Mortgage broker in Driftwood, TX

Property taxes in Driftwood run about 1.51% combined: Hays County at 0.41% and Dripping Springs ISD at 1.10%, the same district that covers Dripping Springs. Driftwood is unincorporated, so there is no city rate added on top. On the larger acreage properties typical here, that combined number is worth running against your specific address before you write an offer.

If you search for a mortgage lender in Driftwood, you are really looking for someone to get your loan approved at a fair price. I work as a licensed mortgage broker (Jennifer Ferrara, NMLS #2781982, with MPA Home Loans), which means I compare more than 40 wholesale lenders on your exact numbers instead of showing you one bank's menu. You still get one point of contact from first call to closing.

Dripping Springs ISD, the same district as Dripping Springs itself. At 1.10%, it is the largest recurring cost on top of principal and interest here, especially on the larger loan amounts typical in Driftwood.

A MUD, a municipal utility district, is a separate taxing entity that funds water, sewer, and drainage for a development, and it appears as its own line on your tax bill on top of the county and school district rates above. La Ventana and other newer acreage developments out here can sit inside a MUD, and the rate is set by that specific district, not one number for all of Driftwood. Plenty of older, unincorporated Driftwood properties are not in a MUD at all. I pull the actual rate for the address you are looking at, since it changes the real payment more than people expect.

All three come up constantly here, since most of Driftwood is exactly this kind of property. On an FHA loan, a well and septic system needs a water quality test and a septic inspection, plus HUD’s distance rules, generally 100 feet between the well and the septic drain field and 50 feet between the well and the tank. Conventional loans are more lenient, usually only requiring it if the appraiser flags a concern. If the land is converting out of an agricultural exemption, Texas charges a rollback tax covering the prior three years of that tax break, current law since 2021, and it needs to be resolved before closing, since it can otherwise sit as a lien and hold up title insurance. This is exactly the kind of structuring conversation worth having with me before you write the offer, not after.

La Ventana and the Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club are the two that come up most, both built around acreage and privacy rather than a typical subdivision layout. La Ventana is custom-built, largely through builders like Weston Dean Custom Homes and Hill Country Artisan Homes, while Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club, a Discovery Land Company development, works with builders including Weston Dean Custom Homes and Sterling Custom Homes. Financing an acreage purchase is a different appraisal conversation than a standard lot, and it is worth having early.

Mostly, and fairly. The original Salt Lick BBQ has been open since 1967 and is one of the most recognized barbecue names in Texas, with Salt Lick Cellars winery right next door. It is a good shorthand for the area itself, rural, Hill Country, and higher end than its size would suggest.