Pulling comps for a Texas investment property means finding 4–5 recent nearby sales — four renovated and one as-is — that match your subject property in size, construction, and condition, then adjusting for differences like square footage, lot size, and school district. Get this wrong, and you’ll overpay at acquisition or watch your ARV get rejected at appraisal.
That’s the whole game in two sentences. Here’s how to actually do it.
Quick question: what happens if your comps are wrong? You don’t find out today. You find out three months from now, when your contractor’s finished the rehab, your buyer’s lender orders the appraisal, and the number comes back $20,000 under what you needed.
That’s not a market problem. That’s usually a comp problem.
Every number in your deal — your offer price, your rehab budget, your exit — comes from one place: the after-repair value (ARV) you built from comparable sales. If that foundation is shaky, everything stacked on top of it is shaky too. Not because you did the math wrong, but because you started with the wrong inputs.
So before we talk about spreadsheets and square footage, let’s ask the real question: how confident are you, right now, in the comps behind your last offer?
If you hesitated — this is for you.
Here’s something most new investors don’t expect: the biggest reason good comps get missed isn’t bad data. It’s inconsistent naming.
MLS listings aren’t always typed the same way twice. One agent writes “Briarwood Section 2.” Another just writes “Briarwood.” One types “Brandwood.” Another types “Brand Wood.” Same neighborhood, different search results — and if you only search one version, you’ll miss comps that should have counted.
What to do instead:
Two searches, five extra minutes, a noticeably better comp set. That’s a trade worth making every time.
You don’t need twenty comps. You need the right five.
Together, those five numbers give you both ends of the deal: what you should pay, and what you should walk away with. Skip the as-is comp, and you’re guessing at your entry price. Skip the renovated comps, and you’re guessing at your exit. You need both halves of the story.
If you remember one thing from this post, make it this: location beats almost everything else on your checklist.
Texas markets can shift in value block by block. A comp half a mile away might look perfect on paper and still be the wrong comp — because a highway, a railroad, or a school district line sits between it and your subject property.
Ask yourself: is there a boundary between this comp and my property that a buyer would notice, even if I wouldn’t?
If the answer is yes — a highway, train tracks, an industrial corridor, a district line — that comp needs an adjustment, or it needs to be replaced. Don’t let a good-looking number talk you out of a bad location match.
If your subject property is 2,500 square feet, your comps should fall roughly between 2,000 and 3,000. Go outside that range and you’re not comparing similar homes anymore — you’re guessing.
One thing to know: price per square foot isn’t a straight line. Smaller homes usually sell for more per square foot. Bigger homes sell for less per square foot. That’s why appraisers “bracket” — pulling some comps smaller and some larger than the subject. Do the same. If your property is dramatically bigger than everything around it, you may be overbuilt for the neighborhood, and that extra square footage may not translate into extra dollars.
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms is the baseline most family buyers expect. A comp that falls below that standard shouldn’t be used to value a 3/2 home. But a comp that’s above it — say, a 4-bed, 2.5-bath — can still work, because it clears the same bar a buyer is shopping for.
Brick homes generally sell for more than wood-frame homes of the same size and layout — replacement cost and perceived durability drive that gap. Match construction type to construction type where you can. (The one exception: premium neighborhoods, where modern wood-frame construction can command brick-level pricing.)
These three get overlooked constantly — and they shouldn’t be.
Ask yourself before you finalize any comp: would a buyer with kids treat these two properties as interchangeable? If not, adjust.
Here’s a mistake that can quietly sink a deal at the finish line.
A detached garage apartment does not count toward your primary residence’s square footage — even if it’s beautifully finished. Appraisers exclude it. So if your subject property is a 2,500 sq ft house with a 500 sq ft detached apartment, you cannot value it as a 3,000 sq ft property.
Instead: value the main house at its real square footage, then add a separate adjustment — typically 5% to 7.5% of value — for a well-built, functional detached unit. It’s a real contribution. It’s just not a square-footage contribution.
Comps pulled from a screen only tell you half the story. The other half lives on the street.
Drive the comps. If you truly can’t, a thorough Google Street View pass is a distant second — imagery can be years out of date, so treat it as a backup, not a substitute.
What are you looking for?
If your subject property has one of these issues, don’t compare it to a comp that doesn’t. Find a comp with the same detraction — or, if none exists, look at how that exact property sold historically at a discount, and apply that same percentage today, adjusted for appreciation.
Mental math loses to a structured spreadsheet every time. Build columns for: address, sale price, square footage, price per square foot, bedrooms, bathrooms, lot size, construction type, condition, school district, and adjustments.
Then adjust with discipline:
This is the exact method appraisers use. Build your ARV this way, and it’s far more likely to survive a real appraisal later — instead of collapsing at the exact moment you need it to hold.
Last one, and it’s the one that saves deals: don’t build a valuation that requires your property to break the neighborhood’s price ceiling.
If no home in the area has sold above $300,000, don’t assume yours will sell for $330,000 or $345,000 just because it’s a little bigger or a little nicer. Appraisers make small adjustments in these cases — sometimes as little as 25% of the size difference — because buyers generally won’t pay a record price for a neighborhood they’re not emotionally sold on yet.
Here’s the honest question to ask yourself: if this deal only works because my property becomes the most expensive sale on the street, is it the comps that are wrong, or is it the deal?
Usually, it’s the deal.
How many comps do I need for a Texas investment property?
Aim for 4 renovated comps and 1 as-is distressed comp — five total, all within your immediate market.
How close do comps need to be to my property?
As close as possible, and never across a major boundary (highway, railroad, school district line) without a clear adjustment.
What square footage range is acceptable for comps?
Roughly 20% above and below your subject property’s square footage.
Does a detached garage apartment add to my home’s square footage?
No. It’s valued separately, typically adding 5–7.5% to overall value if well-built.
Should my ARV be higher than every comp in the neighborhood?
No. If your projected value exceeds every existing sale, the deal — not the market — is usually the problem.
Comps aren’t paperwork. They’re the one number every other number in your deal depends on. Pull them with discipline — neighborhood first, then geography, tight proximity, matched physical characteristics, real adjustments, and boots on the ground — and you build an offer, a rehab budget, and an exit that can actually hold up under scrutiny.
Skip the discipline, and you find out the hard way: at the appraisal, with your capital already committed.
If you’re evaluating a deal right now and want a second set of eyes on your comps before you make an offer, that’s exactly the kind of conversation worth having before you sign anything.
Book a free 15-minute consultation, no pressure, no obligation.
