Downsizing Inside West University: Single-Level Options and the Trade

What does West University Place zoning allow on a single-level plan?

On a single-family building site, Table 7A-4b caps a principal building at two and one half storeys and 35 feet of height, 25 feet in the rear yard, so a one-level plan sits well inside those vertical limits (zoning ordinance, version of 17 March 2026). Note 3 to the same table lets the roof of an existing flood loss structure being raised to meet floodplain regulations exceed its existing roof height by the distance the structure is elevated, to a maximum of 39 feet and 27 feet in the rear yard setback. The table also sets a floor on size: a minimum gross floor area of 1,400 square feet, if used for residential purposes. Gross floor area is taken from outside dimensions on each floor level, excluding attached garages, basements or attics used only for storage, and opened or screened porches, except where the gross floor area of the main space is 1,100 square feet or more, in which case half the porch square footage counts.

The pressure on a one-level plan comes from the ground. Table 7A-3 states open and pervious area as minimums: at least 45 percent of the building site must remain open, and at least 35 percent must be pervious, with the front yard owing 60 percent open and 50 percent pervious and the rear yard 60 percent open. Table 7A-4b caps framed area for all buildings on a building site at 80 percent of the building site area. A single-level plan puts all of its floor area on the ground rather than half of it, so the same house is a larger footprint, and a 5,000 square foot site, the minimum area Table 7A-6 sets in the Single-Family District for a building site established before October 24, 1987, is where that bites.

Yards and parking take their own share of the ground. The front yard is 20 feet where the building site depth is 110 feet or less, 25 feet where the depth is more than 110 feet but not more than 125, and 30 feet beyond that. The interior side yard is the greater of 10 percent of the building site width or 5 feet, and the rear yard is 20 feet. Table 7A-4a asks for 2.0 garage parking spaces per dwelling unit (1.0 for old stock housing), each ten feet wide and 20 feet deep, enclosed or semi-enclosed and adjoining a driveway. A building site holds one dwelling unit plus one accessory quarters, which the ordinance defines as a dwelling unit on the same site as a single-family detached principal building, with no more than six hundred square feet of gross floor area.

The trade in this kind of move sits on the tax statement rather than in the ordinance. A smaller house bought in the same city can carry a larger tax bill for a year or two than the larger house it replaced, because the appraisal cap does not travel with the owner.

Does the city's own ordinance provide for smaller housing at all?

It does, in three districts the ordinance names. Section 3-100 lists TH, the Townhouse District, whose purpose is to maintain and protect the City's single-family, attached-building residential areas and to provide regulations for buffering adjacent areas with less-intensive land uses. It also lists GR-1, the First General Residential District, whose purpose is to maintain and protect the City's duplex residential area, and GR-2, the Second General Residential District.

Article 7B carries the numbers. Table 7B-6 sets a minimum building site area of 2,000 square feet per dwelling unit in TH, for old and new building sites alike. In GR-1 and GR-2, the minimum area for single-family uses, attached or detached, is 2,000 square feet, and the table's minimum widths and depths do not apply to those uses. Table 7B-4b sets minimum gross floor area at 1,200 square feet for each dwelling unit in TH and 750 square feet for each dwelling unit in GR, with a minimum unit width of 16 feet and principal buildings at three storeys, 35 feet of height and 25 feet in the rear yard.

Density and construction detail come from the same table. TH allows 17.5 dwelling units per acre, GR-1 two per building site and GR-2 24 per acre. Framed area for all buildings on a site may reach 100 percent of site area, and no building may exceed a horizontal dimension of 130 feet. A four-hour fire wall, or its equivalent, must separate adjoining dwelling units, and between separate buildings there must be open area at least five feet wide maintained so that firefighters with hoses could pass through.

Where those districts sit is a separate question, and the ordinance does not answer it in its text.

What happens to the tax bill when you move to a smaller house in the same city?

