North Texas Home Calculators

The default rate is Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, a national weekly average for borrowers with strong credit and 20 percent down, published every Thursday. It is a starting point, not a quote. Your actual rate depends on your credit, down payment, loan type, points, and lender, so replace it with a real quote as soon as you have one.

Each county option adds the county rate, the median school district rate, and the median city rate from the Texas Comptroller’s 2025 Statewide Report of Tax Rates, plus countywide hospital, college, and water districts in Dallas, Tarrant, and Collin counties. Your exact address can be higher or lower. New construction communities often add a MUD or PID tax on top. Your appraisal notice or the seller’s tax certificate shows the exact rate.

Texas exempts the first $140,000 of a homestead’s value from school district taxes for the 2026 tax year, and an additional $60,000 for owners 65 or older or disabled. It does not transfer from the seller. You have to file it yourself with your county appraisal district, and filing is free. Until it is approved, your bill is calculated without it.

A 2-1 buydown lowers your payment as if the rate were 2 percent lower in year one and 1 percent lower in year two, then the full note rate applies. The difference is paid upfront into an account, often by the seller as a concession. Permanent points lower the rate for the life of the loan and make sense only if you keep the loan past the break-even point.

Lenders compare your monthly debts to your gross monthly income. A common comfortable target keeps the house payment near 28 percent of income and all debts near 36 percent. Many loan programs approve higher, up to about 45 percent or more, but approval is not the same as comfort.

Commissions are fully negotiable. Sellers customarily pay for the owner’s title policy, whose premium is set by the Texas Department of Insurance and is the same at every title company, plus prorated property taxes through the closing date, any concessions, and fees such as the HOA transfer. The Net Proceeds calculator includes all of them.

FHA and VA loans can be assumed by a qualified buyer, and USDA loans in some cases; most conventional loans cannot because of a due-on-sale clause. You still apply and qualify with the servicer, which can take 45 to 90 days or longer. The catch is the gap between the price and the seller’s balance: you cover it with cash or a second loan at today’s higher rates. On a VA assumption, the seller’s VA entitlement stays tied to the loan unless the buyer is an eligible veteran who substitutes their own.

A short sale is a sale where the price will not cover what is owed on the home, and the lender agrees to accept less. The lender has to approve the buyer’s offer and the settlement statement, which often takes 60 to 120 days. Ask in writing whether the lender waives the remaining balance, called a deficiency, and talk to a tax professional, because forgiven debt can be treated as taxable income. A short sale is usually less damaging than a foreclosure, and you should call your servicer early, before you fall far behind.

Ag valuation, technically a special appraisal and not an exemption, taxes qualifying land on what it can produce instead of what it would sell for. In Ellis County, the district reported 2024 values of about $111 an acre for native pasture and $265 for dry cropland, against market values often in the tens of thousands per acre. If the land changes to a non-agricultural use, the rollback tax recaptures the difference for the three years before the change. The interest that used to be charged was removed in 2021. The homesite is always taxed at market value.

It depends on the county. Kaufman County asks for at least 9 contiguous acres and 3 animal units, plus one more for every additional 8 acres. Collin County uses 3 to 5 acres per animal unit on improved pasture with at least 2 animal units. For bees, the law allows 5 to 20 acres, and most districts start at 6 colonies. Land usually needs ag use in 5 of the previous 7 years, so buying land that already has ag valuation and keeping the use going is the fastest path.