Will you be listing my house on the MLS or buying it?

Great question. We're not agents, and we don't list houses. We are professional home buyers: We buy houses Dallas that meet our purchasing criteria. From there, we may repair the house and resell it to another homeowner or keep it as a rental.

Do you pay fair prices for properties?

Many of the houses we purchase are below market value (we do this so we can resell it at a profit to another homeowner). We are looking to get a fair discount on a property. However, in our experience, many sellers aren't necessarily expecting a large 'windfall' on the property but rather appreciate that we can offer cash, we close very quickly (no waiting for financing), and no time or effort, or expense is required on your part of fix up the property or pay agent fees. If that's what you're looking for and you see the value in getting your house sold fast... let's see if we can come to a fair win-win price. (Besides, our no-obligation pricing commitment means that you do not have to move forward with the offer we give... but it's good to know what we're offering!)

How do you determine the price to offer on my house?

Great question, and we're an open book: Our process is very straightforward. We look at the location of the property, what repairs are needed, the current condition of the property, and values of comparable houses sold in the area recently. As you know, house values have taken a huge hit in the last 5 years and most areas still haven't seen prices come back up. We take many pieces of information into consideration... and come up with a fair price that works for us and works for you too.

Are there any fees or commissions to work with you?

This is what makes us stand out from the traditional method of selling your house: There are NO fees or commissions when you sell your house us. We'll make you an offer, and if it's a fit then we'll buy your house (and we'll often pay for the closing costs too!). No hassle. No fees. We make our money after we pay for repairs on the house (if any) and sell it for a profit (we're taking all of the risk here on whether we can sell it for a profit or not, once we buy the house from you... the responsibility is ours and you walk away without the burden of the property and it's payments... and often with cash in your hand).

How are you different from a real estate agent?

Real estate agents list properties and hope that someone will buy them. The agent shows the properties to prospective buyers if there are any (the average time to sell a property in many markets right now is 6-12 months) and then take a percentage of the sale price if they find a buyer. Oftentimes, the agent's commission is 3-6% of the sale price of your house (so if it's a $100,000 house, you'll pay between $3,000 - $6,000 in commissions to an agent). Agents provide a great service for those that can wait 6-12 months to sell and who don't mind giving up some of that sale price to pay for the commissions. But that's where we're different: We're not agents, we're home buyers. Our company actually buys houses. We don't list houses. Since we're actually the one buying the house from you, and we pay with all cash... we can make a decision to buy your house within a couple days (sometimes the same day). Again, we make our living by taking the risk to buy the house with our own cash, repair the house, and market it ourselves to find a buyer (which is the hard part in this market).

Is there any obligation when I submit my info?

There is absolutely zero obligation for you. Once you tell us a bit about your property, we'll take a look at things, maybe set up a call with you to find out a bit more, and make you an all-cash offer that's fair for you and fair for us. From there, it's 100% your decision on whether or not you'd like to sell your house to us... and we won't hassle you, won't harass you... it's 100% your decision and we'll let you decide what's right for you.

How to Sell an Investment Property Without Losing Money to Taxes

A rental can hand you a healthy check at closing and a tax bill that eats a quarter of it. Most of the regret lives in the gap between those two numbers. Sellers plan the sale down to the last repair receipt. Then they treat the tax side as something their CPA will sort out in April, and by April the useful options have closed. Texas helps a little, since the state won’t tax your gain. The federal bill is still there, and it’s plenty. If you’re about to sell an investment property in Texas, plan the taxes while you still control the timing.

How to Declare Profit From Disposal of Investment Property in Texas

Your gain isn’t the sale price minus what you paid. It’s the sale price minus your adjusted basis. Depreciation has been chipping away at that basis every year you owned the place. Claim $60,000 in depreciation over a decade and your basis drops by the same amount, so your taxable gain grows even if the property barely appreciated.

The IRS taxes that depreciation slice separately as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, at a maximum rate of 25 percent. The agency’s own guidance adds that the sale may also pull in the 3.8 percent net investment income tax if your income clears the threshold. Whatever gain is left rides the long-term capital gains rates of 0, 15, or 20 percent.

