TREC Form 20-19, the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), is the most-used contract in Texas real estate. TREC adopted 20-19 under 22 TAC §537.28 on May 4, 2026, effective July 1, 2026 — it replaces 20-17/20-18. Agents handle dozens of these per year and most have never read every paragraph carefully. This guide walks through the current form by paragraph and flags what matters operationally.
¶ 1 — Parties
Identifies the seller and buyer. Use legal names exactly as they appear on title for the seller (matching the deed) and on the buyer's loan documents.
¶ 2 — Property
Property description: street address, county, legal description (lot/block/subdivision/recording reference). The legal description must match the title commitment exactly. Mismatches here surface as title objections later. ¶ 2B's accessories list now also includes generators.
¶ 3 — Sales price
Total sales price, broken into cash portion and financed portion. ¶ 3B's financing portion ties to the Third Party Financing Addendum (40-11) if attached.
¶ 4 — Leases
Discloses any leases affecting the property — residential leases, fixture leases, and natural resource leases (mineral, water, wind, coal, lignite, oil, gas). ¶ 4C's Natural Resource Lease definition now also includes geothermal.
¶ 5 — Earnest money and option fee
The most operationally consequential paragraph in the form.
- ¶ 5A — Earnest money + option fee. Both due within a specified number of days after the Effective Date (typically 3). ¶ 5A(2) rolls both forward if the deadline lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or Legal Holiday — 20-19 adds a statutory definition of "Legal Holiday" citing Texas Government Code §662.003(a), (b)(4), and (b)(6). This rollover is scoped to earnest money, the option fee, and additional earnest money only — it doesn't extend to title, survey, financing, or closing deadlines.
- ¶ 5B — Option period. The buyer's right to terminate without cause for a specified number of days. Calendar days, no rollover. Ends at 5:00 PM local. Full explainer.
¶ 6 — Title policy and survey
- ¶ 6A — Title commitment. Title company delivers the commitment within the specified number of days.
- ¶ 6B — Title objection. Buyer has a window to object to exceptions on Schedule B.
- ¶ 6C — Survey. Specifies whether seller provides a new survey or buyer accepts the existing survey + T-47 affidavit. Day-counted.
- ¶ 6D — Title cure or termination. If the seller can't or won't cure objections, buyer can terminate and recover earnest money.
- ¶ 6E. Its addendum-reference language was relocated into the reorganized ¶ 22 addenda checklist in 20-19; ¶ 6E itself is otherwise unchanged.
¶ 7 — Property condition
Seller's disclosure obligations under TREC, plus buyer's acceptance "as-is" or subject to repairs. Most repair negotiations happen during the option period and are documented via amendment (39-9), not by editing ¶ 7 directly.
New: ¶ 7I — Seller's Water Disclosure
20-19 adds a brand-new paragraph, ¶ 7I, the Seller's Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights ("Seller's Water Disclosure"). It did not exist in 20-17 or 20-18. Three checkboxes: (1) buyer has received the Seller's Water Disclosure, (2) buyer has not received it, or (3) seller isn't required to deliver one because all five of the following are true — no water well on the property, no pond/lake/tank, no filed surface water rights, no severed groundwater rights, and the property gets its water only from a municipal utility, MUD, WSC, or other public water supply corporation. Confirm which box applies before the contract is signed — it's a disclosure the seller has to affirmatively make or opt out of.
¶ 8 — Brokers' fees
¶ 8 used to carry a "B. BROKERS' FEES" subsection stating that broker-compensation obligations are governed by separate written agreements. 20-19 deletes that subsection entirely — broker compensation is now addressed directly in the contract, in the new ¶ 12B (below). Note: the Effective Date isn't a separately numbered paragraph — it's the date filled in near the signature block once the last party has signed and delivery has occurred, and every day-count deadline in the contract runs from it.
¶ 9 — Closing
Sets the closing date (¶ 9A). All other deadlines must run before this date — financing, title, survey, repairs all complete prior. If closing needs to move, execute TREC Form 39-9.
