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
Can You Sell a House With a Cracked Slab in Texas Foundation movement is close to a statewide condition in Texas. Much of the state sits on expansive clay that swells when it rains and shrinks in drought, and slab foundations move with it. Doors that stick in August and close fine in March are telling you about soil moisture, not carpentry. That ubiquity cuts both ways when you sell. Buyers here are less shocked by foundation work than buyers elsewhere, and a repair
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.
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
What an Empty House Costs You Every Month An empty house is not a paused house. It is a house that is quietly deteriorating and costing money, and in the Texas climate it does both faster than owners expect. Start with the insurance problem, because it is the one that turns an inconvenience into a loss. Most standard homeowner's policies contain a vacancy clause that limits or voids coverage once a property has been unoccupied beyond a set period, commonly thirty or sixt
Selling a House With Work That Was Never Inspected
Selling a House With Work That Was Never Inspected 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 w
Selling a Texas House With Foundation Problems Foundation movement is close to a statewide condition in Texas. Much of the state sits on expansive clay that swells when it rains and shrinks in drought, and slab foundations move with it. Doors that stick in August and close fine in March are telling you about soil moisture, not carpentry. That ubiquity cuts both ways when you sell. Buyers here are less shocked by foundation work than buyers elsewhere, and a repaired found
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