Texas doesn’t stack a fourth layer on top. There’s no state income tax, and voters wrote a ban on a personal income tax into the Texas Constitution in 2019. Sellers moving here from California or New York are often surprised by how much smaller the bill looks. Run the three federal layers before you sign anything on an investment property.

What’s the Difference Between Residential Property and Commercial Property Sales?

“Does it matter that my rental is a duplex and not a strip center?”

Yes, mostly in who shows up to buy and how fast. A residential investment property draws owner-occupants, small landlords, and cash buyers, so it moves on a normal market clock. Commercial buildings get underwritten on income. Leases, rent rolls, and tenant credit drive the price far more than curb appeal does, and I’ve watched that trip up first-time commercial buyers. A strip center buyer will read every lease before looking at the roof.

Last year I worked with an heir in Sherman, Texas who’d been carrying two mortgages for nearly eleven months after her father passed. She lived three states away. The tenants had moved out, and a riding mower was still parked in the detached garage. She didn’t need top dollar. She needed the bleeding to stop, and a listing agent’s net sheet rarely captures that part. We closed, and that kind of math is exactly why Southern Hills Home Buyers exists. If you’ve got a rental in that part of North Texas, here’s how to sell your house fast in Sherman TX without fixing it up first.

Selling Investment Property Abroad: What International Sellers Need to Know

If you’re a foreign person selling a Texas investment property, the buyer has to withhold 15 percent of your gross sale price and send it to the IRS. That’s FIRPTA withholding, a federal rule, and it’s figured on the whole price rather than your profit. It applies even if you lost money on the sale.

Buyers get a break in two situations. When the buyer will use the home as a residence and the price falls between $300,001 and $1,000,000, withholding drops to 10 percent. At $300,000 or less with the buyer moving in, withholding can be zero. Sales above $1,000,000 stay at the full rate regardless of use.

The withheld money isn’t gone. It works like a deposit against your eventual tax, and you claim the difference back when you file, which can take the better part of a year. If your actual gain is small, file Form 8288-B before closing to request a reduced withholding certificate. The IRS covers the rates, exceptions, and refund process in its FIRPTA withholding guidance.

Do You Still Have Questions About Selling Investment Property in Texas?

“I’ll just hold it until the market improves” is the objection I hear most, and it’s often the wrong call. Carrying costs don’t pause, and Texas property taxes keep coming whether the house is rented or empty. Freddie Mac’s 30-year average sat at 6.76 percent on September 10, 2026, and climbed to 6.95 percent a week later. A vacant rental with debt on it quietly burns through the appreciation you’re waiting for.

If you’d rather stay invested, watch the calendar on a 1031 exchange. It defers both capital gains and depreciation recapture when you roll into a replacement investment property. You get 45 calendar days from closing to identify that property in writing, and 180 days total to close on it. Those clocks run together, so the 45 days sit inside the 180. Sell late in the year and your window can end at your tax return due date instead, unless you extend the return.

Line up a qualified intermediary before you close. Touch the proceeds yourself and the exchange dies.

Further Information and Resources for Property Sellers

Selling costs reduce your taxable gain, and plenty of owners never claim them. Commissions, title fees, escrow fees, and advertising all come off the amount realized before any tax gets figured. Texas doesn’t charge a state transfer tax, so that line won’t show up on your settlement statement. Capital improvements add to your basis too. I’ve watched more than one seller dig through a shoebox of contractor invoices that turned out to be worth real money.

Texas property taxes are paid after the year ends, so expect to credit the buyer at closing for your share of the current year. Build that into your net before you compare offers.

Market data helps you set expectations. Realtor.com’s September 2026 housing report put the national median listing price at $419,250, with homes sitting a median of 61 days. Redfin’s August 2026 numbers showed a national median sale price of $398,596, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier. Texas ran softer. Redfin had the state’s August median at $333,611, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier, with a median of 68 days on the market. Patience is what’s getting expensive here. If your rental sits on the west side of the Metroplex, you can also talk with a cash home buyer in Fort Worth before you list.

