Sell My House Fast in Austin, TX for Cash: As-Is Offers

Who will pay cash for my Austin house, and what are they actually buying?

In most cities a cash buyer is buying a house. In central Austin, a lot of them are really buying dirt. Small builders want the lot under a 1950s ranch in Crestview or Brentwood so they can put two or three new homes on it. Flippers want a cosmetic project in Allandale or Windsor Park. Instant-offer platforms want a 2010s house in Pflugerville or Leander that needs paint and carpet. And wholesalers, many of them not in Texas, sign a contract and try to resell it to one of the others.

HomeCashOffer buys directly, and we look at your property both ways: what the house is worth fixed up, and what the land is worth to someone who builds. That matters most for the houses that fall in between, like a Montopolis rental with a long repair list, a Govalle house with an unpermitted back room, or a South Austin duplex with tenants who want to stay. Most houses we buy become rentals we own or renovations we finish. A smaller share of contracts go to a partner investor, and Texas requires written notice to you before anyone assigns a purchase contract (Tex. Prop. Code § 5.0205). We tell you which path applies before you sign.

How much of my Austin home is the lot after the HOME changes?

Possibly more than you think. The City Council adopted HOME Phase 1 on December 7, 2023, and the city began accepting applications under it on February 5, 2024. Phase 1 lets most lots zoned SF-1, SF-2, or SF-3 hold up to three housing units. HOME Phase 2, adopted May 16, 2024, created a "small lot single-family" use that allows one home on a lot of at least 1,800 square feet, down from the long-standing 5,750-square-foot minimum. Phase 2 applications opened August 16, 2024, and citywide on November 16, 2024, including areas in the wildland-urban interface and neighborhoods flagged in the city's Uprooted displacement study (City of Austin, HOME amendments). In March 2025 the Council also adopted an infill ordinance meant to make small subdivisions easier, with applications accepted from June 16, 2025.

What that means for a seller: an older house on a wide or corner lot near transit may now be worth more to a builder than to a family who wants to live in it as-is. It does not mean every lot can be split. Private deed restrictions and HOA covenants can still limit a lot to one house, and trees, drainage, and the floodplain rules below still apply. When we make an offer, we show you whether we priced the house or the land, and if a builder would clearly pay more than we would, we will say so.

Does it matter whether my Austin house is in Travis, Williamson, or Hays County?

Yes, for the paperwork. The City of Austin reaches into three counties. Most of it is in Travis County, but far north Austin crosses into Williamson County and a slice of the south side sits in Hays County. The county decides which appraisal district values your house (Travis Central, Williamson Central, or Hays Central), where your deed is recorded, which court handles an estate, and on whose courthouse steps a foreclosure sale happens. Many suburban buyers and sellers deal with Williamson County alone: Round Rock, Georgetown, Hutto, and Leander are mostly there, while Kyle and Buda are in Hays.

The title company sorts out which county applies. It still helps to know before you call a probate attorney, protest a value, or read a foreclosure notice, because each county runs those processes on its own.

Should I protest my TCAD value if I am selling soon?

Often, yes. Travis Central Appraisal District values every property as of January 1, and the deadline to protest is May 15 or 30 days after your notice of appraised value was mailed, whichever is later (Travis Central Appraisal District). If you close later in the year, the property taxes are prorated at closing, so a lower value still puts money back in your pocket. Homestead owners also get a school-district exemption of $140,000, plus $60,000 more if they are 65 or older or disabled (Texas Comptroller: exemptions).

That exemption is why heirs and landlords feel Austin taxes so sharply. Once a house stops being someone's homestead, it carries the full tax. Bills not paid by January 31 generally become delinquent on February 1 (Tex. Tax Code § 31.02), and penalties and interest add up every month after that (Tex. Tax Code § 33.01). You do not have to catch up before selling to us. The title company pays the back taxes from your proceeds.

Is my Austin house in the city's new regulatory floodplain?

It may be, even if it has never flooded. After the National Weather Service's Atlas 14 rainfall study showed heavier storms than older maps assumed, Austin changed its floodplain rules effective November 25, 2019. Until the city finishes its updated maps, development rules use the current FEMA 500-year floodplain in place of the 100-year floodplain (Austin Watershed Protection: floodplain management). The rules apply when you build, redevelop, or remodel; simply living in the house does not trigger anything. But a buyer who plans an addition or a rebuild has to work within them, and that affects price.

