Annexation

"Annexation. If the property you buy is outside the limits of a municipality, you should be aware that the property may later be annexed by a nearby municipality. You may find information on the boundaries of nearby municipalities by contacting the municipalities directly" (from the TAR Form 1506 "General Information and Notice to a Buyer").

If a rural property is within a few miles of the city limits of a municipality, it may also be subject to limited amounts of regulation by that town because it is within the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of that town. Again, check it out.

One of the unexpected consequences of Annexation is that a home may have been built when the area was rural and was subsequently annexed....but, it may not be completely connected to City Services such as sewer. I know an area of homes along a creek in Oak Cliff that were built with septic systems. As those systems fail, the homes owners are being required to tie into city sewer lines at a cost of thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.