What it costs to sell land in Texas

The short answer

How much you pay depends mostly on how you sell:

Whichever route you take, everything is paid at closing. You don't write checks up front. The title company takes each cost out of the sale money and sends you the rest.

Line by line: what a Texas land seller pays

The "who usually pays" column follows the standard Texas land contracts from the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). Any of it can be changed by agreement, and the contract you sign is what counts.

Title insurance: why the price is the same everywhere

In most states, title insurance prices vary from company to company. Texas is different. The Texas Department of Insurance sets the premium, and every title company has to charge the same amount. The state cut rates by 6.2% on March 1, 2026.

What you can compare between title companies is the escrow fee and their other charges, which the state doesn't set. If the buyer wants the policy's standard boundary exception removed, that needs an acceptable survey and an extra premium.

Worked examples

These examples use the 2026 title rates. The other figures are assumptions for illustration, so get real quotes for your land.

The difference between the two routes is mostly the commission. Selling yourself saves it, but you take on the pricing, marketing and contract work. Our guide to selling land in Texas without a realtor covers what that involves.

Taxes on the sale

State taxes: Texas has no real estate transfer tax, no personal income tax and, since a 2025 constitutional amendment, an express ban on a state capital gains tax. Nothing is owed to the state because you sold.

Federal taxes: You may owe federal capital gains tax on the profit, meaning the sale price minus your cost basis and selling costs. Land you've owned for more than a year is taxed at the long-term rates of 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on your income, and higher earners may also owe the 3.8% net investment income tax.

If you inherited the land, your basis is generally its value on the date of death, which often shrinks the taxable gain a lot. Our guide to selling inherited land in Texas explains this. Different rules can apply if you buy and sell land as a business, so check your situation with a tax professional.

Costs people forget

Rollback taxes on ag-valued land

Many Texas tracts are taxed on their agricultural value (called 1-d-1 or open-space valuation), which keeps the bill low. If the land stops being used for agriculture, a rollback tax is due: the difference between the ag-value taxes and full market-value taxes for the previous 3 years. There's no interest on it under current law.

Selling the land doesn't trigger this by itself. A change of use does. The standard Texas contracts make the buyer pay if the sale or the buyer's later use causes it, and the seller pay if the seller changed the use before closing. A small number of tracts carry an older "1-d" designation, where a sale does trigger the rollback, so check which one your land has on your appraisal notice.

Back taxes and liens

Unpaid taxes, and any loan secured by the land, get paid from your side of the sale. If you're behind, our guide to selling land with back taxes in Texas shows how fast the penalties grow.

A survey you didn't expect

Buyers, lenders and title companies often want a current survey, especially for rural acreage or when only part of a tract is being sold. If the contract says the seller provides a new one, that cost is yours. Splitting a tract outside city limits can also require a county plat, depending on the county and the lot sizes.

The cost of keeping land you don't use

Selling isn't free, but neither is keeping land you don't use. You keep paying property taxes, mowing and fence repairs, insurance, and the risk of liability if someone is hurt there. Add those up for the years you'd hold the land, and compare them with what a sale leaves you.

If you'd like help working out your numbers, tell us about your land. We'll talk it through within 24 hours, with no obligation.