Had a retired couple in the office last Thursday. Coming down from Plano, both 66, one pension and two IRAs, targeting either Boerne or Dripping Springs. They'd been reading Zillow for eight months and had a budget locked in at $650K all-in.

I ran the actual numbers on the back of a title company folder while we drank coffee. That budget was off by about $40,000 a year, not on the purchase — on the carry.

Here's how the conversation went, because I think a lot of people retiring here in 2026 are doing the same math they did in 2019 and it doesn't work anymore.

They wanted Boerne first. Fair. Good hospital, easy run to San Antonio, the downtown is actually a downtown. I pulled up Resideline's Boerne 78006 numbers — median closed sale price the last six months was $599,000 across 552 closings tracked directly. So their $650K gets them a median-ish house. Not a big house. Not on acreage. A median house on a normal lot in a subdivision with an HOA.

Then we did property tax. Boerne's effective rate runs 1.86% to 2.14% depending on where the lot sits. On a $599K house at 2%, that's $11,980 a year. They were budgeting $6,500 based on what they pay in Plano on a similar-value home. Texas doesn't have income tax and people forget the trade — the state gets you on the property side, and the Hill Country ISDs and MUDs stack on top.

Insurance was the next surprise. I told them to plan on $1,400 to $1,750 a year for a standard build in Boerne, and projections I've seen for 2026 have premiums going up another 8%. Hail is the reason. We get hammered out here every couple of springs and the carriers know it. Their Plano number was $1,100. So add another $500-ish a year.

They asked about Dripping Springs as the backup. Interesting timing on that one — Redfin's data on Dripping Springs through May 2026 shows the median sale price down 4.9% year-over-year, sitting at $515,000. That's a real correction. Not a crash, but the first sustained softening I've watched in that submarket in a long time. If you'd told me two years ago Dripping Springs would be a buyer's-leaning market in the summer of 2026 I'd have laughed. Here we are.

So Dripping saves them roughly $85K on purchase versus Boerne. But — and this is where it got interesting — the wife wanted to know about a well. They'd been looking at some listings on the west side of town on an acre or two.

I told them what I tell everybody moving out to acreage: the water question is the whole question. Parts of southwestern Travis and western Comal counties still don't have a Groundwater Conservation District regulating new wells. Rule of Capture means your neighbor can drill a bigger well and pull harder and you get to watch your levels drop. I've seen it. I've had clients spend $18,000 on a well that went dry in three years because a development went in half a mile away. Before you sign anything on acreage, you get the well report, you ask the neighbors what depth they're pulling from, and you ask the county what's been permitted within a mile.

Septic is the other one nobody budgets for. In Hays County a conventional system runs $10,000 to $20,000, plus $500 to $1,000 in permit fees, and if you've got caliche or thin soil over limestone you're probably going aerobic, which pushes it toward the high end and adds annual maintenance contracts. I told them to add $15,000 to any acreage number they saw listed as "needs septic."

Now the total picture. On a $599K Boerne house: about $12,000 property tax, $1,600 insurance, HOA anywhere from $600 to $2,400 a year depending on the community. That's roughly $14,000 to $16,000 a year in carry before they pay a light bill or fix a fence. They'd budgeted $9,000.

Where I actually landed with them: look at Blanco, look at Spring Branch, look at the edges. Not the postcard towns. A retired couple with a fixed income shouldn't be buying the median house in the most-searched ZIP code in the region — you're paying a premium for the name on the sign. Blanco has real character, a working square, and prices that haven't caught Boerne yet. Spring Branch gives you Hill Country without the Boerne tax rate.

The other thing I told them, and I'll say it here — if you're moving down here to retire, go rent for six months before you buy. Rent in the area you think you want. Drive the roads at 5pm on a Tuesday. Sit at Fredericksburg Brewing Company on a Saturday when 40,000 tourists are in town and decide if you want to live 20 minutes from that every weekend. Drive out to Hamilton Pool Road in July and see the traffic. The Hill Country you visited on a long weekend in October is not the Hill Country you'll live in every day.

They left with homework — pull the tax rolls on three specific streets, get insurance quotes on two sample addresses, and call Blanco County about a lot we'd talked about. That's the work. That's what buying down here in 2026 looks like if you're doing it right.

The couple who did the napkin math instead of the Zillow math ended up in a house they can actually afford to keep.

Data sourced from Redfin Dripping Springs Housing Market Trends (May 2026) and Resideline Boerne 78006 Housing Market data (July 2026). Verify current numbers with a local agent before acting.