The cap resets. Section 23.23(a) limits the appraised value of a residence homestead to the lesser of market value or last year's appraised value plus 10 percent plus the market value of all new improvements, and Subsection (b) has the chief appraiser record both the market value and the capped figure. Subsection (c) sets the start date: the limitation takes effect on a residence homestead on January 1 of the tax year following the first tax year the owner qualifies the property for an exemption under Section 11.13 (read September 2026).

The Harris Central Appraisal District puts the same rule in working terms: the cap applies to your homestead beginning in the second year you have a homestead exemption, and if the home you buy has had a cap in place for several years, the value of the home, and the taxes, may increase substantially in the year following the year you purchase it. The larger house was carrying years of capped appraised value, while the smaller one is appraised at market value in the first tax year its new owner qualifies it for the exemption.

The district clears the old exemption on its own schedule. In the first quarter of each year it develops a list of properties that carried a prior year homestead exemption and were sold to a new owner during that same year, cancels the old exemption as of January 1 of the new year, and mails the new owner an exemption application form.

Exemptions come off value rather than off a rate. Section 11.13(b) exempts $140,000 of appraised value from school taxation for an adult's residence homestead, and Section 11.13(c) adds $60,000 for an adult who is disabled or is 65 or older. Harris County currently provides a 20 percent optional homestead exemption to all homeowners, and any taxing unit may offer up to 20 percent of a home's value, with the amount of an optional exemption no less than $5,000. Beyond the city's $185,000 over-65 or disabled exemption, the city grants no general homestead exemption, so on the city line a move shows up entirely in the value. Section 11.13(h) adds that a person may not receive an exemption under that section for more than one residence homestead in the same year.

Filing has its own calendar. The regular residential homestead exemption application is filed between January 1 and April 30, and early applications will not be accepted. An owner who is already qualified and purchases a different home has one year from the date of occupying that home to apply. Where the house being sold carried an over-65 or disability exemption, the district prorates the taxes on the sold home if the person who qualified for that exemption establishes a homestead exemption on a different homestead in the same year, and leaves the exemption in place for the entire year if that person does not.

Does the school tax ceiling move with you?

It can, as a proportion rather than as a dollar figure. Section 11.26(a) bars a school district from increasing the total annual tax it imposes on the residence homestead of an individual 65 years of age or older, or of an individual who is disabled, above the amount it imposed in the first tax year the individual qualified that homestead for the applicable exemption under Section 11.13(c). The appraisal district describes the same thing as an additional advantage of the over-65 exemption: once you qualify, school taxes will not increase unless you make improvements to the home.

Subsection (g) carries the limitation to the next house, except as Subsection (b) provides. Where the individual subsequently qualifies a different residence homestead for the same exemption, the school district may not impose taxes on that homestead above what it would have imposed there in the first year the individual receives that same exemption for it had the limitation not been in effect, multiplied by a fraction whose numerator is the total school taxes imposed on the former homestead in the last qualifying year and whose denominator is what would have been imposed on the former homestead that year without the limitation.

The numbers for that fraction come from the appraisal district. Under Subsection (h), an individual who holds the limitation and subsequently qualifies a different residence homestead for an exemption under Section 11.13, or an agent of the individual, is entitled to receive from the chief appraiser of the appraisal district in which the former homestead was located a written certificate providing the information necessary to work out whether the limitation carries and to calculate the amount the school district may impose on the new homestead.

Three further subsections shape the outcome. Subsection (b) lets the district raise the tax in the first year the appraisal roll reflects improvements other than repairs or work required to comply with governmental requirements, with the limitation then applying to the increased amount. Subsection (c) ends the limitation if on January 1 none of the qualifying owners who owned the structure when it first took effect is using it as a residence homestead, or none of the owners qualifies for the exemption. Subsection (f) keeps it alive through a conveyance to a qualifying trust where the owner or the owner's spouse is a trustor entitled to occupy the structure.

What does the sale itself cost in tax?

On the federal side, the question is how much of the gain stays out of income. IRS Publication 523 excludes the first $250,000 of gain from the sale of a home where certain conditions are met, and raises the exclusion to $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly (Publication 523 for 2025 returns, read September 2026).

