The Houston area builds a lot of homes. In 2025, Harris County issued permits for 16,940 new single-family homes, Montgomery County for 11,597 and Fort Bend County for 9,638, according to the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey. More new homes means more choice, and it also means more communities that look alike on a brochure but cost very different amounts to own.
Two of those costs are easy to miss on a new home. When you buy a resale house, the seller's paperwork tells you a good deal about the property's tax districts and flood history. When you buy a home that has never been lived in, you have to find both out yourself.
Here is what to check, in the order it matters.
Register your agent before you visit a model home
Most Houston builders only work with an outside buyer's agent who was registered before your first visit or contact. Walk into the sales office on your own, and the builder's staff usually become the only agents on the deal.
Registration with EXL Realty Group is free and takes about two minutes. When you buy, we return a flat 2.5% of the purchase price as an estimated closing credit and keep a flat 0.5% fee. On a $400,000 home, that credit is about $10,000, applied at closing and subject to lender approval and the commission the builder pays.
Budget for the MUD, not just the price
Many new subdivisions around Houston sit inside a Municipal Utility District, or MUD. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's water district map shows hundreds of them in Harris County alone and well over a hundred each in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.
A MUD pays for the water, sewer and drainage systems that make a new subdivision possible. It borrows the money by selling bonds, then repays the bonds with its own property tax. That tax is added on top of the city, county and school district rates, so two homes with the same price can carry very different yearly bills.
Texas Water Code section 49.452 requires anyone selling property in a district, builders included, to give you a written notice before you sign a binding contract. Since 2023, section 49.4521 spells out what that notice has to show, including:
- the district's current or projected tax rate per $100 of value, and any assessment
- the bonds voters have approved and the bonds already issued
- that the district may levy an unlimited tax rate to repay those bonds
- a statement that the cost of district facilities is not included in the purchase price of your property
The statute also covers a late notice: it gives the buyer a right to end the contract, and closing after receiving the notice gives up that right. Ask an attorney how this applies to your contract. For how MUD, PID and HOA fees add up, see our guide to special district fees.
Check the flood maps yourself
Since 2019, the seller's disclosure for a Texas resale home has asked detailed flood questions: whether the home is in a 100-year or 500-year floodplain, whether water has entered it, and whether a flood insurance claim was ever filed. That disclosure does not apply to a new home that has never been occupied, under Texas Property Code section 5.008(e)(10). On new construction, the research is yours.
Public tools that help:
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center. The official flood maps used for the National Flood Insurance Program.
- Harris County Flood Control District's Flood Education Mapping Tool. Shows the county's 2007 maps with later updates. It is an education tool, not the official map.
- MAAPnext. Draft new flood maps for Harris County. They are for information only and cannot be used for insurance or regulatory decisions.
- Harris County Flood Warning System. Live rainfall and bayou levels.
- City of Houston Floodplain Management Office. Flood zone determinations by address inside the city.
- Fort Bend County Drainage District. A floodplain map for Fort Bend County.
Look up the lot, not just the subdivision. Two lots on the same street can sit in different zones. If a lot is in or near a mapped floodplain, ask your lender how flood insurance would change your monthly payment before you commit. Our flood risk guide walks through the FEMA map step by step.
Know which county and school district you are buying into
Houston's suburbs do not follow county lines. About 37% of the city of Katy is in Waller County, 34% in Harris County and 29% in Fort Bend County, according to Census boundary data. Each county has its own tax rate, and school district lines do not follow city limits either: Katy ISD serves most of Katy, but parts of the city are in Royal ISD and Lamar CISD.
Before you pick a lot, check the address with the Texas Education Agency's School District Locator and look up the county on the appraisal district's site.
Read the builder's contract with someone on your side
Builder contracts are written by the builder's lawyers, not on the standard forms used for resale homes. Before you sign, ask how firm the completion date is, what happens to your deposit if financing falls through, and whether you can bring your own inspector before drywall and before closing. Our questions to ask a builder and inspection timeline cover each one.
Where to start
See the builders we work with across the metro on our Houston page, or narrow it down with Katy and Sugar Land. You can also search current builder inventory and see an estimated closing credit for any home.