Tarrant County · Owner Guide

What does it cost to sell a house in Tarrant County, and how long does it take?

By Andrew ChavisUpdated November 6, 202610 min read
The Short Answer

Two numbers first. Time: among the 793 homes with Tarrant County addresses that closed in our MLS pull of November 2, 2026, the median had been on the market 37 days before going under contract, and about one in five took more than 90. That is what closed over the prior two weeks, not a forecast for your house. Cost: the Texas contract (TREC No. 20-19) prints a short list on the seller: paying off and releasing existing liens, tax certificates, deed preparation, half the escrow fee, a prorated share of this year's taxes and dues, and any private transfer fee unless the contract says otherwise. Most of what people call "seller closing costs" is a blank or a checkbox in that same form: the owner's title policy (a state-set rate, $2,015 on a $350,000 sale), a survey, a home warranty cap, a credit toward the buyer's costs, and any contribution toward the buyer's agent. Brokerage compensation, in the form's own words, "is not set by law and is fully negotiable." The net sheet is where every one of these gets a number before you sign.

What does the Texas contract put on the seller as printed?

Paragraph 12A(1)(a) of the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), TREC No. 20-19, effective July 1, 2026, lists the seller's expenses: "releases of existing liens, including prepayment penalties and recording fees; release of Seller's loan liability; tax statements or certificates; preparation of deed; one-half of escrow fee; and other expenses payable by Seller under this contract." Paragraph 13 adds the proration: "Taxes for the current year, interest, rents, and regular periodic maintenance fees, assessments, and dues (including prepaid items) will be prorated through the Closing Date," and if the final tax bill differs from the estimate, the parties true it up when the statements come out. Paragraph 9B(5) adds that private transfer fees (Property Code chapter 5, subchapter G) "will be the obligation of Seller unless provided otherwise in this contract." Paragraph 9B(1) is where the deed comes from: the seller delivers a general warranty deed and furnishes "tax statements or certificates showing no delinquent taxes on the Property." The recording fee for a release in Tarrant County is the County Clerk's standard rate, $20 for the first page and $4 for each additional page (schedule effective January 1, 2024, read November 6, 2026). The deed itself is recorded at the buyer's expense as printed in 12A(2). So the printed part of a seller's bill is the mortgage payoff, the title company's charges for the deed, tax certificates and its half of the escrow fee (the title company quotes those; the form does not price them), and the recording of the releases. Every line in those printed lists can still be changed by a written agreement between the parties; what the form does is set the starting point.

NoteThe printed part of a seller's bill is the payoff and the title company's paper. Everything people argue about is a blank.

Which seller costs are negotiable, and what do they run?

Owner's title policy. Paragraph 6A reads "Seller shall furnish to Buyer at [ ] Seller's [ ] Buyer's expense an owner policy of title insurance," so who pays is a checkbox. The price is not negotiable: Texas sets title premiums by rule, and the Texas Department of Insurance's schedule effective March 1, 2026 makes a policy between $100,001 and $1,000,000 cost $780 plus 0.494 percent of the amount over $100,000 (larger policies step down to a lower rate). By that formula an owner's policy on a $300,000 sale is $1,768, on a $350,000 sale $2,015, on a $400,000 sale $2,262 (my arithmetic from TDI's published steps; TDI's own worked example is $1,612 on $268,500). When the buyer's lender's loan policy is issued at the same time as the owner's policy, on the same land, for a loan amount no larger than the owner's policy, Rate Rule R-5 prices that loan policy at $100; under 12A(2) the loan policy is a buyer expense either way. Survey. Paragraph 6C has three boxes: the seller furnishes an existing survey plus a T-47 affidavit or T-47.1 declaration within the days written in the blank (if the seller misses that deadline, the buyer gets a new survey at the seller's expense; if the title company or lender will not accept the existing one, a new survey is at whichever party's expense is checked), the buyer orders a new survey at the buyer's expense, or the seller furnishes a new survey at the seller's expense. Home warranty. Paragraph 7H lets the buyer purchase a residential service contract and has the seller reimburse "in an amount not exceeding $___"; a blank means the seller owes no reimbursement. Seller contribution. Paragraph 12A(1)(b) is "an amount not to exceed $___ to be applied to Buyer's Expenses other than brokerage compensation"; that is the closing-cost credit buyers ask for, and it is a ceiling, not a check: it covers only the buyer's actual allowable costs up to that number, and whatever those costs do not use is never paid out. HOA. If the house is in a mandatory association, Texas Property Code section 207.003 caps the resale certificate fee at $375 (delivered within 10 business days) and an update at $75 (within 7 business days). Any separate association transfer fee has no statutory cap I could find in chapters 207 or 209; the association sets it and must list it on the resale certificate. Who pays the HOA items goes on the POA addendum.

NoteThe title premium comes off a state rate table. The checkbox in 6A is the only negotiation on that line.

Who pays the real estate agents when I sell?

The form answers this in its own words. Paragraph 12B: "Brokerage compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable. Each party shall pay their respective brokers pursuant to the terms of the parties' obligations to compensate their brokers contained in separate written agreements." Your agreement with your listing broker sets what you owe your side; the buyer's agreement with their broker sets what they owe theirs. Then 12B(1) gives the seller a checkbox to contribute "$___ or ___% of the Sales Price" toward what the buyer owes the buyer's broker, and 12B(2) gives the buyer the mirror image. A contribution under 12B does not change what either party owes under their own agreement; it is money moving at closing to help the other side pay their bill. So the honest answer to "what percent is the commission" is: whatever your listing agreement says, plus whatever you agree to contribute in 12B(1), and both of those are blanks until someone fills them in. Mine is in writing before you sign anything, and I will show you the two numbers side by side on a net sheet.