Some Austin neighborhoods have been through buyouts. After the Halloween Flood of 2013, the city offered recovery buyouts along Lower Onion Creek, and in September 2014 the Council authorized $60 million more for buyouts in the 100-year floodplain (FEMA case study). In the Upper Onion Creek area near Pinehurst Drive and Wild Dunes Drive, a 2017 study recommended buying out 138 houses, and participation is voluntary (City of Austin Watershed Protection). If your street is in a buyout area, ask the city first. If it is not, or the timing does not work, we buy flood-prone houses as-is. Either way, answer the flood questions on the Texas seller's disclosure honestly (Tex. Prop. Code § 5.008).

Will you buy an Austin house with foundation problems, on clay or on limestone?

Yes. Austin's foundation problems depend on which side of town you are on. East of MoPac and out toward Manor and Del Valle, many homes sit on expansive clay that swells in wet springs and shrinks in August, which shows up as cracked brick, sticking doors, and slab leaks. West of MoPac, Hill Country lots in places like Oak Hill and the Southwest Parkway area sit on thin soil over limestone, where the trouble is more often drainage, retaining walls, and additions built without a proper footing. Central neighborhoods such as Hyde Park, Travis Heights, and Holly have older pier-and-beam houses with settled piers and original plumbing.

A retail buyer's inspector will find all of it, and then the renegotiation starts. We price the repair into the offer instead. You do not need an engineer's report before calling us, but if you have one, send it.

Can I sell an inherited Austin house before probate is finished?

You can sign a contract while the estate is being opened, and close once someone has authority to sign the deed. Travis County has two statutory probate courts, Probate Court No. 1 and Probate Court No. 2, both at 200 W. 8th Street in downtown Austin, and the County Clerk's probate division issues letters testamentary (Travis County Probate Courts). Williamson and Hays counties handle their own estates.

If there is a will and the judge appoints an independent executor, that executor usually signs the deed with no extra hearing to approve the sale (Tex. Est. Code § 402.052). The bigger risk is waiting: once four years pass after the death, the usual route of probating the will mostly closes (Tex. Est. Code § 256.003). Meanwhile an empty house in Austin keeps costing money in taxes without the homestead exemption, insurance that may lapse on a vacant home, utilities, and yard and HOA notices. We buy estate houses with the furniture and paperwork still inside.

What if my Austin house is posted for a first-Tuesday foreclosure sale?

In Travis County, mortgage foreclosure notices are filed with the County Clerk, and the sales are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. on the west steps of the Travis County Courthouse at 1000 Guadalupe Street, a schedule the Commissioners Court set in 2000 (Travis County Clerk). Property tax foreclosure sales run through the Travis County Tax Office on the same first-Tuesday schedule (Travis County Tax Office).

For a home loan, Texas requires at least 20 days to cure the default and 21 days' notice of the sale (Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002). That is a short window. A sale that closes before the trustee's sale pays the loan off through the title company and leaves your equity with you; after a tax sale, a homestead owner generally has two years to redeem, but only by paying the bid plus a 25% or 50% premium (Tex. Tax Code § 34.21). HomeCashOffer does not stop foreclosures or give legal advice, so call a lawyer or HUD-approved counselor too, and call us early.

Can I sell my Austin rental with tenants still in it?

Yes. We buy occupied rentals all over Austin: student houses near UT in Hyde Park and North University, fourplexes off Riverside Drive, and suburban single-family rentals in Pflugerville and Round Rock where the tax bill now eats most of the rent. The leases and security deposits transfer to us at closing, so you do not need to wait for a lease to end or ask tenants to put up with showings. If a tenant has stopped paying, tell us; you do not have to finish an eviction before you sell.

Can I sell an Austin house I have been running as a short-term rental?

Yes, but the license stays with you, not the house. Austin treats any residence rented for less than 30 consecutive days as a short-term rental, and Development Services Code Compliance licenses them. In February 2025 the City Council made short-term rentals an accessory use to residential uses in every zoning district, as long as the operator holds a valid license (Austin Ordinance No. 20250227-040). The rules that followed took effect in October 2025: licenses now last two years, a Certificate of Occupancy and proof of insurance are no longer required, tenants can operate with their landlord's permission, and on a single-family site one person can run up to two units, with any others at least 1,000 feet away. Since July 1, 2026, Airbnb, Vrbo, and other platforms must show a license number field and pull unlicensed listings when the city asks (City of Austin: short-term rentals).

