The endorsements worth requesting.
Texas endorsements are promulgated forms with rules attached. Here are the ones that come up most, and what each one closes off.
Endorsements are not a menu of upgrades. Each one is a specific form with its own procedural rule and its own underwriting requirements. Requesting one does not guarantee it will issue, which is why the request belongs in your instructions early rather than in a phone call the day before funding.
The ones you will use most
- T-19, Restrictions, Encroachments, Minerals. The workhorse. Coverage around violations of restrictive covenants, encroachments, and mineral related surface damage. There is an owner's version, the T-19.1.
- T-30, Tax Deletion. Addresses the standard tax exception. Commonly required by investors.
- T-17, Planned Unit Development. For property in a PUD, covering certain risks tied to the association and the declaration.
- T-36, Environmental Protection Lien. Coverage regarding environmental liens recorded against the property.
- T-33, Adjustable or variable rate. For ARM products, addressing the effect of rate and payment changes on lien validity and priority.
- T-31, Manufactured Housing. Where a manufactured home is part of the collateral.
Home equity has its own pair
On a Texas home equity loan, the T-42 Equity Loan Mortgage Endorsement and the T-42.1 Supplemental Coverage Equity Loan Mortgage Endorsement track the requirements of Article XVI, Section 50(a)(6) of the Texas Constitution. Between them they address matters such as joinder of all owners and spouses, the presence of other equity loans, and disclosure and timing requirements around closing.
If you write home equity in Texas, ask for both, and ask for them without exception or deletion. Getting one and not the other, or getting one with carved out provisions, leaves exactly the gaps these forms exist to close.
A useful detail about surveys
The procedural rules for the T-19 and the T-17 do not by themselves require a survey. On a platted lot, where the area and boundary exception is not being amended, these can generally issue without one. New construction is treated differently, since no prior policy shows the improvements.
That distinction is worth knowing when a file is tight on time and someone assumes a new survey is required for everything.
Every file is different, and underwriters can view the same facts differently depending on the details. Always consult your escrow officer, who can take the specifics to the underwriter. Title and Lender requirements are also separate, so clearing one does not mean you have cleared the other.