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Methodology and sources for the new-construction guide

The loan math behind every Est. True Monthly, the representative loan terms, where each tax, insurance and builder fact comes from, how fresh it must be, and how each version is archived.

What Est. True Monthly includes

Est. True Monthly is an estimate of the first-year monthly cost of owning a new home at the lowest price a builder publishes for a community. It adds:

  • the year-1 loan payment: principal and interest plus mortgage insurance (FHA annual premium or conventional PMI), for the example loan described below;
  • property tax at the full price, using the community's 2025 tax stack, with the homestead exemption for a homeowner ($140,000 off school district tax, $5,000 off South Texas ISD);
  • home insurance at the Texas average premium, plus a windstorm (TWIA) add-on in Cameron and Willacy counties;
  • HOA dues only where the builder publishes them. Where it does not, the figure is marked "+ HOA"; where a PID or MUD assessment is not in the tax stack, it is marked "+ PID".

Each line is rounded to the dollar and the total is the sum of the rounded lines. Every number is computed in the browser and on the server by the same open module, so the page you see and the archived copy match to the cent. It is an estimate, not a loan offer, a rate quote or a commitment to lend; Amy Herrera is a real estate sales agent with RE/MAX Elite, not a lender. Ask a lender for a Loan Estimate.

Loan terms behind every estimate

Representative examples across the advertised price range, at the default down payment and the weekly average rate. Change either one and the table recomputes.

8.08% APR FHA example at 5% down, $250,000

Example loans behind every Est. True Monthly: APR and payment schedule. The loan payments exclude property tax and insurance, so your actual monthly payment will be greater.
ExamplePriceDown paymentLoan amountAPRInterest rateNumber of paymentsLoan payment and how long (excludes property tax and insurance)
FHA$150,0005% ($7,500)$144,993.75 (includes $2,493.75 upfront mortgage insurance)8.08%7.40%360Year 1: 12 payments of $1,063.03 ($1,003.91 principal and interest + $59.12 mortgage insurance). Mortgage insurance is recalculated each year, declines slightly, and lasts all 360 payments.
FHA$250,0005% ($12,500)$241,656.25 (includes $4,156.25 upfront mortgage insurance)8.08%7.40%360Year 1: 12 payments of $1,771.72 ($1,673.18 principal and interest + $98.54 mortgage insurance). Mortgage insurance is recalculated each year, declines slightly, and lasts all 360 payments.
FHA$350,0005% ($17,500)$338,318.75 (includes $5,818.75 upfront mortgage insurance)8.08%7.40%360Year 1: 12 payments of $2,480.40 ($2,342.45 principal and interest + $137.95 mortgage insurance). Mortgage insurance is recalculated each year, declines slightly, and lasts all 360 payments.
FHA$450,0005% ($22,500)$434,981.25 (includes $7,481.25 upfront mortgage insurance)8.08%7.40%360Year 1: 12 payments of $3,189.09 ($3,011.72 principal and interest + $177.37 mortgage insurance). Mortgage insurance is recalculated each year, declines slightly, and lasts all 360 payments.
FHA$569,0005% ($28,450)$550,009.62 (includes $9,459.62 upfront mortgage insurance)8.08%7.40%360Year 1: 12 payments of $4,032.43 ($3,808.16 principal and interest + $224.27 mortgage insurance). Mortgage insurance is recalculated each year, declines slightly, and lasts all 360 payments.
Conventional with PMI$600,0005% ($30,000)$570,000.007.88%7.40%360147 payments of $4,222.06 ($3,946.56 principal and interest + $275.50 PMI), then 213 payments of $3,946.56.
Conventional$250,00020% ($50,000)$200,000.007.40%7.40%360360 payments of $1,384.76 principal and interest; no mortgage insurance.

Assumptions

  • Loan type and term: FHA or conventional 30-year fixed rate, 360 monthly payments.
  • Price: the community's lowest published builder price (or the price shown); the down payment is shown in percent and dollars.
  • Interest rate 7.40%, Freddie Mac's weekly national average for 30-year fixed loans for the week of October 8, 2026 (borrower profile: 20% down, good to excellent credit). Your rate depends on your credit, down payment, loan type and lender. The APR for each example is in the table above.
  • No discount points, no lender fees and no prepaid interest; with them the APR is higher. For example, a typical 1% lender fee ($2,375) on the $250,000 FHA example at 5% down would raise its APR from 8.08% to about 8.18%.
  • FHA mortgage insurance: a 1.75% upfront premium added to the loan, plus an annual premium of 0.55% under 5% down and 0.50% from 5% down, recalculated each year so it declines slightly; it lasts the life of the loan under 10% down and 11 years at 10% or more down (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05). FHA needs at least 3.5% down and a base loan at or under the 2026 FHA limit of $541,287 in Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-23); above that the example is a conventional loan.
  • Conventional mortgage insurance: PMI at 0.58% of the loan a year (assumes a 740 to 759 credit score; Urban Institute, Housing Finance at a Glance: A Monthly Chartbook, September 2026 (Enact rates)) until the balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the original value; none at 20% or more down.
  • Property tax, home insurance, windstorm insurance and HOA dues are estimates added on top of the loan payment; they are not loan terms.
  • Not a loan offer, a rate quote or a commitment to lend. Amy Herrera is a real estate sales agent with RE/MAX Elite, not a lender or loan originator. Ask a lender for a Loan Estimate.

