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Plain answers to the questions buyers and sellers ask across greater Houston, written by Allen Markel, REALTOR®, with Texas Premier Realty. Where a number is used, its source is shown.
1050 questions answered
Property Taxes & Exemptions
The median total property-tax rate on Cypress homes for sale is 2.63% of taxable value, measured on the 1,055 of 1,326 active listings where we hold a complete 2025 tax stack.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
For a typical Cypress home in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD with a MUD, the 2025 rate stack is about 2.66% in total.
Read answerHOAs, MUDs & PIDs
Cypress homes for sale sit in dozens of districts, and the ten most common combinations range from $0.37 to $1.50 per $100 of value.
Read answerFlood & Insurance
Parts of Cypress are in a mapped FEMA flood hazard area and parts are not. Checking the location of every active Cypress listing against the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer, 205 of 1,326 homes for…
Read answerFlood & Insurance
Federal rules require flood insurance when a federally backed or regulated lender finances a home inside a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area.
Read answerHOAs, MUDs & PIDs
Nearly every Cypress listing carries HOA dues: 1,276 of 1,326 active homes (96%) show a fee, and the median is $1,200 a year, about $100 a month.
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
The median sale price of Cypress homes that closed in the last six months (March 25 to September 25, 2026) is $420,860, based on 1,919 sales, or about $170 per square foot.
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
Flat to slightly down. The median sale price for the last 12 months is $411,665, which is 2.0% below the $420,000 median for the 12 months before it, while median price per square foot has held near…
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
Half of the Cypress homes that sold in the last 12 months went under contract within 33 days of listing, and 48% did so within 30 days. About 68% sold within 60 days and 19% took more than 90.
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
About 1,330 homes are for sale in Cypress. By list price, 125 are under $300,000, 665 are from $300,000 to $500,000, 344 are from $500,000 to $750,000 and 197 are above $750,000, so half of all…
Read answerSchools & Education
Use the school district's own address lookup, then confirm by phone before you write an offer.
Read answerNew Construction
Of the 1,326 homes now listed in Cypress, 385 (29%) are new construction. The builders with the most active Cypress listings are David Weekley Homes (60), Taylor Morrison (57), Perry Homes (39), Tri…
Read answerNeighborhoods & Places
Modeled drive time from a Cypress home to downtown Houston averages 39 minutes off-peak and about 44 minutes at the evening rush, based on 1,276 active Cypress listings.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
There is no single monthly number for Cypress, because taxes and MUD lines differ by address.
Read answerNeighborhoods & Places
Cypress homes cost more and carry a higher tax rate. The six-month median sale price is $420,860 in Cypress and $350,000 in Katy, or about $170 versus $160 per square foot.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Yes. 1,325 of 1,326 active Cypress listings are in Harris County, and the county drives a large part of the bill.
Read answerHOAs, MUDs & PIDs
A public improvement district (PID) is a special area where the city or county levies assessments on property owners to pay for improvements such as roads, water lines or landscaping, under Texas…
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Among Cypress subdivisions with at least five active listings and a complete 2025 tax stack, the lowest median total rates are Lakes of Fairhaven at 2.00% (no MUD line), Cypress Chase at 2.17% and…
Read answerFlood & Insurance
Enter the address in the FEMA Map Service Center flood map search at msc.fema.gov, which returns the flood zone, panel number and effective date. Each listing on this site also shows the FEMA zone.
Read answerFlood & Insurance
The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) charged $0.04966 per $100 of taxable value for 2025, which is about $209 a year on a $421,000 Cypress home, or 1.9% of the total rate. The rate was $0.
Read answerNeighborhoods & Places
Within the area covered by Cypress listings (roughly 14 by 15 miles), our place data lists 107 parks, 89 grocery stores and 7 hospitals, plus 7 emergency rooms, 26 pharmacies, 3 libraries, 49 banks,…
Read answerDivorce & Life Events
Every situation is different. I lean toward selling before it is final, and your attorney advises on timing. Both paths are used.
Read answerDivorce & Life Events
Often yes, but it takes both a legal document and financing. In a divorce the court divides the estate as it deems just and right, and a spouse who keeps the homestead can owe the other spouse an…
Read answerDivorce & Life Events
Start with the same facts. Both owners review the same market analysis, agree in writing on a price range, an agent, and a list of the terms, and sign the listing together.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
A Harris County tax bill is taxable value times each taxing unit's rate, added across the units that cover the address.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
A Harris County bill stacks up to seven kinds of taxing unit. For 2025 the county levies $0.38096 per $100, the hospital district $0.18761, flood control $0.04966, the Port of Houston Authority…
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
File a residence homestead application with the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD), which accepts it electronically through its mobile app.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
You can protest your appraised value with the Harris Central Appraisal District. The deadline is May 15, or 30 days after the notice of appraised value is delivered, whichever is later, under Texas…
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Only school district taxes, and only for a homeowner who receives the age-65-or-older homestead exemption or the matching exemption for owners who qualify through Social Security Disability Insurance.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Yes. Texas property tax is billed after the year ends: the bill for a calendar year goes out in October or November of that year, is due when received, and becomes delinquent after January 31 of the…
Read answerFlood & Insurance
Parts of Harris County flood and most homes are outside the mapped hazard area. Of 20,471 active Harris County listings, 1,918 (9.4%) are in a FEMA flood zone that is a Special Flood Hazard Area…
Read answerFlood & Insurance
The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) tax, $0.04966 per $100 of taxable value in 2025, funds county-wide flood damage reduction: channel and stormwater basin maintenance, drainage and…
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
The median sale price of Harris County homes that closed in the last six months (March 25 to September 25, 2026) is $320,000, based on 24,369 sales, at a median of about $156 per square foot.