NoteIf someone quotes you a commission as if it were a rule, the contract itself says otherwise.

How long does it take to sell a house in Tarrant County?

Two clocks. The first is days on market before a contract, and the only honest number is a measured one: what closed, in a dated window, not a prediction for any one house. On November 2, 2026 we pulled every residential closing in the MLS for roughly the prior two weeks, county-wide. Of the 793 whose mailing address is in a Tarrant County city (the export carries the city, not the county line), the median had been on the market 37 days before going under contract. About 44 in 100 went under contract within 30 days; 23 in 100 took 31 to 60; 13 in 100 took 61 to 90; 20 in 100 took more than 90. Fort Worth alone (366 closings) ran 42 days at the median, Keller 31, North Richland Hills 15, Arlington 38. Parker County is a different market: 82 closings, median 66 days, 39 in 100 past 90. Price band moved the median very little inside Tarrant: 34 to 38 days from under $250,000 to over $450,000. The second clock is contract to closing, and the contract does not print a typical number. Paragraph 9A makes the closing date a blank the parties agree on, "or within 7 days after objections made under Paragraph 6D have been cured or waived, whichever date is later." Running at the same time inside that window are the buyer's option period (paragraph 5), the title commitment (within 20 days under 6B), any financing contingency, and the appraisal. If a buyer's lender needs 30 to 45 days, that is the buyer's lender's number, not a Texas rule, and it goes in the blank. We refresh the days-on-market figures from a new MLS pull every Monday; the date on this page tells you which pull you are reading.

NoteThe median is 37 days. One in five sat past 90. Both describe last month's closings, not your house.

What paperwork does the seller owe before closing?

The seller's disclosure notice. Texas Property Code section 5.008 requires a seller of a one-dwelling residential property to give the buyer the written notice, and under 5.008(f) if the contract is signed before the notice is delivered, "the purchaser may terminate the contract for any reason within seven days after receiving the notice." So deliver it before you have a contract, not after. The statute exempts eleven kinds of transfer, including court-ordered or foreclosure sales, transfers by a bankruptcy trustee or by an estate's fiduciary, transfers between co-owners, to a spouse or lineal relatives, between spouses in a divorce, to or from a government entity, and never-occupied new construction. If you are selling an inherited house as the executor, read that exemption with your attorney before relying on it. If the house sits in a utility or other statutory district that provides water, sewer, drainage or flood control (common in the newer subdivisions north of Fort Worth), paragraph 6E(3) and Chapter 49 of the Texas Water Code require the seller to deliver, and the buyer to sign, the district's notice about its tax rate, bonded debt and standby fee before the contract is signed. The existing survey and T-47 affidavit or T-47.1 declaration, if you check 6C(1), within the number of days written in the blank. The HOA resale certificate, requested early because the association has 10 business days to deliver it. Tax certificates and the lien payoff figures, which the title company orders but which stall if your lender is slow with the payoff letter. And the deed, which the title company prepares at your expense under 12A(1)(a). Put each of them on the net sheet at listing, with a date next to it.

Where I standI get paid when a house sells. The net sheet is how you check that the numbers I show you are the numbers you sign.

Common Questions

Who pays closing costs when selling a house in Texas?
As printed, the TREC contract puts five expenses on the seller: lien payoffs and release recording, release of the seller's loan liability, tax certificates, deed preparation, and half the escrow fee, plus prorated taxes and dues through closing (paragraphs 12A(1)(a) and 13). The owner's title policy, survey, home warranty reimbursement, any credit toward the buyer's costs, and any contribution toward the buyer's broker are checkboxes and blanks the parties negotiate.
How long does it take to sell a house in Tarrant County?
In our MLS pull of November 2, 2026, the median of 793 residential closings with Tarrant County mailing addresses had been on the market 37 days before going under contract; about 44 percent went under contract within 30 days and about 20 percent took more than 90. Add the contract-to-closing period, which the Texas contract leaves as a negotiated date (paragraph 9A). We re-pull this figure every Monday.
How much is title insurance when you sell a house in Texas?
Texas sets title premiums by rule. Under the Texas Department of Insurance schedule effective March 1, 2026, a policy between $100,001 and $1,000,000 costs $780 plus 0.494 percent of the amount above $100,000 (larger policies step down to a lower rate): about $1,768 on a $300,000 sale and $2,015 on $350,000. Whether the seller or buyer pays the owner's policy is a checkbox in contract paragraph 6A.
Does Texas have a real estate transfer tax?
No transfer or deed tax appears in the seller's expense list of the Texas contract (paragraph 12A(1)(a)), and none appears on the Texas Comptroller's list of state taxes as read on November 6, 2026. What a seller does pay the county is the Clerk's recording fee on lien releases, $20 for the first page and $4 for each additional page in Tarrant County.
What does the HOA charge when I sell?
Texas Property Code section 207.003 caps the resale certificate at $375 and an update at $75. Any separate transfer fee the association charges has no statutory cap that I could find; it must be disclosed on the resale certificate, and who pays it is set in the POA addendum to the contract.

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Also in Chapter 01 · Selling Problems
  1. 01Why isn't my house selling in 76179?
  2. 02Seller Delusion Is Real in Tarrant County
  3. 03Should I lower my price if my house hasn't sold in 76179?
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