Most sellers find out what closing costs at the closing table, which is the worst possible moment to learn anything. By then the contract is signed, the buyer is waiting, and the settlement statement is a page of line items nobody walked you through.
Some of those lines are set by the State of Texas and cannot be shopped. Some do not exist here at all. And one of them is capped by statute in a way most sellers never hear about. Here is what actually comes off the top of a Texas sale, with the code sections so you can check any of it.
The line the state sets, so shopping for it is wasted effort
Title insurance is the one people try hardest to negotiate and the one that will not move. Texas Insurance Code Section 2703.151(a) says the commissioner “shall fix and promulgate the premium rates to be charged by a title insurance company.” Subsection (c) closes the door: a premium may not be charged at a rate different from the one the commissioner fixed.
So the owner’s title policy costs exactly the same at every title company in Texas. Calling three of them for a better price on the premium accomplishes nothing, and any company that quotes you a discount on it is quoting something it is not allowed to charge.
What does vary is everything the title company charges for its own work: the escrow or closing fee, document preparation, courier and wire fees, recording service. Those are not promulgated and they are worth comparing. Who pays the owner’s policy is decided by your contract, not by law, so it is a negotiated term even though most Texas contracts handle it the same way out of habit.
The tax Texas does not charge you
In a lot of states a transfer or deed tax comes off the top of every sale, sometimes a meaningful percentage of the price. Texas does not have one, and it is constitutionally barred from creating one. Article VIII, Section 29 of the Texas Constitution reads that after January 1, 2016, “no law may be enacted that imposes a transfer tax on a transaction that conveys fee simple title to real property.”
This matters mainly because national closing-cost calculators and out-of-state advice will include a transfer tax line and scare you with a number that does not apply. If you are looking at an estimate that has one, the estimate is not for Texas.
Property taxes, and why you owe for a year that has not finished
Texas bills property taxes in arrears. Under Texas Tax Code Section 31.02(a), taxes are due on receipt of the bill and become delinquent if not paid before February 1 of the following year.
That timing creates the line that surprises sellers most. If you close in September, nobody has sent a bill for the current year yet, and one will not be due until winter. But you owned the house for most of the year, so your share of a tax nobody has billed comes off your proceeds as a credit to the buyer, who will pay the whole bill when it arrives.
You will see a debit for a tax you have not received an invoice for. It is not an error. It is proration, and it is doing exactly what it should.
If taxes are already delinquent, the closing pays them from proceeds before you see anything. That is how a property with back taxes gets sold at all, and it is why a tax problem is a proceeds problem rather than a deal-killer.
The HOA line, and the cap most sellers never hear about
If the property is in a subdivision with an association, the buyer’s side will need subdivision information and a resale certificate, and the association will charge for it.
Texas Property Code Section 207.003 puts limits on that. On written request, the association has to deliver the information not later than the 10th business day. The fee is capped at a reasonable and necessary amount “not to exceed $375” to assemble, copy and deliver it, with up to $75 more for an updated resale certificate. And if the association misses the deadline, it cannot charge the fee at all.
Where sellers get caught is that management companies also quote transfer fees, capitalization fees and account status fees, which are separate charges and not covered by that cap. Seeing a four-figure HOA total on a settlement statement is common and is not automatically wrong. It is worth asking which part of it is the capped resale certificate fee and which part is something else.
Request it early, whatever else you do. Ten business days is the statutory ceiling, and it lands squarely in the middle of a closing that is supposed to be fast.
Commission, and the part that is genuinely negotiable
If you list the property, commission is almost always the largest single number on the page, larger than every other closing cost combined.
There is no statutory rate and there never has been. What you pay is set by your listing agreement, which means it is a term you negotiate rather than a fee you are quoted. It is also the line with the most room in it, which is worth knowing before you sign the agreement rather than after.
What a cash sale actually removes, and what it does not
A direct sale takes some of these lines off the page. It does not take all of them off, and the difference matters when you are comparing offers.
Generally gone: commission, if no agent is involved on your side. Lender-required repairs, because there is no lender. The appraisal. The financing contingency, and the four to six weeks attached to it.
Generally still there: property tax proration, because that follows the calendar and not the buyer. Existing liens and mortgage payoffs, because those follow the property. HOA fees, because the association charges regardless of who is buying.
Some cash buyers offer to cover the owner’s policy and the closing fee. That is a contract term, not a feature of cash sales, and it should be in writing before you rely on it.
The honest part: a cash offer is normally below what a fixed-up house would list for. The trade you are making is price for speed and certainty. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on the next section.
The number that matters is the net, not the price
The comparison most people make is list price against cash offer, and that comparison is meaningless because the two numbers are not the same kind of number.
The real comparison is what lands in your account. On the listing side that is the price, minus commission, minus whatever repairs the inspection produces, minus concessions, minus the carrying costs for every month the house sits. On the direct side it is the offer, minus whichever closing costs you still pay.
Carrying costs are the line nobody puts on a spreadsheet. Taxes keep accruing. Insurance keeps billing, and if the house is empty your policy may not cover it the way you think. Utilities run. Mortgage interest runs. Four months of that is a real number, and it is subtracted from the higher price you were holding out for.
A house that lists for more and nets less is a common outcome, not a rare one.
What to ask for before you sign anything
Ask for a written seller’s net sheet. Any title company or agent will produce one, and a direct buyer should be willing to as well. If someone will not put your estimated proceeds on paper, that tells you something.
Get in writing which side pays the owner’s title policy and the closing fee. It is negotiable, so it should be explicit.
If there is an HOA, request the resale certificate the week you go under contract.
If taxes are delinquent or there is a lien you know about, say so at the start. It rarely kills a sale. Discovering it in title work three weeks in reliably delays one.
And check who you are actually dealing with before you sign, particularly if the offer arrived unsolicited. We wrote up how to check a cash buyer before you sign anything, and it is a short list worth running.
This describes what Texas law requires and what a normal closing statement contains. It is not legal or tax advice, your contract governs the specifics of your sale, and an attorney or CPA should answer anything that turns on your own facts. House Buyers Texas is a real estate company, not a law firm.
Sources: Texas Insurance Code Section 2703.151. Texas Constitution Article VIII, Section 29. Texas Tax Code Section 31.02. Texas Property Code Section 207.003. All via the Texas Legislature’s statute site.Ok