New Construction

What you are actually signing when you buy a new home in Texas

A builder's contract is not a TREC form, and the sales agent sitting in the model home works for the builder. Neither of those facts is a scandal — both are ordinary and legal — but a lot of buyers do not know either one until something goes wrong. Below are the six things we get asked about most, each with a real answer and the authority behind it.

Why the contract looks nothing like the one your friend signed on a resale

The TREC promulgated-form requirement sits at 22 TAC §537.11. A 2018 amendment narrowed the operative word from "principal" to "property owner" — and because a production builder is the property owner, the requirement does not reach a form the builder prepared. That is why you are handed the builder's paper. It also means your agent can fill in blanks on that form but cannot draft or rewrite its terms, which surprises buyers who assume an agent can simply change a clause they do not like. How a builder's contract differs from a TREC form covers what to read closely.

The district assessment nobody mentions at the model home

A great many new master-planned communities sit inside a municipal utility district or a public improvement district, because that is how the roads, water, and drainage got financed. Texas requires you be told. Water Code §49.452, with the form set by §49.4521, governs MUD notice — and if the required notice is not given, you may terminate the contract and recover costs, interest, and attorney's fees. Property Code §5.014 governs PID notice, in statutorily prescribed wording, signed before the contract binds. What a MUD or PID notice means and whether you can get out explains both, and what the assessment does to your monthly payment.

The "1-2-10" you have heard about is often a 1-2-6

House Bill 2024, 88th Legislature, effective June 9, 2023, amended the statute of repose at Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.009. Where the builder provides written warranties of one year on workmanship and materials, two years on plumbing, electrical, and HVAC delivery systems, and six years on major structural components, the outer limit for bringing a claim drops from ten years to six. It applies to detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of not more than three stories with separate means of egress. Worth understanding clearly: the warranty is a promise in your contract, and the statute of repose is a hard outer limit on suing at all — they are different things and a lot of published pages run them together. How long a new home is covered in Texas sets the before and after side by side. Have your own attorney read your specific warranty.

If something is wrong, there is a process and it starts with a letter

Property Code Chapter 27, the Residential Construction Liability Act, requires written notice by certified mail at least 60 days before filing suit. The contractor may inspect within 35 days of receiving that notice and may make a written settlement offer within 45 days. Skipping the notice does not just annoy the builder — it has procedural consequences. What happens if something is wrong with your new home lays out the clock on each step.

The appraisal happens near completion, not at signing

You sign today at today's price for a home delivering in twelve to eighteen months, and the appraisal lands near the end. If it comes in under contract price, that is a financing problem before it is a negotiating problem, because the loan-to-value calculation runs off the appraised value. What happens if a to-be-built home appraises below contract price works through the mechanics and what your options actually are.

And your tax bill is stacked, not single

A Texas property tax bill is assembled from several jurisdictions layered on the same parcel — city, school district, county, county college, hospital district, and in many new communities a MUD or PID levy on top. For the 2025-26 fiscal year the City of Frisco adopted $0.425517 per $100 of valuation and the Town of Prosper adopted $0.505000, split between $0.322054 maintenance and operations and $0.182946 interest and sinking; Prosper ISD adopted $1.2141. Those are components, not totals, and we will not add them up for you because the sum would be wrong without every other jurisdiction on your specific parcel. What you will actually pay in Frisco or Prosper shows how to build the real number.

How we sourced this

Written from 22 TAC §537.11; Texas Water Code §49.452 and §49.4521; Property Code §5.014 and Chapter 27; and Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.009 as amended by House Bill 2024, 88th Legislature. Tax rates are the adopted fiscal year 2025-26 rates published by the City of Frisco, the Town of Prosper, and Prosper Independent School District, and are shown as individual components rather than as a combined rate. Verified August 2026 and current as of that date. Rates are adopted annually and statutes change; confirm both before you rely on them. This is general information, not legal or tax advice — have your own attorney review your contract and warranty.