Buying a home in Texas looks simple from the outside. A buyer signs a standard contract, pays an option fee and earnest money, gets an inspection, and closes at a title company a few weeks later. But the Texas process has its own vocabulary and its own traps: a termination option that expires on a fixed day, a promulgated form that real estate licensees must use, community property rules that decide who owns the house the moment it is bought, homestead protections that require a spouse’s signature, and property taxes that are paid in arrears and prorated at closing. A Texas residential real estate attorney can review the contract before you sign it, explain the deadlines that matter, and make sure the deed and title policy match what you intended to buy.
Holmes Law is the practice of Michael Holmes, an attorney licensed in Texas who works with buyers remotely throughout the state. Holmes Law does not have an office in Texas and does not replace your agent, lender, or title company; the role is to read the documents with you, flag the risks, and help you make informed decisions. This page explains how residential purchases work under Texas law and is part of the broader Texas real estate practice. It is general information, not legal advice about your particular transaction.
Who Closes a Texas Home Purchase
Texas is a title-company state. In most transactions the closing is handled by an escrow officer at a title insurance company (or its agent), who holds the earnest money, clears title requirements, prepares the settlement statement, collects signatures, disburses funds, and records the deed. Texas law does not require either party to hire an attorney, and unlike some East Coast states there is no custom that a lawyer conducts the closing. That makes independent review more important, not less: the escrow officer is a neutral stakeholder who follows the contract and the lender’s instructions but does not advise either side.
Title insurance in Texas is regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance, which promulgates the policy forms, endorsements, and premium rates. Because the basic premium is set by the state, buyers do not usually shop title companies on premium price, but they can and should pay attention to which endorsements are being issued, whether the survey exception is being amended, and who is paying for the owner’s policy. Those items are negotiated in the contract.
The TREC Contract Forms
For resale homes, Texas real estate licensees generally must use the contract forms promulgated by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). The most common is the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), used with addenda such as the Third Party Financing Addendum, the addendum for property subject to mandatory membership in a property owners association, the lead-based paint addendum for pre-1978 housing, the seller financing addendum, and the addendum for sale of other property by the buyer. New construction uses separate TREC forms for completed and incomplete construction, although many builders insist on their own contracts, which deserve careful review.
Licensees cannot draft custom legal language, but they may fill in blanks and add factual statements and business details. An attorney is not bound by those limits and can draft special provisions, review a builder’s form, or explain how a particular paragraph operates. Because the promulgated form is so widely used, the right question is usually not “is this form fair?” but “how have the blanks and special provisions been filled in, and what happens if a deadline is missed?”
Texas Residential Purchase Attorney: Option Period, Earnest Money, and Contingencies
The termination option
The most distinctive feature of the Texas resale contract is the termination option. In exchange for an option fee paid to the seller, the buyer receives an unrestricted right to terminate the contract by giving notice within a stated number of days after the effective date. The buyer does not need a reason. The option period is when inspections, repair negotiations, insurance quotes, and HOA document review happen. Once it expires, the buyer’s ability to walk away without risking the earnest money is limited to the specific contingencies in the contract and its addenda.
The contract sets deadlines for delivery of the option fee and earnest money to the escrow agent. Missing the option fee deadline can mean the buyer has no termination option at all. Deadlines in the TREC form generally end at 5:00 p.m. local time where the property is located, and counting rules for weekends and holidays are spelled out in the form. Many disputes in Texas residential sales come down to whether a notice was delivered on time and in the manner the contract requires.
Earnest money
Earnest money is held by the escrow agent named in the contract, usually the title company. It is applied to the purchase price at closing. If the transaction fails, the title company generally will not release the funds without a release signed by both parties or a court order. The TREC form contains its own procedure for demanding the earnest money and imposes consequences on a party who wrongfully refuses to sign a release. If the seller defaults, the buyer may generally seek specific performance or terminate and receive the earnest money back; if the buyer defaults, the seller’s remedies are defined by the contract, commonly the right to keep the earnest money as liquidated damages or to enforce specific performance.
Financing and appraisal
The Third Party Financing Addendum lets the buyer terminate if the buyer does not obtain buyer approval within the stated number of days and gives a timely notice. The addendum also addresses property approval, including appraisal and lender-required repairs. A separate TREC addendum allows the parties to negotiate what happens if the lender’s appraisal comes in below the contract price, including whether the buyer waives the right to terminate. If you are financing, these provisions deserve attention before signing, because the financing deadline is a common point where buyers unknowingly lose their protection.
