Transaction coordination in Texas.

The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) licenses Texas agents and brokers and, unusually, also promulgates the standard contract forms. TREC forms aren't optional in Texas. Agents are required to use them unless the client uses an attorney-drafted alternative. Quill knows each TREC form by number and treats the TREC form language as the operating instructions for the deal.

Texas uses a different TREC-promulgated form for each deal type:

• TREC 20-18: One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale). The most common.
• TREC 23-19: New Home Contract (Incomplete Construction)
• TREC 24-17: New Home Contract (Completed Construction)
• TREC 25-15: Farm and Ranch Contract
• TREC 30-17: Residential Condominium Contract

Quill confirms the correct form was used on every file. A resale contract on a new-construction deal is the kind of error that surfaces only at close; we catch it at intake.

The Termination Option (option period) is a Texas-specific mechanism. In exchange for the buyer paying a negotiated option fee directly to the seller, the buyer has the unrestricted right to terminate the contract for any reason before the option period expires. The period is measured in days, but the 5 PM local-time deadline is absolute and non-forgiving. An option notice delivered at 5:01 PM is void.

Quill manages the option period as a separate, hour-aware workstream:

• Option fee delivery confirmed (it goes to the seller, not the title company)
• Inspection scheduled immediately to give the buyer actionable information inside the option window
• Option period deadline tracked by the hour, not the day, and reminders issued 48 and 24 hours out
• Repair amendment (TREC 39-10) processed quickly if negotiated during option
• Option termination (TREC 38-7) handled correctly if the buyer exercises

Texas is a title-company close state. Title companies handle escrow, issue title insurance, and conduct the closing. Unlike attorney-state closings, the title company runs the table. Quill works directly with the title company throughout: opening the GF file, confirming earnest money receipt, tracking the commitment, HOA resale documents, and the closing disclosure, and confirming the deed records before calling the file closed.

Texas' TREC-forms-and-option-period structure is specific enough that a handful of errors repeat across most files we inherit. The ones we watch for at intake:

• Using TREC 20 on a new-construction deal. The resale contract is the wrong form once construction is involved. The correct form is TREC 23 or TREC 24 depending on whether construction is complete. We confirm the form number against the deal type at intake, every file.
• Treating the 5 PM option-period deadline as end of day. It's a clock time, not a date. A termination notice time-stamped at 5:01 PM local time is void. We track the option period by the hour and issue 48-hour and 24-hour reminders.
• Sending the option fee to the title company. The option fee is paid directly to the seller. Title company routing delays receipt and risks the option period itself if the fee isn't in the seller's hands by the delivery window.
• Dating deadlines from the wrong event. Texas option-period days run from the contract's Effective Date, which is a separate field on the TREC form and is not the same as acceptance date or signing date. Wrong dating here cascades through every subsequent deadline in the file.

• Correct TREC form confirmed at intake against the deal type
• Option period tracked to the hour, with reminders that don't assume Monday business days
• Option fee delivery to the seller verified
• Earnest money delivered to the title company and receipted
• Inspection, repair amendment (TREC 39), and any back-up offers (TREC 11-7) processed on TREC's forms
• Title commitment and HOA resale packet reviewed before contingency expirations
• Financing tracked to the 3rd-party financing contingency deadline
• Closing disclosure and commission demand reviewed before signing
• Recording confirmed with the county before close is declared