Where we buy in Shallowater
Shallowater sits twelve miles northwest of Lubbock on US 84 — the road people here call Clovis Road. The Santa Fe line has run through the middle of town since 1913 — the town’s founders bought the townsite in 1909, but the railroad itself wasn’t finished for four more years. FM 1294 runs along the east side of Shallowater, and the city is one ZIP code, 79363.
We buy inside the city limits and out on the county roads that share the address. Roughly half the people with a Shallowater address live outside the limits — far enough out that At’l Do Farms, up FM 1294, carries a Lubbock 79415 address. Inside the line: city water, city sewer, city code enforcement. Outside it: a well, a septic system, unincorporated Lubbock County where counties hold no zoning authority. Across the 79363 ZIP, mobile homes are three times as common.
Two towns stacked on one grid
| Homes built | Units |
|---|---|
| 2010 or later | 233 |
| 2000–2009 | 163 |
| 1990–1999 | 113 |
| 1980–1989 | 96 |
| 1970–1979 | 166 |
| 1960–1969 | 88 |
| 1950–1959 | 213 |
| Before 1950 | 49 |
The biggest building decade here is the 1950s — 213 houses. Close to half the town’s 1,121 units went up before 1980, and the median year built is 1993 for owner-occupied houses, 1972 for rentals. A family shopping near $210,000 for Shallowater ISD tours your 1956 house and a 2015 build three streets over the same Saturday. Your house rarely loses on price. It loses on the repair list.
The Census also counts nine units in town for sale and 82 it calls “other vacant” — inherited, held and let-go houses. All 233 rentals here are single houses; there are no apartment buildings.
The line item no other town has
Look past the water on a Shallowater bill. Under it sits a line reading Lubbock Water Purchase Fee — $45.48 per meter, and under that, Bond/Debt Service at $32.99. Sewer is not separately metered; what you use in water gets calculated for sewer.
That fee is there because the city buys part of its supply from Lubbock, and the Texas Water Development Board’s May 2025 record says that source “will soon be transitioned to emergency use only.” The city’s own wells make 325 gallons a minute, below the state minimum of 0.6 per connection, so the board approved $8.4 million toward new wells. An empty house still pays those per-meter lines every month. Read selling a vacant house.
Roofs, hail, and the low ground
On 9 April 2023 hail covered the ground in and around Shallowater and left the roadways ice covered. Six weeks later baseball-size hail fell four miles north of town, with vehicles damaged along US 84. An actual-cash-value check on a twenty-year-old roof does not buy a new roof, and a patched roof stops a financed buyer’s lender. See selling a house with water or storm damage.
Foundations get misdescribed here. Most of Shallowater sits on loam — Acuff, Estacado, Olton — with moderate shrink-swell, not the heavy clay every cash-buyer website claims. What moves is the low ground: the playa bottoms and their rims map as Randall clay and Lofton clay loam, rated very limited for a house on a slab. We walk the house instead of guessing off a map.
Who actually handles a Shallowater house
| What | Who handles it |
|---|---|
| Appraisal and tax collection | Lubbock Central Appraisal District |
| Deed recording | Lubbock County Clerk, 904 Broadway |
| Permits and code, in town | City of Shallowater |
| Outside the city limits | Unincorporated Lubbock County — no zoning |
The tax row surprises people: the appraisal district itself collects for the City of Shallowater; the county tax assessor-collector’s office does not. The 2024 adopted city rate was $0.562772 per $100, stacked with the county and Shallowater ISD — see selling when you are behind on taxes. Lubbock’s permit portal will not show a Shallowater permit.
How selling to us actually works
You call or send the address. We drive up Clovis Road and walk the house — inside, outside, roof, slab. Then we hand you a number and show how we got there. You pick the closing date.
| Cash sale to Electrum | Listing with an agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline | You pick the date | Market-dependent |
| Repairs | None — we buy as-is | Usually required |
| Closing costs | We cover all closing costs on purchase | Typically split |
| Commissions | None | Yes |
We buy for our own account and sometimes assign a contract to another buyer instead of closing in our name; we tell you which before you sign. We are not acting as your real estate agent. Compare your options on our Lubbock selling options page, or read how we buy houses.
When a cash offer is not your best move
Nine houses for sale in the whole town is a thin shelf. If your house is on the newer side of the grid and has a sound roof, list it — an agent will very likely net you more than we can. Same if the trouble is only cosmetic and you have time and cash. And if you owe more than the house is worth as-is, a cash sale may not close at all; that is a conversation with your lender first.
Where we do make sense: the 1950s house needing a roof, a slab and a rewire at once. The house already sitting empty. The rental you run from another city. The acreage place where an inspection means a well and septic.
Situations we buy in around Shallowater
- Inherited houses — the old place, heirs living elsewhere.
- Vacant houses — the meter fees run while it sits.
- Rentals — every rental here is one house.
- Relocating — often twelve miles the other way, into Lubbock.
We also buy in New Deal, Idalou, Wolfforth and across Lubbock County.
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Shallowater questions we actually get
My place is outside the city limits on a well and septic. Do you still buy?
Yes — a big share of what we look at here. Out there you are in unincorporated Lubbock County: no city code office, no zoning. Texas does require the septic system to have been permitted, and a lender will want that paperwork.
The house has been empty a year. Is it too far gone to sell?
Almost certainly not. The Census puts 82 Shallowater units in the “other vacant” bucket against nine for sale, so a house sitting here is ordinary. It still costs you monthly: the Lubbock Water Purchase Fee and the bond line are charged per meter either way.
Hail got my roof and the insurance money will not replace it. Will you still buy?
Yes. Hail covered the ground around Shallowater in April 2023, and baseball-size stones fell four miles north of town that May. We price the roof the way we find it. You do not have to finish a claim first.
Who do I pay if I am behind on taxes here?
Lubbock Central Appraisal District. It appraises and collects for the City of Shallowater; the county tax assessor-collector’s office does not. Unpaid taxes come out of the proceeds at closing, so being behind does not stop a sale.
What does it cost me, and how fast can you close?
Nothing: no commission, no listing fees, no repair credits. We cover all closing costs on purchase. You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal, and when you need longer we work to your schedule.
Get a cash offer on your Shallowater house
Send the address and we will come look at it. You get a real number and no pressure. Call or text 806-630-0875, or use the form above. We buy houses in Shallowater, Texas 79363 and throughout Lubbock County. Our referral program pays $500 per closed deal.