Closing costs in Texas: title rates, who pays and what you can negotiate

Texas closing costs at a glance (2026)

Texas closing costs the state sets: title insurance

Title insurance is the one large closing cost in Texas that you can't shop on price. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) promulgates the premium, so every title company in Plano charges the same basic rate for the same policy amount. Rates fell 6.2% on March 1, 2026 under Commissioner Order 2025-9697.

Texas owner's title insurance premium

For policies up to $100,000, TDI publishes a table ($308 at $25,000, $465 at $50,000, $625 at $75,000, $780 at $100,000). Above $100,000 you subtract $100,000, multiply by 0.00494, round, and add $780; above $1,000,000 you subtract $1,000,000, multiply by 0.00406 and add $5,226.

What a Texas owner's title policy covers

The policy insures you, up to the price, against loss from title defects. What it won't cover is in Schedule B of the commitment. The standard exceptions include the subdivision's restrictive covenants, plat utility easements, minerals, and boundary and area problems unless you pay to amend them. Anything in Schedule B beyond that standard list is the thing to ask about, ideally while you can still use the option period to walk away.

Lender's title policy in Texas

If you're financing, your lender requires a loan policy too. When it's issued at the same time as the owner's policy, on the same land, with a loan no larger than the price, TDI's rule R-5 sets the loan policy premium at $100. The lender's required endorsements are added on top; the title company prices them under TDI's rules and lists them on your estimate.

Survey amendment on a Texas title policy

The standard owner's policy excludes boundary and area problems. Paying to amend that exception to read "shortages in area" costs 5% of the owner's basic premium on a home (minimum $20) under TDI rule R-16: about $138 on a $500,000 policy. The TREC contract has a box for who pays it. On the loan policy the same amendment costs $0.

Who pays closing costs in Texas?

The Texas Real Estate Commission's One to Four Family Residential Contract (form 20-18), used for most Plano resales, assigns the costs in paragraph 12. Anything not listed is negotiable through the blanks in the contract.

Who pays title insurance in Texas

The contract says the seller furnishes the owner's title policy "at Seller's or Buyer's expense," with a box to check. So who pays is a term of your deal, not a law. Ask Linda which way current Plano contracts have been written before you make an offer: on a $500,000 home the box is worth $2,756.

Seller's closing costs in Texas

Paragraph 12 puts these on the seller: releasing existing liens (including prepayment penalties and recording fees), tax statements or certificates, preparing the deed, half the escrow fee, the brokerage fees the seller agreed to pay, and any amount the seller agrees toward the buyer's broker or the buyer's other costs. The contract has blanks for both.

Buyer's closing costs in Texas

The buyer pays the lender's costs: appraisal, loan application and origination charges, credit reports, loan document preparation, interest from funding to a month before the first payment, recording fees, the loan title policy with the lender's endorsements, underwriting, wire and courier fees, private mortgage insurance and half the escrow fee. The buyer also funds prepaid items: insurance premiums and the reserve deposits for insurance and property taxes your lender holds in escrow.

Buyer's broker fee in a Texas contract

The current TREC form (11-04-2024) has its own line, 12A(1)(b), for an amount the seller pays toward the brokerage fee the buyer agreed to, as a dollar figure or a percentage of the price. If the seller doesn't agree to it, that fee is part of what you bring to closing, so settle it with your agent before you write the offer.

Escrow fee split at a Texas closing

The title company's escrow (closing) fee is split in half between buyer and seller under paragraph 12. The escrow fee isn't on TDI's basic premium table, so ask each title company for its fee in writing.

Texas transfer tax and the closing costs you won't see

There's no real estate transfer tax in Texas, state or local, so a Plano closing has no deed tax or mansion tax line. If you're moving from a state that charges one on every sale, that's often the biggest difference between your last closing statement and this one. The tax you'll meet instead is the annual property tax, settled at closing by proration.

Property tax proration at a Plano closing

Paragraph 13 of the TREC contract prorates the current year's property taxes through the closing date. Property tax bills arrive in the fall and are due January 31, so the seller usually hasn't paid the year's tax when you close; the seller credits you for their share, and you pay the full bill. On a $6,476 bill (the 2026 tax on Plano's typical homestead), a June 30 closing gives you a credit of about $3,211. Rates and the bill math are on the Plano property tax rate guide.

