Offers side by side, demolition permits, a vacant house
Weighing Two Offers on a West U House at the Same Time
Updated October 2026
Can I review a builder's offer and a buyer's offer on my West U house at the same time?
Yes: as of July 2026, Texas rules let you receive, review and negotiate a builder's offer and a buyer's offer on your West U house simultaneously.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, West U
Source: Texas Real Estate Commission page for its New Home Contract (Incomplete Construction) form, with its license holder FAQ, July 2026.
What do Texas rules let you do when a builder and another buyer both make offers?
The Texas Real Estate Commission's license holder FAQ states that a seller may receive, review and negotiate several offers simultaneously. That reaches a builder's offer and an occupant's offer on the same West U house.
The same FAQ speaks to the agent's side as well. It says nothing bars a license holder from presenting more than one offer at a time to a seller.
So two offers that arrive in the same week can be laid side by side. You can compare their prices, closing dates and conditions, and negotiate with both before you accept either one.
Under 22 Texas Administrative Code Section 537.11, a license holder may explain the choices printed in a contract form. A license holder may not give an opinion on its legal effect, so wording beyond those choices belongs with your attorney.
There is no prohibition against a license holder presenting more than one offer at a time to a seller.
Why might a builder and an occupant price your West U house so differently?
West University Place enforces its own zoning ordinance, and a builder reads your lot against it before naming a price. An occupant reads the rooms, the finishes and the yard.
Three facts of record decide the builder's side: the date the building site took its present boundaries, its width, depth and area, and the large trees on it.
A site with its present boundaries from before 24 October 1987 can be as small as 5,000 square feet in the Single-Family District. One created later needs 8,250 square feet, 75 feet of width and 110 feet of depth.
A house that already fills most of the permitted framed area, capped at 80 percent of the site, leaves a builder little to gain by replacing it. A smaller original house on a full-size site draws the opposite reading.
Read each offer against those facts before comparing the totals. The builder has already done that arithmetic.
What does a builder have to clear with West University Place after closing?
The City of West University Place requires a permit before anyone demolishes, builds, enlarges or moves a building or structure in the city. That rule binds a builder who buys your house as much as anyone.
The city has adopted the 2021 International Family of Codes, and building plans are reviewed for compliance with the adopted codes.
Trees add a gate of their own. Once a permit for development or predevelopment activity is in play, every large tree on the site is protected. A large tree starts at 19 inches of circumference.
The building official may not issue that permit until the urban forester has approved a tree survey and written the tree conditions into it. A builder prices that sequence into an offer, and an occupant's offer carries none of it.
Who watches the empty house while the offers are being weighed?
If your start date in another city comes before closing, the house may stand empty while you weigh offers. The West University Place Police Department runs a House Watch program for owners who are away.
The department will place a house on a special watch for a maximum of 30 days while the owner is away. You must be gone at least 72 hours, and the house must be unoccupied while you are gone.
Tell your listing agent the dates you will be away. Showings and any builder's visit to measure the lot can then be planned around them.
What do the West U market figures say about how long offers take?
As of October 2026, the median West U home went under contract after 38 days and closed at about 99.2 percent of asking.
Those figures blend two kinds of sale. Buyers paying for the site tend to be a small, informed group who have underwritten the lot before calling. Buyers paying for the house compete with new construction on quality.
The figures also cover the Southside area beside West University Place, not the city alone, while the zoning and tree rules apply only inside the city.
Questions & answers
West U questions, answered
Does my listing agent have to show me every offer on my West U house, even after one is already on the table?
Yes. The Texas Real Estate Commission's license holder FAQ says the listing agent represents the seller and has a duty to present all offers in a timely manner to the seller. A second offer that arrives after a first one is still an offer. It comes to you promptly, whether it is from a builder or from someone planning to live in the house.
Timeliness matters more when you are selling against a fixed date somewhere else. Give your agent a phone number and an email address that reach you in the new city, and say how fast you can sign electronically. Ask which offer came in first, and when each one expires. Then ask what each buyer wants besides the price: the closing date, any period to inspect, and the day the buyer expects the house to be empty. Those terms decide whether the higher number fits your calendar.
How long will the city take to review a builder's plans if a builder buys my West U house?
West University Place publishes its own timeline. Plan review for a new home runs about 10 to 15 business days, and the urban forester's review of the tree disposition adds about 5 to 7 more. If the city rejects the plans, the builder corrects and resubmits them, and the plan-review clock starts over in full.
Before a new-home permit is released, the city also wants an active water account in the contractor's name and sidewalk and driveway deposits. It wants utility disconnections, a letter from the gas utility, and an approved final demolition inspection. Inspections in that sequence are conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. A builder carries that whole sequence and prices it in before naming a number. Ask the builder's agent what closing date the offer names, and compare it with the date you need to be settled in the new city.
What if my West U house will be empty for more than 30 days before closing?
The West University Place Police Department's House Watch lasts a maximum of 30 days at a time. If you are gone for more than 30 days, you must call in or submit a new form to renew the watch. You must still be away at least 72 hours, and the house must be unoccupied while you are gone.
Put the renewal date on the same calendar as your listing, any offer deadlines and the planned closing. If the closing slips, the watch does not extend on its own. A house sold from a distance also needs someone local for keys, utilities and the final walk-through. Settle who that is with your listing agent before you leave, and give the department current contact details for yourself.
Which comparable sales should I use to judge a builder's offer against an occupant's offer on my West U house?
Use two sets. For the occupant's offer, use recent sales of similar houses on comparable sites. For the builder's offer, use sales where the site was the asset, read from plat dates, dimensions and trees. With 209 sales in the trailing twelve months as of October 2026, four similar recent sales usually exist for most kinds of property.
Be careful with the average of $542 per square foot. It treats a square foot of new construction and a square foot of an original house as the same unit. New houses built to the full envelope pull that rate upward, so applying it to an older house overstates the house and understates the land. A median of $1,899,513 across homes sold since April 2026 blends both kinds of sale. It describes a band of prices rather than your address.
Which city permits could a builder need before doing anything to my West U lot?
Possibly several. The City of West University Place lists building, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, stormwater and floodplain development permits. The right one has to be in hand before anyone erects, alters, repairs, removes or demolishes a building or structure in the city, and the rule names fences and storage buildings too.
Which permits apply depends on the work. Removing an old house and putting up a new one both fall under the rule, and so does work on a fence or a storage building. Plans go to the Community Development office at 3826 Amherst Street. If your sale contract leaves you responsible for any work on the lot before closing, ask the city which permit that work takes before anyone starts it.
Can I get the house value and the lot value on my West U house before the offers arrive?
Yes. Ask for a home valuation on the address and you get two readings: what a buyer would pay for the house as it stands, and what the site is worth to someone planning to replace it. No public record carries a land price, so the second reading comes from your plat, the site's dimensions and its trees.
Send the address, along with the recorded plat and any tree survey you already hold. What comes back is the site facts, the comparable sales, and a written statement of which of the two values is doing the work. The document behind each figure is named beside it. With both numbers in hand before you list, each offer can be read against the value it is actually bidding on, even from another city.
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