Title and survey objections
The contract gives the buyer a period after receipt of the title commitment, copies of the exception documents, and the survey to object to title matters. Objections that are not made on time are generally waived, except for items the seller is obligated to cure. Survey provisions address whether the seller will provide an existing survey with a residential real property affidavit (the T-47 form) or whether a new survey will be ordered, and who pays. The survey matters because the standard title policy excepts discrepancies in area and boundary lines unless the exception is amended.
Disclosures a Texas Seller Owes the Buyer
Texas Property Code § 5.008 requires a seller of residential real property comprising not more than one dwelling unit to give the buyer a written Seller’s Disclosure Notice. The statutory form asks about the condition of the roof, foundation, systems, prior repairs, flooding and flood insurance history, and many other items. If the contract is signed before the buyer receives the notice, the buyer may terminate for any reason within seven days after receiving it. The statute exempts a number of transfers, including foreclosure and court-ordered sales, transfers by fiduciaries administering an estate, guardianship, or trust, transfers between co-owners or to a spouse or lineal descendant, and sales of new residences that have never been occupied.
Other Texas-specific notices frequently apply:
- A property owners association notice under Property Code § 5.012 and, through the TREC addendum, delivery of the association’s resale certificate and governing documents. The association must provide subdivision information within 10 business days after a written request under Property Code § 207.003.
- A public improvement district notice under Property Code § 5.014 where the property is subject to PID assessments.
- A municipal utility district or other water district notice under Water Code § 49.452, which discloses the district’s tax rate and bonded indebtedness.
- Coastal notices for properties near the Gulf beaches or seaward of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
- The federal lead-based paint disclosure for housing built before 1978.
Disclosures do not replace inspection. A buyer who relies only on a seller’s notice and skips an independent inspection may find that an “as is” clause in the contract limits later claims, a subject covered in more detail on the Texas residential sales page.
How to Take Title: Community Property, Survivorship, and Vesting
Texas is a community property state. Property acquired by either spouse during marriage is presumed community property under Family Code § 3.003, regardless of whose name is on the deed, and a spouse claiming separate property must prove it by clear and convincing evidence. If one spouse is buying with separate funds, such as an inheritance or pre-marital savings, the paper trail and the wording of the deed matter. A spouse can sign a deed or agreement acknowledging the other spouse’s separate property interest, and married couples sometimes use a partition agreement for this purpose.
Texas does not presume survivorship between co-owners. Under Estates Code § 101.002 and § 111.001, joint owners who want the survivor to take the whole property must say so in a written agreement. For married couples, Estates Code § 112.051 allows spouses to agree in writing that community property will pass to the survivor. Without these provisions, each spouse’s share passes under that spouse’s will or by intestacy. Texas does not recognize tenancy by the entirety, and a “joint tenancy” label copied from another state’s deed form may not do what the buyer expects.
Many buyers take title in a revocable living trust to avoid probate. Texas lenders and title companies handle trust vesting routinely, though some lenders require the loan to close in the individual names first with a later deed to the trust. Holmes Law coordinates the vesting with your Texas revocable trust and broader Texas estate planning so the deed and the plan agree. Texas also permits transfer on death deeds under Estates Code chapter 114, which can be recorded after closing.
Homestead Rights and Spousal Joinder
The Texas homestead is protected by article XVI, sections 50 and 51 of the Texas Constitution and Property Code chapter 41. The homestead is defined by acreage rather than dollar value: an urban homestead may include up to 10 acres in one or more contiguous lots, and a rural homestead may include up to 200 acres for a family or 100 acres for a single adult. The homestead is protected from forced sale by most creditors, with exceptions for purchase-money debt, taxes, home improvement liens meeting constitutional requirements, and certain home equity loans.
For a buyer, two practical points follow. First, once a property becomes a married couple’s homestead, both spouses generally must join in any later sale or encumbrance under Family Code § 5.001, even if the house is one spouse’s separate property. Second, Texas home equity lending is heavily regulated by the Constitution, so a buyer who expects to borrow against the home later should understand those limits now.
HOA and Deed-Restricted Communities
A large share of Texas homes sit in subdivisions governed by deed restrictions and a property owners association. Property Code chapters 202, 204, 207, and 209 regulate how associations adopt rules, collect assessments, enforce restrictions, and foreclose assessment liens. Buyers should review the declaration, bylaws, rules, budget, and resale certificate during the option period, looking for leasing restrictions, special assessments, pending litigation, architectural control, and any transfer fees. If the addendum is used and the buyer does not receive the subdivision information on time, the buyer may have a right to terminate under the addendum’s terms.
