How do you buy land in Texas?

Buying land in Texas runs on a different clock than buying a house. Expect 45 to 90 days from contract to close. You will use a TREC Farm and Ranch or Unimproved Property contract, negotiate a feasibility period instead of an inspection, and pay for a survey. Ag valuation does not transfer — the new owner must file a fresh application with the county appraisal district by April 30.

We sell land in Kaufman, Van Zandt, Hunt, Parker, Wise, Ellis, Rockwall, Collin, and Denton counties. We live here. This is the sequence, in order.

What are you actually buying the land for?

Every decision downstream comes from this one. A weekend tract, a homesite, a working cattle place, and a hold-and-subdivide play look alike on a listing sheet and are four different purchases.

Write the answer down before you look at a listing.

What does raw land cost after the purchase price?

The cost of making a bare tract usable is what surprises people: a water well or a rural water supply corporation tap, an on-site sewage facility, an electric service drop from the co-op, perimeter fencing, and a culvert at the county road. Those costs are set locally and they move, so we pull current bids from the well driller, the OSSF installer, and the electric cooperative before the feasibility period ends. The recurring side is on what it costs to own a ranch.

The one recurring cost you can plan around exactly is property tax. Texas has no state property tax; the county assesses your bill and, under Tax Code §31.02, it is delinquent if not paid before February 1. Small or large depends almost entirely on whether the land carries 1-d-1 open-space appraisal.

How do you finance raw land in Texas?

Raw land is not a mortgage product. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not buy loans secured by bare dirt, so every raw-land loan sits on a lender's own balance sheet and terms vary from one bank to the next. In North Texas the money comes from Farm Credit System associations, community banks in the county seat, or the seller — TREC promulgates a Seller Financing Addendum, form 26-8, for that.

If you served, there is a fourth path no other state has. The Texas Veterans Land Board Land Loan Program, administered by the Texas General Land Office, lends up to $200,000 on a tract of at least one net acre, with 5 percent down and a 30-year term. Two spouses each individually eligible may borrow up to $275,000 on the same tract. The board resets the rate periodically, so pull the current one from vlb.texas.gov. More on land loans and financing.

Where do you actually find land that is for sale?

Inside the Dallas–Fort Worth footprint, most brokered acreage shows up in NTREIS Matrix. Outside it, coverage thins fast. Much of the rural acreage in Kaufman, Van Zandt, Hunt, and Wise counties never reaches a listing service — it moves between neighbors, at the sale barn, and through brokers who work one or two counties. County appraisal district parcel maps and ownership records are public: if you can see a tract you want, you can find the owner and write them a letter.

How is an offer on raw land different from an offer on a house?

Four ways, each of which costs money if you get it wrong.

The contract form is different. Texas license holders use the TREC Farm and Ranch Contract, form 25-17, for improved rural property and the Unimproved Property Contract, form 9-18, for bare land. Both were updated effective July 1, 2026.

There is no inspection — there is a feasibility period. On a house, the paid termination option buys an inspector's report. On land, it buys the days you need to get a survey back, run a perc test, confirm access, and hear from the groundwater district. Those days are negotiated, not statutory.

The survey is not optional. Rural tracts are described in metes and bounds, sometimes off calls written a century ago. Fences are not boundaries. Find the missing access strip during the option period, not at closing.

Reservations have to be addressed in writing. Texas recognizes a severed mineral estate, and it is dominant — it carries an implied right of reasonable surface use. Minerals do not convey unless the deed conveys them. Use the TREC Addendum for Reservation of Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals, form 44-3, and the new Seller's Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights, form 61-0, effective July 1, 2026. See mineral rights and water rights.

Note what Texas does not require: the seller's disclosure in Property Code §5.008 is written for residential property of not more than one dwelling unit, so bare land generally falls outside it. What you do not ask, you do not learn.

What does due diligence on Texas land cover, and in what order?

Arranged cheapest to most expensive, so you spend the least finding out.

1. Pull the appraisal district record. Acreage, owner, market value, and whether the tract sits in 1-d-1 open-space appraisal. Free, four minutes.
2. Order the title commitment. Read Schedule B — easements, reservations, and restrictions live there.
3. Confirm legal access. A recorded easement or public road frontage. A road everyone has used for forty years is not the same thing.
4. Check floodplain. The FEMA flood map panel, then walk the low ground after a rain.
5. Check soils. The free USDA Web Soil Survey speaks to productivity and septic suitability.
6. Order a new survey. Not the seller's twenty-year-old copy.
7. Settle the water question. If a groundwater conservation district covers the county, ask about permits and spacing before assuming you can drill.
8. Settle the sewage question. OSSF feasibility under Health & Safety Code Ch. 366, administered by TCEQ through the county as authorized agent.
9. Settle the tax question in the contract. Confirm appraisal status and allocate any rollback tax in writing. See rollback taxes.

