Free Texas State Law study sheet
Texas Real Estate Special Topics Texas Real Estate Exam Cheat Sheet
Quick answerSpecial Topics is the 5-item Texas state-law area covering community property, homestead, DTPA, wills and estates, landlord-tenant law, foreclosure and short sales, recording, improvement liens, the Veterans Land Board, property owners associations, and equitable interest.
Source-checked Texas State Law portion
Texas law controls this page. Do not replace a TREC or Texas rule with a generic national principle.
Name the official outline row before applying a rule. Most wrong answers borrow a true statement from a neighboring system, such as using a tax-exemption rule to answer a creditor-protection question.
Exam scope
What Pearson tests
Verified against the official content outline.
- A Community Property; B Homestead Protections and Tax Exemptions; C Deceptive Trade Practices Act
- D Wills and Estates; E Landlord-Tenant Issues; F Foreclosure and Short Sales
- G Recording Statutes; H Mechanic's and Materialman's Liens; I Veterans Land Board
- J Home Owners Associations; K Equitable Interest
Decision traps
Common traps to catch
Check the governing source material.
- A deed name does not settle whether marital property is community or separate.
- Creditor protection, a tax exemption, and an appraisal limitation are three different homestead rules.
- A license holder's DTPA exemption is not blanket immunity for factual misrepresentation, intentional nondisclosure, or unconscionable conduct.
- A holographic will follows a different witness rule from an attested will.
- Immediate vesting at death is subject to debts and administration; it does not prove that one relative has authority to sign a deed.
- The security-deposit refund clock runs from surrender, but a forwarding address affects when the landlord's duty is enforceable.
- The 20-day residence cure period and 21-day foreclosure-sale notice are separate clocks.
- An unrecorded deed is not automatically void between its parties.
- A constitutional improvement-lien right does not eliminate Chapter 53 notice, filing, and homestead formalities.
- VLB is a Texas program. The VA loan guaranty is federal.
- A recorded restrictive covenant is a private control, not a zoning ordinance.
- Equitable interest does not automatically transfer the deed, possession, priority, or a court remedy.
Essential vocabulary
Texas Real Estate Special Topics terms to know
- Community property
- Property classified as belonging to the marital community under Texas law.
- Separate property
- Property classified to one spouse, including qualifying premarital property and specified gifts or inheritances.
- Homestead protection
- Texas constitutional and statutory protection against forced sale, subject to stated exceptions.
- Homestead exemption
- A property-tax exemption that reduces taxable value for a qualifying residence homestead.
- DTPA
- The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.
- Holographic will
- A will written wholly in the testator's handwriting, which Texas law does not require subscribing witnesses to attest.
- Intestate succession
- The statutory order for distributing estate property not effectively disposed of by will.
- Security deposit
- Money intended primarily to secure performance under a residential lease.
- Short sale
- A sale that requires creditor approval because anticipated proceeds will not satisfy the secured debt and related obligations.
- Non-judicial foreclosure
- A foreclosure process conducted under a power of sale without a foreclosure judgment when legal requirements are met.
- Constructive notice
- Notice the law attributes to persons when an eligible instrument is properly recorded.
- Mechanic's and materialman's lien
- A lien securing qualifying payment claims for labor or materials supplied to improve property.
- Veterans Land Board
- A Texas General Land Office program offering qualifying land, home, and home-improvement financing benefits.
- Restrictive covenant
- A private recorded restriction governing the use or character of land.
- Resale certificate
- A statutory POA document reporting specified association, assessment, restriction, and property information.
- Equitable interest
- A contract-based interest recognized in equity before legal title is delivered by deed.
Check your recall
Can you answer these without notes?
Open each card only after you commit to an answer.
1How do you classify marital property, and which homestead rules stay separate?
Use acquisition facts. Separate creditor protection, tax exemption, and appraisal limitation.
2What facts signal DTPA nondisclosure and a holographic will?
Known facts withheld to induce; a will wholly in the testator's handwriting.
3What are the deposit and residence-foreclosure clocks?
30 days from surrender; at least 20 days to cure, then at least 21 days' sale notice.
4What does recording do, and what does a homestead improvement lien require?
Recording supplies notice. The contract must satisfy pre-work writing, spouse-signature, and filing rules.
5How do VLB and a POA differ from their distractors?
VLB is Texas, not federal VA. A POA covenant is private, not zoning.
6What does equitable interest not grant automatically?
Legal title, possession, priority, or specific performance.
7What evidence overcomes the community-property presumption?
Clear and convincing evidence of separate-property character.
8Does the broker and sales-agent DTPA exemption protect intentional failure to disclose under Section 17.46(b)(24)?
No. Section 17.49(i) expressly preserves that exception.
9Does a will freeze ownership until probate?
No. Estate property generally vests at death subject to debts and administration, while probate or heirship establishes reliable title authority.
10Does seven days create an absolute residential repair deadline?
No. Section 92.056 makes seven days a rebuttable presumption of reasonable time.
11When is a Texas foreclosure sale generally held?
Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday, or the first Wednesday when that Tuesday is January 1 or July 4.
12Can a sales agent decide whether a covenant, lien, will, or equitable interest is legally enforceable?
No. Explain general process, use approved forms, and route legal-effect questions to the broker, title company, or attorney.
Use the sheet, then retrieve
Turn recognition into recall.
Read the full lesson when a definition is fuzzy. Then answer the topic questions without looking back at this sheet.
Primary sources
Checked .
- Pearson VUE Texas Real Estate Content Outlines
- Texas Constitution Article XVI
- Texas Family Code Chapters 3 and 5
- Texas Tax Code Chapters 11 and 23
- Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 17
- Texas Estates Code
- Texas Property Code
- Texas GLO Veterans Land Board programs
This is exam-prep education, not legal, tax, or transaction advice. Confirm the current law, form, and official exam materials before relying on a rule in practice.