Most condo buyers spend their due diligence period focused on the unit - the kitchen, the finishes, the view. The reserve fund study sits in a stack of HOA documents that gets skimmed at best and ignored at worst. That's a mistake with a price tag that can run into the tens of thousands. The [...]
Buying a condo in Austin is nothing like buying a house - and if you treat the inspection process the same way, you'll likely miss the issues that matter most. A standard home inspection covers the walls and systems inside your unit. What it won't tell you is whether the HOA is sitting on a [...]
If you just received an HOA foreclosure notice in Texas, stop and read this first. Yes, your homeowners association can foreclose on your home in Texas - even if your mortgage is current, even over a few hundred dollars in unpaid dues. But you have legal rights, you have time, and you have options most [...]
A condo special assessment is one of the most common surprise costs in Texas condo ownership - and one of the least discussed. You close, you budget for HOA dues, and then a bill for $4,000 (or $40,000) arrives with a 60-day deadline attached. I've seen it catch first-time buyers and seasoned investors equally off [...]
Most HOA disputes don't start as legal problems. They start as a letter - a fine notice, an architectural denial, a demand for an assessment you didn't know was coming. You respond. They respond. Things escalate. And at some point you realize that the informal back-and-forth isn't going anywhere, the association isn't backing down, and [...]
There are questions to ask when buying a condo that most buyers never think to raise - and those are exactly the questions that protect you from the most expensive surprises in real estate. A condo purchase looks simple on paper: find a unit you love, your realtor pulls comps, you make an offer. But [...]
I've seen it happen more times than I care to count. A subcontractor finishes their scope of work on an Austin commercial project, invoices for their retained funds, and then waits. Thirty days pass. Sixty days. The general contractor keeps saying the owner hasn't released funds yet. By the time the subcontractor walks into my [...]
Fraudulent deed recording in Texas is no longer a fringe crime targeting vacant land or absentee owners. It is happening to occupied homes, active investment properties, and commercial real estate across Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties. Someone files a false deed at the county clerk's office, and on paper, your property changes hands without your [...]
Every month, I talk with business owners who just discovered they've been filing complex commercial disputes in the wrong court. They chose a general district court out of habit - or because no one told them there was a better option. By the time they reach my office, the case is moving in a direction [...]
Texas SB 15 lot size requirements took effect September 1, 2025, and the number that most people cite - 3,000 square feet - is wrong. The actual minimum under the law is 1,400 square feet. That distinction matters enormously for anyone trying to underwrite a deal, plan an infill project, or understand what this legislation [...]