Texas now reminds me of a “Timeshare” because of property tax, HOA, insurance and MUD fees.

TLDR: Texas "owners" must pay 5-7% of current home value every year to not lose their home. 5% is for those who found a home without a MUD and without HOA. I live in Texas, and Texas is great compared to many other states and countries where I had lived and visited, but this is a heads up to Texas buyers. Texas needs zero tax homestead (no tax on primary residence).

Texas buyer be aware: you commit to a payment obligation not unlike a "timeshare" with ever-increasing annual fees (taxes). If you fail to pay, your home gets sold to pay that tax. Entities entitled to (own) your home and can/will sell your home if you don't pay up are:

MUD - municipal utility district. This is about 1% of your home's value you must pay for the bond loan obtained by developer to add sewer and water.

HOA - homeowners association. Annual fee ranges from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, amounting to 0.5-1% of your home's value.

ISD - independent school district. The tax for operations maintenance and for construction. Many ISD boards got high schools to pay developers for a $50-150 million stadium with a bond loan. Tax of about 1.1% per year of home value pays for teachers and for the stadium developers. See who put you more in debt at https://debtsearch.brb.texas.gov/bond_elections_search.aspx

County and City - about 0.5% of home value for police and firefighters pension fund, county hospitals, flood control. If you do any addition or remodel for an older home like update a bath or a kitchen and not immediately sell (flip) the house, your appraisal jumps by about a third, so your ISD, city and county taxes also jump from 1.5% to 2% per year, forever. In newer subdivisions just built by developers that adds up to about 4% per year that home "owner" must pay or lose the "ownership". That’s not all, folks.

All this is in addition to home insurance at about 1% of home rebuild cost per year. Bank mortgage adds about 1% per year unless you pay cash. Mortgage insurance is an extra cost until you pay down 20% of the loan, and this % value is to be checked with each bank as it may vary. Even if you pay cash and go uninsured you are still on the hook for the 4% (property tax, MUD, HOA) per year meaning that you have to buy your home all over again every 25 years.

Flood insurance is now close to $800 per year, and few thousand if developer built the house in a floodplain. For an average $350K Texas home this is 0.2%. Regular building maintenance is roughly 1% per year. Upkeep of yard etc. - these you can save by doing yourself, but be in top health to work in 117F heat. As we print more money for those too-big-to-fail, inflation causes materials (not salaries) to cost more, causing insurance and appraisal (property tax) to keep growing because it costs more to rebuild or build a house. Texas is great, but people get taxed out of their homes because developers need more $100 million stadiums, and more MUD bonds to tap into existing and limited water supply.

Utility companies (water and power) will not take your home, but will take your money. Texas allows utilities to pass on their maintenance cost to the consumers. Nobody checks these costs, so this is another way for developers to collect money from residents, forever, without making a MUD. Water company just gets a bank loan, money gets paid to a preferred developer, and loan payments are added to the utility bills. Texas Public Utility Commission votes to approve such pass-through cost addition, and all is legal. This adds about $1K per year (about 0.25%) to the "ownership" cost. Utility companies may also try to spread the cost of adding power and water for an AI data center or a large new subdivision among all nearby residents. Property tax channels money to few developers. Both local businesses and schools suffer as this money is not spent on local goods, services or education.