The Texas Buy-Before-You-Sell Guide
Program and regulatory figures verified September 17, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
Written for Texas homeowners who have found the next house and have not sold this one. It covers the financing only. Your agent handles the purchase itself, and should.
Step one: find out how much equity is actually reachable
This is where Texas diverges from every article you have read about buying before selling. Most of them assume you can borrow against your current home fairly freely. Here, the constitution caps the new credit plus all existing homestead debt at 80 percent of fair market value, and a subordinate HELOC cannot sit behind a Section 50(a)(6) loan. Before planning anything, get the real number. It is frequently half what owners assume.
The detail, with citations, is on the Texas 80 percent homestead rule.
Step two: find out whether you qualify carrying both
If your income supports the new payment and the old one at the same time, most of the difficulty evaporates. You buy, you move, you sell on your own schedule, and you recast the new loan when the proceeds land. No bridge, no second piece of financing, no clock.
Plenty of Texas households clear this bar and never find out because nobody ran it. It takes about twenty minutes.
Step three: if not, decide between bridge and rental
Falling short on the two-payment test is normal and not the end of it. The question becomes whether to borrow against the departing house or keep it and let a tenant carry it.
Bridge financing suits an owner with substantial equity and a house that will move quickly. Rental conversion suits an owner whose house rents well, who is not in a hurry to sell, and who would not mind owning it a while longer. Texas being a landlord-friendly state, with no statewide rent control and no just-cause eviction rule, the second option is more attractive here than in many places.
Step four: check the price against the conforming limit
The 2026 baseline conforming limit for a one-unit property is $832,750. Texas has no county at the high-cost ceiling, so the baseline is the number that matters across the state. Above it you are in jumbo territory, where reserve requirements and documentation change. That path is covered on buying above the Texas loan limit.
Step five: build the calendar backwards
If a Texas home equity loan is part of the plan, put the twelve-day floor on the calendar before agreeing to any closing date. It cannot be compressed. Neither can the one-per-year rule, if there has been a Section 50(a)(6) loan on the homestead within the last twelve months.
When you are ready to see your own numbers, the equity calculator is the fastest start, and our team will run the full picture with you.
Your real estate agent handles the purchase paperwork and the offer itself. We handle the money: what you qualify for, how the equity gets used, and what the payment looks like.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to sell my Texas home before making an offer on another?
No. If you qualify carrying both payments, you can buy outright and sell afterwards. If you do not, rental income from the departing home or bridge financing can fill the gap. Selling first is one route, not a requirement, and it is often the weakest negotiating position of the three.
How much equity can I get out of my Texas home?
Whatever fits under 80 percent of fair market value once your existing mortgage is counted. If you owe 70 percent of value, roughly 10 percent of value is theoretically reachable before costs. That is the constitutional ceiling in Article XVI, Section 50(a)(6)(B), and no lender can exceed it.
What is the 2026 conforming loan limit in Texas?
$832,750 for a one-unit property, the baseline limit FHFA announced on November 25, 2025. No Texas county sits at the high-cost ceiling, so that figure applies across the state.
Can I count rent from my old house to qualify for the new one?
Often, yes. Fannie Mae permits rental income on a principal residence being converted to an investment property, documented with a fully executed current lease and supported by a Form 1007 comparable rent schedule on a one-unit property. It is one of the most useful and least known tools available to a move-up buyer.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or real estate advice. Texas homestead lending rules, property tax treatment, and loan limits change and depend on your facts; your real estate agent handles the purchase paperwork and your CPA or a Texas attorney handles legal and tax questions. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.