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 house will oft
You Inherited a House in Texas and You Do Not Live Here 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
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 in a Houston Flood Zone 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 whether the
Selling a Manufactured Home in Texas 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 Ownership rather than b
How the Payoff Actually Works at Closing Most people sell a house they still owe money on, and most have only a rough idea of the mechanics. The mortgage does not transfer and it does not simply vanish. It gets paid off out of the proceeds at closing, and the order in which that happens explains several things that otherwise look strange. At closing the title company requests a payoff statement from your lender. That figure is not your remaining principal. It is principa
What Happens to Your Mortgage When You Sell Most people sell a house they still owe money on, and most have only a rough idea of the mechanics. The mortgage does not transfer and it does not simply vanish. It gets paid off out of the proceeds at closing, and the order in which that happens explains several things that otherwise look strange. At closing the title company requests a payoff statement from your lender. That figure is not your remaining principal. It is princ
What Happens to Your Mortgage When You Sell Most people sell a house they still owe money on, and most have only a rough idea of the mechanics. The mortgage does not transfer and it does not simply vanish. It gets paid off out of the proceeds at closing, and the order in which that happens explains several things that otherwise look strange. At closing the title company requests a payoff statement from your lender. That figure is not your remaining principal. It is princ