Two 24-month tests sit behind it. Ownership asks for at least 24 months of ownership out of the five years leading up to the date of sale, which is the date of the closing. Residence asks for a total of 24 months, or 730 days, of residence during the same five-year period, and unlike ownership, each spouse has to meet the residence requirement individually for a married couple filing jointly to take the full exclusion.

The look-back step is the one that constrains a second move. You meet it if you did not sell another home during the two-year period before the date of sale, or if you did sell one and took no exclusion of the gain from it, because the exclusion may be taken only once during a two-year period. An owner who sells a large house now and may sell the smaller one within two years is working against a single exclusion across both sales.

Publication 523 also provides for a partial exclusion of gain in the circumstances it lists, among them a work-related move, unforeseeable events, and other facts and circumstances. Improvements reach the calculation through basis, and the publication carries its own list of costs that cannot be included there. Which figures belong on which return is a decision for a CPA working from your records.

What are the alternatives to moving at all?

The statutes provide one directly. Section 33.06(a) entitles an individual to defer collection of a tax, abate a suit to collect a delinquent tax, or abate a sale to foreclose a tax lien where the individual is 65 years of age or older, is disabled as defined by Section 11.13(m), or is qualified to receive an exemption under Section 11.22, and the tax was imposed against property the individual owns and occupies as a residence homestead.

The mechanics are an affidavit rather than an application. Subsection (b) has the individual file with the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the property is located an affidavit stating the facts the section requires, and the chief appraiser notifies each taxing unit participating in the district. After that filing, a taxing unit may not sue to collect delinquent taxes, and the property may not be sold at a sale to foreclose the tax lien, until the 181st day after the collector delivers a notice of delinquency following the date the individual no longer owns and occupies the property as a residence homestead.

The taxes stay owed throughout. Subsection (d) keeps the tax lien on the property and lets interest continue to accrue during the deferral or abatement. The annual interest rate during the deferral or abatement period is five percent, in place of the rate Section 33.01 would otherwise set. The city states the same thing on its own tax page and points the affidavit to the Chief Appraiser.

A quarterly option runs alongside it. The city notes that taxpayers who are disabled or over 65 years old may pay property taxes in four equal installments, due January 31, March 31, May 31 and July 31, against an ordinary deadline of January 31, with taxes unpaid on February 1 treated as delinquent and penalty and interest added. Several taxing units bill a West University Place address alongside the city, among them the Houston Independent School District, Harris County, the Harris County Flood Control District, the Port of Houston Authority, the Harris County Hospital District, the Harris County Department of Education and the Houston Community College District.

Staying put through a temporary absence has its own rule. Section 11.13(l) says a qualified residential structure does not lose its character as a residence homestead when the owner who qualifies for the exemption temporarily stops occupying it as a principal residence, where that owner does not establish a different principal residence and the absence is for a period of less than two years with an intention to return and occupy the structure again.

What can this page not tell you?

How many West University Place houses sit on one level, or what they sell for, is a figure no public series carries. The market data behind this site reports a median sale price of $1,904,025, $544 per square foot, 203 sales in the trailing twelve months, 38 median days on market, a sale-to-list ratio of 99.6 percent and 4.2 months of inventory as of October 2026, and each of those is a price, a count or a timing measure rather than a storey count, a bedroom count or a floor-plan attribute.

Which streets or sections hold the smaller houses is a mapping question the ordinance answers by reference. The map of the city's districts is adopted by reference and filed with the City Secretary, so the district an address sits in, and what stands in any district, comes from the city rather than from a published table.

What your own cap, ceiling or exemption is worth is an account-level figure. The certificate under Section 11.26(h) is how the ceiling figure is obtained, and the exemptions recorded against a parcel sit on its appraisal district account. Whether the city has adopted a ceiling of its own is answered unit by unit by the appraisal district.

Commission, title, moving and renovation costs come in writing from the people quoting them, and this page prices none of the four. Whether moving or staying works out better for you needs a CPA reading your returns and a valuation built from closed sales of similar age, lot size and condition in your own section of the city.