Buying Your First Home in Dallas–Fort Worth: A No-Panic Guide

In Texas the monthly payment has more parts than people expect. There's no state income tax, which is lovely, but property taxes are how cities and school districts pay the bills, so they're a big line in your payment.

Your monthly cost is usually:

• Principal and interest on the loan
• Property tax, often around 2% of the home's value per year in many DFW cities (it varies a lot by city and school district)
• Homeowners insurance
• HOA dues, if the neighborhood has one
• Mortgage insurance (PMI) if you put down less than 20%

Try the payment estimator with a real listing's price. If the number makes you sit down, that's useful information, not a failure.

A pre-approval letter says a lender has looked at your income, debts and credit and is willing to lend up to a certain amount. In a competitive DFW neighborhood, an offer without one can look like a very polite wish.

Talk to two or three lenders. Compare the rate, fees and the loan estimate, not just who answered the phone fastest. Ask about first-time buyer programs; Texas has state programs, and some cities run their own down payment help.

Use the filters for what actually matters: price, beds and baths, and the area. On Boraak you can search a whole county or a lake, drop a pin and search a radius around your job, or draw an area on the map. Save the search and we'll email you new matches, so you don't have to refresh listings at 2 a.m.

When you tour, look past the paint:

• Roof age, HVAC age and the water heater (the expensive trio)
• Signs of foundation movement: doors that stick, cracks over doorframes (North Texas clay soil loves to move)
• Drainage around the house after rain

Most Texas home sales use the standard TREC one-to-four family contract. Two terms matter most for you:

• Option fee and option period. You pay a small fee (often a few hundred dollars) for a set number of days in which you can cancel for any reason. This is when you do inspections.
• Earnest money. A good-faith deposit, commonly around 1% of the price, held by the title company and credited to you at closing.

If you cancel during the option period, you get your earnest money back and the seller keeps only the option fee. Miss the deadline, and walking away can cost you the earnest money. Put the date in your phone. Twice.

During the option period, hire a licensed inspector. Ask for repairs or a credit, or walk away if the report reads like a horror novel.

The lender orders an appraisal. If it comes in low, you can renegotiate, bring more cash, or (depending on your contract) cancel.

Closing happens at a title company, which handles the money and the title insurance. Bring ID, wire funds only after calling the title company at a number you already know (wire fraud is real and very rude), sign a small forest of papers, and get your keys.

If the home is your main residence, apply for the Texas residence homestead exemption with your county appraisal district. It removes a chunk of your home's value from school taxes and caps how fast your taxable value can rise. See our homestead exemption guide.