What should I check before making an offer on a home in Irving?

• Irving is in Dallas County. Tax records and exemptions, like the homestead exemption, live at the Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD).
• The flood map comes from FEMA, by address. That's what the city itself points people to.
• Read the Seller's Disclosure Notice before you offer, not after. It shows what the seller knows about the home.
• The option period is your time to inspect and decide. It's negotiated in the offer, so you need to know how many days you'll use.
• Special districts and HOAs get confirmed in writing. There's an official notice for special taxing districts.

1. Your number first. Before you fall for a house, a lender reviews your documents and tells you what you can buy. If you're self-employed, the lender looks at how your income reads on paper. Don't change how you earn or file without talking to me first.
2. The DCAD record. Look up the address. You'll see recorded size, year built, improvements and every taxing entity. Keep in mind the seller's current bill isn't your future bill, especially if they have exemptions you won't.
3. FEMA's flood map. Pull the official map by address. If the home is in or near a flood zone, it changes insurance and what the lender requires.
4. The Seller's Disclosure Notice. A TREC form where the seller states what they know: repairs, water issues, foundation, roof, past insurance claims. Get it before you write the offer so the offer accounts for it.
5. Special districts and HOA. If the home is in a municipal utility district (MUD) or public improvement district (PID), there's a buyer notice. If there's an HOA, get the rules and the dues.
6. Insurance before you offer. Get a quote with the address. Roof age and claims history matter.
7. The option days you'll need. A pool, a detached structure, an older home or signs of foundation movement all mean more specialists and more days.

Here's what happens next: with this in hand, we write the offer. If you want to walk through it with your own situation, book 30 minutes with me here.

In Texas, the standard TREC contract lets a buyer pay an option fee in exchange for one right: to terminate the contract for any reason, no explanation needed, within the option period. That period is counted in days from the contract's effective date.

If you terminate in time, your earnest money, the deposit you deliver to the title company once the contract is signed, comes back to you. The option fee does not. Once the period passes, you still have other contract rights, but not that unrestricted one.

Here's what that means for you: option days are your time for the general inspection, any specialists, a real insurance quote, and district or HOA documents. If you ask for too few days to make your offer look stronger and then run out, you lose your cushion. Ask for the days you'll actually use.

In Texas, home inspectors are licensed by TREC and deliver their findings on an official property inspection report form. That form flags what the inspector found deficient. Two things worth knowing:

• A deficient item doesn't obligate anyone to fix it. Repairs get negotiated with the seller during the option period.
• A general inspector doesn't go deep on everything. If the report flags the foundation, roof, under-slab plumbing or the pool, the next step is a specialist, and that takes days.

That's why order matters: inspect early in the option period, bring in specialists next, and negotiate with the reports in hand.

If your Irving purchase depends on selling the home you own now, your offer has to account for that, and an Irving seller will weigh it. There are a few options, and each one changes how your offer reads:

• Sell first and offer with your sale closed or under a firm contract. Your offer looks cleaner, but you need a place to stay or tightly matched dates.
• Offer contingent on selling your home. TREC has an addendum for that. It protects your money, though some sellers accept it less eagerly.
• Stay in your home for a short time after it sells, under a written agreement with your buyer, so you only move once.

What doesn't work is deciding this the week of closing. It gets decided before the first offer, with your lender and with the dates on paper. I lay out the options in can you sell and buy at the same time in DFW.

• Offering before reading the seller's disclosure. It used to be common to see it later. Today it pays to read it first, because it changes what you offer and how many days you ask for.
• Budgeting off the seller's tax bill. Their exemptions don't transfer to you. More in the tax bill on the listing won't be yours.
• Skipping the flood map. A home can have never flooded and still sit in a zone that lenders and insurers treat differently.
• Cutting option days to compete. A strong offer comes from a good plan, not from giving up your time to check.
• Trusting the listing about schools. Check the school district's official boundary map for that address.

Picture a family selling their home elsewhere in the Metroplex and buying in Irving to be closer to both jobs.

They find a house they love. Before the offer, we request the seller's disclosure: it notes a foundation repair years ago. The FEMA map shows the home outside the flood zone, with a creek nearby. DCAD shows the seller has an exemption the family won't have, so their tax bill will differ.

So the offer asks for more option days to have an engineer review the foundation and the repair paperwork, and insurance gets quoted before signing. The engineer confirms the repair carries a transferable warranty. The family moves ahead with confidence, with a closing date lined up with the sale of their current home.

That's an illustration, not a real client. But that's what offering with your eyes open looks like.

• The Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD) record for the address.
• FEMA's official flood map for that address. How to read it: the flood map almost nobody checks.
• An insurance quote by address, before you offer. More in what insurance will cost before you offer.
• The Seller's Disclosure Notice and, if they apply, the special district notice and HOA rules.
• The school district's official boundary map for that address.
• The Irving page with what's worth knowing about the city: Irving.

What county is Irving in?

Irving is in Dallas County. Property taxes and exemptions, such as the homestead exemption, are handled through the Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD), where you can look up any property by address.

How do I know if a home in Irving is in a flood zone?

The City of Irving points buyers to FEMA's official flood map: enter the address and pull the map for that property. Inside Irving's limits, the city's floodplain administrator answers follow-up questions.

What is the option period in Texas?

It's a window, counted from the contract's effective date, when you can terminate for any reason because you paid an option fee. If you terminate in time, your earnest money comes back, but the option fee does not.

Does the seller have to give me a disclosure?

In most resales of a previously occupied home, yes: the Seller's Disclosure Notice is where the seller states what they know about the home's condition. There are exceptions, and the TREC contract spells out what happens if you don't receive it.

Which school is assigned to a home in Irving?

Don't rely on the listing. Check the school district's official boundary map for that address and confirm with the district, since boundaries can change.

If you're looking at homes in Irving, or want to know whether you're ready to make an offer, let's go over your situation before the first showing. Let's talk for 30 minutes about your situation, not houses: veronicayeary.com/en/book.

Call or text 469-441-8890 · veronica@veronicayeary.com

Veronica Yeary, Realtor®, CRS · ABR · SRS · CIPS, All City Real Estate DFW.