🚨 Texas Real Estate Agents: Major Contract Changes You Need to Know!

If you're a real estate agent in Texas, this one’s for you. Big changes hit the Texas real estate contract world on January 3rd, and if you’ve been using the same workflow from last August… toss it. It’s outdated now.

Let’s break down exactly what’s changed in the TREC 1-4 Family Residential Contract and what that means for your workflow moving forward.

📄 Where to Find the New Contracts

The updated contracts are now live and available in:

TREC
HAR
DocuSign
Dotloop
ZipForms

You’ll want to pull up the redline version so you can follow along and clearly see what's been changed.

🔍 Key Contract Changes at a Glance

✅ General Format & Field Updates:

Dates have been relocated in several sections.
“Geothermal” has been added under Natural Resource Leases.

📌 Survey Section Overhaul (Paragraph 6C)

Biggest update? The T-47 Affidavit has now become either:

A notarized affidavit, or
A Declaration (which does not require notarization).

If the seller fails to provide both the existing survey and either the affidavit or declaration on time, the buyer must obtain a new survey—at the seller’s expense, at least 3 days before closing.

Also:

The buyer can now “may obtain” a survey (previously “shall obtain”).
If the buyer fails to obtain the survey, they cannot terminate the contract under paragraph 2B of the Third Party Financing Addendum just because of that.

🧾 Public Notices, Disclosures & More

Tide Waters, Public Improvement Districts, and Propane Service Areas: Some mandatory language and default addenda requirements have been removed, making things more situational.
A new Certificate of Mold Remediation requirement has been added. If the property was remediated in the past 5 years, the seller must provide documentation.

📢 Required Notices Section

“Required notices” has been updated to include:

Utility districts
Water & drainage
Public Improvement DistrictsThe old MUD/WCID language has been adjusted.

Also: The seller’s failure to provide required notices may now give the buyer the right to terminate.

🤝 Broker Fees & Compensation (Major Updates!)

New Language in Paragraph 8:

Clearer language added: “Broker fees are not set by law and are negotiable.” (In bold!)

💰 How Commissions Are Handled in the New Contract (Paragraph 12)

This is where things have really shifted.

Under 12A: Seller Expenses:

Language changed from “expenses payable by” to “seller shall pay the following expenses.”
Brokerage fees that seller has agreed to pay are still listed here.

Under 12B: Buyer Brokerage Fee Option

NEW: Add brokerage fees that buyer has agreed to pay.
- You’ll choose one of the two boxes:
  - Flat fee
  - Percentage of sale price

When to Use 12B:

Use this only if there is no cooperating compensation from the listing broker.

🔄 If there is cooperating compensation from the listing brokerage, you must use the Compensation Agreement Between Brokers (a separate document).

If the buyer is paying their agent directly, and doesn’t want it credited at closing—leave 12B blank.

📜 Other Notable Edits

Paragraph 12A1(C): Seller-paid buyer costs now just say “an amount not to exceed ___” — all extra language was removed.
Paragraph 21: Tax-related language changed to Federal Requirements.
Paragraph 22: New addendum added for Section 1031 Exchange.
Page 10 (Disclosure section): Clarifies fees via the Compensation Agreement Between Brokers. Helps the title company process the fees accurately.

🗑️ Out With the Old!

You no longer need to use:

The Broker Fee Addendum
The Compensation Agreement Between Broker and Owner

From now on, it's all about:

The 1-4 Family Residential Contract, and
(If needed) the Compensation Agreement Between Brokers

💬 What Do You Think?

Do these changes make it easier to negotiate commission when sellers don’t offer buyer agent compensation upfront? Let me know in the comments!

Have a great day—and as always, I’ll see you next week with more helpful updates.