If you are interested in buying a home in the state of Texas, there’s a few key things you may want to know before making the all important decision. Whether you are a first time home buyer or not, this article will contain useful bits of information and advice that you should know.
Texas is known for its growing economy, warm climate, and most notably — everything being bigger. That is why there are so many people from across the country moving to Texas.
In this article, we’re going to be covering some key pieces of advice that relate to homeownership in Texas, as well as general information about living in the state.
- Choose the right bank or mortgage service
Most banks offer mortgage services, such as Chase bank or this Texan bank profiled here on LinkedIn. A huge factor that determines how much money you’ll be paying is who you decide to bank with for your mortgage.
There isn’t one bank that is the best, as each homebuyer has a slightly different set of circumstances and situation, some banks may be better for others.
Some things to consider when researching different banks are the interest rates and different loan types offered, their customer service and reputation, local knowledge and experience of Texas, the pre-approval process, and closing costs and fees.
- Know Your Housing Market
Like many states across the country, your home price will be dependent on where it is located. Some areas of Texas, such as Austin, are going to be much more expensive in comparison to more rural areas of the state.
We’re going to explore just a few different median home prices from various places across Texas:
To start off, we’ll look at a wealthy suburban town in Texas — Southlake. The median home price in Southlake is $1,183,935 USD. This is comparable to some of the most expensive cities to live in the entire country, so unless you are able to afford such a hefty price, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
If you’re interested in learning more about Southlake and why the cost of living is so high, then check out this page here that covers the cost of living in Southlake.
Almost a million dollars less on average, Lubbock is definitely a more affordable place to live. The average home price in Lubbock is just $207,668, which is 10% lower than the national average of home prices.
- Taxes
One of the most popular reasons people cite as to why they moved to Texas is because of the 0% state income tax. While this is definitely a plus to living in Texas, it does come with a slight caveat.
Property tax in Texas is among the highest in the country, with an average property tax of 1.6% to be paid annually. Compare this to the national average of 0.99%, you can see how you may be paying more in property taxes compared to the state you currently live in.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for checking out this article, and we hope you now know a few more bits of information that will help you make the all important home buying decision! Also, if you are still looking for some useful tips on home buying in Texas, we recommend reading this step by step guide.
