Do you have to go through probate to sell an inherited house in Texas?
Not always — Texas gives you more shortcuts than most states. If there’s a will and no unpaid debts, a muniment of title can clear the house to the heirs in weeks instead of opening a full estate. With no will, families often use an affidavit of heirship, and a home the owner set up with a recorded transfer-on-death deed skips probate entirely (Tex. Est. Code ch. 114). Which path you’re on decides how fast you can actually sign a sale.
What is the small estate affidavit limit in Texas?
$75,000, not counting the homestead, under Tex. Est. Code §205.001. The small estate affidavit is the tool for a modest estate with no will, but note it’s limited — for a house, the affidavit of heirship or muniment of title is usually the cleaner route to marketable title.
How long does Texas probate take?
The common route — independent administration — typically wraps in about six months, and it’s lighter-touch than court-supervised probate in most states. A muniment of title can be faster still. The point: you usually can’t deliver clear title to a buyer until the right instrument is on record, so start it early.
Will you owe capital gains tax when you sell?
Usually very little. An inherited home gets a stepped-up basis to its fair market value on the date of death (IRC §1014), so if you sell near that value there’s almost no taxable gain — even in no-income-tax Texas, this is the rule that quietly makes selling an inherited house simpler than people expect.
Four numbers that decide an inherited Texas sale
- Median sale price
- $356,000 (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026)
- Property tax
- ~1.8% a year — the #6 highest rate of the 50 states and D.C. — about $534 a month on a median-priced home
- Typical sale costs
- about $24,493 on the median — $20,933 commission (5.88%) + $3,560 closing costs
- Transfer tax rule
- No state real estate transfer tax. Title company closing is standard.
- Market clock
- 56 days median to go under contract (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026)
Price on paper vs. money in the estate
The gap between the two numbers surprises most families. A median Texas sale prices around $356,000 (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026), yet after roughly $20,933 of commission at 5.88%, about $3,560 of closing costs (no state transfer tax applies), the estate actually books closer to $331,507. Mortgages and liens riding on the title shrink it further. Whatever the family decides — keep, rent, list, or sell as-is — decide it against the after-cost number.
The meter runs while the paperwork does
Vacant or not, the house keeps spending the estate's money: about $534 a month of property tax on a median-priced Texas home at the state's ~1.8% rate (#6 highest nationally), plus insurance, utilities, and upkeep nobody living there is watching. When the estate is finally free to sell, the median listing still needs about 56 days to find a buyer (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026). Put those months against the after-cost value above and the carrying cost stops being an abstraction.
When the house comes with unpaid property taxes
If the person who passed had fallen behind on property taxes, that debt now shadows the house. After a property-TAX foreclosure sale: homestead (and agricultural) owners may redeem within 2 YEARS from the date the purchaser's deed is recorded, paying the bid amount plus costs plus a 25% premium in year one or 50% in year two. Non-homestead property: 180 days, 25% premium. Clock runs from deed recording, not auction day. (Tex. Tax Code §34.21) The deadlines are statutory and county-enforced, so confirm where the property stands with the county and bring any notices to a Texas attorney before deciding how — or how fast — to sell.
The honest math on an inherited Texas house
While the estate clears, the house keeps costing money — and in Texas that bite is property tax. With no state income tax, Texas leans hard on property taxes (among the highest effective rates in the country), so a vacant inherited home can run well over $500 a month in tax alone, plus insurance, utilities, and upkeep on a place nobody lives in.
Because the stepped-up basis usually erases capital-gains tax either way, the real comparison isn’t tax — it’s carrying costs and agent commission (about 6%) against a clean cash sale that closes in days once you’re legally cleared to sell. For a lot of Texas heirs, what you actually keep ends up close, without the months of bleed.
