Infographic

Oct. 26, 2026

Living in Pharr, TX: Home Prices, Schools, and Taxes in 2026

Living in Pharr TX: average list price per square foot for single-family homes for sale, October 2026. Pharr $140, Mission $164, McAllen $166, Edinburg $173

Pharr sits right next to McAllen, and a lot of buyers drive through it without a second look. That is a mistake if price per square foot matters to you.

I pulled every single-family home for sale in Pharr on October 26, 2026, and compared it with McAllen, …

View More
Oct. 22, 2026

PIDs, MUDs, and HOAs in the RGV: What They Add to Your House Payment

Share of Hidalgo County homes for sale with an HOA by year built, October 2026: 16% of homes built 1999 or earlier, 40% built 2000 to 2024, 49% built 2025 or newer

Two homes can list for the same price in the Rio Grande Valley and still cost very different amounts each month. The difference is usually in the fine print: HOA dues, a PID assessment, or extra lines on the property tax bill.

Buyers ask me about these all …

View More
Posted in Buyer, Infographic, Seller, tips
Oct. 20, 2026

Tres Lagos vs. Sharyland Plantation vs. Historic North McAllen: Which Neighborhood Fits You?

Tres Lagos vs Sharyland Plantation vs Historic North McAllen home sales comparison 2026: price, price per square foot, size, year built and days on market

Three names come up more than any others when buyers tell me what they want in the McAllen area: Tres Lagos, Sharyland Plantation, and the older neighborhoods of Historic North McAllen. They could not be more different. One is a new master-planned community on the north …

View More
Oct. 17, 2026

Hidalgo County Home Sales Analysis 2026: What 1,163 Sales Tell Buyers and Sellers

Everyone has an opinion about the market right now. I wanted numbers. So I pulled every residential sale that closed in Edinburg, McAllen, Mission, and Alton between April 20 and October 16, 2026. That is 1,163 closed sales, plus the 1,602 homes still for sale and …

View More
Oct. 13, 2026

How Do Elections Affect the Real Estate Market? What RGV Buyers and Sellers Should Know

Infographic: how elections affect the housing market, with election year home sales, prices, mortgage rates, and RGV local votes

Every election year I get the same question from buyers: "Should we wait until after the election?" With the midterms on November 3, 2026 and early voting in Hidalgo County running October 19 to October 30, I am hearing it again.

The short answer is that elections affect …

View More
Oct. 12, 2026

Living in Edinburg, TX: What Homes Really Cost and What Buyers Are Getting in 2026

Most "living in" articles about Edinburg read the same way. A paragraph about UTRGV, a paragraph about the county courthouse, a list of restaurants, and a line saying it is a great place to raise a family. None of that tells you what you will actually pay, what you will …

View More
Posted in Buyer, Infographic
Oct. 6, 2026

RGV vs. Austin and Dallas: How the Valley Housing Market Stacks Up in 2026

If you follow Texas real estate news, you've seen the headlines. Austin prices falling. Dallas cooling. Inventory piling up across the state's biggest metros. A lot of people in the Valley read those stories and assume the same thing is happening here.

It isn't, exactly. Our market is genuinely …

View More
Sept. 30, 2026

McAllen vs Mission vs Edinburg: Which RGV City Is Right for You?

People move to the Valley and then spend six months figuring out they picked the wrong city. Not a bad city, just the wrong one for how they actually live. The commute is twenty minutes longer than they expected, or the schools aren't what they assumed, or they're paying for …

View More
Aug. 31, 2026

How Often Do Home Sales Fall Through? 5 Reasons Deals Die Before Closing

There's a particular kind of phone call I hate making. It's the one where I have to tell a buyer that the home they've already mentally moved into isn't going to work out. I've made that call for a low appraisal, for an inspection that turned up more than anyone …

View More
Posted in Buyer, Infographic, Seller, tips
May 12, 2026

You Don't Need 20% Down to Buy a Home in the Rio Grande Valley

I hear it almost every week. Someone is ready to buy a home in McAllen, Mission, or Edinburg — they know the neighborhood they want, they've done the math on a monthly payment — and then they stop themselves. "I don't have 20% saved yet." So they wait. …

View More
Posted in Buyer, Infographic