Key Changes Worth Making Before You List

Get the basis wrong and you’ll overpay the IRS by thousands, with no refund unless you amend. Pull the closing statement from when you bought the place, along with improvement receipts and every depreciation schedule your accountant filed. Missing paperwork is the most common reason I see sellers report a bigger gain than they owe.

Separate land from building while you’re at it. Land isn’t depreciable, so none of it feeds the recapture math. Texas makes this easier than most states, because each county appraisal district lists land value and improvement value separately on its property records. An old appraisal can back up the split too.

One more fix: decide whether you’re selling as an investment property or converting it first. Moving back into a former rental can qualify part of your gain for the federal home sale exclusion. You’d still owe recapture on any depreciation taken after May 6, 1997, and years spent as a rental can shrink the excluded share. If you do move back in, file for the Texas homestead exemption with your appraisal district. A CPA can confirm the ownership and use tests for your situation. I’ve seen sellers skip that step and get the call wrong.

Why Property Investment Games Won’t Teach You This

Simulations and investing games are fun, and they skip the only part that costs real money, which is the tax return. No app models depreciation recapture against your actual income bracket.

What helps is running your own numbers on paper before you list. Start with your likely sale price and subtract selling costs. Subtract your adjusted basis, then split the gain into the depreciation slice and the appreciation slice. Apply the right rate to each. That’s your real walkaway number on an investment property, and in the homes I’ve bought it usually lands five figures below the online estimate.

Homes.com’s September 2026 seller guide says the typical home sold for 97 percent of asking price nationally in July. Build that discount into your math as well.

Where to Find More Advice on Texas Property Sales and Tax

Your county appraisal district can confirm assessed land values for the basis split, and its website usually lets you look up any parcel for free. A CPA who handles Texas rental property should run the recapture math before you accept an offer, not after. Ask about fees up front, and ask whether they’ve handled an exchange or a FIRPTA sale before. For market comps, stick with platforms that publish their methodology over automated estimates.

Sometimes the timeline is the problem rather than the price. A direct cash sale takes out the financing contingency, the inspection renegotiation, and weeks of showings. Southern Hills Home Buyers buys houses across Texas and handles those situations regularly. In my experience, buying as-is means the condition of the house stops being a negotiating weapon. If you’d like to know who you’d be working with, read about how we work with homeowners before you call.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can I Avoid Capital Gains When I Sell a Rental?

A like-kind exchange is the main tool. It lets you roll proceeds into another investment property and push the tax down the road. Converting the rental into your primary residence for the required period can shelter part of the gain, though recapture still applies to depreciation taken after May 6, 1997. An installment sale spreads the payments, and much of the tax, across several years. Which one fits depends on whether you want to stay in real estate or get out entirely.

Do I Pay Depreciation Recapture If I Never Claimed Depreciation?

Yes. The IRS figures recapture on depreciation “allowed or allowable,” so you owe on deductions you were entitled to take whether or not you took them. If you missed years of depreciation, a CPA can file Form 3115 to catch up those deductions. At least then you get the benefit you’re already paying for.

What Closing Costs Can I Deduct From the Sale?

Agent commissions, title fees, escrow fees, recording fees, and attorney costs all reduce your amount realized, which lowers your taxable gain. Repairs made to get the property ready generally don’t count. Improvements you added to your basis along the way do. Keep the settlement statement from closing, since that one document backs up most of these numbers.

How Long Does a Cash Sale Actually Take?

Most close in one to three weeks, and title work is usually the limiting factor rather than the buyer. There’s no appraisal, no loan underwriting, and no lender-ordered repairs. A tenant still in place or an open probate case stretches that timeline, so flag those details early.

If you’re weighing whether to sell an investment property in Texas, you can reach out and see what a cash offer would look like before you commit to anything. We’re happy to go over the numbers with you, with no obligation. If listing turns out to be the better move for your situation, we’ll tell you that too. You can contact us whenever it suits you, and there’s no pressure to decide on the spot.