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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

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

Selling a Texas House That Has Flooded Before 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 wheth

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 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