Builder incentives, lender ties and the contract before you sign
Builder Incentives, Affiliated Lenders and the New Home Contract in Manvel
Updated October 2026
Do I need my own agent to buy new construction in Manvel, and how do builder incentives tied to the builder's lender work?
In October 2026, a Manvel new-home buyer may hire their own broker by signed written agreement, and Fannie Mae counts a builder-affiliated lender's incentive as a sales concession.
Yolanda Ames, Houston Properties Team, Manvel
Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide section on lender incentives, July 2025.
Who works for you when you buy a new home from a Manvel builder?
The builder's sales staff work for the builder. A new Manvel home is priced by its builder and bought on the builder's contract, so someone on your side should read both before you sign.
The Texas Real Estate Commission's consumer answers put the choice with you: a buyer can choose the broker the buyer wants to work with. That choice is made on paper. TREC says the buyer representation agreement, like a listing agreement, must be in writing and signed by the buyer to be binding.
TREC attaches a condition to those requirements: unless an exception applies, they apply to all proposed real estate transactions. The exceptions sit in the same TREC consumer material, so ask your broker whether one touches your purchase.
Two disclosures are worth listening for. Where a license holder is employed by a lender, TREC's answers say the license holder should tell the purchaser so and give the names of several institutions.
A broker may offer, recommend or promote a service provider and expect compensation from it when a party uses the service. TREC says the advertisement for that service must then disclose that the broker may receive the compensation.
How does a Manvel builder's lender incentive count on a Fannie Mae loan?
A Manvel builder prices a new home from a price sheet and that month's incentives. Some of those incentives come through a lender the builder works with, and the loan rules look at where that money comes from.
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide treats the lender's connection to the sale as the deciding fact. Where the lender is, or is affiliated with, an interested party to the transaction, its incentive counts as a sales concession.
A concession changes the numbers the loan is built on. Fannie Mae's guide has sales concessions deducted from the sales price, and the lower of that reduced price or the appraised value used for the loan-to-value ratios.
Ask the builder's sales office to name each incentive, its dollar amount and the lender it runs through. Then ask that lender, and any other lender you consider, how the incentive is treated on your loan.
When the lender is, or is affiliated with, an interested party to the transaction, the incentive must be treated as a sales concession.
What should be in writing before you sign a Manvel builder's contract?
For a house the builder has not finished, TREC publishes the New Home Contract (Incomplete Construction), Form 23-20, effective July 1, 2026. TREC describes it as the form used for new homes where construction has not yet been completed.
A builder may hand you its own document instead, so check the form number printed on the contract in front of you.
Get the incentives in writing, along with the price sheet the price came from. Ask for the builder's written warranty too, since it covers what the document says, for as long as it says.
Then read the lot's monthly cost. Ask the builder for the utility district's notice to purchasers, which states the district's tax and the bonds its voters have approved. A newer section's district may still be repaying road and utility bonds.
Manvel-area MUD rates ran from $0.71 to $1.30 per $100 for 2025. The lot's Brazoria Central Appraisal District account lists every unit that taxes it.
Questions & answers
Manvel questions, answered
Can a Manvel builder's incentive pay my down payment?
Not on a loan Fannie Mae buys. Its Selling Guide does not permit interested party contributions to make the borrower's down payment, meet financial reserve requirements or meet minimum borrower contribution requirements. Builder-paid concessions fall under those contributions. Plan the down payment and reserves from your own funds, and use the builder's incentive for other parts of the purchase, as your lender allows.
Ask the lender to show where each dollar of the incentive goes. A credit toward closing costs and a rate buydown can be handled under different parts of the guide, and the lender's file is where that is settled. The rule is Fannie Mae's. Ask your lender whether your loan is one it plans to sell to Fannie Mae, and how the incentive will appear in its file.
Does a rate buydown from a Manvel builder's lender count as a builder contribution?
On a Fannie Mae loan, yes, when an interested party or a lender affiliated with one funds it. The Selling Guide says that when a temporary or permanent interest rate buydown is offered with such a subsidy, the cost of that subsidy must be included in the interested party contribution calculation. Ask the lender for the buydown's cost in dollars, along with the lower rate.
A temporary buydown lowers the payment for the first years of the loan. A permanent one lowers it for the life of the loan. Either way, the guide counts its cost when the money comes from an interested party or a lender affiliated with one. Set the buydown's dollar cost beside the builder's incentive sheet. Then the two figures can be checked against each other before you sign.
Is a closing cost credit from the builder's lender treated as an incentive?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide draws a line here. When the lender provides a credit toward the borrower's closing costs or prepaid items, those funds count as a lender contribution, not a lender incentive. A separate rule covers incentives from a lender tied to an interested party, which are treated as a sales concession. Ask the lender which label each credit in your file carries.
The label matters because the two are handled under different parts of the guide. On a new Manvel home, ask the builder's sales office to break each incentive into its parts: what the builder pays, what the lender pays, and what each payment is for. Then ask the lender to confirm the same split in writing. The contract and the loan file should describe the money the same way.
What happens if a builder incentive is left off my loan file?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide says mortgages with undisclosed interested party contributions are not eligible for sale to Fannie Mae. Builder-paid concessions are among those contributions. Put every incentive the builder offers in writing, with its amount and its purpose. Give the same list to your lender before underwriting starts, so the loan file and the contract describe the same deal.
That includes promises made at the model home. A credit promised in conversation, and never written into the contract or shared with the lender, stays undisclosed. Ask the builder to add each credit to the contract. Ask the lender to confirm in writing that it has the full list.
How are the days counted in a TREC contract for a new Manvel home?
As calendar days. The Texas Real Estate Commission's answers on its contract forms say each day is counted as a calendar day, so a weekend counts like any other day. On a new Manvel home, write each deadline on a calendar the day you sign, with the event it counts from, and share that calendar with your lender and your agent.
TREC also says a person using a TREC form assumes all risks associated with its use. If the builder hands you its own document rather than a TREC form, read how that document counts days in its own text. Mark any deadline that falls near a holiday, and ask your agent to confirm the date in writing.
What if a new home contract form is filled in wrong?
The Texas Real Estate Commission warns that mistakes in the use of a form may result in financial loss or a contract which is unenforceable. Its forms list advises anyone getting the forms for a possible transaction to contact a real estate license holder or an attorney for assistance. TREC adds that it cannot provide legal advice to the public on private contractual matters.
On a new Manvel home, have your own agent read the blanks, the addenda and the incentive terms before you initial anything or pay a deposit. A question about what a clause means legally goes to an attorney, since TREC will not answer it for you. Keep the reviewed copy with your warranty and the utility district's notice to purchasers.
