Voter Registration is done by mail. There is no minimum residency requirement, but you must register at least 30 days prior to an election to be elegible.

Why don't Texas homes have basements? The water table is too high (i.e., the earth's crust, or soil depth, is too thin, often only a few feet thick).

A "Texas Basement" is an attic area, often accessible though a closet or hallway on the second level of a home. More often, Texans' use a portion of the garage for storage. Mechanical equipment is usually small enough to fit in a closet since most heating is either natural gas or electric....no boilers or oil tanks are necessary.

Kitchen appliances are usually built in & considered fixtures, with the exception of refrigerators which are often negotiable items.Laundry equipments is not considered a fixture & generally does not remain with the property.

Newcomers are often surprised to find brick is the most common building material. Lumber must be imported from other parts of the country. Sand is abundant, making brick more economical than in the northern part of the country.

Escrow period: On average, residential real estate transactions require 15 to 45 days from contract to closing. The purchase offer, prepared by the licensed real estate agent on a form promulgated (published) by the Texas Real Estate Commission, becomes on acceptance the purchase contract often subject to an attorney's review at the option of the buyer or seller.

Real estate agents, appraisers & property inspectors are licensed & regulated by the Texas Real Estate Commission.Complaints should be made to the Enforcement Division

Texas Society of Architects From affordable to luxury housing, you'll get an overview of Texans' home styles by browsing the pages of TSA Online.

Texas is a "non-disclosure" state. That is, real property sales prices are not a matter of public record, making it more difficult in Texas than in many other states, to appraise value. Texas Real Estate Center publishes Monthly MLS Home Sales in Texas from 1994 to Present, a compendium of data derived from Multiple Listing Services throughout the state.

Browsing the outstanding resources available at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center you'll also find affordability indices, demographics, industry trends, & even tips on home buying & negotiation.

Typically, most Texans' home to work commutes are relatively short, since very short winters & hot summers invite outdoor activities and mass transportation is rare. It's hard to imagine hordes of independent Texans voluntarily massing in trains or ferries on a daily basis, though Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has recently introduced commuter trains in limited areas. Today the car is as vital to the average Texan as horses were to the cowboy of old.

Capital: Austin
Population: 18,700,000
Economic Base: Agriculture, cattle, petroleum, computers, finance.
254 Counties

Texas (tejas) = "Friends" & Texans are most noted for their friendliness.

Rugged "rope 'em & ride 'em" cowboys & eccentric oil barons play a big role in Texas lore, but most Texas lifestyles bear little resemblance to either image.

From the Piney Woods of East Texas, to the Beaches of South Texas; from the hills & rivers of Central Texas to the mesquite dotted flat high plains of northwest Texas; from the mountains & deserts, west Texas to the cross timbers of north Texas, the reality is varied & often surprising. Texas' rich natural heritage comprises piney woods, prairies, marshes, plains, plateaus, savannas, mountains, & sandy coastline in 254 counties.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine offers online tours to explore the diverse Texas' biology, history, geology & archeology, as well as excerpted articles from the print publication. In addition to their many state parks, Texans enjoy two National Parks & four National Forests. Big Thicket National Park is swampy dense pine forest in deep east Texas. Big Bend National Park is craggy mountain desert in southwest Texas. 22,032,000 acres of Texas is forest, only 700,000 acres are in national forests: Angelina National Forest, Davey Crockett National Forest, Sabine National Forest & Sam Houston National Forest. s. The remaining acres are privately owned.
Texas Environmental Center & the Texas Environmental Almanac provide vital statistics, information & maps of value to environmentalists, developers & outdoors enthusiasts.

Historically, Texas economy has been influenced, even controlled, by three major C's: Cotton, Cattle and Crude oil. Today there is an important 4th C: Computers, & coming along is a 5th: Communications.

The Texas Comptroller's office has provided the full text (without charts & graphs) online of the comprehensive "Rural Texas in Transition". Economic diversity is the best protection Texas has against a recurrence of the devastating real estate crash of the late 1980's.

"Boondocking" in Fredericksburg, by Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson offers his view of a new life in Texas after his family gave up the big city life on the west coast in "Boondocking". Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country called out to Rich, as Grapevine in Northeast Tarrant County did to me & my family.