Escrow reserves for Collin County property tax

Your lender will usually collect several months of property tax and insurance up front to seed the escrow account. Because your own homestead exemption starts the January after you buy, ask the lender to base the reserves on your price with and without the exemption, so the first-year payment doesn't jump. Filing steps are in the Plano homestead exemption guide.

Earnest money, the option fee and Texas closing costs timing

Texas option period and option fee

The option period is a set number of days, written into paragraph 5, during which you can end the contract for any reason. You pay the option fee for that right. Give notice of termination by 5:00 p.m. local time on the last day and your earnest money comes back; the option fee goes to the seller. If you close, the option fee is credited to the price. The amount and the number of days are both negotiated, and the contract says if no option fee is stated, or it's paid late, you don't get the termination right.

Texas earnest money deadline

You deliver the earnest money and option fee to the escrow agent, usually the title company, within 3 days after the contract's effective date. If the third day is a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. Earnest money is credited toward your closing costs and down payment at closing, so it isn't an extra cost.

Title commitment timeline under the TREC contract

The seller must deliver the title commitment within 20 days after the title company receives the contract, and you object in writing to anything you won't accept by the date set in the contract. This is when the survey, deed restrictions and HOA documents arrive, so read them during the option period if you can.

Closing costs on a $400,000 home in Texas

On a $400,000 home with a loan, the parts of your closing costs fixed by Texas rules are: the owner's title policy of $2,262 (paid by whoever the contract names), the simultaneous loan policy at $100, and, if you choose it, the survey amendment at about $113. On a $300,000 home the owner's policy is $1,768.

Everything else depends on your lender, your title company and your contract: origination and underwriting charges, the appraisal, the escrow fee, recording, prepaid interest and the escrow reserves for tax and insurance. Those come from the lender's Loan Estimate, which is where you should compare offers. A total from an online calculator is a guess until you have that document.

Closing costs on Plano's typical home

Here are the fixed pieces on Zillow's typical Plano value of $497,714 (September 2026), bought with a loan and closing on June 30:

The proration is a credit, not a cost: it offsets the bill you'll pay in January. For a home in Willow Bend, at Zillow's $1,379,001 typical value for the neighborhood, the owner's policy is $6,765.

How to lower your closing costs in Texas

In order of what's at stake on Plano's typical home:

1. The owner's title policy box in paragraph 6A: $2,745 lands on whichever side it names.
2. A seller contribution to your costs in paragraph 12A(1)(c), and line 12A(1)(b) for the buyer's broker fee if you agreed one.
3. Lender charges: compare Loan Estimates from at least two lenders on the same day. This is where shopping works.
4. The escrow fee: the premium is fixed, the escrow fee isn't, so get each title company's fee in writing.
5. The survey: ask whether the seller's existing survey and a T-47 affidavit will satisfy the title company (paragraph 6C).

One deadline can cost more than all of these. Pay the option fee late, or send termination notice after 5:00 p.m. on the option period's last day, and you lose the right to walk away with your earnest money.

Plano closing costs to confirm before you sign

Some costs vary too much from home to home to estimate here. Ask for each in writing.

Plano survey cost

Ask the seller for the existing survey and the T-47 affidavit early. If the title company or lender won't accept them, the contract decides who pays for a new survey; get a quote from a registered surveyor before the option period ends.

HOA resale certificate and transfer fees in Plano

Many Plano subdivisions have a property owners' association. The contract lets you request the association's documents and a resale certificate, which lists dues, special assessments and violations. Ask the HOA or its management company for the certificate fee, any transfer fee and whether dues are prepaid at closing, and who pays each. Dues by neighborhood, where published, are on the Plano neighborhood guides.

Closing costs checklist for a Plano buyer

1. Before the offer: decide your position on the title policy box and any seller contribution.
2. Within 3 days: deliver earnest money and the option fee.
3. During the option period: inspections, the HOA documents, the survey question.
4. Before you sign at closing: compare the final settlement figures line by line with your Loan Estimate.
5. After closing: file your homestead exemption in January and watch for the fall tax bill.

This guide explains how Texas closing costs work; it isn't legal advice. Have a real estate attorney or your title company review anything you don't understand in the contract. The full purchase process is on the buying a home in Plano page.