¶ 10 — Possession
When does the buyer get the keys — at closing, at funding, or per a separate temporary lease (TREC 16-7 buyer or 15-6 seller temporary residential leases)?
¶ 11 — Special provisions
Free-text negotiated provisions. Texas brokerage law restricts what license holders can write here without crossing into legal advice. Custom drafting beyond simple business terms typically requires an attorney.
¶ 12 — Settlement, expenses, and brokerage compensation
¶ 12A still allocates standard closing costs (title policy, survey, recording fees, etc.) between buyer and seller.
New: ¶ 12B — Brokerage Compensation
20-19 adds ¶ 12B, stating brokerage compensation "is not set by law and is fully negotiable," with two blanks: (1) an amount or percentage the seller will pay, applied toward the compensation the buyer owes their own broker, and (2) an amount or percentage the buyer will pay, applied toward the compensation the seller owes their own broker. This is TREC's contract-level response to the NAR commission-settlement changes — compensation now gets negotiated and documented directly in the purchase contract rather than exclusively in separate listing or buyer-representation agreements. This is a description of what the form says, not legal or brokerage-compliance advice — confirm your MLS's and your broker's compensation-disclosure requirements with your broker or a Texas real estate attorney before filling in ¶ 12B.
¶ 12C — Expense Limitation (renamed from old ¶ 12B)
What used to be ¶ 12B — the right to terminate if a party's closing costs exceed a negotiated cap — is renumbered ¶ 12C and narrowed. Brokerage compensation is excluded from that termination right's concession-priority order; ¶ 12C's termination right is now scoped specifically to charges a governmental loan program prohibits the buyer from paying, not to brokerage compensation generally.
¶ 13 — Prorations
Property tax prorations, HOA fees, etc. Title company handles the math at closing.
¶ 14 — Casualty loss
What happens if the property is damaged before closing.
¶ 15 — Default
Remedies if either party defaults — typically liquidated damages limited to the earnest money for the seller, specific performance available for the buyer.
¶ 16 — Mediation
Mediation provision before any litigation.
¶ 17 — Attorney's fees
Prevailing party recovers reasonable attorney's fees. 20-19 also updates ¶ 17's broker terminology from "Listing Broker, Other Broker" to "Seller's broker, Buyer's broker" — consistent with the ¶ 12B compensation language.
¶ 18 — Escrow
How earnest money is held and disbursed by the escrow agent.
¶ 19 — Representations
Standard representations by both parties. Unchanged in 20-19.
¶ 20 — Governmental Requirements
Renamed from "FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS"/"FEDERAL TAX REQUIREMENTS." The prior federal tax withholding text becomes subsection A; a new subsection B is added covering other governmental reporting requirements (for example, U.S. Treasury reporting).
¶ 21 — Notices
Restructured: notice can now be given by "the party or their agent" (not just the party directly), delivery by overnight courier is added, and fax is dropped entirely as a delivery method. Buyer's and seller's agents each get their own full contact block instead of a "copy to" line.
¶ 22 — Agreement of the parties
The addenda checklist is reorganized into categories, folds in the addendum-reference language relocated from ¶ 6E, and adds new checkboxes for the Release of Liability/VA Restoration and the Non-Realty Items Addendum.
¶ 23 — Consult an Attorney Before Signing
¶ 23 has never been the rollover paragraph — in 20-17, 20-18, or 20-19 — it's a one-line reminder to consult an attorney before signing, and that hasn't changed. The rollover rule for earnest money and the option fee lives in ¶ 5A(2) (see ¶ 5, above). It doesn't apply to the option period, and it doesn't extend to title, survey, financing, or closing deadlines.
Broker contact information
20-19 also renames the signature-page "BROKER INFORMATION" section to "BROKER CONTACT INFORMATION" and restructures it into separate Seller's agent, Buyer's agent, and intermediary blocks; the old subagency-disclosure line is removed.