What Are Closing Costs for a Seller in Texas in 2026?

A Texas seller usually pays somewhere between 6 and 9 percent of the sale price at closing, and most of that is agent compensation. Strip out the compensation and the concessions you negotiate, and the actual fee side of a seller closing is closer to 1 to 2 percent.

That gap is the whole point of this post. Sellers hear "seller closing costs" and picture a wall of fees. In reality there are about eight line items, three of them are negotiable, one of them is not a cost at all, and the biggest one is a number you agreed to before you ever went under contract. Here is every line, what it runs in El Paso, and a worked net sheet on a $250,000 sale.

The Seller Side, Line by Line

Every one of these shows up on the settlement statement the title company sends you before closing. Read it the day it arrives, not at the signing table.

1. Agent compensation. The largest item by a wide margin. Commonly 2.5 to 3 percent per side, so 5 to 6 percent total when the seller covers both. The August 2024 rule changes altered how this works, not whether it happens. Buyer agent compensation can no longer be advertised in the Multiple Listing Service, and buyers now sign a written representation agreement with their agent before touring. The seller can still pay it, and in El Paso most sellers still do, as a negotiated concession in the contract. It is genuinely negotiable in both directions. I break down the current numbers in what real estate agents charge in El Paso, and the mechanics of the change in who pays the buyer's agent.

2. Owner's title policy. In Texas this is customarily paid by the seller, and it insures the buyer's ownership against defects in the chain of title. Title insurance rates in Texas are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance, which means every title company charges the identical premium for the same coverage amount. Shopping title companies gets you better service, not a better rate. On a $250,000 sale expect roughly $1,700 to $1,900. That is a range because the rate schedule scales with price.

3. Survey. If you have an existing survey and a signed affidavit that nothing has changed, the buyer's lender and the title company will usually accept it, and this line disappears. If you do not, a new survey in El Paso typically runs $450 to $650. Custom is that the seller provides it, but this one gets negotiated constantly. Go find your old survey before you list. It is the cheapest hour you will spend.

4. Escrow or closing fee. The title company's fee for handling the transaction. Commonly split between buyer and seller, so the seller's half is usually in the $350 to $500 range.

5. Prorated property taxes. The confusing one, and the one I explain in detail below.

6. Homeowners association transfer fees. If your property is in an association, expect a resale certificate fee and a transfer fee, often $250 to $500 combined, sometimes more. Order the resale certificate early. It is a common cause of last week delays.

7. Payoff, release of lien, and recording. Your lender's payoff statement usually includes interest through the funding date and sometimes a payoff processing fee. Add recording of the release, courier and wire fees, and a possible tax certificate. Together these are small, generally $100 to $250, but they are real.

8. Negotiated buyer concessions and repairs. Not a fee, a term. Anything you agreed to contribute toward the buyer's closing costs, plus whatever came out of the inspection negotiation. Concession caps are set by the buyer's loan type: Federal Housing Administration allows up to 6 percent, conventional allows 3 percent when the buyer puts less than 10 percent down and more at higher down payments, and Department of Veterans Affairs loans allow customary closing costs plus up to 4 percent in concessions.

Prorated Property Taxes Are Not a Fee

This is the line that generates the most confused phone calls, so read this part twice.

Texas property taxes are billed in arrears. The bill for a calendar year goes out in the fall and is due by January 31 of the following year. Nobody has paid the current year's taxes yet when you sell in the middle of that year.

At closing, the title company divides the year's taxes between you and the buyer by the number of days each of you owned the home. Your share appears on the settlement statement as a credit to the buyer. The buyer then pays the full bill in January, or their escrow account does.

Say you close on March 31 on a home with an annual tax bill of about $6,875, which is what a $250,000 El Paso home runs at a combined rate in the middle of the 2.5 to 3 percent band. You owned the home for 90 of 365 days that year, so you credit the buyer roughly $1,700 at closing.

You did not lose $1,700. You owed that money already. It was your tax obligation for the three months you owned the house, and the only thing closing did was settle it early so the buyer is not paying your share in January. If your mortgage escrowed taxes, your lender refunds whatever is sitting in that account after the loan pays off, usually within a few weeks, which returns most of it to you anyway.

One El Paso specific note. If your home sits in a public improvement district or a municipal utility district, common out in Horizon City, Eastlake, and the newer far east subdivisions, your effective rate is higher than the citywide number and your proration is bigger. Check your tax statement, do not assume. The El Paso property tax guide explains how the taxing entities stack.

