Moving from apartment to house: what nobody tells you in TX

Spent 6 years in apartments. Just bought a house. Here's what nobody warned me about.

• Lawn care in Texas heat is a part-time job. Mowing every week in summer. Watering constantly. The grass will die if you look at it wrong in August.
• Property tax hits different when you write the check yourself. In an apartment it's hidden in rent. Now I see the $8K bill annually.
• Everything that breaks is YOUR problem. AC went out the second month. $400 repair. In an apartment I would've called maintenance.
• Homeowner's insurance in Texas is expensive. Wind, hail, storms. My premium is $2,400/year.
• Water bill is 3x what I expected. Watering the lawn in summer adds $80-100/month easy.

I don't regret buying. But I wish someone had given me realistic numbers instead of just "your mortgage will be close to your rent."