This page is general information, not legal advice.
Electrum Properties is not a law firm. Talk to a Texas attorney about your situation.
Material interest: we buy houses in Lubbock for cash, including houses in the situations described here.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Twenty to thirty years older than the rest of Lubbock
The Heart of Lubbock is the square mile between 19th and 34th, University Avenue and Avenue Q. The Census splits it into two tracts, and both come back decades older than the city as a whole: median year built 1954 in the west half, 1962 in the east, against 1984 citywide.
35.2 percent of the housing here went up before 1950, against 5.5 percent citywide, and the Census counts zero units built in the 2020s. They are small — median 4.7 and 5.3 rooms, a quarter of them one-bedroom. Behind them run 43 mapped alley segments, which is why so many lots carry a detached garage or garage apartment instead of a driveway.
Four arterials, two of them US highways
Every side of this neighborhood is a through street. Nineteenth on the north is US 62 and TX 114. Avenue Q on the east is US 84. Thirty-fourth and University close the box, which is why commercial zoning rings the perimeter. Inside it: Avenues R through Y, 20th through 33rd, Carlisle Park at 28th and Avenue X, Stumpy Hamilton Park at 22nd and Avenue X, Orlando’s at 2402 Avenue Q since October 15, 1965. The ZIP is 79411.
Schools are Lubbock ISD, and the one that moved this market is Dupre, 2008 Avenue T — a 1927 building, the oldest LISD owned. The board voted in November 2021 to close the elementary; it shut after that year, and the building runs now as Dupre Academy High School. When a neighborhood loses its elementary, young families stop buying and landlords start.
Two out of three houses here are rented
Of 1,899 occupied households here, 591 are owner-occupied — 31.1 percent, against 51.2 percent citywide. The city’s own zoning file shows how: ten high-density rezonings landed inside this single-family grid between 1978 and 2013. Your neighbor may be a fourplex. If you bought a rental in here years ago and now manage it from Dallas, you are the seller we talk to most.
The ground here is not expansive clay
Every cash-buyer site in Texas blames your slab on expansive clay. The soil survey here says otherwise: Acuff-Urban and Amarillo-Urban land complexes — sandy loam over sandy clay loam, well drained, shrink-swell in the low class, caliche three to five feet down. When a slab moves here it is almost always water: a cast-iron sewer line that gave up under a 1940s slab, an elm drinking from under one corner since Eisenhower. Pre-war houses may be pier-and-beam; post-war is probably slab. We buy both.
Why people in this square mile call us
The inherited house is the big one. The Census counts 174 units here that are not for sale, not for rent and not seasonal — 7.8 percent against 3.7 percent citywide. The heirs are often not in Lubbock, the kitchen is original, and nobody wants to fly in twice to manage a rehab.
Condition is the other one. One in fourteen housing units here has no complete kitchen, and vacancy runs 14.8 percent against 9.4. NOAA logged 60 hail reports in Lubbock County since 2020, and its narrative for the June 23, 2023 storm describes “widespread damage to roofs and vehicles.” The pattern here is a landlord who took the actual-cash-value check and never re-roofed. We buy it as it stands.
- Inherited houses — the held-and-empty units above are mostly this.
- Vacant houses, including the garage apartment off the alley nobody wants to manage.
- Storm damage, or a code case — this is inside the city limits, so City of Lubbock Code Administration has jurisdiction.
- Behind on property taxes, or liens against the property.
- Retirement or relocation — about 44 percent of owners here own free and clear.
We also buy in Overton, Tech Terrace and Arnett Benson.
How selling to us actually works
You send the address. We walk it — inside, outside, roof, alley structure, foundation — then give you a number and show how we got there. The office that sets your assessed value, Lubbock Central Appraisal District, sits at 2109 Avenue Q, on this neighborhood’s own eastern boundary. The deed records at the Lubbock County Clerk on Broadway.
| 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 we sometimes assign a contract to another buyer instead of closing in our own name. We tell you which before you sign, and we aren’t acting as your real estate agent. Compare every route on our Lubbock selling options page, or read how we buy houses.
When a cash offer is not your best move
Sometimes it isn’t. If the roof is sound, the sewer has been replaced and the kitchen is done, list it. A kept-up 1940s cottage this close to Texas Tech has a real retail market, and an agent will likely net you more than we can.
If the house is rented and the tenants pay, another year of rent often beats an as-is price — rents here run near the citywide median while the taxes are much lower. 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.
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Heart of Lubbock questions we actually get
My house was built in the 1940s. Is it too old for you to buy?
No. Age is the norm here — 35.2 percent of the housing in these two tracts predates 1950, against 5.5 percent citywide. We buy as-is.
There is an empty garage apartment off the alley. Does that kill the deal?
No. Forty-three mapped alley segments run behind these blocks, and that grid is why so many lots carry a second structure. It is a normal part of the walkthrough.
Is my slab cracking because of expansive clay?
Probably not. USDA mapping here returns the Acuff-Urban and Amarillo-Urban land complexes — sandy loam over sandy clay loam, low surface shrink-swell. The usual culprit is water: an old sewer line or a downspout at the beam.
The city sent me a code letter. Can I still sell?
Yes. City of Lubbock Code Administration has jurisdiction here. The city says zoning violations are “usually given between 1 and 10 days to be abated,” and that substandard-structure cases go to the Substandard Structure Commission, which “may issue an order for the property to be repaired, removed, or demolished.” Call the city with your address.
How fast can you close on a house here?
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 more time we work to your schedule.
Get a cash offer on your Heart of Lubbock house
Send us the address — Avenue R to Avenue Y, 20th to 33rd. We look at the house in person and give you a real number with the reasoning behind it. 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.
Call or text 806-630-0875. We buy houses in the Heart of Lubbock, Texas 79411. Our referral program pays $500 per closed deal.