Estate Commission promulgates. For an existing single-family home, duplex, triplex or fourplex, that is the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), TREC No. 20-19, which took effect July 1, 2026. TREC publishes separate contracts for condominiums, new homes, farm and ranch property and unimproved land.

Your offer sets these terms, and every one of them is negotiable:

• Sales price, split between cash down payment and loan amount.
• Earnest money, a good-faith deposit held by the title company (the escrow agent) and credited to you at closing.
• Option fee and option period, which buy you an unrestricted right to terminate for a set number of days.
• Financing, using the Third Party Financing Addendum (TREC No. 40-11) if you are borrowing.
• Title policy and survey: who pays for the owner's title policy and whether an existing survey will be used.
• Seller contributions toward your closing costs and, separately, toward your broker's compensation.
• Closing date and possession. The default is possession upon closing and funding; TREC has temporary lease forms if either side needs a few days.

Common addenda include the HOA addendum (for mandatory-membership associations), the Addendum Concerning Right to Terminate Due to Lender's Appraisal (TREC No. 49-1), the Addendum for Sale of Other Property by Buyer, and the Non-Realty Items Addendum for things like a refrigerator or washer and dryer. Agents cannot draft new legal terms for you; if you need custom language, you or your attorney must write it.

The strongest offer is not always the highest price. Sellers also weigh earnest money, option period length, how solid your financing is, your closing date and how much you ask them to pay. We price offers from recent comparable sales so your number is grounded in the market.

Step 5: Earnest money, the option period and inspections

The 3-day delivery deadline

Under the TREC resale contract, you must deliver the earnest money and the option fee to the escrow agent named in the contract within 3 days after the effective date, the date the last party signed and accepted the final terms. If the third day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the delivery deadline moves to the end of the next day that is not one. Time is of the essence: if the option fee is late, you lose the unrestricted right to terminate, and if the earnest money is late, the seller may terminate the contract.

How the option period works

• The option period is a negotiated number of days after the effective date. During it, you can terminate for any reason.
• Notice must be given by 5:00 p.m. local time on the last day. The weekend and holiday extension in the contract applies to delivering money, not to the option period itself.
• If you terminate on time, the seller keeps the option fee and your earnest money is refunded. If you close, the option fee is credited to you.

Inspections

Most buyers hire a TREC-licensed home inspector in the first days of the option period, then add specialists as needed: a structural engineer for foundation questions, a wood-destroying insect inspection, a sewer line camera, a pool inspection, and septic and well testing on rural property. Texas inspectors follow TREC's Standards of Practice. Get insurance quotes in this window too; findings like roof age can affect your premium.

Negotiating repairs

If the inspection turns up problems, you can ask for repairs, a price reduction or a closing cost credit, and any agreement is written on TREC's Amendment to Contract, signed by both sides. Under the contract, agreed repairs must be made by licensed or commercially engaged professionals, with receipts and transferable warranties provided. Until both parties sign the amendment, the original terms and deadlines stand.

Step 6: Disclosures and notices you should receive

Seller's Disclosure Notice

Most sellers of Texas homes must give you a written disclosure of the property's condition under Texas Property Code Section 5.008. TREC publishes a version (TREC No. 55-1), and Texas REALTORS publishes another. The contract records whether you got it before signing. If the seller delivers it after you sign, you may terminate for any reason within 7 days after you receive it or before closing, whichever comes first, and your earnest money is refunded. If you never receive a required notice, you may terminate any time before closing.

Flood questions

Amendments to Section 5.008 that took effect September 1, 2019 added detailed flood questions. The statutory notice asks whether the seller is aware that the property is wholly or partly in a 100-year floodplain, a 500-year floodplain, a floodway, a flood pool or a reservoir; whether there is present flood insurance coverage; and about previous flooding, including water entering a structure from a natural flood event. TREC's form also asks whether the seller ever filed a flood damage claim with any insurer, including the National Flood Insurance Program, and whether the seller ever received FEMA or SBA assistance for flood damage. Pair the answers with your own search on FEMA's flood map. Lenders require flood insurance on federally backed loans in high-risk zones, and National Flood Insurance Program policies usually have a 30-day waiting period, so ask early.

Other notices

• Lead-based paint. Federal law requires a lead-based paint disclosure for housing built before 1978.
• MUD notice. If the home is in a municipal utility district or similar district, Chapter 49 of the Texas Water Code requires the seller to deliver, and you to sign, a statutory notice of the district's tax rate and bonded debt before you sign the contract.
• PID notice. If the home is in a public improvement district, Property Code Section 5.014 requires written notice of the assessment before a binding contract is signed. TREC has an addendum for it.
• HOA documents. With TREC's HOA addendum, you can terminate within 3 days after you receive the subdivision information (the restrictions, bylaws, rules and resale certificate), or before closing if that comes first, and get your earnest money back.
• Water rights. The 20-19 contract adds a Seller's Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights. A seller can skip it only when every listed condition applies, such as no known well or pond and water only from a city, MUD or water supply corporation. If it arrives after you sign, you have 7 days to terminate.
• Annexation. If the home is outside city limits, the contract notifies you that it may now or later be in a city's extraterritorial jurisdiction and subject to annexation.