The detail that matters at closing is that Austin short-term rental operating licenses are not transferable. A buyer who wants to keep renting by the night has to apply for a new license, which the city prices at $736.60 for a new application and currently takes about 6 to 8 weeks to process for a single-family home. So bookings that run past your closing date are a real question: either cancel them, or agree in writing who honors them, because the new owner cannot advertise the house as a rental until a license is issued. If a deed has already been recorded, the city asks owners to contact its short-term rental licensing office for guidance.

Taxes follow the operator too. Since April 1, 2025, booking platforms have collected Austin's hotel occupancy tax for owners, but you still file a quarterly report through Austin Finance Online, including a zero report for a quarter with no stays, and money from direct bookings is still yours to remit. Houses in the extraterritorial jurisdiction do not need a city license at all. Finish the reports for the quarters you operated before you hand over the keys.

When we buy a house that has been an Airbnb in Travis Heights, Zilker, Holly, or East Cesar Chavez, we price it as a long-term rental or a renovation, not on last year's nightly revenue, since that income cannot be handed to us. You can leave the furniture, linens, and smart locks in place, and we will work around booked dates if you want to keep a few of them.

Will an expired City of Austin building permit hold up selling my house?

It will not stop the sale, but it does stay with the house. Austin Development Services says the property owner is responsible for every expired permit on the property, including permits issued to previous owners, and that an expired permit may have to be resolved before the city issues any new permits (Austin Development Services: modify a permit). A residential building or trade permit expires on the 181st day if no inspection has been scheduled or performed, and each passing inspection extends it another 180 days (Austin Development Services: homeowner's permit). So a water heater swap that never got a final inspection, or a remodel whose contractor walked off the job, can still sit on the city's record years later.

You can see what is on file by searching the address in the city's Property Profile tool, which lists expired permits and permit history for an address (City of Austin: Property Profile user guide), or in the Austin Build + Connect public search. Reactivating an expired permit takes a request from the owner or the contractor named on it, plus a fee, and when the house is held in an LLC or another entity the city asks for proof of ownership, such as a certificate of formation. A buyer who plans to renovate needs that cleaned up before their own permits can be issued, which is why a retail buyer's agent often asks the seller to deal with it before closing. We buy Austin houses with expired or never-pulled permits as-is. Tell us what you know about past work, and the reactivation or new permit becomes our job after closing.

What is the 2026-27 City of Austin tax rate, and what if my house is in a public improvement district?

The City of Austin's property tax rate for fiscal year 2026-27, which began October 1, 2026, is $0.579948 per $100 of taxable value, up from $0.524017 the year before. The city says this budget raises $89,349,535 more from property taxes than last year's, a 7.4% increase, and the adopted rate equals the voter-approval rate (City of Austin: tax rates). That is only the city's share; the county, your school district, and other taxing units add their own rates. When you sell, the year's taxes are prorated at closing, so the higher rate matters most for an empty or inherited house you would otherwise hold into 2027.

A smaller group of owners has one more line to check. The city posts service and assessment plans for its public improvement districts (PIDs), including Estancia Hills and Indian Hills along with the Downtown, East 6th, and South Congress districts (City of Austin). PID assessments are paid to the Travis County Tax Office, can be paid off at any time or in annual installments, and can lead to a lien and foreclosure if they go unpaid. Texas law requires a seller of property in a PID to give the buyer a written notice of that obligation before a binding contract is signed; if the seller does not, the buyer can terminate, and at closing a current copy of the notice is signed by both sides and recorded in the county deed records (Tex. Prop. Code §§ 5.014, 5.0141, 5.0143). If your Austin house is in a PID, tell us early. We sign the notice with you and account for the remaining installments in the written offer.

Is HomeCashOffer an Austin company, and where do you buy?

No. HomeCashOffer has been buying houses since 2019, buys about 190 a year across its markets, buying nationwide. We do not have an Austin office. We review Austin houses through photos, a video call, or a scheduled visit, and an Austin-area title company holds the earnest money and wires your proceeds at closing.

We buy across the city, including East Austin, Govalle, Montopolis, Dove Springs, Del Valle, South Congress, Travis Heights, Crestview, Brentwood, Windsor Park, North Lamar, Rundberg, and the Onion Creek area, plus Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Manor, Kyle, and Buda. Elsewhere in Texas, see San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, or the Texas cash home sale guide.

Last updated October 22, 2026

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