Guides
Texas homebuying, explained properly
The things that actually decide whether the numbers work, written out rather than glossed over.
Property taxes in Texas, and why they decide more than the down payment
Texas has no state income tax and a property tax bill that surprises most first-time buyers. The reason is not the trade-off people assume, and the difference between two identical houses a mile apart can be larger than the difference between two mortgage rates.
Read →My Choice Texas Home: the TDHCA program with no first-time buyer rule
My Choice Texas Home is the TDHCA program you can use even if you have owned a home before. It carries 2-5% down payment assistance, no purchase price cap, and a trade-off nobody mentions: the interest rate is set by the state, not by the market.
Read →TDHCA and manufactured housing: the rules that decide whether a home is real estate
TDHCA regulates manufactured housing in a completely different capacity from its homebuyer programs. Whether a home counts as real estate or as personal property decides how it is financed, and the rule turns on one date and one attachment.
Read →What home insurance actually costs in Texas, and why the average is the wrong number
The Texas average was $3,506 in 2025, and it is a blend of counties that run from $1,818 to $5,560. Hail and wind set the number, not crime. Here is what moves a premium, and why two houses on the same street can quote differently.
Read →The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and what it does for buyers
TDHCA is the state housing agency, and almost nobody applies to it directly. A participating lender reserves the money on your behalf, usually inside a loan application you were filing anyway. Here is what the agency is, which of its programs a buyer can actually use, and how the money is reached.
Read →Buying a house in Texas, and the clock that starts the day you sign
Texas runs the purchase on one promulgated contract, and the dates in it are blanks somebody negotiated rather than rules. What the option period actually is, which money you get back and which you never do, and what the whole thing costs before you own anything.
Read →How much house you can afford in Texas, with the taxes counted
A national affordability calculator asks your income and your down payment. In Texas the answer moves by tens of thousands depending on which house you point it at, because the tax line is part of the payment and it is not the same on two streets.
Read →Closing costs in Texas, line by line
Texas sets its title insurance premium by state rule, so the most-repeated piece of closing-cost advice does not work here. What the three buckets actually are, what the state-set premium comes to at real Texas prices, and the line worth negotiating instead.
Read →TDHCA and TSAHC rates, and why the number moves
The rate on a Texas assistance loan is set administratively rather than shopped, it moves, and the help you receive is priced into it. What decides the number, where the agencies publish today's, and the arithmetic that tells you whether the assistance is worth its rate.
Read →USDA eligibility in Texas, and why the map is both old and about to change
The USDA loan is decided by a map rather than by you, the map lags what has actually been built, and USDA revises it. Places that feel suburban still qualify, places that just grew may be about to stop, and the only answer that counts is your own address.
Read →Not sure which of these applies to you?
Most of these questions have a different answer depending on your county and the address you are looking at. The quiz takes two minutes and narrows the list to the ones worth your time.