Step 7: Financing approval and the lender's appraisal

The Third Party Financing Addendum separates your loan into two approvals:

• Buyer Approval covers your income, assets and credit. If the contract is subject to Buyer Approval and you cannot get it within the number of days you chose, you can terminate with the lender's written statement and get your earnest money back. After that window closes, the contract is no longer subject to Buyer Approval.
• Property Approval covers the lender's requirements for the home itself, including the appraisal and insurability.

If the appraisal comes in low

The Addendum Concerning Right to Terminate Due to Lender's Appraisal (TREC No. 49-1) changes what happens when the lender's appraisal does not support the price. It offers three choices: a full waiver of your right to terminate over the appraisal, a partial waiver if the appraisal is at or above an amount you name, or an additional right to terminate within a set number of days if the appraisal is below an amount you name. If the lender lowers the loan because of the appraisal, the waiver options increase the cash you bring. The addendum is not for FHA-insured or VA-guaranteed loans.

Lender-required repairs

Under the resale contract, neither side has to pay for repairs the lender requires unless they agree. If nobody agrees, the contract terminates and your earnest money is refunded, and if lender-required repairs and treatments cost more than 5% of the sales price, you may terminate.

Step 8: Title commitment, title insurance and the survey

In Texas, a title company usually acts as escrow agent and closes the sale. Under the resale contract, the seller must furnish a title commitment within 20 days after the title company receives the contract. The commitment shows who owns the property and the liens, easements and restrictions that affect it. You can object in writing to certain defects within the time the contract sets; the seller then has 15 days to cure, and if the problem is not cured you may terminate or waive the objection.

Owner's title policy

The owner's policy protects you against covered losses from title problems that existed before closing, such as an unknown lien or a forged document, subject to its exceptions. You pay for it once. The Texas Department of Insurance sets title insurance premium rates, so the premium for the same policy is the same at every title company. Escrow and other fees vary by company, and TDI says you may choose any title company you want.

Who pays for the owner's policy is a box in the contract. In much of Central Texas the seller customarily pays for it in resale transactions, but it is negotiable and can shift with the market. If you have a loan, the lender's title policy is a separate buyer expense.

Survey and the T-47

The contract gives three survey options: the seller provides an existing survey with a Texas Department of Insurance T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit or T-47.1 Declaration stating nothing has changed, you order a new survey, or the seller pays for a new one. If the title company or lender will not accept the existing survey, the contract says who pays for a new one. The contract also lets the parties choose whether to amend the title policy's survey exception to cover everything except "shortages in area," and who pays for that amendment.

Step 9: Closing and funding

If you have a mortgage, federal rules require your lender to give you the Closing Disclosure at least 3 business days before closing. Compare it with your Loan Estimate and ask about anything that changed. The title company also prepares a settlement statement.

Closing is when documents are signed. Funding is when the lender releases the loan money and the title company can disburse. The contract's default is that you get possession upon closing and funding, so plan movers and utilities around that. Property taxes for the current year are prorated through the closing date; because Texas taxes are billed in the fall, the seller usually credits you for their share and you pay the full bill when it arrives.

Default closing costs are listed in the contract. Buyers typically pay loan-related costs (appraisal, origination, credit report, the lender's title policy), recording fees, half the escrow fee and prepaid items such as insurance and the initial escrow deposit for taxes and insurance. Texas has no state real estate transfer tax.

Step 10: After closing: homestead exemption and your first tax bill

Once the home is your principal residence, file a residence homestead exemption with the county appraisal district: Williamson Central Appraisal District, Travis Central Appraisal District, Hays Central Appraisal District or Bell County's appraisal district. Filing is free; you do not need to pay anyone to do it. Most applicants include a Texas driver's license or ID showing the home's address.

• School districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from school taxes, with an additional $60,000 for homeowners 65 or older or disabled.
• The general filing deadline is April 30, and late applications are allowed up to two years after the taxes become delinquent.
• If the seller already had a homestead exemption for the year you buy, it usually stays through December 31 and yours starts January 1. If the seller did not, you may qualify for the part of the year you own the home.
• After you qualify, your home's taxable appraised value cannot rise more than 10% a year (plus new improvements).
• Tax bills usually go out in October or soon after and are due by January 31. If you have an escrow account, your lender pays them.

Appraisal notices arrive in spring, and you can protest by May 15 or 30 days after your notice, whichever is later. Our property tax guide covers exemptions and protests in detail.

Buyer timeline at a glance

Deadlines above are from the TREC resale contract (20-19) and addenda as written; your contract's filled-in days control.

How Jorgenson Real Estate helps buyers

Jorgenson Real Estate is an independent, veteran-owned brokerage based at 306 N Lampasas St in Round Rock, with agents working from Temple and Belton down to Buda and Kyle. We explain your buyer agreement before you sign it, pull the tax, MUD, PID, flood and school district details for each address, write and negotiate your offer on the TREC forms, and keep every deadline on the calendar through closing. Buying a newly built home? Read our new construction guide first. Moving from out of state? Start with Moving to Central Texas.