Five Mistakes California Sellers Make When Buying in Texas

This is the most common and most expensive mistake California buyers make. The headline math is seductive: sell a $1.3 million home in San Jose, buy a comparable home in Boerne for $600,000 to $700,000, pocket the difference. The mortgage drops by half. The problem disappears.

The problem does not disappear. It changes shape.

A $600,000 home in Kendall County carries a property tax bill of approximately $10,000 to $13,000 per year — before exemptions. In many California markets, particularly under Prop 13 protections, a home assessed at $600,000 might generate a tax bill of $6,000 to $7,000. That is a $4,000 to $6,000 annual increase in property tax alone.

Then add Texas homeowner's insurance. Texas premiums are significantly higher than California's due to hail, wind, and weather exposure. A $600,000 home in the Hill Country can carry annual insurance premiums of $3,500 to $5,500 — often double what a comparable California home costs to insure. If the property has a swimming pool, is in a flood zone, or carries a wood-shake roof, the premium climbs further.

HOA fees also vary. Many Hill Country subdivisions carry HOA dues of $500 to $2,500 per year, which may or may not be comparable to your California HOA. The difference matters when you are budgeting against a lower mortgage payment.

What to Do Instead

Before you write an offer, build a complete monthly cost-of-ownership worksheet. Include principal and interest, property taxes (use the actual tax rate for that property, not a county average), homeowner's insurance (get a real quote from a Texas insurer), HOA dues, and estimated utility costs. Compare this worksheet side-by-side with your current California housing expense. The comparison will be more honest — and more useful — than a simple price comparison.

Texas and California handle buyer due diligence in fundamentally different ways, and this difference trips up California buyers regularly.

In California, purchase agreements use contingencies — inspection, appraisal, financing, and sometimes a sale-of-buyer's-home contingency. These are conditions that must be satisfied for the sale to proceed. If a contingency is not met, the buyer can typically cancel and receive a full refund of their deposit. California contingencies are free to include; there is no separate fee for exercising them.

Texas uses an option period instead. The buyer pays the seller a non-refundable option fee — typically $100 to $1,000, though it can go higher in competitive markets — for the unrestricted right to terminate the contract for any reason during a specified window. The standard option period is 5 to 10 days. If the buyer terminates during this window, they forfeit the option fee but get their earnest money back. If the buyer does not terminate, the option fee is credited toward the purchase price at closing.

The critical difference: the option period is a clock. Once it starts, you have a fixed number of days to complete your inspection, evaluate the property, and make a decision. There is no extension unless the seller agrees. If you let the option period expire without acting, you are locked into the contract — with earnest money at risk if you try to walk away later.

California buyers who are accustomed to a 17- to 21-day contingency removal period often do not realize how compressed the Texas timeline is. Ten days sounds reasonable until you account for scheduling the inspection, receiving the report, getting contractor estimates for any repairs, and negotiating with the seller. It moves fast.

What to Do Instead

Before your offer is accepted, have your Texas agent explain the option period in detail — the fee, the timeline, and what happens if you need more time. Schedule your inspection for the first or second day of the option period. Have a contractor or repair estimate lined up in advance so you can evaluate the inspection findings quickly. If you anticipate needing more than 10 days (for example, if you are flying in from California and need time to visit the property in person), negotiate a longer option period before you go under contract.

Also understand that Texas contracts do not include the same built-in financing and appraisal contingencies that California contracts carry. Your Texas purchase contract will include financing and appraisal provisions, but the mechanics and timelines differ. Make sure your agent and lender are aligned on the deadlines.

In most California suburban and urban markets, municipal water and sewer are assumed. You turn on the tap, water comes out. You flush the toilet, waste disappears into a municipal system. The infrastructure is invisible because it is universal.

In the Texas Hill Country, it is not. A significant number of homes — particularly on larger lots, rural properties, and in developments outside city limits — use private wells for water and septic systems for waste. This is not inherently a problem. Thousands of Hill Country families live comfortably on well and septic systems. But the costs, maintenance requirements, and potential complications are real, and California buyers who do not understand them are often unpleasantly surprised.

A residential well in the Hill Country typically reaches 400 to 600 feet through limestone bedrock. Drilling a new well costs $10,000 to $25,000 or more, depending on depth and geological conditions. If you are buying a home with an existing well, you need a water quality test — at minimum for bacteria, nitrates, and pH — which runs $25 to $500 depending on the scope. More comprehensive testing for hardness, minerals, and potential contaminants is advisable.

Septic systems in Texas come in two primary types: conventional (gravity-fed) and aerobic (powered, with a pump and sprinkler system). Conventional systems cost $6,300 to $15,000 to install. Aerobic systems, which are increasingly required in Hill Country counties due to rocky soil and the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, cost $10,000 to $26,000 to install.

