You finally got the keys, celebrated, and moved into your very own home in Texas. It’s exciting, for sure. As soon as the thermometer starts creeping into the triple digits and stays there, you will quickly realize that owning a house here in summer isn’t exactly the warm, fuzzy dream the real estate brochure made it out to be.
There is yard work that doesn’t ever let up, a utility bill that reads like a ransom note, and a sun that seems personally offended by your existence. Welcome to your first Texas summer.
Let’s talk about what really matters when the cicadas start screaming, the grass turns crunchy, and your house begins acting like a slow cooker. Whether you bought in Dallas, Houston, Austin, or a sleepy Hill Country town with two gas stations and one coffee shop, the problems are basically the same. The heat doesn’t care about your zip code, and if you’re not prepared, it’s going to win.
Tackling The Yard
One of the first rude awakenings of Texas homeownership comes in the form of your yard. In spring, it’s all dreamy: birds chirping, flowers blooming, grass so green it almost looks fake. But once June rolls around? That same grass becomes a needy, dramatic diva demanding constant attention. It dries out in days and gets patchy. And unless you enjoy dragging hoses around, you're going to hate every second of it.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you will handle it all yourself. Watering, mowing, fertilizing, weeding, it sounds doable until you’re trying to mow the lawn in 104-degree heat with sweat dripping into your eyes and mosquitos biting your ankles. It’s okay to call in help, if you can. Some chores are worth the splurge, and your sanity is one of them. Let the pros keep your grass alive so you can stay inside. However, if you are like me and enjoy yard work, stick to the mornings or late evenings to tackle this job.
Your Energy Bill
If you just moved from a place where summer means maybe opening a window and enjoying a light breeze, prepare yourself. Texas summer laughs at that kind of optimism. You will run your air conditioning like your life depends on it, because, well, it kind of does.
That means your energy bill is about to start acting all dramatic too. You will look at it and genuinely wonder if your AC unit is cooling your entire neighborhood. Spoiler: it’s probably not efficient. If you’re living in an older home, there’s a chance your insulation isn’t great, your windows leak cool, and your AC likely needs an upgrade.
The trick here is not to wait for something to break. Get your HVAC system inspected by a professional. Becoming a new homeowner doesn’t mean turning into a one-person repair shop. Sometimes doing it yourself means paying double later to fix your mistake. Summer is not the time to gamble with a machine that literally controls your ability to sleep.
Care About Your AC
If you're the type who used to tough it out in the heat with a box fan and a bottle of cold water, welcome to your new obsession: central air. You’re going to check the thermostat all summer long. You will have actual arguments about whether 72 degrees is “too cold.” And when it starts acting up, because of course it will, you will learn the value of AC repair.
Here’s what no one tells you: in Texas, people treat their AC techs like royalty for a reason. When something goes wrong, you’re not going to be the only one calling. There’s a waitlist. Sometimes, a long one. You can avoid the whole disaster scenario by not ignoring early signs. Weird noises? Poor airflow? Thermostat games? Don’t guess. Don’t Google. Definitely don’t take it apart with your screwdriver. Just make the call.
The Bugs
The heat doesn’t just bring sweat, it brings bugs. Fire ants build mansions in your yard. Wasps claim corners of your porch like they’re paying rent. And mosquitoes? They throw full-blown family reunions right outside your door. It’s a nightmare cocktail of itchy bites and angry swatting, and it gets worse if you have any standing water or overgrown shrubs nearby.
Spraying something from the hardware store might feel like the “smart homeowner” move, but it rarely does much beyond making everything smell like chemicals. Texas bugs are like Texas weather: they don’t back down easily. If you want to avoid the summer version of Jurassic Park, hire an exterminator before the infestation happens. It’s one of those services you don’t appreciate until you’ve seen a cockroach scurry across your ceiling fan at 1 a.m.
Storms Will Sneak Up on You
Just because it’s 102 degrees doesn’t mean the weather is done messing with you. Summer storms in Texas can roll in out of nowhere, bringing lightning, hail, high winds, tornadoes and power outages right when you were just trying to finish your dinner. Gutters you never thought about suddenly become important. That big old oak tree you loved now seems suspiciously wobbly.
If you haven’t had your roof looked at since moving in, now’s the time. Do not try to fix a gutter on a wobbly ladder in a lightning storm. It’s okay to admit you have no idea what you’re doing. Most of us don’t. That’s why professionals exist. Keep a flashlight and a battery-powered fan on hand, sure, but also have someone reliable you can call when a branch takes out part of your fence.
Closing Out the Summer Sweat-Fest
Being a first-time homeowner in Texas during summer is basically a trial by fire. The kind where the fire is real, it’s in the sky, and it shows up every day for three straight months. But you get smarter. You learn when to call in help, when to chill out, and when to admit you might have underestimated the power of Southern heat.
There’s no prize for doing everything yourself. Surviving summer in Texas isn’t about being tough, it’s about being prepared, a little humble, and smart enough to know when to let someone else handle the sweating.