Moving to Houston: The Practical Guide

Houston does not work like most American housing markets. There is no zoning, the tax bill is a bigger share of the monthly payment than the mortgage rate suggests, and the right neighborhood depends on which freeway you will drive and at what hour. This guide covers the things that surprise buyers arriving from elsewhere, with 2026 figures and sources, and it links to our detailed pages on taxes, commutes, Texas contracts and moving from specific states.

What makes the Houston market different

No zoning, so deed restrictions do the work

The City of Houston has never adopted a zoning ordinance. In its place, most subdivisions rely on deed restrictions: private agreements recorded in the county real property records that bind every owner, including future buyers. They typically keep a block residential, set minimum lot sizes and building lines, and limit what can be built. The City Legal Department's deed restriction enforcement team handles complaints on recorded restrictions, which is unusual for a private covenant, but it does not give legal advice. On blocks with no restrictions, a townhome project or a commercial building can go up next door. We pull the restrictions for every home our buyers consider and read them during the option period.

MUDs: a tax that depends on the subdivision

A municipal utility district is a local government district that borrowed money to build a subdivision's water, sewer and drainage systems and repays the bonds with its own property tax. Most master-planned communities outside Loop 610 sit in one. Texas Water Code Section 49.452 requires the seller to give you a notice of the district's tax rate and bonded debt before a binding contract is signed, and the county appraisal district lists every taxing unit for the address. A mature district that has paid down its bonds can be a fraction of the rate of a brand-new one, which is why two similar houses a mile apart can differ by hundreds of dollars a month.

Property tax instead of income tax

Texas is one of eight states with no individual income tax, so local governments lean on property tax. The Tax Foundation puts the effective rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40 percent statewide and 1.50 percent in Harris County, against 0.70 percent in California and 1.30 percent in New York. The sticker rate is higher than the effective rate because exemptions come off first: inside the City of Houston and Houston ISD the 2026 rates add up to about 2.13 percent of appraised value before exemptions. The math is worked out below.

Flood awareness is part of house shopping

Hurricane Harvey flooded 154,170 homes in Harris County in 2017, and the Flood Control District's final report found that just under half of them sat outside the mapped 100-year and 500-year floodplains. The lesson is to check every address, not just the ones in a zone: the FEMA flood map, the county's flood education tools, the elevation of the slab, and the flood section of the Texas seller's disclosure, which must state whether the home is in a floodplain or floodway, whether it has flooded before and whether flood insurance is in place. Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage; it is a separate policy.

Inner Loop versus the suburbs

Loop 610 is the dividing line in local shorthand. Inside it are the older neighborhoods: bungalows and new construction in the Houston Heights, historic homes and condos in Montrose, townhomes in Midtown and EaDo, and estate lots in River Oaks. Outside it, along the freeways and the two ring roads, are the master-planned communities of Katy, Cypress, Sugar Land, Pearland and The Woodlands, with newer and larger homes, HOA amenities and, usually, a MUD. Houston is car-first either way: the region's mean commute is 31.1 minutes against 27.2 nationally, and Walk Score rates the city 47, car-dependent, although Montrose and Midtown score 86 and the Heights 73.

Cost of living: the property-tax math on a $500,000 home

Most buyers plan with a 2.2 percent rule of thumb, which is close to the actual 2026 stack inside the city. Here is what a $500,000 home costs in taxes before and after the homestead exemption, using the rates adopted for 2026 by Harris County and its districts ($0.6715 per $100 combined), the City of Houston ($0.51919), Houston ISD ($0.8421) and HCC, the local college district ($0.0988).

Homestead exemption note. Texas school districts must exempt $140,000 of a primary residence's value, with another $60,000 for owners 65 or older or with a qualifying disability, and once the exemption is in place your appraised value can rise no more than 10 percent a year starting the January after you first qualify. You can apply for the portion of the year you own the home, the general deadline is before May 1, and a late application can be filed up to two years after the delinquency date. File with the Harris Central Appraisal District; there is no charge. Details in how to file the Texas homestead exemption.

The other two Houston-specific lines are homeowners insurance, commonly $3,000 to $6,000 a year for a single-family home because of hurricane and hail exposure, and flood insurance, roughly $800 to $1,300 a year for a typical Harris County policy and more in high-risk zones. Electricity is deregulated and cheaper than the national average, 15.91 cents per kilowatt-hour in Texas against 18.16 nationally in August 2026, although summer air conditioning pushes usage up. The full line-by-line budget is on What It Costs to Own a Home in Houston.

The commute corridors

Houston's job centers are spread out, so the question is not how far from Downtown but which corridor you will share with everyone else. Two ring roads tie the corridors together: Beltway 8, the Sam Houston Tollway, about 10 to 12 miles out, and the Grand Parkway, State Highway 99, an outer loop planned at 176.6 miles in 11 segments and open from Sugar Land around the west and north sides to Baytown.

A neighborhood shortlist by commute

Distances are by road from a central point in each area, with off-peak drive times from OpenStreetMap routing as compiled in our neighborhood guides; rush hour commonly adds 50 to 100 percent. The Energy Corridor District publishes 17 miles and about 30 minutes to Downtown and 22 miles and 40 minutes to the Medical Center; figures marked with a tilde are our estimates from those published points and should be checked at your own hour.

The job-by-job version, with four to six areas for each major employment center, is on Houston Neighborhoods by Commute.

How buying works in Texas, in 8 steps

1. Pre-approval. Houston sellers expect a lender's pre-approval letter with every offer. Get it before you tour.
2. A written buyer agreement. Since January 1, 2026, Texas Occupations Code Section 1101.563 requires a written agreement between you and your agent before any residential property is shown to you, or before an offer is presented if nothing is shown.
3. The offer on the TREC contract. Resale homes use the Texas Real Estate Commission's One to Four Family Residential Contract, Form 20-19 as of July 1, 2026, with addenda for financing, HOA and other terms.
4. Option period and inspections. For a small option fee you buy an unrestricted right to terminate for a set number of days, commonly 7 to 10. Inspections, insurance quotes and deed-restriction review happen now.
5. Earnest money and title. Earnest money, often about 1 percent in Houston, goes to the title company, which issues the title commitment and runs the closing. Texas title premiums are set by the state.
6. Survey, disclosures and notices. The seller provides the Seller's Disclosure Notice, any MUD notice and, often, an existing survey with a T-47 affidavit; otherwise a new survey is ordered.
7. Appraisal and loan approval. The lender orders the appraisal; a low value is negotiated or the financing addendum protects you.
8. Closing Disclosure, closing and keys. You receive the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing, sign at the title company, the lender funds, and keys change hands at funding.

Each step, with deadlines and costs, is on How Buying a Home Works in Texas.

The rest of this relocation guide

Questions people ask before moving to Houston

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Call or text (832) 777-3904. We speak English and Spanish. Compean Group has sold more than 1,000 homes in 15 years, 140 of them in the last 12 months, and holds 699 reviews and ratings across five sites.

Updated October 29, 2026.