When you purchase your new home and everyone tells you to “be sure and file your homestead exemption” you might be thinking to yourself, what in the world is a homestead. The Merriam-Webster dictionary states that the definition of homestead is ‘the home and adjoining land occupied by a family’.
Texas has two types of homesteads: urban and rural. Most of the time a person’s homestead will be urban but there are times that it can be rural. Let’s look of the two types.
The city life is the life to lead! If you find that your dream home is in the city, then you would have an urban homestead. This would be a home located on any lot or contiguous lots up to 10 acres that is in a town or city.
Fresh air and green grass are more my style! If your dream home is located “out in the sticks” or in “the country” then it would be considered a rural homestead. This would be a house that was located on up to 200 acres for a family or up to 100 acres for a single adult, that is not located within the city limits.
Things to remember:
- A homestead must be one or the other, it may not be both.
- Homeowners can only have one legal primary residence that can be deemed their homestead.
- Homestead is not available to business entities and Trusts.
- Homestead does not apply to rental properties you may own.
If you have any questions on what type of property your homestead is, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us here at Red River Title Company.
