A summary description of Real Estate Forms & Contracts included in our Texas residential package:

1. Residential Sales Contract:  If you are selling jointly fill in the name of both husband and wife and leave the Buyer’s name blank.  “Lot” and “block” are part of the legal description of the property and can usually be found on the deed. Leave blank if you can’t find it and fill in City, County and Street address. Fill in all information that will not change plus your asking price at the top of paragraph 1, and print several copies.  Paragraphs 1 and 2 can’t be filled out without a potential buyer who has agreed to your price and is prepared to say how much cash he or she can offer as a down payment and what kind of mortgage loan he or she will try to get. The PDF format (Tx_Residential_Sales.pdf) includes instructions and suggestions for filling out all but the most obvious blanks.
    
   
2. Seller’s Disclosure of Property Condition:  Fill in the blanks, make several copies, and attach a copy to each Residential Sales Contract.  The purpose of this document is to allow the Seller to tell the Buyer what he or she knows about the property. It does NOT require research. “Don’t know” or “Unknown” are perfectly acceptable answers. The PDF format (Tx_SellersDisclose.pdf) includes instructions and tips for filling out this document.
    
   
3. Lead Based Paint Addendum:  If the home was built in 1978 or later, indicate that and attach the basically blank form to the Residential Sales Contract.  If the home was built prior to 1978, answer the questions and print several copies for attachment to Residential Sales Contracts.
    
   
4. Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement:  Like the Seller’s Disclosure, this document is designed to help the Seller tell the Buyer about situations and facts that may negatively affect the value of the property.  Here, the Seller should contact local authorities and find out if the property is in one or more of the designated hazard areas.
    
   
5. Mold and Mold-Forming Condition Disclosure: Seller is required to tell Buyer if property has been tested for molds or mold forming conditions.
    
   
6. Notice About Special Flood Hazard Areas: Homes located in areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as high flood hazard areas are required to have flood insurance. Homes in these areas are also required to have flood resistant features on the ground floor.
    
   
7. Seller’s Affidavit of Nonforeign Status: The Internal Revenue Service requires Buyers to withhold taxes from the purchase price of homes sold by foreign persons.  Seller fills in Social Security number and home address and signs to certify that Seller is a tax-paying American.
    
   
8. Homeowner’s Association Disclosure:  Most homes built after 1980 are in sub-divisions where owners are required to join Homeowner’s Associations and pay dues to maintain common property.  Fill out this form if your Buyer will be required to join a Homeowner’s Association.
    
   
9. As is Amendment: This short real estate form overrides the Buyer's inspection rights stipulated in the Residential Sales Contract. By signing this amendment form, the Buyer agrees to purchase the real property in its current condition, and frees the Seller from all obligations to make repairs. 
    
   
10. Counter Offer: This is a mostly blank form that allows the Seller to specify the Offer to which he or she is responding, and write in changes that make that offer acceptable (as an alternative, the Seller may simply cross out unacceptable terms and return the original offer form to the Buyer). A Buyer may also use a Counter Offer form to respond to the Seller
     
    
11. General Amendment To Residential Sales Contract (Tx_GeneralAmend.rtf): This is essentially a blank form to provide space for the Seller and Buyer to specify terms not included in the Residential Sales Contract.  In most cases, the new terms can be copied from our Special Stipulations form, or ‘cut’ and ‘pasted” into the blank space on the Amendment.
     
    
12. Buyer’s Inspection Advisory: This document simply advises the Buyer to have the property inspected, preferably by licensed professional inspectors. Fill in the address of the property, make copies and attach to the Residential Sales Contract.
     
    
13. Escrow Agreement: Sellers without a real estate broker or agent, may use the Escrow Agreement form to name a third party to hold earnest money and other deposits. The Escrow Agreement also specifies the conditions under which the deposits are returned to the Buyer or transferred to the Seller. 
     
    
14. Special Stipulations (Tx_SpecialStips.rtf):  This is a plain text document with 24 clauses (paragraphs) that describe situations Sellers and Buyers often want to include in the Sales Contract.  For instance, a Buyer may want to make the contract subject to approval of a father-in-law who is financing the purchase.  These stipulations are in plain text format so they may easily be ‘cut’ and ‘pasted’ into paragraph 22 (Special Clauses) of the Residential Sales Contract, or pasted into the blank space of an Amendment to Residential Sales Contract.
    *Note: To “paste” into the above contracts you must first select “Tools” at top of Word’s menu bar, then select “Unprotect document” from the drop-down menu. Re-activate form fields and check boxes by selecting “Tools” at top of menu then “Protect document” from the drop-down menu.
     
    

Extra forms included with the Texas download

• Net to Seller: This form allows user to enter estimates of all closing costs (balance on current mortgage loan, attorney’s fee,  Title search, etc). The user manually subtracts the total estimated cost from the Purchase Price to get the amount of cash the Seller will receive at closing.
   
  
• Buyer Pre-Qualification: This form records the prospective Buyer’s annual income and expenses and provides manual calculation formula to determine if Buyer can afford the asking price.
   
  
• Buyer Pre-Qual Sample: Buyer Pre-Qualification form filled out for a Buyer with $48,000 annual income. Based on the sample Buyer’s monthly expenses, the form estimates that Buyer can afford a $144,000 house.