This page is general information, not legal advice. Electrum Properties is not a law firm. If your sale involves an estate, heirs, a tenant or a lien, talk to a Texas attorney.
Material interest: we buy houses in Lubbock for cash, including houses in Tech Terrace.
Last reviewed: September 2026
U.N.I.T. is the neighborhood, and the acronym is the boundary
The association here is Tech Terrace U.N.I.T., and the letters are the four streets that box it in: University Avenue, Nineteenth Street, Indiana Avenue, Thirty-fourth Street. Nineteenth is one of the busiest arterials in Lubbock, campus right across it. Inside those lines it is all ZIP 79410, all inside the city limits, two miles from the courthouse downtown.
Drive west from University and the avenues run alphabetically by city name — Akron, Boston, Canton, Detroit, Elgin, Flint, Gary, Hartford, Indiana. Alleys run behind the blocks, which is why so many of these houses have a detached garage and a garage apartment beside it. Roscoe Wilson Elementary and Hutchinson Middle are inside the box.
Almost half the houses here went up before 1950
Census tract lines here fall on 19th, 26th and 34th, so these numbers measure this neighborhood, not the city around it.
| Tech Terrace | Lubbock citywide | |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 2,474 | 118,143 |
| Built before 1950 | About 47% | 5.5% |
| Built since 2010 | 4 units | — |
| Median year built, owner-occupied | 1944 north of 26th | 1983 |
| Single-family detached | 88.5% | 64.5% |
Nine times the citywide share of pre-1950 houses, and two-thirds of everything here predates 1960. Census Bureau, 2020-2024.
The National Weather Service records the May 11, 1970 F5 tornado touching down near 19th and University and tracking northeast through downtown. That intersection is this neighborhood’s northeast corner; the storm went the other way, and these blocks kept their pre-war houses.
Most of the houses here are somebody’s rental
Citywide, about one in four single-family houses in Lubbock is rented. In Tech Terrace it is closer to six in ten, and between 26th and 34th, 94% of renter households live in a detached house rather than an apartment. Texas Tech enrolled 42,272 students in fall 2025, and you walk to campus from here.
So the owner we usually end up talking to here is a landlord — often someone who bought a house near Tech for a kid two decades ago and now lives in Dallas. Leases turn on a fixed August cycle, so missing the leasing window is a dated deadline.
The owners who do live here have stayed: one in five moved in before 1990 and 37% are 65 or older. That produces estates. The Census recorded zero units for sale only in either tract and 115 listed as “other vacant” — empty, and not on the market.
Why someone in 79410 calls a cash buyer
- A rent house you are finished with — tenant in place, tenant gone, or a garage apartment you stopped advertising. See selling a rental with bad tenants.
- A house out of an estate, three heirs in three cities, nobody wanting to paint a 1944 house first. See inherited property, probate and vacant houses.
- More work than the retail pool will pay for — original wiring, one bathroom, galvanized lines, an alley garage leaning. Add hail and see storm damage.
- Taxes, a lien, or an open city code case. See behind on property taxes, liens and code violations.
- Leaving Lubbock, or downsizing and staying close. See selling when you are relocating.
Between 19th and 26th the Census counts 52 owner-occupied houses under $200,000 and 107 at $500,000 or more, so we price your house, not the average.
The Texas foundation story — expansive clay that moves — is not what the USDA maps under Tech Terrace; it maps loams over caliche a few feet down. The hail is real, though: two-inch-or-larger hail was reported within a couple of miles of here on six days since 2012. If your house is on pier and beam, we have bought those. If a 1970s slab addition on the back is pulling away, we have bought those too.
When a cash offer is not your best move
- Your house is restored and you have time. There is a real retail pool here for a finished 1940s house a mile from campus. An agent should beat our number.
- The work left is cosmetic. Paint, floors and fixtures on a sound pre-war house usually net more done first.
- The lease is good and the tenant pays. With that lease attached, another investor may pay more than we will.
- The highest number is all that matters to you. We are not the highest offer; we are the certain one. Compare your options for selling in Lubbock first.
How our offer works on a Tech Terrace house
You call or send the form. Then we drive it: the alley garage, the roof, whether the wiring is original, whether the garage apartment is rented.
| Cash sale to Electrum | Listing with an agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline | You pick the closing date | Market-dependent |
| Repairs | None — we buy as-is | Usually expected |
| Tenant in place | Fine — we buy occupied | Narrows your buyers |
| Closing costs | We cover all closing costs on purchase | Typically split |
| Commissions | None | Yes |
You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal. We cover all closing costs on purchase. We are not acting as your real estate agent and we are not listing your house; we buy it. Sometimes we keep what we buy and sometimes we assign the contract; ask which one your deal is and we will tell you. Buying in Lubbock since 2019, BBB accredited, A+. Here is how we buy houses.
Lubbock Central Appraisal District appraises the house, the Lubbock County Clerk records the deed at 904 Broadway, and weeds and substandard structures are the City of Lubbock at 806-775-2193.
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Questions we get about Tech Terrace
Nothing has been updated since 1941. Is that a problem?
No. About 47% of the housing here went up before 1950, against 5.5% citywide. We buy as-is.
Is Tech Terrace a historic district? Do I need approval before I sell?
No. Tech Terrace is not a National Register historic district and has no historic overlay — no design review, no certificate of appropriateness. The exception is the Holden Properties Historic District, seven listed properties on the 3100 block of 20th Street.
My tenant’s lease runs through May. Do I have to get them out first?
No. We buy houses with tenants in them, and where most single-family houses are rentals that is routine. You pick the closing date, so closing after the August turnover works too.
I own a rent house near Tech and live out of state. Can I sell without flying in?
Usually. Closing runs through a title company and the deed is recorded by the Lubbock County Clerk. We walk the property and sign remotely where the title company allows it.
What schools is Tech Terrace zoned for?
Lubbock ISD. Roscoe Wilson Elementary and Hutchinson Middle are inside the neighborhood, and most of Tech Terrace is zoned to Lubbock High. Confirm your address with the district.
Get a number on your Tech Terrace house
A rent house on Elgin, a 1944 house on Boston out of an estate, a garage apartment empty since spring — call 806-630-0875 or send the form above. We buy in Tech Terrace, Lubbock, TX 79410, and in Overton and the Heart of Lubbock.
You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal. We cover all closing costs on purchase. If the answer is no, you are out one phone call.