Home Buyer Resources in El Paso

Start here, before you look at a single house

• Credit Scores for BuyersWhy your lender's score differs from the one on your phone, what actually moves it, and what to do in the ninety days before you apply.
• How Lenders Approve YouWhat underwriting actually looks at, how debt-to-income is really calculated, and why El Paso property taxes make that ratio harder to pass here.
• What Are the Upfront Costs of Buying a Home in El Paso?The four costs that hit in the first two weeks under contract, which ones come back to you, and which are gone no matter what.
• Buying Before Your Lease EndsFive ways to buy without waiting out your lease, including one where the seller pays your lease buyout.

The complete guide for your situation

• The Complete Guide to Buying Your First HomeEvery fee on a $300,000 home, your real monthly payment, and the five down payment assistance programs that actually work in El Paso.
• The Complete Guide to VA Home LoansThe PCS order of operations, the funding fee, BAH for Fort Bliss, residual income, and the Texas termite inspection rule.
• The Complete Guide to Buying a New Construction HomeThe three kinds of builders, the 30+ builders in El Paso, upgrades worth paying for, and the property tax jump nobody warns you about.
• The Complete Guide to Selling and Buying at Once in El PasoThe eleven ways to sell one home and buy the next, and which one most El Paso families actually pick.

What it actually costs in El Paso

• What Do You Pay at Closing When You Buy a Home in El Paso?Down payment, closing costs and compensation, when each is actually due, and why most buyers pay a fraction of the total.
• El Paso Market Data by Zip CodeClosed sales across four zip codes, with new construction and resale reported separately.
• El Paso Taxing DistrictsEvery MUD, emergency services district and improvement district in El Paso County, with tax year 2025 rates and how to check your address.
• What property taxes actually cost you, area by areaEast El Paso · Horizon City and 79928 · West Side

Choosing where and what to buy

• Choosing a BuilderHow to compare builders honestly, narrow the floor plans before you tour, and pick the lot you are stuck with forever.
• Five things builders don't tell you at the model homeRead this before your first model home visit, especially the part about who the sales agent works for.
• The neighborhoods, in detailEast El Paso · Horizon City and 79928 · West Side

Once you are under contract

• What Is the Option Period in Texas and How Does It Work?The days after you go under contract when you can still walk away with your deposit, and why that window is your only real leverage.
• What Happens When an Appraisal Comes In Low in El Paso?Your four options, which ones your loan actually gives you, and how to keep it from happening in the first place.

After you close

• After You BuyThe first thirty days, the homestead exemption, why your payment may jump next year, and a maintenance calendar built for the desert.

Check our work

• What Is My El Paso Home Worth?Already own here? Get a real number before you decide what you can spend on the next one.
• Case study: from a Northeast El Paso home to new constructionHow one family made the sell-and-buy move work, including the three-month rule.
• References ListWhere every tax rate, program and market figure on this site comes from, plus the tools to check your own address.

Selling as well as buying? Everything for sellers is in the home seller resources.