- Counties
- Kerr, Bandera, Kendall, Comal, Hays, Blanco, Gillespie, Llano, Burnet, Mason, Real
- Main towns
- Kerrville, Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Boerne, Marble Falls, Wimberley
- Regional population
- Roughly 700,000
Land is the main event
In most Texas metros, a seller-financed note is secured by a house. In the Hill Country it is just as often secured by land. Families buy five to fifty acres to build a home, retirees buy lots around Bandera and Kerrville, and ranch tracts change hands in Mason, Llano and Real counties. Developers also sell lots on terms near New Braunfels in Comal County, around Wimberley in Hays County, and outside Fredericksburg in Gillespie County.
Land notes behave differently from house notes. The collateral may have no structure to insure at first, the buyer may be building in stages, and the tax bill depends heavily on how the appraisal district classifies the land.
Agricultural and wildlife valuation
Hill Country effective tax rates run lower than the state average, roughly 1.5 to 2.0 percent of market value. For qualifying acreage, the bigger factor is special valuation. Land appraised under the open-space (1-d-1) rules in Tex. Tax Code §23.51 and following, including land managed for wildlife, is taxed on its productivity value. On a ranch tract that can cut the taxable value by most of its market value.
For escrow, that means two things. We budget against the actual bill based on the special valuation, not a guess based on the sale price. And we check the classification each year, because a lost valuation changes the bill sharply.
What a rollback does to a note
If land under 1-d-1 valuation is converted to a non-agricultural use, Tex. Tax Code §23.55 imposes a rollback tax: the difference between what was paid and what would have been owed at market value, for prior years. For changes of use since 2022, the lookback is three years and no interest is added; before that it was five years plus interest. A buyer who stops grazing cattle or clears a tract for homesites can trigger it. A rollback creates a tax lien that can come ahead of the lender's, so we flag the risk when the note is boarded and again at each annual review.
Sales law across eleven counties
Each county holds its own trustee sales, on the first Tuesday of the month at the courthouse, as Tex. Property Code §51.002 requires. Kerrville, Bandera, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Fredericksburg, Llano and Burnet are the county seats with the most activity. That is how Texas law works; it is not a service included in our monthly fee. Default and foreclosure support is available as a separate service on request. Ask us for a quote. The sale calendar lists each month's date.
Hill Country questions
Can you service a note on ag-valued acreage?
Yes. Escrow is set from the productivity-value bill, and the exemption status is reviewed every year so a change in classification does not go unnoticed until the bill arrives.
My buyer is building a house on the land in stages. Does that matter?
It can. Once a structure goes up, the deed of trust usually requires hazard insurance, and the appraisal district will add the improvement to the value. Both changes flow into the next escrow analysis.
I hold notes in several Hill Country counties. One servicer for all of them?
Yes. The rate card is the same in every Texas county, and each parcel's appraisal district, school district and special-district bills are tracked separately.
This page is general information about servicing notes in the Texas Hill Country, not legal advice. Special valuation, rollback taxes and foreclosure procedure depend on the specific property, the loan documents and current law, so consult a Texas real estate attorney or tax professional. Riverstone Note Servicing, LLC is a Texas-licensed mortgage servicer based in San Antonio.