Houston is famous for having no conventional zoning, which makes deed restrictions the primary land-use control in many neighborhoods. Elsewhere in Texas, cities zone under Local Government Code chapter 211, and counties have limited land-use authority. A buyer planning an addition, a short-term rental, or a home business should check both the restrictions and the local ordinance.
Property Taxes and Prorations
Texas has no state property tax; local taxing units levy taxes based on values set by the county appraisal district. Taxes for a calendar year are billed in the fall and generally become delinquent if not paid by February 1 of the following year under Tax Code § 31.02. Because taxes are paid in arrears, the seller typically gives the buyer a credit at closing for the seller’s share of the current year’s taxes, estimated from the prior year’s figures, and the buyer pays the full bill when it arrives. The contract addresses what happens if the actual bill differs.
After closing, a buyer who occupies the property as a principal residence should apply to the appraisal district for the residence homestead exemption under Tax Code § 11.13. The homestead designation also brings a cap on annual increases in the appraised value of the homestead under Tax Code § 23.23. Additional exemptions are available for owners who are 65 or older, disabled, or disabled veterans. If the seller had agricultural or open-space special valuation and the buyer changes the use, rollback taxes under Tax Code § 23.55 may be owed, and the contract should allocate that liability.
Closing and After
At closing, the title company provides the Closing Disclosure (for financed purchases) and the settlement statement. Review both before closing day, checking the purchase price, credits, prorations, HOA fees, and payoffs. The seller will usually sign a general or special warranty deed; the buyer should know which, since a special warranty deed warrants title only against claims arising through the seller. The deed is recorded in the county where the property is located, and the owner’s title policy is issued afterward.
After closing, file the homestead exemption, confirm the deed was recorded correctly, keep the owner’s policy and survey, and update your estate plan if the vesting changed. If a problem surfaces later, such as an undisclosed defect or a title claim, the contract, the disclosures, and the title policy will define your options.
How Holmes Law Helps Texas Home Buyers
Holmes Law provides limited-scope, remote review for Texas buyers who want an attorney’s perspective without replacing the professionals already on the transaction. Typical services include:
- Reviewing the TREC contract and addenda, or a builder’s contract, before signing, and explaining every deadline.
- Drafting special provisions within the limits of a negotiated transaction.
- Reviewing the title commitment, exception documents, survey, HOA documents, and MUD or PID notices.
- Advising on vesting for married buyers, unmarried co-owners, and trusts, including survivorship agreements.
- Reviewing the Closing Disclosure and settlement statement.
- Coordinating the deed with your will or trust.
Buyers purchasing investment or mixed-use property should also see the Texas commercial purchase page, since commercial deals do not use the TREC residential forms and require different diligence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an attorney to buy a house in Texas?
No. Texas law does not require an attorney in a residential purchase, and most closings are handled by a title company. An attorney is useful when the contract has unusual terms, the property has title or HOA issues, the buyer is purchasing new construction on a builder’s contract, or the buyers need advice on vesting, survivorship, or separate property.
What happens if I miss the option period deadline?
Once the option period ends, the buyer generally loses the unrestricted right to terminate. The buyer may still terminate under specific contingencies, such as financing or a failure to receive required HOA documents, but only on the terms of those addenda. Terminating without a contractual right can put the earnest money at risk.
Is the option fee refundable?
The option fee is paid to the seller for the termination right. Whether it is credited to the price at closing is addressed in the contract. It is generally not refunded if the buyer terminates, unless the contract or the parties’ agreement says otherwise.
Can my spouse and I own our Texas home with right of survivorship?
Yes, but it must be in writing. Texas does not presume survivorship. Spouses can sign a community property survivorship agreement under Estates Code § 112.051, or the deed can contain survivorship language that meets the statutory requirements. Alternatively, a revocable trust or transfer on death deed can accomplish a similar result.
What if the seller did not give me a disclosure notice?
If the seller was required to provide the Seller’s Disclosure Notice under Property Code § 5.008 and did not do so before the contract was signed, the buyer may terminate for any reason within seven days after receiving the notice. If the seller was exempt, other disclosure duties and common-law fraud principles may still apply.
Can Holmes Law represent me if I am out of state?
Yes. Holmes Law works remotely, and many Texas purchases are handled with electronic document review and remote or mail-away closings arranged by the title company. The property must be in Texas; the buyer can be anywhere.
Speak With a Texas Residential Purchase Attorney
A Texas home purchase moves fast, and the most important decisions are made in the first few days after the contract is signed. If you want an attorney to review your contract, title commitment, HOA documents, or vesting before the option period ends, contact Holmes Law to schedule a consultation with Michael Holmes.