Guides to selling and buying a Texas home without an agent
Draft Pending review by a Texas title professional before it is final.
How a Texas home sale works when the owner sells it: the steps, the paperwork Texas requires, where the money goes, and what each person in the deal does. Written for owners and for the buyers who deal with them.
Before you list
How selling your home by owner works in Texas
The whole sale when you sell your Texas home yourself: title, price, disclosures, showings, offers, the contract, the option period and closing.
Is your title ready? Heirs, divorce, liens and solar panels
Before you list: whose names are on the deed, your spouse on a homestead (Tex. Fam. Code §5.001), heirs, a divorce decree, liens and solar panels.
Pricing your home when Texas doesn't publish sold prices
Texas doesn't make sale prices public, and appraisal district values lag. What an owner can price from: an appraisal, a broker's opinion, homes for sale.
The seller's disclosure notice in Texas
The Texas Seller's Disclosure Notice (Property Code §5.008): who gives it, when the buyer must get it, what happens if it arrives late, and lead-based paint.
MUD and PID notices: what Texas sellers hand buyers
Homes in a municipal utility district (MUD) or public improvement district (PID) owe extra taxes or assessments, and Texas requires a written notice to buyers.
Offers and the contract
Selling by owner when the buyer has an agent
Since 2024 a Texas seller doesn't have to pay a buyer's agent, but may offer to. How owners state a policy and how the money shows up in an offer.
Earnest money goes only to the title company
In a Texas home sale, earnest money goes to the escrow agent in the contract — the title company — within 3 days. Never wire money to a person.
The option period and the option fee in Texas
How the Texas option period works: the buyer pays an option fee for the right to end the contract for any reason for a set number of days.
On the way to closing
The survey and the T-47 affidavit
What a survey shows, when an existing survey and a T-47 affidavit can stand in for a new one, and who pays under the TREC contract (¶6C).
What happens at closing in Texas
Closing a Texas home sale at the title company: the settlement statement, the deed, payoffs, tax proration (¶13), funding, recording and the title policies.