Selling a Texas House With Unpermitted Work Converted garages, enclosed patios, added bathrooms, a second structure out back. Plenty of Texas houses carry work that was done without a permit, sometimes decades ago by an owner who has long since moved on. It becomes your problem at closing. The first issue is simple arithmetic. If a bedroom was added without permits, it likely does not appear in the county records or the tax roll. An appraiser measuring the hous
Real Property or Personal Property, and Why It Matters Selling a manufactured home in Texas is a different transaction from selling a stick-built house, and the difference is not cosmetic. It comes down to whether the home is legally treated as real property or as personal property, and that determines almost everything else. In Texas, manufactured housing is overseen by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Ownership is evidenced by a Statement of Owner
What a Flood History Does to a Houston Home Sale If your house sits in a Harris County flood zone, or has taken water at any point, you already know it changes the conversation with buyers. What surprises most sellers is how much of that conversation is set by law rather than by negotiation. Texas requires a seller of residential property to give the buyer a written disclosure notice covering the property's condition, and flooding is dealt with directly. The form asks wh
Selling a House With Work That Was Never Inspected
What an Unpermitted Addition Does to a Home Sale Converted garages, enclosed patios, added bathrooms, a second structure out back. Plenty of Texas houses carry work that was done without a permit, sometimes decades ago by an owner who has long since moved on. It becomes your problem at closing. The first issue is simple arithmetic. If a bedroom was added without permits, it likely does not appear in the county records or the tax roll. An appraiser measuring the house wil
Selling As Is Does Not Mean Saying Nothing The single most common misunderstanding in a Texas home sale is that selling a house as is removes the obligation to disclose. It does not. As is describes who pays for repairs. Disclosure describes what the buyer is told. They are separate things and confusing them creates liability that survives closing. Texas requires a seller of residential property to give the buyer a written Seller's Disclosure Notice covering the property
The Texas Seller Disclosure and What You Must Tell Buyers The single most common misunderstanding in a Texas home sale is that selling a house as is removes the obligation to disclose. It does not. As is describes who pays for repairs. Disclosure describes what the buyer is told. They are separate things and confusing them creates liability that survives closing. Texas requires a seller of residential property to give the buyer a written Seller's Disclosure Notice coveri
Selling an Inherited Texas House From Out of State
Managing a Texas Property Sale From Another State Inheriting Texas property while living somewhere else combines two problems that are manageable separately and awkward together: establishing your authority to sell, and doing everything at a distance. Authority comes first. A title company will want proof that ownership passed properly. If there is a will going through probate, the executor generally has authority once the will is admitted and letters testamentary issue.
You Inherited a House in Texas and You Do Not Live Here
Managing a Texas Property Sale From Another State Inheriting Texas property while living somewhere else combines two problems that are manageable separately and awkward together: establishing your authority to sell, and doing everything at a distance. Authority comes first. A title company will want proof that ownership passed properly. If there is a will going through probate, the executor generally has authority once the will is admitted and letters testamentary issue.