San Antonio, TX real estate: buy or sell with a local AXEN agent
San Antonio sits on top of the Edwards Aquifer, and that one fact changes what you can build and how much hard surface you can put on a lot. The city also has 32 local historic districts where it has to approve any outside change, plus lighting rules near five military bases. Outside the city line, Bexar County cannot zone at all, so the lot next door can become almost anything.
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Buying a home in San Antonio: what to know
The rules that apply everywhere in Texas are on the Texas page. These are the San Antonio details that trip people up.
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Your tax bill has six or more lines, not one. Every property in Bexar County is taxed by the county, county road and flood, the community college district, the hospital district and the river authority, plus a school district. The City of San Antonio is a separate line only if the address is inside the city.
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Outside the city line, you pay an emergency services district instead of city fire. Bexar County has a dozen numbered emergency services districts on the tax roll for unincorporated areas, and some newer areas also carry a special improvement district line. Read the tax roll, not the listing.
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Building on the recharge zone needs a state plan first. Bexar County is in the Edwards Aquifer protection programme. Before construction on the recharge or contributing zone, the state has to approve an aquifer protection plan, and the site is then watched for compliance. Check the state's aquifer map viewer for the address.
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Water and sewer hookup fees change by elevation and by creek basin. The water system's impact fees are a one-time charge with a supply piece, a delivery piece that changes with elevation and a wastewater piece that changes with the drainage basin. The fee is set by the date the plat was recorded, so two lots a mile apart can differ.
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Historic districts and military lighting zones add a review step. San Antonio has 32 local historic districts, and any outside change to a home in one needs a Certificate of Appropriateness. Separately, property within five miles of one of the area's military airfields falls in a military lighting overlay district, and an airport hazard overlay limits height near the airports.
Selling a home in San Antonio
Pull your Certificate of Appropriateness history.
If the home is in a local historic district or is a local landmark, every past outside change needed one. Missing paperwork slows a sale, and the records are on the city's public preservation portal.
Show the impervious cover story on recharge-zone lots.
Buyers who want a pool, a shop or a longer driveway will ask what is allowed. If the subdivision has a state-approved aquifer protection plan, hand it over with the survey.
Prove which district lines you are in.
A buyer comparing an in-city home to one in the county needs to see the emergency services or improvement district line if there is one. Print the county tax roll page for the account.
San Antonio real estate questions
Who taxes my San Antonio home?
Every Bexar County property pays the county, county road and flood, the community college district, the hospital district and the river authority, plus one school district. Add the City of San Antonio only if the address is inside the city. Outside it, an emergency services district line usually replaces the city line.
What does the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone mean for me?
The aquifer here is karst, with cracks, caves and sinkholes that carry surface water straight into the drinking water. Because of that, the state has to approve a protection plan before construction on the recharge or contributing zone. Use the state map viewer before you plan a pool or an addition.
I found a home outside the city limits. What is different?
Unincorporated Bexar County has no zoning at all. The county can require permits and regulate subdivisions but cannot control land use the way a city can. You also lose city services and gain an emergency services district line on the tax bill.
Can the city still annex my land or hold it in its extraterritorial area?
San Antonio can annex for full purposes, which brings city services and city taxes, or for limited purposes, which extends some city rules but not services or city taxes. Since a 2023 state law, owners and voters in the extraterritorial area can petition to be released from it.
Why do impact fees differ between two nearby lots?
Because the water system prices delivery by elevation and wastewater by drainage basin, and the fee is locked in by the date the plat was recorded. Two lots a mile apart can carry different one-time charges for the same size home.
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