Taxes, insurance and other inputs

  • Property tax. 2025 adopted rates per $100 in every county (the rates on the bills mailed in fall 2025), checked against the appraisal districts' 2025 rolls. 2026 rates, on the bills mailed this fall, can be higher or lower. Assumes the home is inside city limits (unless the community notes otherwise) and in the school district shown; outside city limits there is no city tax, and an emergency services district tax can apply instead. PID assessments, MUD taxes not shown in a community's tax stack, and local-option exemptions are not included.
  • Homestead exemption. A homeowner who lives in the home gets $140,000 off school district tax ($5,000 off South Texas ISD), under Tax Code 11.13(b). Every other taxing unit taxes the full value unless it adopts a local-option exemption. Investor and second-home examples use the full price.
  • Home insurance. Texas average homeowners premium, 2025 preliminary (TDI). The statewide average already includes wind coverage in most policies, so the TWIA line added in Cameron and Willacy is a conservative coastal add-on. Get a real quote.
  • Windstorm. TWIA average written premium per policy, all policy types (2026 TWIA annual report, county data as of Mar 31, 2026). TWIA covers Cameron and Willacy, not Hidalgo or Starr.
  • Mortgage insurance. FHA examples finance the 1.75% upfront mortgage insurance premium into the loan. Annual MIP is 0.50% when the base loan is 95% of value or less and 0.55% above 95%; it is recalculated each year on the declining balance and lasts the life of the loan under 10% down, or 11 years at 10% or more down. FHA needs at least 3.5% down and a base loan at or under the 2026 limit of $541,287 in Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties; above that the example is a conventional loan with private mortgage insurance. At 20% or more down the example is a conventional loan with no mortgage insurance.
  • HOA, PID and MUD. Included only when the builder publishes the amount; otherwise the estimate carries a visible "+ HOA" or "+ PID" flag. Texas sellers must give PID and MUD notices before closing.
  • Investor view. The /new-construction investor mode is hypothetical: it adds 0.75 percentage points to the owner-occupant average rate, an assumed typical investment-loan premium (lenders price investment loans differently), deed restrictions or HOA rules may limit leasing, and returns are not guaranteed.

How fresh the numbers are

  • Every community shows the date its builder facts were checked against the builder's own website (the "checked" date).
  • When those facts are more than 14 days old, community pages show an amber note that prices and incentives may have changed.
  • After 45 days, prices, estimates and incentives are hidden and the page asks you to contact Amy for current pricing.
  • The weekly average rate works the same way: after 14 days a note says a newer weekly average is out, and after 45 days the estimates are hidden.
  • Incentives with an end date disappear the day after that date, and builder events the day after they happen, both when the pages are built and again in your browser.

Sources

Recordkeeping

Each time a displayed number or disclosure changes, and at least with each weekly rate update, a dated archive is saved of /new-construction and every community page as visitors see them with the default numbers, together with the data file, the math module and the source documents listed above (the rate survey for that week, the HUD mortgagee letters and loan limits, the PMI source, and each builder incentive page). Archives are kept for at least 24 months after a version stops running, as Regulation N (12 CFR 1014.5) requires.

Disclaimer

Amy Herrera is a Texas real estate sales agent with RE/MAX Elite who represents home buyers. She is not the listing agent for any community on this page and does not represent any builder shown, unless a page says otherwise. The builders are not Amy's clients and have not sponsored or endorsed this site. Community names, prices, incentives, HOA dues and availability come from each builder's public website on the date shown and can change at any time; the builder's current price sheet and contract control. Builder names are trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify their communities. Images are public-domain aerial photos or illustrations, not photos of any builder's homes. Est. True Monthly is an estimate, not a quote or loan offer. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Builders shown here are not Amy's clients and do not endorse her; information is from their public websites.

Amy Herrera es agente de ventas de bienes raíces con licencia en Texas, afiliada a RE/MAX Elite, y representa a compradores. No es la agente de listado de ninguna comunidad en esta página y no representa a ninguna constructora que aparece aquí, salvo que la página indique lo contrario. Las constructoras no son clientes de Amy y no patrocinan ni respaldan este sitio. Los nombres de las comunidades, precios, incentivos, cuotas de HOA y disponibilidad provienen del sitio web público de cada constructora en la fecha indicada y pueden cambiar en cualquier momento; rigen la lista de precios y el contrato vigentes de la constructora. Los nombres de las constructoras son marcas de sus dueños y se usan solo para identificar sus comunidades. Las imágenes son fotos aéreas de dominio público o ilustraciones, no fotos de las casas de ninguna constructora. El Costo Mensual Estimado es una estimación, no una cotización ni una oferta de préstamo. Igualdad de oportunidades en la vivienda.