The long version is our due diligence checklist.

How long does buying land in Texas take?

Calendar days, and they overlap — survey and title work run together.

If a lender is involved, the loan is the long pole. Apply the day you go under contract.

What has to happen after closing?

This is where money gets lost, quietly, months after everyone shakes hands. Ag valuation does not follow the seller and does not pass to you automatically. Under Tax Code §23.54(e), land stays eligible in later years without a new application unless the ownership of the land changes. Your purchase is that change. You must file your own application — Comptroller form 50-129 — before May 1 under §23.54(d). File it between January 1 and April 30 of your first full tax year.

Miss it, and §23.541 still lets the chief appraiser accept a late application filed before the appraisal review board approves the records, but you owe a penalty of 10 percent of the difference between the tax at productive value and the tax at market value. Miss it entirely and the tract is appraised at market value for the year — a four- or five-figure mistake made by not mailing a form. Full mechanic on the ag exemption page.

Also in the first ninety days: insurance on the vacant tract, a county 911 address, and a homestead exemption if you are building.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a real estate agent to buy land in Texas?

No, but the failure modes on land are different from those on a house, and expensive. Access, mineral reservations, survey discrepancies, groundwater district rules, and rollback exposure are not things a residential sale teaches you. Use somebody who has closed land in that county.

Can I put a mobile home or a barndominium on land I buy?

Usually, in unincorporated county territory, subject to deed restrictions, floodplain rules, and an approved on-site sewage facility permit. Texas counties have limited zoning authority, but recorded deed restrictions are fully enforceable and are the most common reason the answer is no.

Does the seller's ag exemption transfer to me when I buy?

The ag history runs with the land, not the seller, so the qualifying use record survives the sale. The appraisal does not. Under Tax Code §23.54(e) a change of ownership ends the prior application, and you file your own form 50-129 with the county appraisal district between January 1 and April 30.

Will I owe rollback taxes just because I bought the land?

No. Tax Code §23.55 is triggered by a change of use, not by a sale. Buy a hay meadow and keep cutting hay, nothing happens. Scrape it for a subdivision, and the county recovers the tax difference for the three preceding years. Who pays is a contract term.

How much land do I need to qualify for ag valuation?

There is no statewide minimum. Each county appraisal district sets its own minimum acreage and degree-of-intensity standards for each type of agricultural use. Kaufman CAD, Parker CAD, and Wise CAD do not have identical rules. Ask the district for its ag guidelines in writing.

What is the most common mistake first-time land buyers make in Texas?

Assuming the road is theirs. Legal access has to be recorded — a deeded easement or public road frontage. Buyers close on tracts reached by a road the neighbors have always used, then learn there is no recorded right to use it. Read Schedule B.

Sources and method

Sources and method

Texas Tax Code §§23.51, 23.54, 23.541, 23.55, and 31.02 · Texas Property Code §5.008 · Texas Health & Safety Code Ch. 366 · Texas Local Government Code Ch. 232 · Texas Real Estate Commission promulgated contract forms 25-17, 9-18, 44-3, 26-8, and 61-0, per the current form list published at trec.texas.gov · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts form 50-129 · Texas General Land Office, Veterans Land Board Land Loan Program terms · USDA Farm Service Agency · NTREIS Matrix · Figures verified August 2026.

County appraisal districts set their own degree-of-intensity and acreage standards. Confirm current requirements with the appraisal district for the county your land sits in before you rely on anything here. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

If you are looking at a tract in Kaufman, Van Zandt, Hunt, Parker, Wise, Ellis, Rockwall, Collin, or Denton County and you want a second set of eyes on it before you sign anything, call us. We will walk it with you and pull the county records first. Start at Texas Land & Ranch.

The Agency Dallas is independently owned and operated by Damon & Megan Williamson.

Damon Williamson, Broker-Owner · Licensed Real Estate Agent, State of Texas.

Dallas, Dallas County, Texas 75205. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Texas Real Estate Commission Information About Brokerage Services and Consumer Protection Notice are available at trec.texas.gov.

This is not intended as a solicitation of property currently listed for sale.