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Buying land in Texas takes more than browsing listings and writing a check. The tract you pick controls what you can build, how long the work takes, what it costs, and whether closing delivers a clean title or a problem.
Three things matter most. Verify mineral rights before you sign. Confirm the property is not in a floodway. Get a current survey, not only a title commitment.
The nine steps below are the order we walk first-time Texas buyers through.
Land prices vary by region more than almost any other state. These figures are the latest published medians from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M, Second Quarter 2026.
Prices plateaued in the second quarter of 2026 after a firm 2025. Statewide, the median was essentially flat versus the prior quarter and still up 3.27 percent year over year. The window of sub-$5,000 statewide median pricing closed at the end of 2024.
The acre price does not include the work that makes the tract buildable. For Houston-area buyers shopping outside the city, cheaper pasture still exists in the Piney Woods. Inside the metro, a subdivided lot that already has utilities costs far more per acre than raw rural land.
If you skip a step, you can close on land that cannot hold the house you want.
Most first-time buyers treat the land cost as the whole budget. The house and the site work are usually larger.
A five-acre tract at the Gulf Coast–Brazos Bottom median of $11,369 per acre is about $56,800 for the dirt. The house that goes on it is the larger check. At Dunn & Stone, a house with the standard finish package typically runs about $180 per square foot of living area. Mid-range finishes average about $213. High-end finishes, or a very small house, can reach about $250.
Site work sits between those two figures. On the lots we see in Greater Houston, extra lot prep above what a base price already includes currently averages $20,000 to $30,000. Clearing, a longer driveway, a well or septic system, and an electric line from the road are the usual reasons that number moves.
Run the land, the house, and the site work as one number before you start shopping. Our cost to build a house calculator gives a working estimate for the house itself. Leave a contingency on top.
Region drives property taxes, schools, commute, soil, water, and which office issues the permit. Houston-area buyers usually land in one of three patterns.
Suburban acreage in Montgomery or Grimes County usually means one to ten acres. Deed restrictions are the norm, and utilities are usually nearby. Land costs more per acre than rural East Texas, and you spend less to make it buildable. Grimes County has been straightforward to work with.
Lake Conroe waterfront tracts cost more per acre and involve more agencies. A San Jacinto River Authority permit can sit on top of the county permit. Plan extra time.
Rural East Texas piney woods is cheaper dirt. The tradeoff is commute, well and septic on most tracts, and electric line extensions that can get expensive.
If you are coming from out of state, start with one question. Where can you build the house you want, for the budget you have, and still get to work?
Texas does not have statewide zoning. Counties generally cannot zone unincorporated land. The limits still show up in the deed, the association rules, the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, and the county flood, septic, and access offices.
Deed restrictions are private rules attached to the property by a previous owner or developer. Minimum square footage. No mobile homes. Style requirements. Pull the deed and read every restriction before you offer.
If the tract sits in a subdivision, the recorded HOA covenants bind you. Get the recorded covenants from the county or the association.
City extraterritorial jurisdiction is the other layer people miss. Inside a city's ETJ, the city can enforce subdivision and platting rules even though you are unincorporated. Houston's ETJ reaches well beyond the city limits, including parts of Montgomery County.
Counties still regulate floodplain work, septic systems, and road access. In Montgomery County, start with the Montgomery County permit guide.
Check legal access separately. A tract can touch a road on a map and still lack a recorded right to use it. Confirm public-road frontage or a recorded easement that benefits this parcel. A handshake driveway across a neighbor's land is not enough.
More first-time Texas land buyers get surprised by water than by any other item on this list.
Surface water in rivers, creeks, and lakes belongs to the state. Pumping from the creek on your land for anything beyond limited domestic use usually needs a permit.
Groundwater belongs to the landowner under the rule of capture. You can pump the water under your dirt. Groundwater Conservation Districts now cover most of Texas and can require permits, regulate well spacing, and limit production. In Montgomery County the district is the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District. Check whether the tract sits inside a district before you assume you can drill freely. For the water-source decision itself, see well water vs city water.
Verify before you sign:
If the first well misses water, you still pay for the drilling, then pay again to go deeper or move the hole. Well depth in Greater Houston varies enough to move that bill by $20,000 or more.
The mineral estate can be owned separately from the surface. If it has been severed, Texas law treats the mineral estate as dominant. The mineral owner can use as much of the surface as is reasonably necessary to extract those minerals.
We have seen how that plays out. A buyer closes on a residential acre. Months later an operator claims the right to drill because the minerals were reserved in 1952 and the standard title work never flagged it. The buyer now has an access-road conversation they did not budget for.
Standard residential title policies often exclude minerals. Before closing, do these four things.
In many Houston-area subdivisions the minerals were reserved decades ago and no one has drilled. Find out in writing before you sign.
A title commitment tells you what the title company found in the public record. It does not tell you where the lines run on the ground. For that you need a current survey by a Registered Professional Land Surveyor.
The survey shows the corners, whether fences match the deed, whether a neighbor's structure sits over the line, where visible easements cut the tract, and the exact acreage. Listing acreage is not always the surveyed acreage.
The title commitment reports recorded easements, liens, restrictive covenants, and exceptions to coverage. Read Schedule B. That is where surprises hide.
You pay for both, and that still costs less than pouring a slab on the wrong side of a line.
A land loan is underwritten differently from a home mortgage. The loan you need depends on what is already on the tract.
Raw land loans finance undeveloped property with no utilities and no improvements. They are the hardest to get. Down payments often run 30 to 50 percent. Mainstream banks usually decline.
