County records and the Texas condo resale contract
Checking a Montebello Condo's Recorded Size and Resale Contract Before You Downsize
Updated November 2026
How do I check a Montebello condo's recorded size and resale contract before I downsize?
In November 2026, check a Montebello home's size against its recorded plan, not the county record its district disclaims, and confirm its title fits the state condominium resale contract.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, Montebello
Source: Harris Central Appraisal District, Real Property advanced records search, November 2026.
Which Montebello home is worth an offer, and where does its size come from?
Downsizing into Montebello comes down to two choices: which home to offer on, and what to offer for it. Size feeds both, because a per-foot reading only means something if the feet are right.
The county figure is the easiest to find and the weakest to rely on. Harris Central Appraisal District, on its real property search, disclaims the accuracy and completeness of what it publishes.
The appraisal district and a listing do not always report the same living area for one home. The dimensions that govern sit in the plats and plans recorded against that home's identifying number.
A full-service agent reads three things together before naming a price: the recorded plan, the closed sales in the same stack, and the association's documents. Where the county and the plan disagree, the agent raises it in writing.
The Harris Central Appraisal District makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of this information and expressly disclaims liability for any errors and omissions.
Which sales in the stack set the price of the home you want?
As of November 2026, Montebello recorded 4 closings in the trailing twelve months, so the evidence behind any one home is thin.
The sales that count share the home's corner, plan and exposure. A full-service agent checks each of those sales against its own recorded plan, so the comparison runs on matching measurements.
The agent then adjusts for floor, balcony placement and the state of the kitchens and bathrooms. That reading, rather than the building median of $2,208,800, is where an offer starts.
Closings ran at 96.1 percent of final list price, so the asking figure is an opening position. The agent negotiates from the stack's closed sales and leaves the listing's square footage for the seller's side to defend.
What do the association's papers change about the offer?
Montebello's services are real and so is what they cost. The resale certificate, the budget, the assessment history, the master policy declarations page and recent board minutes show that cost for one home.
A full-service agent requests them in writing early and reads them beside the plan and the stack. A reserve gap or a special assessment under discussion belongs in the price, before the contract is signed.
We publish a verified holding cost of about $1.03 per square foot per month, derived from a named unit. Multiplied by the recorded square footage, it puts a monthly figure on the home before you sign.
Which contract will the offer be written on?
The Texas Real Estate Commission publishes a Residential Condominium Contract (Resale), the form used for the resale of a condominium unit. The Commission says it contains unique provisions relating solely to condominium transactions.
The form's scope turns on the land under the unit. A full-service agent asks the title company how the home's title reads before drafting, so the offer goes out on the right form.
The agent then fills the blanks the form leaves open: the price, the option period and the closing date. Each one is set against what the plan, the stack and the association's papers showed.
It is not for use where the seller owns fee simple title to the land beneath the unit.
How do the house sale and the Montebello closing line up?
As of November 2026, the median Montebello home took 104 days to reach an executed contract. The resale certificate and a lender's review of the association come after that, before funding.
Where the purchase depends on the house, the Texas Real Estate Commission has an addendum for sale of other property. It covers a buyer who cannot buy unless the existing home is sold and closed.
A full-service agent sets the offer's dates and the house's closing date together, so neither calendar runs short. Send Paige Martin of Real Broker, LLC the identifying number of the home you are weighing, with the week you expect the house to close.
Questions & answers
Montebello questions, answered
Can I look up a Montebello unit in the county appraisal records myself?
Yes. Harris Central Appraisal District runs a real property advanced search that lets you enter any combination of its fields, including owner, street, building style and square footage. Read what comes back as the district's own figures. Then check them against the recorded plan for the same home before any number goes into an offer.
Pair the square footage field with the street, so the results stay inside this tower rather than reaching across the county. Put the home's identifying number beside whatever you find. That number is what ties a county account to the plan recorded for the condominium. Keep a dated copy of each result you rely on. A dated copy shows which figures an offer was written against, if a question comes up later in the file.
Does the appraisal district record show who has good title to a Montebello unit?
No. Harris Central Appraisal District says the information on its search is not intended to indicate the quality of title or priority of interest in any property. It advises readers not to rely on it for that purpose. Title to a Montebello home is a question for the title company handling the sale, working from the recorded documents.
The county account and a title report answer different questions. The account carries the district's appraisal figures for one home. Title work looks at who owns the home and what has been recorded against it. Ask early which title company will handle the file. Its reading of the title also tells you whether the state's condominium resale contract fits, since that form excludes a sale where the seller owns fee simple title to the land beneath the unit.
Will the Montebello unit above or below mine have the same floor plan?
Usually the same corner repeats as the floors rise. Montebello has four homes to a floor, so the home a few floors up in the same corner is generally your plan with a different view. Four two-level penthouses break that pattern, which is why 98 homes, 30 floors and four to a floor do not divide evenly.
That repetition helps when the size of one home is in doubt. A neighbor in the same stack gives you a second recorded plan to read, and its last sale is where a price starts. Confirm each home's identifying number before you compare two of them, since every plan is filed against that number. A floor-by-floor count of the homes belongs to the recorded plans for the condominium, rather than to a brochure or a listing description.
Can I divide a Montebello asking price by the county square footage to judge it?
Only as a rough frame. Homes at Montebello closed at an average of $532 per square foot as of November 2026, and that average divides each sale price by a reported living area. Because the reported area is a soft number, any per-foot figure built on it carries the same doubt. Floor, corner, balcony and finishes move a price as well.
Run the arithmetic twice, once with the county figure and once with the recorded plan, and see how far the two answers drift apart. A wide drift is a question to send to the seller's agent in writing. Then set the result beside the closed sales most like the home. With 4 closings in the trailing twelve months, three or four comparable sales is often the whole set, so each one deserves a close reading.
Who can check the recorded size and the contract on a Montebello unit for me?
Paige Martin of Real Broker, LLC has 18 closings at Montebello, most recently June 2026, in a 98-unit building. Paige specializes in condo purchases and purchases in an association-governed building. Send the identifying number of the home you are weighing, and ask for the county account, the recorded plan and the contract form to be read together.
Paige and the Houston Properties Team have sold over 300 condo units throughout Houston as part of $2 billion in Houston residential real estate sales. They work with buyers who are downsizing from a house and deciding what a home has to do for them in the next chapter. Send Paige the home's identifying number, and ask how she settles a size question in this tower and which document she treats as final.
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