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New construction · North Texas · Denton County & the FM 407 corridor
Buy before you move, or buy after you’ve landed. Here’s the whole North Texas process.
The companies are moving. So is the talent. North Texas is where the next chapter starts.
Moving from anywhere
People are coming here from everywhere: California and Florida, other parts of Texas, corporate transfers with a start date, and military families with PCS orders. This site is the new-construction buying playbook for all of them. The process is the same no matter where you start: timeline, contracts, incentives, taxes, and closing, written in plain English by a licensed Texas broker.
Why the metro keeps filling
Dallas–Fort Worth has ranked No. 1 in the United States for corporate headquarters relocations for seven straight years.
Thirty minutes with Theresa, on the phone or video, before you tour anything.
New construction vs. resale
For a relocating buyer the first decision is structural: build new or buy an existing home. Neither is automatically better. In North Texas the honest comparison runs through five topics. Here is the process-level version, with the deep dives in the guide.
New build The 2026 DFW market is rich with builder incentives: $15,000 to $40,000 stacks built from 2-1 rate buydowns, closing-cost assistance, and design center credits. The catch: the full stack usually requires the builder’s preferred lender.
Resale No incentive stack exists, so the room to negotiate is different: price, terms, and seller concessions. What the home gives up is predictable, which is exactly its appeal.
New build Covered by the builder’s written limited express warranty from day one, commonly a 1-2-10 style: one year on workmanship, two on major systems, ten on major structural components. Get it in writing before you sign.
Resale Sold as-is with no builder warranty. You buy the condition you inspect, which is why the option period and the third-party inspection carry so much weight on resale.
New build You control the plan: the finishes, the phases, and a closing date tied to construction. The tradeoff is the builder’s schedule, so read the delay and completion-date clauses before the deposit moves.
Resale You move in when you close. No construction waits, but you compete with other buyers, and the closing date is the seller’s to negotiate.
New build Texas appraises property as of January 1. Under construction that day? You pay tax on the percentage complete. Finished that day? Full value hits the roll immediately. Budget for the first full-value year.
Resale Assessed on years of established appraisal history. The homestead cap only starts protecting once the new owner files, so a seller’s cap does not transfer to you.
New build Many new North Texas communities sit in MUD or PID districts that financed their own water, sewer, and roads, adding a property tax (MUD) or a fixed monthly assessment (PID) on top of the base rate. Both are disclosed, and both change your monthly number.
Resale Established neighborhoods are usually outside the newest special districts, so the tax structure is more settled. You trade that simplicity for a home that is already years old, with its own maintenance history.
Which DFW area fits your commute, schools, and budget? That part lives on the community guides at indfwliving.com . This site stays process-only: no community rankings, just the buying mechanics.
For two kinds of buyer
Whether you are selling in California and buying before you move, or you already live in Texas and are buying a new build for the first time, the process is the product. Pick your lane and start there.
Moving from out of state
You are selling one home and buying the next at distance, so the process has to be reliable: live video walkthroughs, a buyer's agent who walks the site, inspections at the phases that matter, and closing by remote notarization.
Within Texas / DFW
You know Texas, but not the new-build paperwork: the builder's own contract instead of a TREC form, staged earnest money, the January 1 tax snapshot, and MUD and PID districts that change your monthly number.
The guide · 24 chapters
A week-by-week plan for buying a North Texas new build and moving in without a scramble, whether you are coming from out of state or across town.
Read chapterVideo walkthroughs, a trusted local team, and two or three well-timed flights. The honest hybrid protocol for buying North Texas new construction from out of state.
Read chapterPackages of $15,000 to $40,000 are common on DFW new builds right now. What is actually in the stack, how a 2-1 buydown works, and what you give up to get the full credit.
Read chapterWhere your deposit sits, how much is typical on a new build, and what the option period does and does not do for a Texas buyer.
Read chapterTexas builders are allowed to use their own attorney-drafted purchase agreements. The differences change your right to walk away, your inspection windows, and what happens to your deposit.
Read chapterTexas appraises property as of January 1. Under construction that day? You pay on the percentage complete. Finished that day? Full value, immediately. Here is how to plan for both.
Read chapterNo income tax, but property taxes carry the load. The $140,000 school exemption, the 10 percent annual cap, and what MUD and PID districts add to your monthly number.
Read chapterNearly all North Texas new builds sit on a slab because the soil moves. What to expect, what a crack actually means, and the soaker hose habit that protects your foundation.
Read chapterTexas has allowed remote online notarization since 2018, which means out-of-state buyers can often sign Texas closing documents from their own kitchen. Here is how it works and when in person is still required.