Unimproved land loans finance property with some utilities or road access but no buildings. Down payment is commonly 20 to 30 percent.
Improved land loans finance lots with utilities, road access, and infrastructure already in place. Down payment is closer to 15 to 20 percent.
Some Texas sellers carry the note themselves. Owner financing can lower the cash needed to close. It does not replace a survey, a title commitment, or a mineral check.
For a custom home on land you are buying, many of our buyers use a one-time close construction loan. That structure combines the land, the construction draws, and the permanent mortgage into one closing.
For larger rural tracts, the Farm Credit System is usually the better fit. Texas Farm Credit, Capital Farm Credit, and Rural 1st work rural land every week and typically finance tracts of about 5 to 100 acres with 15 to 20 percent down.
Veterans can use the Texas Veterans Land Board land loan. The current cap is $200,000 for an individual veteran and $275,000 for two eligible veteran spouses buying the same tract, with 5 percent down on at least one acre, on a 30-year fixed loan. Confirm current terms on the VLB land loans page.
Get pre-approved before you write an offer. Sellers take a written pre-approval more seriously than a plan to call a lender later.
On Texas rural land, the usual contract is the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) Farm and Ranch Contract, not the residential resale form. The contract also has to cover earnest money, contingencies, and the option period.
Earnest money is typically 1 to 10 percent of the purchase price, held by the title company.
Put these contingencies in writing on raw or rural land:
Texas contracts also let the buyer pay a small fee for an unrestricted right to terminate for a set number of days. That option period is often 7 to 14 days on land, sometimes longer. Use it. Order the survey, pull the well report, and finish the mineral review inside that window.
Closing happens at the title company. Closing costs on Texas land typically run 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price.
If the property qualifies, file the agricultural valuation application with the county appraisal district after closing. An ag valuation taxes the land on productivity rather than market value. The appraisal district will not accept a late application. Changing the use later can trigger a rollback tax on the prior five years of savings.
After you close on a Texas tract, walk it with someone who builds in that county before you treat it as a homesite. Confirm the buildable footprint against setbacks, easements, and floodplain. Confirm the well or tap path and the septic path. Confirm the soil will support the foundation you expect. Greater Houston sits on expansive clay, and the foundation has to be engineered for it.
Do those same checks before you close when you can. Dunn & Stone builds on land you already own. We do not sell land.
Harris County. No countywide zoning. The Engineer's office handles floodplain permits and platting. Houston's ETJ covers much of the unincorporated county. Verify whether the parcel sits inside the city, inside the ETJ, or fully outside. Harris County has grown stricter about bringing in fill dirt to raise a home above the official flood height.
Montgomery County. Permits flow through the county permit office. Most Montgomery County permits still issue in two to three weeks. Montgomery is trending toward Harris County's tighter flood-map approach. Lake Conroe can add a river-authority permit on top of the county permit.
Grimes County. Permit questions usually take fewer calls here than they do in Harris or Montgomery.
If the tract is in a different Texas region, call that county's floodplain administrator and environmental health office before you offer.
Most Texas land loans require 15 to 20 percent down on improved land, 20 to 30 percent on unimproved land, and up to 50 percent on raw land with no utilities. Farm Credit lenders often work in the 15 to 20 percent range on tracts of about 5 to 100 acres. Eligible veterans can use a Texas Veterans Land Board land loan with 5 percent down, currently capped at $200,000 for one veteran and $275,000 for two eligible veteran spouses.
A typical land purchase from offer to closing takes 30 to 60 days. Cash deals often close in under 30 days. A financed raw-land purchase usually takes longer. The option period, often 7 to 14 days, sits at the front of that window for due diligence. Add time before the offer for the search, and more time after closing before anyone breaks ground.
Buying land first gives you control over location and lot. The tradeoff is more upfront work: financing, minerals, water, survey, and permitting. Buying a builder's lot or a lot in a master-planned community removes most of that work and limits the tract you can choose. Buyers who want acreage in Montgomery or Grimes County usually buy the land first. Buyers who want a specific subdivision and do not care about acreage usually buy the builder's lot, which is faster.
Houston-area rural land runs from a few thousand dollars per acre in East Texas pasture up through the Gulf Coast–Brazos Bottom median of $11,369 per acre, and a Dunn & Stone house on that tract runs about $180, $213, or $250 per square foot before extra site work.
You are not required to use one. A first-time buyer almost always benefits from a buyer's agent who specializes in land rather than residential resale. That person is more likely to catch ag valuation, surface waivers, well disclosures, and septic limits. The seller's agent is paid by the seller.
Yes. A current survey by a Registered Professional Land Surveyor is the document that confirms boundaries, acreage, legal access, and encroachments. A title commitment reports what is in the public record. Fences, listing maps, and online parcel lines are not the legal boundary.
Texas groundwater belongs to the landowner. You can pump water from a well on your land, with limited exceptions: you cannot pump to harm a neighbor on purpose, you cannot waste water willfully, and you cannot drill a slant well into someone else's property. Groundwater Conservation Districts now cover most of Texas and can require permits, spacing, and production limits. Check whether your parcel sits inside a district before you assume you can drill freely.
An agricultural valuation taxes land on agricultural productivity rather than market value, which can drop the tax bill sharply. The land must be used primarily for agriculture or a qualifying wildlife-management use and must meet the county appraisal district's acreage and history rules. If the tract already has the valuation, ask whether it continues with you. If you change the use after closing, you can trigger a rollback tax covering the prior five years of savings.
If you already own a tract in the Houston area and want to know whether it will take the house you have in mind, schedule a consultation.
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