Texas guide
Texas condo buying checklist
Buying a Texas condo means buying into a building governed by a comprehensive statute but a light regulatory hand — no reserve mandate, no structural-inspection law, and no state regulator. That puts more weight on the documents and on you.
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This checklist separates what the seller must give you under §82.157 from what you should demand on your own, and centers the three questions that matter most in Texas: the master-policy wind/hail deductible, whether reserves exist behind the building's real needs, and what the resale certificate's approved-capex line is signaling.
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Documents the seller must provide
Under §82.157, a resale seller must furnish the declaration, bylaws, rules, and a current resale certificate (prepared within the last three months) disclosing assessments, unpaid amounts, approved 12-month capital expenditures, reserves, unsatisfied judgments, the nature of pending suits, and insurance. In a new/developer sale you instead receive a Condominium Information Statement under §82.153. Either way you may have a §82.156 6-day cancellation right if the document was not delivered before signing. Treat the required package as the floor, not the finish line.
Documents you should request proactively
Texas mandates none of the documents where the real risk usually lives, so request them yourself: the master-insurance declarations page (carrier, limits, wind/hail and flood deductibles, named-storm terms) and claims history; any reserve study, funding plan, and current reserve balance; the last two to three years of financials; board and member minutes; structural, roof, garage, and balcony engineering reports (especially on older or coastal buildings); a WPI-8 windstorm certificate in TWIA territory; foundation/soils reports in expansive-clay metros; and a direct litigation summary.
The three Texas questions that decide the deal
For every Texas condo, answer three questions before you commit: What is the master policy's wind/hail (and named-storm) deductible, and is it above the 5% threshold that can block financing? Does a reserve study exist, and is the reserve balance adequate for the roof, envelope, garage, and elevators the building will need — or is it operating-only? And what does the resale certificate's "capital expenditures approved for the next 12 months" line reveal about a coming special assessment? A weak answer to any one can outweigh an attractive price.
Read everything together
No single Texas document tells the story, and the state requires few of them. Read the resale certificate against the budget and minutes, the reserve balance against the roof age and hail-claim history, and the insurance premium trend against the fee. In coastal counties, confirm both TWIA wind/hail and NFIP flood coverage are in force. The buyers who get surprised by a five- or six-figure Texas assessment almost always had the documents — they just did not read them together.
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Texas legal references
- Tex. Prop. Code §82.157 — Resale certificate and required document package
- Tex. Prop. Code §82.156 — Purchaser's right to cancel (6 days)
- Tex. Prop. Code §82.111 — Association insurance (master-policy adequacy and deductibles)
Informational only. Not legal advice. Always confirm against current statute and counsel.
Need help applying these Texas statutes to your specific situation? We can connect you with state-licensed counsel and specialists familiar with this exact regulatory environment.
Find a Texas specialist →Reviewer's checklist
- Confirm you received the §82.157 resale package (or the §82.153 CIS in a new sale)
- If the document was not delivered before signing, calendar the §82.156 6-day cancellation window
- Read the master-insurance declarations page: carrier, wind/hail and flood deductibles, named-storm terms
- Flag any wind/hail deductible above ~5% of insured value — it can block financing
- Request any reserve study and compare the reserve balance against the building's real needs
- Read the resale certificate's approved-capital-expenditures (next 12 months) line as an assessment proxy
- In the 14 coastal counties (or Harris east of Hwy 146), confirm TWIA wind/hail and NFIP flood are in force
- Request structural/roof/garage/balcony engineering reports on older or coastal buildings
- In expansive-clay metros (DFW, Houston, San Antonio), request foundation/soils reports
- Request a direct litigation summary and the financials' contingency notes
Want this same review on your actual documents? We do it free, with page citations you can verify.
Get my free risk report →Want every document to request before you buy in Texas — with the local red flags and the statute behind each? See the complete Texas condo due-diligence checklist →
Source documents
- Declaration & bylawsthe rules
- Budget & financialsthe money
- Reserve studythe big repairs
- Meeting minuteswhat the board fears
Cross-reference
The risk lives in the contradiction between documents.
An assessment in the minutes but not the estoppel; a reserve the budget never funds.
Risk report
Severity-graded across 8 categories.
Every finding cites the document, page number, and quoted text.
How CondoSignal reviews this
We read the reserve study, operating budget, and 24 months of meeting minutes together — texas condo buying checklist risk usually lives in the contradiction between documents, not in any single one of them. Every finding cites the source document, the page number, and the quoted text behind it.
See our 8-category framework →Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Most buyers get 7–14 days to review condo documents. Upload the packet — we read the reserve study, budget, minutes, and insurance summary and flag the risks, every finding linked to the exact page. Free.
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Related risk areas
Read these next to round out your due diligence
Condo document review
A condo document review is the structured analysis of every disclosure document your seller or association has provided — declaration, bylaws, rules, reserve study, budgets, financials, meeting minutes, insurance summary, estoppel or resale certificate, and any pending special assessment notices.
Condo Insurance Requirements
Most condo buyers spend more time choosing their unit's paint colors than understanding how insurance works in a condominium.
Condo Resale Certificate Review
In Texas, a resale certificate is the statutory document that gives a prospective condo or HOA unit buyer a snapshot of the association's financial and legal standing at the moment of sale.
Related reading
Guides for Texas buyers and owners
The Complete Condo Buying Checklist (2026)
A four-phase due diligence framework — pre-offer through post-closing — covering documents, fees, reserves, insurance, lender requirements, and governance risk.
Texas HOA Resale Certificate: What to Verify Before Closing
Section 207.003 of the Texas Property Code defines what a resale certificate must contain. Review this checklist of what to verify — and what the certificate legally omits — before you close.
Hurricane Readiness for Florida and Texas Condo Associations
Rising premiums, percentage-based wind deductibles, and loss-assessment exposure define the insurance landscape for coastal associations. Identify what boards need to verify in the master policy before storm season.
Reserve Fund Rules in Florida, Texas, and Arizona: A State-by-State Comparison
Florida mandates reserve studies and prohibits waivers for structural items. Texas and Arizona require neither. Identify what each state requires of boards and how the same disclosure language means different things across state lines.
Already own in Texas?
Owner guides for the notice you just got
Already dealing with a specific Texas situation? Start here instead of the buyer flow:
Reviewed by Kirk Hasley, Founder. Every claim here is checked against current Texas statute and primary sources, using the same documented review framework we run on every file. Last reviewed June 13, 2026.
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Every finding cites the exact page in your documents
“The board approved a $15,000-per-unit special assessment for façade repairs, payable over 12 months.”
Source: Board meeting minutes, p. 12 — quoted and linked in your report so you can verify it in seconds.
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We surface what your documents actually say so you can ask better questions of your attorney, lender, and inspector.
Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Most buyers get 7–14 days to review condo documents. Upload the packet — we read the reserve study, budget, minutes, and insurance summary and flag the risks, every finding linked to the exact page. Free.
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
We can connect you with vetted real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, and insurance brokers familiar with the specifics of condo and HOA transactions.
- HOA lawyer
- Mortgage broker
- Insurance broker