Read chapterThree origins, three sets of details. The money math changes, the weather changes, the clay changes. The process does not.
Read chapterEvery moving guide assumes you are arriving from out of state. If you already live in Texas, the real changes are the appraisal district, the effective tax rate, the builder contract, the school zone, and the January 1 assessment clock. This is the guide that was missing.
Read chapterEvery state brings its own money math, climate assumptions, and closing habits to a North Texas new build. Pick your origin chapter and close the gaps before you sign.
Read chapterCalifornia's Prop 13 caps your assessment. Texas's Prop 13 raises the homestead exemption. That difference, plus Mello-Roos, slab foundations, and the equity-unlock story, is this chapter.
Read chapterMost Florida-to-Texas guides lead with the income tax, which is a non-story. The real changes are insurance, the buying process, homestead differences, and a different kind of heat.
Read chapterNew York state and local income tax ends at the Texas line. What replaces it, and what a new-build purchase looks like on a job-transfer calendar.
Read chapterCharles Schwab moved its headquarters to Westlake, and TIAA built a 1,000-worker campus in Frisco. For transferees and individual movers, here is what changes between the mountains and the prairie.
Read chapterThe state income tax disappears, the property-tax rate drops, the basement disappears, and the utility year flips from heating to cooling.
Read chapterDFW has ranked No. 1 for corporate headquarters relocations seven years running (CBRE), with the most interstate HQ moves of any metro in 2025. This is the buy-before-you-arrive plan for employees with a start date.
Read chapterThe VA funding fee, the 60-day occupancy rule, and how PCS timing lines up with a builder's completion date. Theresa's specialty, walked through step by step.
Read chapterCustom plans, estate lots, construction financing, allowances and change orders: what changes when a North Texas new build moves into the luxury tier.
Read chapterA builder's contract is not the TREC resale form you may know. What to verify from another state before you sign: earnest money and the option period, allowances and change orders, completion dates, and registering your agent before your first model-home visit.
Read chapterPrice is not the monthly number. Principal and interest, property taxes on the January 1 assessment, MUD and PID districts, insurance, HOA fees, the fine print on incentives, and the relocation costs that follow you from another state.
Read chapterSite prep, slab, framing, mechanicals, drywall, trim. What happens in each phase, what to inspect, the two stages you can never revisit, and how your agent covers the site when you are not in the state.
Read chapterNeither is universally better. Warranty and new systems versus established landscaping and a finished community, builder incentives and your own timeline versus keys in weeks, and the January 1 tax snapshot that applies to new construction only.
Read chapterNot sure where to start?
Thirty minutes with Theresa De La Rosa, on the phone or video, before you tour anything.
The 90-day runway
Buyer's agent, lender, inspector. Before you tour.
Incentives, earnest money, builder contract review.
Pre-drywall and final walkthrough. The two trips that count.
Remote notarization or in person. Wire fraud care either way.
Utilities, address change, registration, Texas license.
Why this guide exists
Zillow, NewHomeSource, and the builders' own sites give you floor plans and prices. Nobody gives you the process: the contract, the earnest money, the January 1 tax snapshot, the closing, the moving deadlines. That gap is what New Build North Texas fills, with a licensed Texas broker writing every chapter.
Sourced. Every material claim links to its source, so you can check the work.
Reviewed. Every chapter carries a last-reviewed stamp. This guide: October 16, 2026.
Honest. Settled law is labeled settled. Market talk is labeled market talk. No hype, no invented stats.
The broker behind the guide
Common questions
Short answers to the questions buyers ask most, straight from the guide and the broker behind it.
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, with a strong focus on Denton County communities including Argyle, Northlake, Flower Mound, Denton, Justin, and Hickory Creek. Through Covenant Heritage Realty, she also serves buyers throughout the Orlando area and Central Florida.
Theresa De La Rosa, Broker at Covenant Heritage Realty, LLC, with more than 18 years of real estate experience and 100+ clients served across Florida and Texas. She is licensed in Texas (#807294) and Florida (#3102580).
Yes. Chapter 2 of the guide covers the remote and on-the-ground protocol: live video walkthroughs, a buyer's agent who walks the site, and flying in at the key moments. Chapter 9 explains closing remotely in Texas through remote online notarization.
This site stays process-only: no community rankings, just the buying mechanics. Neighborhood and community guides live on the InDFW Living site at indfwliving.com .
Still have a question? Book a consultation with Theresa, thirty minutes on the phone or video before you tour anything.
Talk to a local broker
Tell us where you are moving from and when, and Theresa's team will send the 60-90 day pre-move checklist plus answers to your specific new-build questions.