The ongoing cost difference is significant. Aerobic septic systems in Texas require state-mandated inspections three times per year — roughly every four months — costing $300 to $600 annually for a service contract. A conventional system requires less frequent attention but still needs pumping every three to five years.

For California buyers accustomed to municipal services, these are real expenses and maintenance obligations that do not exist in their current home. A $400 annual septic service contract and a $200 annual water test are not large numbers individually, but they are costs you need to know about before you sign a contract.

What to Do Instead

During your option period, verify the water source and waste system for every property you consider. Ask the seller's agent directly: municipal water or well? Municipal sewer, septic, or aerobic system? If the property is on well and septic, include a well yield test and a full septic inspection in your due diligence. Budget for annual maintenance costs in your total cost-of-ownership worksheet. And if the idea of managing well water quality and septic maintenance is a dealbreaker, focus your search on properties within city or utility district service areas.

California buyers from the Bay Area and Los Angeles are accustomed to long commutes. Two hours in traffic is not unusual. A 60-mile commute is routine. This experience creates a distorted sense of distance — and it leads some California buyers to purchase homes in distant Hill Country towns under the assumption that a 45- to 60-minute drive to San Antonio is comparable to their California commute.

It is not the same. And the differences matter more than people expect.

A California commute of 45 minutes typically covers 15 to 25 miles on congested freeways. The same 45 minutes in the Hill Country covers 40 to 55 miles on two-lane state highways and rural roads with speed limits of 55 to 70 mph. The driving experience is different — less stop-and-go, more open road — but the distance is also greater, and the infrastructure is less forgiving. A single accident on Highway 46 or Highway 87 can add 30 minutes to your commute with no alternate route.

More importantly, the commute calculus in Texas is different because the destinations are distributed differently. In the Bay Area, most jobs cluster in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, or Oakland. In the San Antonio metro, employment is spread across the medical center, downtown, the northwest corridor, the northern tech corridor, and Randolph Air Force Base / Joint Base San Antonio. The location of your specific workplace — not a generic "downtown" — should drive your home search radius.

For remote workers, the equation shifts. If you do not commute daily, the distance to San Antonio matters less, and factors like lot size, school quality, and community character become more important. But even remote workers eventually need to reach an airport, a medical specialist, or a client. San Antonio International Airport (SAT) is 30 to 45 minutes from Boerne, 35 to 50 minutes from Fair Oaks Ranch, and 60 to 80 minutes from communities further west along the 290 corridor.

What to Do Instead

Before you choose a community, identify your primary destinations — workplace, airport, medical facilities, family — and map the actual drive times during the hours you would be traveling. Use a real-time navigation app at 7:30 AM on a Tuesday, not Google Maps at noon on a Sunday. If possible, make a test trip: drive from the neighborhood you are considering to your primary destinations during a weekday morning. The 20 minutes you invest in this exercise could prevent years of commute frustration.

In competitive California markets, buyers routinely waive inspections to make their offers more attractive. This is a calculated risk in California — risky, but sometimes necessary in multiple-offer situations where the seller holds significant leverage.

In Texas, waiving the inspection is a different kind of risk, because the property issues that inspections uncover in the Hill Country are materially different from California.

Hill Country homes face specific structural and environmental challenges: foundation movement in expansive clay soils, limestone-related drainage issues, slab-on-grade construction that can crack as soil shifts, polybutylene plumbing in homes built before the mid-1990s (a material prone to failure), and electrical panels from manufacturers (Federal Pacific, Zinsco) that are flagged by insurance companies. A home that looks pristine on the surface can have underlying issues that cost $10,000 to $40,000 to remediate.

There is also the well and septic issue described above. If the property is on a private well, an inspection should include water quality and flow-rate testing. If it is on a septic system, a septic inspection can reveal a failing drain field that costs $5,000 to $15,000 to replace. These are not rare occurrences. They are routine findings in Hill Country home inspections.

And then there is insurance. Texas homeowner's insurance is already expensive. A home with a deferred maintenance issue — an aging roof, an outdated electrical panel, or a failing septic system — can be more expensive to insure, or in some cases, difficult to insure at all. An inspection helps you identify these issues before you own them.

What to Do Instead

Never waive the inspection. If you are in a competitive situation, negotiate a longer option period rather than skipping the inspection. A seller who insists on no inspection is a seller who knows something — or a seller who does not care about transparency. Either way, protect yourself. Hire a Texas-licensed home inspector who is experienced with Hill Country construction. If the property is on well and septic, add specialized inspections. If the property has a swimming pool, add a pool inspection. The $400 to $700 you spend on inspections can save you $10,000 to $40,000 in unexpected repairs.