01
Why does January 1 matter more than any other date on a Texas home sale?
On January 1 of each year, a tax lien attaches to a Texas property. Texas Tax Code Section 32.01(a) perfects that lien the moment it attaches. Section 32.07(a) then makes the tax the personal obligation of the person who owns or acquires the property on that date. A person is not relieved of the obligation by no longer owning the property.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer ties the date to a tax year. Something like: the buyer who owns the home on January 1, 2027 carries the 2027 tax as a personal obligation. A seller should also hear which entities tax the parcel, which the Williamson Central Appraisal District can show.
Red flag
The red flag is an answer that treats January 1 as paperwork. Section 32.07(a) is personal liability, and it follows the January 1 owner after the sale. A seller told the date does not matter should read the section first.
02
Can the buyer's option period fit inside a year end closing?
Paragraph 5B of the TREC contract gives the buyer an unrestricted right to terminate. Notice has to reach the seller by 5:00 p.m. local time on the date specified, within a negotiated number of days after the effective date. Those days come off the front of the schedule. In Williamson County, buyers have been regaining leverage and are using the Texas option period to reassess.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer is a date, not a feeling. The option ends at 5:00 p.m. local time on the date written into Paragraph 5B, and repairs get negotiated before that clock runs out. A seller should read that date off the contract and mark a calendar.
Red flag
Watch for an answer that calls the option period dead time. A buyer who terminates under Paragraph 5B does not get the option fee back, but the earnest money is refunded. The seller is back on the market with fewer December days left.
03
Does the three day earnest money clock still run over the holidays?
Paragraph 5A of the TREC contract gives the buyer 3 days after the effective date to deliver the earnest money and the option fee to the escrow agent. Where day three lands on a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. Paragraph 5E says time is of the essence, and strict compliance is required.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer counts the days on a calendar and names the business day the funds are due. A seller should hear from the escrow agent that the earnest money and the option fee both arrived. Paragraph 5A(4) credits the option fee to the sales price at closing.
Red flag
The red flag is an answer that says a missed delivery ends the contract by itself. Paragraph 5C lets the seller terminate, pursue remedies under Paragraph 15, or both, by giving notice before the buyer delivers. Paragraph 5D is narrower: a buyer who misses the option fee deadline loses the unrestricted right to terminate, and the contract stands.
04
When does the survey decision have to be made?
Paragraph 6C of the TREC contract handles the survey, and the parties check one box only. Each box runs on a negotiated number of days after the effective date. Under Box 1, where the seller fails to furnish an existing survey and the affidavit in time, the buyer obtains a new survey at the seller's expense no later than 3 days before closing.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer names the box and the paper with it. Box 1 pairs an existing survey with a Form T-47 affidavit, sworn before a notary, or a Form T-47.1 declaration, which needs no notary. A seller should know which box is checked and where the existing survey is kept.
Red flag
The red flag is leaving the survey until the lender asks. Where the title company or the buyer's lender will not accept the existing survey or the affidavit, a new one gets ordered late. The surveyor has to be a registered professional acceptable to both, and December calendars fill up.
05
What happens if the title commitment shows up late?
Paragraph 6B of the TREC contract lets the buyer terminate where the title commitment and the exception documents are not delivered in time, and the earnest money is refunded. Paragraph 6D covers objections. Where those are not cured within the cure period, the buyer has 5 days after that period ends to terminate and take the earnest money, or to waive them.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer names both dates: the day the commitment and the exception documents are due, and the day the cure period ends. The buyer's 5 day window runs from there. A seller should have those dates in writing, not a promise that the title company is working on it.
Red flag
The red flag is treating a title objection as something to clean up at the closing table. An uncured objection leaves the buyer free to walk with the earnest money for 5 days after the cure period ends. In December, a cure that needs one signature from one absent party can end the sale.
06
Can the buyer's lender still end the sale three days before closing?
The Third Party Financing Addendum, TREC Form 40-11, carries a property approval deadline. Under Paragraph 2B, the buyer may terminate on or before the 3rd day before the closing date where the lender decides the property does not satisfy its underwriting requirements. Appraisal, insurability and lender required repairs all sit inside that test. The earnest money is refunded.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer names the form and the proof it takes. Termination under Paragraph 2B needs notice plus a written statement from the lender setting out the reason. A seller should hear the closing date, then the date three days before it.
Red flag
The red flag is an answer that folds loan approval and property approval into one event. Buyer approval under Paragraph 2A runs on its own negotiated number of days after the effective date. Property approval under Paragraph 2B runs to the 3rd day before closing, late in a year end schedule.
07
What if repairs are still being discussed in the closing week?
Paragraph 7E of the TREC contract lets the buyer terminate and receive the earnest money where lender required repairs are not agreed. The same right applies where those repairs exceed 5 percent of the sales price. Discussion is not agreement. A repair list still moving in the last week of December is a live exit, not a loose end.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer puts the repairs in writing with names and dates. A seller should hear which repairs the lender requires, who pays, and when the work happens. Paragraph 7A also requires the seller, at the seller's expense, to turn existing utilities on and keep them on while the contract is in effect.
Red flag
The red flag is a vacant Georgetown house with the utilities shut off and a plan to switch them back on later. Paragraph 7A puts that duty and that cost on the seller while the contract runs. The same paragraph gives the buyer and the buyer's inspectors access at reasonable times.
08
How much lead time does anything involving the county need in December?
Anything that needs a response from the Williamson Central Appraisal District runs on the district's calendar, not the contract's. WCAD appraises property and administers exemptions for Williamson County, and it publishes its own forms and deadlines. Offices close over the holidays and staff take leave. A request sent in the last week of December is not a request answered that week.
What a strong answer sounds like
A good answer starts from a published deadline rather than a guess. In Georgetown, Round Rock and Liberty Hill, where T. Kerr Property Group works, a seller can pull the parcel on the WCAD property search, then check williamsonpropertytaxes.org for the per parcel list of taxing entities. WCAD's office sits at 625 FM 1460 in Georgetown.
Red flag
The red flag is a plan that assumes a two day turnaround from a county or district office in late December. Holidays and leave are not excuses the contract recognizes. A seller who needs a form filed should start before the holiday weeks, not during them.
This article is general information about the Central Texas market and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Statutes, rates, deadlines and district rules change. Confirm anything that affects a decision with a licensed attorney, a tax professional, the Williamson County Tax Assessor Collector or the Williamson Central Appraisal District before acting on it.
