The 60-90 day pre-move buying timeline

Two tracks, two calendars

The 60 to 90 day window most moving checklists quote belongs to the resale track. New construction moves on a much longer calendar of its own: roughly 6 to 7 months from the start of your research to closing, with extra room depending on the builder, the community, and the time of year.

Three clocks run at once on either track: the builder's or seller's schedule, your lender's underwriting and appraisal timeline, and your moving logistics. The point of the plan below is to make all three land in the same stretch of calendar. Track one is the new construction build; track two is resale and move-in-ready inventory.

New construction build: roughly 6 to 7 months

For a home built from the ground up, plan on a runway of roughly 6 to 7 months from first research to closing, and hold a buffer on top, because the builder's schedule, the community's lot releases, and the time of year all move that number. The staging points below run backward from your planned move-in month, so you can see where you should sit on the calendar at each point.

• About 7 months out: research and lender pre-approval, the very start. Interview buyer's agents who close new builds in North Texas, confirm the builder's commission policy in writing, and get pre-approved with a lender that closes in Texas regularly. Pre-approval sets the budget that governs which communities and lots you can consider.
• About 6 months out: choose the community, the lot, and the builder, and get the cost breakdown. Compare communities on lot premiums, tax districts, and builder reputation. Ask for the full breakdown in writing before you commit: base price, lot premium, design center minimums, and the incentive stack (chapter 3), because the lot and district choices drive the tax bill (chapter 7) and the ground under the house (chapter 8).
• Around 4 months out: sign the purchase agreement and lock your selections. This is the contractual commit point, the milestone the old short-horizon checklists used to treat as the whole process, now correctly positioned as the moment the calendar becomes the builder's. Review the purchase agreement (chapter 5), which is the builder's own form and typically has no option period, deposit your earnest money with the title company (chapter 4), and lock your floor plan, finishes, and upgrades at the design center.
• During construction: watch the milestones. Slab or foundation, framing, drywall, and fixtures are the phases your agent should document and your third-party inspector should see, with an inspection at pre-drywall while the mechanicals are still visible (chapter 2). Expect progress can stall around the holidays, so schedule the build-phase visits around the builder's holiday calendar.
• Month 6 to 7: final walkthrough, close, and move in. Walk the finished home against the contract's finish list, sit through the builder's orientation, then close, by remote online notarization (chapter 9) or in person. Book movers for the day after closing so you have a handover buffer.

Resale / move-in ready: 2 to 3 months

If you need keys sooner, or you are buying a finished home, a builder's quick-move-in or standing inventory, the calendar compresses to a shorter 2 to 3 months. It runs on the resale rhythm most Texas buyers already know, from pre-approval to closing.

• Get pre-approved first. The lender sets the schedule, so finish your pre-approval before you tour and get the lender's expected close timeline and rate-lock cost in writing.
• Tour and negotiate. Compare move-in-ready and quick-move-in inventory on price, closing costs, and incentives, and get the final numbers into the contract rather than a sales email.
• Finish the option period. On a resale, the option period is your no-fault window to run inspections and financing and still walk away with your earnest money, losing only the option fee (chapter 4). On finished builder inventory the contract is the builder's own form, so read the termination and inspection clauses (chapter 5) before you sign.
• Close. Set the closing date off the lender's timeline, verify the wiring instructions with the title company by phone, close remotely or in person (chapter 9), and move the day after.

The pre-move checklist, summarized

• Team: buyer's agent, lender, third-party inspector, and a local friend or relative for drive-bys.
• Money: prequalification, earnest money funds ready, closing cost estimate, and a wiring plan with the title company's exact instructions.
• Paperwork: builder contract, addenda, incentive stack, and tax district disclosures (chapters 5 and 7).
• Home: live video walkthrough, in-person visits at pre-drywall and final walkthrough, inspections per the contract (chapter 2).
• Move: movers, utilities, change of address, vehicle registration within 30 days, Texas driver's license within 90 days.