A Worked Net Sheet: $250,000 El Paso Sale

Assume a March 31 closing, a home in an association, a buyer using a Federal Housing Administration loan, agent compensation at 5.5 percent total, no existing survey, and a $5,000 concession negotiated at the option period along with $1,500 in agreed repairs.

• Sale price: $250,000
• Agent compensation at 5.5 percent: $13,750
• Owner's title policy: about $1,800
• Survey: about $550
• Escrow fee, seller half: about $425
• Prorated property taxes through March 31: about $1,700
• Homeowners association resale and transfer fees: about $375
• Payoff processing, release, recording, courier: about $175
• Buyer concession: $5,000
• Repairs: $1,500

Total deductions: about $25,275. Net proceeds before your mortgage payoff: about $224,725, or roughly 10.1 percent of the sale price.

Now run the same house without the concession and repairs, which is a completely realistic outcome when a home is priced correctly and shows well. Deductions drop to about $18,775 and you net about $231,225, roughly 7.5 percent.

And here is the number that reframes all of it. Take out agent compensation, the concession, the repairs, and the tax proration, none of which are fees imposed on you, and what is left is about $2,950. That is 1.2 percent of the sale price. That is the actual cost of the closing machinery in Texas.

Your net sheet also has to subtract your loan payoff, which is not a closing cost, it is your debt. Sellers routinely conflate the two and then feel gouged. Ask your title company or your agent for a written net sheet before you sign a listing agreement. I run one for every seller I represent, at a realistic sale price rather than a flattering one.

What Sellers Get Wrong

Budgeting from the list price. El Paso is running around 98 percent sale to list. Build your net sheet on a price two to three percent under your list, and anything better is a good surprise.

Treating repairs as inevitable. They are not. They are a negotiation that happens during the option period, and what you do before listing changes it. Getting your own quotes ahead of time is the single most effective way to keep that number down, which is most of the argument in preparing your home for sale in El Paso.

Forgetting the escrow refund. If your payoff includes an escrow balance, that money comes back. It is not part of your closing costs and it should not be part of your grieving.

Pricing to recover the costs. The market does not care what you owe or what you are paying in fees. Buyers price against comparable sales. If your net does not work at market value, that is a decision about whether to sell, not a reason to list high. Start with what your house is actually worth, then decide.

Skipping the settlement statement review. Errors happen. Wrong tax rate, a survey charge you already negotiated away, a homeowners association fee billed to the wrong side. Read it line by line against your contract when it arrives, usually a day or two before closing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage does a seller pay in closing costs in Texas?

Typically 6 to 9 percent of the sale price with agent compensation included, or roughly 1 to 2 percent without it. The spread depends on what you negotiated with the buyer and whether concessions and repairs are involved.

Does the seller pay title insurance in Texas?

Customarily yes. The owner's title policy is traditionally a seller expense in Texas, and the premium is set by the Texas Department of Insurance, so it is identical at every title company. The buyer's lender policy is a separate, cheaper policy the buyer usually pays.

Why do I owe property taxes at closing if I already paid mine?

Because Texas bills taxes in arrears, so the current year is not paid yet. Your proration covers only the days you owned the home this year. If you escrowed, your lender refunds your escrow balance separately after the payoff.

Can a seller refuse to pay the buyer's agent in Texas?

Yes. Since August 2024 buyer agent compensation cannot be advertised in the Multiple Listing Service and is negotiated in the contract instead. You can decline, though in El Paso most sellers still contribute, because it widens the pool of buyers who can afford your house.

Who pays for the survey when selling a house in Texas?

Custom is the seller, but it is negotiable and it often disappears entirely if you can produce your existing survey along with a signed affidavit that nothing has changed on the property.

How do I lower my seller closing costs?

Negotiate the compensation before you sign the listing agreement, find your old survey, order the homeowners association resale certificate early, and handle obvious repairs before an inspector writes them into a report. Trying to cut the title policy is not an option, since the rate is fixed statewide.

The Bottom Line

Seller closing costs in Texas look intimidating as a percentage and much more reasonable as a list. Agent compensation is the real number and it is negotiable. The owner's title policy is fixed by the state. The tax proration is not a fee, it is your share of a year you already lived in the house. Everything else is a few hundred dollars at a time.

What actually determines your net is the price you get and how the option period goes, not the fee schedule. Both of those are influenced by what you do in the weeks before you list.

If you want a written net sheet at a realistic sale price for your specific address, get in touch and I will build one, including the tax proration for your target closing month. The seller page has the rest of the listing process, and the El Paso closing costs guide covers the buyer side if you are selling and buying at once.