What Changed in the Texas Resale Contract on July 1, 2026 for Frisco, Texas Sellers?

On July 1, 2026, the Texas Real Estate Commission's resale contract, form 20-19, became the required version for most home sales in Texas, and it brings a few changes every seller in Frisco should know before signing an offer. The biggest ones for you are a new Seller's Water Disclosure, generators now named as part of the home, a defined list of Legal Holidays for deadlines, a reorganized expenses paragraph, and new rules on where notices can be sent.

I'm Omega Mejia, a real estate agent with Simply Great Real Estate Group, and I help homeowners sell in Frisco, Texas and across Collin County. If you are getting ready to sell, the contract is the document that decides your deadlines, your disclosures and what goes with the house.

Form 20-19 is the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), and TREC lists its effective date as July 1, 2026. TREC calls it the most frequently used contract form. It covers a single family home, duplex, triplex or fourplex. It is not used for condominium sales, new homes sold by a builder, or farm and ranch properties.

According to Texas REALTORS, the revised TREC forms could be used on a voluntary basis as soon as they were released, and the forms labeled mandatory took effect July 1, 2026. TREC also published a May 2026 redline marking the changes from the prior form, 20-18.

The Seller's Water Disclosure is a new section, paragraph 7I, about groundwater and surface water rights tied to the property. Texas REALTORS reports that it comes from a directive of the Texas Sunset Commission, and that TREC created a separate form, the Seller's Disclosure about Groundwater and Surface Water Rights, TREC 61-0, for it.

The contract gives you three boxes. The buyer has already received the disclosure, the buyer has not received it and you will deliver it within a set number of days, or you are not required to deliver it. You are not required to deliver it only when all of these are true: you are not aware of a water well on the property, you are not aware of a pond, lake or water tank on the property, you are not aware of surface water rights filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, you are not aware that groundwater rights were severed, sold or leased, and the home gets its water only from a city, a municipal utility district or other special district, a water supply corporation or a private water supply company.

Timing matters here. If you promise to deliver the disclosure and the buyer never receives it, the form lets the buyer end the contract any time before closing with the earnest money refunded. If you deliver it after the contract is signed, the buyer may end the contract for any reason within 7 days after receiving it, or before closing if that comes first, with the earnest money refunded.

Yes. Along with the contract, TREC revised its Seller's Disclosure Notice, form 55-1. Texas REALTORS reports that, following the same Sunset Commission directive, the form now asks about insurance on the property, private roads on or next to the property that the buyer would be responsible for maintaining, aboveground storage tanks, and whether the property is in a conservation easement.

The contract also uses the full name Seller's Disclosure Notice where it once said Notice, so it is not confused with the other notices in the form. The delivery rules in paragraph 7B follow the same pattern as the water disclosure: if the buyer has not received the notice and never does, the buyer may end the contract before closing, and if it arrives after signing, the buyer may end the contract within 7 days after receiving it or before closing, whichever comes first, with the earnest money refunded.

Yes, if it is attached. Paragraph 2B of form 20-19 lists the improvements that convey with the home, and generators now appear on that list alongside items such as ceiling fans, water softeners, outdoor cooking equipment and security systems. Texas REALTORS says TREC added the word because generators are more common on properties than they used to be.

That means a permanently attached generator goes to the buyer unless you list it as an exclusion. Paragraph 2D is where you name the improvements and accessories you are keeping, and the form says excluded items must be removed before the buyer takes possession. If you plan to take a whole-home generator to your next house, it belongs in that blank from the start.

Deadlines now use a defined term. Paragraph 5A(2) says that if the last day to deliver the earnest money, the option fee or any additional earnest money falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Legal Holiday, the deadline moves to the end of the next day that is not one of those. The form defines a Legal Holiday by reference to the Texas Government Code. Texas REALTORS lists those days as New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Emancipation Day in Texas on June 19, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Notices changed too. Paragraph 21 now says notices from one party or their agent to the other must be in writing, and they are effective when mailed, hand delivered, sent by overnight courier or sent electronically to the other party or their agent. A new paragraph 20B asks both sides to promptly sign and deliver any statements and information the escrow agent requests to meet government reporting requirements, such as reporting to the U.S. Treasury.

The termination option still works the way my post on the option period explains: a buyer who pays the option fee on time can end the contract for any reason by 5:00 p.m. on the last day.

Paragraph 12 was reworded and reorganized. Paragraph 12A is now titled Expenses, and it lists what each side pays at or before closing. The line where a seller agrees to pay a set amount toward the buyer's expenses now says that amount is for expenses other than brokerage compensation.

Brokerage compensation moved to its own paragraph, 12B. The form states that brokerage compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable, and that each party pays their own broker under separate written agreements. The paragraph includes optional lines for either side to contribute toward the other side's broker. Texas REALTORS reports that the informational broker compensation disclosure at the bottom of page 10 was removed to reduce confusion.

Yes. TREC's Amendment to Contract, form 39-11, also took effect July 1, 2026, and Texas REALTORS reports it was updated to match the new paragraph 12. If you accept a backup offer, the Addendum for Back-Up Contract, TREC 11-9, now sets the backup contract's amended effective date as the day you deliver notice that the first contract ended, and a new TREC notice, form 62-0, can be used to deliver it.

If your Frisco home is in a property owners association, the HOA addendum, TREC 36-11, changed as well. A buyer who obtains the subdivision information does not have to give it to the seller, and the addendum's own allocation of association charges controls if it conflicts with the subdivision information.

• Gather your water facts now. Know whether the property has a well, a pond or a water tank, and which provider supplies your water, so the water section is filled in on day one.
• Complete the Seller's Disclosure Notice before you list. A buyer who receives it before signing does not get the 7-day window that late delivery creates.
• Decide what stays and what goes. Name a generator or any other attached item you are keeping in paragraph 2D, and plan to remove it before possession.
• Mark Legal Holidays on your calendar. Earnest money and option fee deadlines that land on one move to the next day that is not a weekend or Legal Holiday.
• Keep your agent in the notice chain. Notices can now go to you or your agent, so your agent's contact details belong in paragraph 21.
• Settle broker terms in writing early. Your listing agreement is the separate written agreement paragraph 12B refers to.

The first time you sell, the contract can feel like it belongs to the buyer. Several of the changes in form 20-19 are about what you disclose and when, and getting those pieces done before the home goes on the market keeps a buyer from gaining an extra exit later. My selling your home page shows how I prepare a seller's paperwork alongside the pricing and the photos.

If you are thinking about selling your home in Frisco, Texas and want your price, your disclosures and your contract ready before the first showing, contact me. You can start with my free home value and Plan A, B and C pricing, see how I run a sale on my process page, and read more common questions on my FAQ page. If you already have an offer in hand under the new form, contact me today.

Source: Texas Real Estate Commission, One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), TREC No. 20-19, effective July 1, 2026, its May 2026 redline, and Amendment to Contract, TREC No. 39-11; Texas REALTORS, "Latest Forms Changes," May 1, 2026. This is general information, not legal, tax, financial or insurance advice.