Counting days in a Texas residential contract sounds simple. It is not. Three rules collide, and getting any one wrong puts a deadline on the wrong day. Here's how to count correctly.
Rule 1: Effective Date is day zero
The Effective Date is the date the last party signs and delivery occurs (¶ 8). When ¶ 5A says "within 3 days after the Effective Date," the Effective Date itself isn't day 1 — it's day zero. Day 1 is the day after.
Example: Effective Date is Monday May 4. The earnest money deadline (3 days) is Thursday May 7, not Wednesday.
Rule 2: Calendar days, not business days
TREC counts calendar days for everything. Weekends are included in the count. Holidays are included in the count. The only place weekends and holidays matter is the rollover rule below.
Example: A 21-day financing deadline starting on Monday May 4 spans three weekends. The 21 days are calendar days — you count straight through Saturdays and Sundays.
Rule 3: ¶ 23 rolls weekend/holiday landings — except the option period
If the calculated deadline lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, ¶ 23 rolls it forward to the next day that isn't one of those.
Example: Effective Date Monday May 4. Earnest money is 3 days → Thursday May 7. No rollover needed. Financing is 21 days → Monday May 25 — but May 25 is Memorial Day, so it rolls to Tuesday May 26.
What "5:00 PM" actually means
Most TREC notice deadlines (option period, financing notice, etc.) cite 5:00 PM as the cutoff. That's 5:00 PM local to the property, not local to the agent or the lender. For a property in Austin, the deadline is 5:00 PM Central. For a property in El Paso, that part of Texas observes Mountain Time — 5:00 PM Mountain is 6:00 PM Central. If you're a Dallas agent representing a buyer on an El Paso property, set your reminder to 5:00 PM in El Paso, not in Dallas.
Putting it together: a worked example
Effective Date Friday May 1, 2026. Closing date Monday June 1, 2026. 7-day option, 3-day earnest money, 3-day option fee, 21-day financing, 10-day survey.
| Deadline | Math | Lands on | Final date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnest money (¶ 5A) | 5/1 + 3 | Mon 5/4 | Mon 5/4 |
| Option fee (¶ 5A) | 5/1 + 3 | Mon 5/4 | Mon 5/4 |
| Option period (¶ 5B) | 5/1 + 7 | Fri 5/8 | Fri 5/8 by 5pm — never rolls |
| Survey (¶ 6C) | 5/1 + 10 | Mon 5/11 | Mon 5/11 |
| Financing (40-11) | 5/1 + 21 | Fri 5/22 | Fri 5/22 |
| Closing (¶ 9A) | — | Mon 6/1 | Mon 6/1 |
Why agents miscount
The most common errors:
- Off-by-one on Effective Date. Treating it as day 1 when it's day 0 makes every deadline a day too early.
- Counting business days for the option period. Calendar days, including weekends.
- Applying rollover to the option period. Don't. ¶ 5B carves itself out of ¶ 23.
- Forgetting the property-local time zone. 5:00 PM is local to the property, not your office.
The calculator below applies all of these rules exactly — including the option-period non-rollover and the property-local 5:00 PM convention. Use it on every deal until the math becomes second nature.