Fabens, Texas: financing a home in the Lower Valley's cotton and pecan country

Houses that back onto a field or orchard

Where a Fabens lot borders a cotton field or a pecan orchard, the edge of the property may be an irrigation ditch, a fence line or a dirt track rather than a paved alley. Walk those edges with a current survey in hand, ask what easements cross the tract (power lines, a shared drive, a farm road to the field behind it), and find out whether the house is tied into a public sewer line or runs on an on-site septic system, because the answer changes what gets inspected and what the upkeep costs.

When a tract includes acreage beyond the house lot, ask the appraisal district how that land is valued for property tax today and whether the valuation changes once it stops being farmed or changes hands. Owners in Fabens put the median value of their own homes at $95,500 in the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey, against $180,400 for El Paso County as a whole; those are owners' own estimates, not sale prices, and neither says anything reliable about one particular house or tract.

Inspecting a Fabens house from the 1980s or earlier

Half the homes in Fabens were built in 1987 or earlier, so a typical house has been through several owners and several rounds of repair. Ask the inspector to spend time on the roof, the supply and drain lines, the water heater and the electrical panel, and to note whether the house is cooled by an evaporative cooler, refrigerated air or both, and how old each unit is. If the home is on septic, schedule a separate septic inspection.

Receipts for a newer roof, cooler or septic pump-out are worth asking about before booking the inspector. On an older house, the inspection and the appraisal can both turn up repairs, and knowing about them early leaves time to talk them through with a loan officer before closing.

Fabens ISD and the I-10 drive toward the city

Fabens ISD is the school district for the town. Its boundary held about 5,003 residents in the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 estimates, a little more than the 4,818 counted inside the Fabens place outline, a reminder that district lines and Census lines are drawn separately. Ask Fabens ISD which campus a given street address is zoned to.

Interstate 10 is the main route west from Fabens, through the valley toward Socorro and El Paso. How long that drive takes depends on the hour and on the part of the city you are aiming for, so run it on a weekday at your real departure time before settling on a house out here.

Property taxes on a Fabens address

No city rate shows up on a Fabens tax bill. What does show up is the rate of each taxing unit whose boundary covers the parcel: El Paso County, Fabens ISD, the El Paso Community College and hospital districts, and any water or special district. The county's truth-in-taxation site lets you look up the combined rate for one specific property.

Moving into a Fabens house as your main home? File for the residence homestead exemption described by the Texas Comptroller. A closing in, say, June does not mean waiting a year: per the Comptroller, the general exemption can apply to the part of the tax year after you acquire the home, provided the previous owner did not already receive it for that year.

Financing a home in Fabens

Property taxes are part of the monthly housing budget, not only a yearly bill. Many mortgages collect them, along with homeowners insurance, through an escrow account, so the combined rate on a Fabens parcel, whether any water or special district covers it, and whether a homestead exemption is already in place all shape that monthly figure. Looking up the exact address on the county's rate site before an offer keeps the estimate tied to the actual parcel.

Fabens properties raise a few financing questions of their own. A septic system, a private water source, acreage beyond the house lot or land still in farm use can all affect how a property is appraised and which loan types fit it, so raise those details with the loan officer early rather than after an offer.

Pre-approval, in general, means a lender has reviewed a borrower's income, assets and credit and issued a letter with conditions; it is not a final loan approval or a commitment to lend. Loan officers commonly ask for identification, recent pay stubs, W-2s or tax returns, and recent bank statements, and the exact list depends on the loan and the borrower's situation. JetMo lists VA loans among the loan types it offers, a common question for anyone with an assignment at Fort Bliss.

Requests from this page go to Eduardo Cepeda (NMLS #2708113) of JetMo (NMLS #2454704), a Texas-licensed loan officer, by phone or email. Ask Eduardo about pre-approval, loan types, and how taxes and the septic or acreage details on a specific Fabens property fit a budget.