Picture a typical acreage listing outside Andrews. Ten or fifteen minutes north of town, accessed by a caliche road that isn't on any city maintenance schedule, with a propane tank behind the barn and a mineral history nobody in the family has looked at since Granddad's estate closed. That property was always going to need extra paperwork to sell. What changed this year is that Texas now requires the seller to say so, in writing, before the buyer ever signs.

On May 4, 2026, the Texas Real Estate Commission adopted a revised Seller's Disclosure Notice, TREC Form 55-1, replacing the long-standing 55-0. The new form becomes mandatory for any contract written on or after July 1, 2026. For a lot of Texas, that's a paperwork update. For Andrews, it's closer to a mirror.

What Changed on May 4, and What It Means Now

The Sunset Advisory Commission directed TREC to close four specific gaps in what sellers had to tell buyers. The updated form now asks directly about insurance history, private roads, storage tanks, and conservation easements. TREC also created a brand-new standalone form, No. 61-0, covering groundwater and surface water rights, aimed squarely at rural and semi-rural properties.

None of these categories existed on the form sellers signed a year ago. All five sit directly on top of what makes an Andrews property an Andrews property.

Why This Reads Differently Here Than in Plano

Start with the private road question. The City of Andrews' own oil and gas ordinance draws a legal distinction between access on state or federal highways, county roads, the Andrews Loop, and private lease roads, because saltwater disposal wells that receive water by truck are restricted to exactly those categories. That distinction exists because private lease roads are common enough around Andrews to need their own rule in the city code. A seller on one of those roads now has to say, on the form, who pays to keep it graded.

Storage tanks follow the same logic. Ranch and field operations run on diesel and propane stored in tanks that routinely exceed 500 gallons. The new form doesn't care whether the tank serves a generator, a tractor, or an oilfield lease. If it's aboveground, over 500 gallons, and has ever held a petroleum product or chemical, it goes on the disclosure.

Then there's the piece the form doesn't ask about directly but that shadows almost everything above it: mineral ownership. Texas treats the mineral estate as the dominant estate, meaning a mineral owner or their lessee holds an implied right to use the surface to the extent reasonably necessary to explore for and produce oil or gas. A huge share of Andrews land changed hands with the minerals reserved out, sometimes generations ago, which means the person selling the surface today may not be the person who controls what happens beneath it. That history doesn't show up as a single checkbox, but it's exactly the kind of fact a title company will flag once it starts pulling the county's mineral records, and it's exactly the kind of fact that turns an easy closing into a slow one.

Layer the city's own drilling ordinance on top of that. Andrews requires setbacks of 150 feet from any public street or right of way, 300 feet from an athletic field or public building, and 500 feet from a residence, school, daycare, hospital, or nursing home. Flaring is prohibited within 1,000 feet of a residence unless the operator runs an enclosed system. Operators must submit tax certificates from the Andrews Appraisal District showing minerals are current on taxes. Every one of those rules exists because wells and homes sit close enough to each other in Andrews County that the city had to write down exactly how close is too close. A buyer's agent who works this market knows to ask about it. A seller who hasn't thought about it in years may not have an answer ready.

The Friction Point Most Sellers Don't See Coming

Texas Property Code Section 5.008 gives a buyer a real remedy if the disclosure shows up late: the right to terminate the contract for any reason within seven days of actually receiving it. That rule hasn't changed. What has changed is how much more there is to gather before the notice can honestly be marked complete.

A seller who waits until an offer is in hand to go looking for the mineral deed, the surface use agreement, the tank inspection record, or a copy of the private road maintenance arrangement is not just doing extra work. They're doing it on the buyer's clock, during the window when a late or incomplete disclosure can hand the buyer an easy way out. In a market where speed is already a negotiating chip, that's the kind of delay a seller controls entirely by starting early.

A Working List Before You Sign a Listing Agreement

For Andrews sellers, especially anyone on acreage or a property with any history of oil and gas activity, a few documents are worth locating before the home goes live:

1. The deed and any prior mineral reservation, so you know whether you're conveying a full fee simple interest or a surface estate only
2. Any oil and gas lease or surface use agreement affecting the property, including setback or access terms negotiated with an operator
3. Records for any aboveground tank on the property, including capacity and what it has stored
4. Whatever exists in writing about who maintains the access road, especially if it's a private lease road rather than a county-maintained one
5. Your current homeowners insurance declarations page, including whether windstorm coverage is active and whether any carrier has ever declined or non-renewed the policy
6. Records of any water well on the property and whether it falls inside a groundwater conservation district, for the new Form 61-0

None of this requires a lawyer to assemble. It requires knowing it's worth looking for before a buyer's title company finds it first.

What the Current Market Adds to the Math

Andrews homes carried a median list price of $318,000 in August 2026, with a median 93 days on the market. That's not a market where extra days evaporate quietly. A seller whose paperwork is ready when the first offer comes in isn't just avoiding a DTPA headache down the road. They're avoiding the kind of stall that turns a reasonable 93-day listing into something longer, in a market that already rewards preparation over improvisation.

A Short FAQ

Does this apply if I'm selling raw land instead of a house? Section 5.008 covers residential property with no more than one dwelling unit. A separate statute, Section 5.013, requires sellers of unimproved residential land to disclose the location of any transportation pipeline crossing the property, including gas and petroleum lines. If you're selling acreage with no home on it, that's the disclosure to have ready, not the standard TREC 55-1.

What if I genuinely don't know whether my minerals were severed? Mark it as unknown and say so. The Property Code allows a seller to disclose that information is unknown to them, as long as it's stated honestly. Guessing is the mistake, not admitting you don't have the answer yet.

Is the new water rights form required for every Andrews sale? It's built for rural and semi-rural properties, particularly those with a water well or land inside a groundwater conservation district. A small in-town lot on city water may not need much beyond a straightforward answer. An acreage property almost certainly will.

None of this is a reason to slow down a sale. It's a reason to start the paperwork before the sign goes in the yard. If you're weighing a sale in Andrews and want a clear read on what your specific property will need to disclose, D.E. The Home Boss Group can walk the list with you before a buyer ever sees it. Get Your Home Value Now and let's find out what your paperwork actually looks like.