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
Flat to slightly down. The Harris County median sale price for the last 12 months is $315,000, which is 2.2% below the $322,046 median for the 12 months before it.
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
Harris County has about 20,475 homes for sale and 5.0 months of inventory, a balanced level. Half of the homes that sold in the last 12 months went under contract within 29 days of listing.
Read answerNeighborhoods & Places
Our Harris County page covers 15 cities: Houston, Katy, Cypress, Spring, Tomball, Humble, Hockley, Baytown, Crosby, Pasadena, Huffman, Waller, La Porte, Seabrook and Kingwood.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Among MLS city labels with at least 40 active listings and a complete 2025 tax stack, the lowest median total rates are Webster at 1.97%, Bellaire at 2.02% and Channelview at 2.04%, and the highest…
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Fort Bend County homes cost more and carry a slightly higher tax rate. The six-month median sale price is $389,000 in Fort Bend and $320,000 in Harris, or $165 versus $156 per square foot.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Texas requires school districts to give an additional $60,000 homestead exemption to a homeowner who is 65 or older or who qualifies through Social Security Disability Insurance (Tax Code 11.13(c)),…
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Look up a bill at the Harris County Tax Office website, hctax.net, by account number, address or owner name, and pay online, by mail or in person.
Read answerHOAs, MUDs & PIDs
Find your MUD on the HCAD account page, which lists every taxing unit for the address, then read its rate on the Harris County Tax Office bill search or on the district's own tax rate notice.
Read answerHOAs, MUDs & PIDs
Across Harris County, 73% of active listings (14,989 of 20,471) show HOA dues, and the median is $975 a year, with the middle half between $520 and $1,895.
Read answerOffers, Contracts & Closing
In Texas the option period is something the buyer pays for. Under Paragraph 5 of the TREC resale contract, the buyer pays an option fee in addition to the earnest money, and both are due within three…
Read answerOffers, Contracts & Closing
The closing date in a Texas contract is a negotiated date, not a fixed rule. Paragraph 9A of the TREC resale contract says closing is on or before the date written in the contract, or within 7 days…
Read answerOffers, Contracts & Closing
No. An attorney is not required to buy or sell a home in Texas. Texas real estate agents use contract forms promulgated by the Texas Real Estate Commission, and the title company acts as escrow agent…
Read answerOffers, Contracts & Closing
A Texas title company is a neutral party. It does not work for the buyer, the seller or either agent; it searches title, issues the title insurance, holds the earnest money, closes the sale and…
Read answerOffers, Contracts & Closing
The rule change did not create a new cost; it changed when the conversation happens.
Read answerHOAs, MUDs & PIDs
A MUD, or municipal utility district, is a special taxing district that provides water, sewer, drainage or flood-control facilities and pays for them with bonds repaid from taxes on the property in…
Read answerMarket Updates & Home Values
It is the right time when you are able, ready and willing, and the exception is a stay of only one or two years. No market number decides it for you. What the data can show is the current picture.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
The residence homestead exemption removes part of your home's value from taxation. Under Texas Tax Code Sec.
Read answerSelling a Home
It depends on your risk tolerance and your financing, and there are three common paths.
Read answerProperty Taxes & Exemptions
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD's 2025 tax rate is $1.0669 per $100 of taxable value, down from $1.0869 in 2024.
Read answerSchools & Education
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD covers about 189 square miles in northwest Harris County. Of the 2,267 homes for sale inside the boundary on our September 16 page, 1,087 have a Cypress mailing address, 919…
Read answerSchools & Education
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD enrolled about 114,697 students in October 2025 (TEA) and lists 94 campuses: 59 elementary, 20 middle, 12 high school and 3 alternative or disciplinary campuses.
Read answerSchools & Education
In our sales data, prices differ by the rating of the zoned elementary campus, but the difference mixes rating with home size and age.
Read answerProbate & Inheritance
Usually not, until the court has determined who can sign. The title company will not insure a sale without that.
Read answerProbate & Inheritance
When someone dies without a will, Texas law decides who inherits, and the house passes to the heirs at law when the person dies, subject to the estate's debts (Estates Code Secs. 101.001(b), 101.051).
Read answerProbate & Inheritance
It depends on whether there is an executor with authority to sell. If an independent executor has a power of sale, the signature of an heir or devisee is not necessary for a good-faith purchaser to…
Read answerSchools & Education
About 957 students attend Adam Elementary, according to the Texas Education Agency's 2024-25 report (TAPR), in grades EE through 5.
Read answerSchools & Education
By the district's official 2025-2026 zones, the whole Adam Elementary zone lies inside the Arnold Middle School zone and the Cy-Fair High School zone.
Read answerAnswers describe transactions and public data. They are not legal, tax or financial advice.
