buying land

[dmccarty]

TxDon's comment popped another item to add. Check when the last tax valuation was done on the property. AND how much has the land value gone up since that valuation.

When we bought our land our taxes on 54 acres was something like $1000. But it was based on an old valuation which where done every seven years. AND there had been quite a bit of price growth on property. Our new tax bill on 45ish acres was something like $3500. OUCH!

I think I got it lowered this year with a timber valuation but I have not seen the tax bill yet.....

Later,
Dan

 

[chili]

TxDon's mention of mineral rights is an important issue. If the mineral right's is someone else, they could lease the mineral rights to a company which can come on your land and drill and there is nothing you can do about it as i understand it. This may not be an issue but something to consider.

 

[wushaw]

Don has good points.
Since your in the panhandle find out about the water rights, the Texas panhandle has one of the largest aquafiers in Texas and ranchers sell water off to different cities.
It would be sad to see you purchase this land just so somebody else can make lots of money off your land.

 

[2nstonge]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here but it's based on my own painful experience:

1. Survey Says?! Get a survey!! Get one now, before you fall in deeply in love with the property. Know the property lines BEFORE you buy. If there's a conflict with abutters, figure it out BEFORE you buy.

2. Easements, right-of-ways or restrictions. Know them, understand them and be sure they are air tight (in your favor) BEFORE you sign on the dotted line.

3. Zoning. What can/can't you do with your new land. What can/can't your neighbors do? Is there an industrial park going in next door? Your 160 acres of bliss could be next door to the next new race track - no problem if that's what you're in to but it would suck if you're looking for peace and tranquility.

4. Get a lawyer who specializes in real estate - not the local wills/real estate/traffic court/divorce person - someone who specializes in RE law.


Good luck! -Norm

 

[CurlyDave]

Just another thing no one has mentioned yet.

Check out the approach to your land -- from all directions. With 160 acres you can be well separated from neighbors, but when time to sell comes, you don't want prospective buyers driving past the local dump and a sewage treatment plant on the way in. And realize that if someone lives along the route who measures his wealth by the number of cars on cinderblocks in his front yard, the appearance of that parcel is not under your control.

OTOH, don't spend so much time checking everything that you lose the parcel.

When we bought our 40 acres, it was a seller's market, and the parcel had just been listed. We had one or at most two days to decide. The price was right, and it was the last parcel of anywhere near that size within 10 miles of town.

We went ahead, and have not regretted it for even a second.

We had a similar purpose in mind: investment/recreation/home. We did not get a survey done, and in many ways that worked out better for us. Since we are not going to raise crops or livestock, 40 acres +/- even 5 makes no difference to us. But, since the country requires 40 acres for a homesite, I would not want to have a new survey come up with 38 acres and not be able to build.

We got a deed which says 40 acres, and that is all the county requires. After the house is built, I may get a survey done, just to establish the property lines with precision, but we pretty much centered the house on the property so there will be no big issues.

 

[bdog]

Thanks very much for the replies. A lot of very important and useful things to consider. This property is in a very rural farming/ranching area. Closest town is 10k people and is 12 miles away. The town is the one I grew up in and not much has changed there in the past 15 years so I really think I same safe from any kind of development, subdivision, industry or the like. From what I can tell I would be one of the smaller land owners around. Closet house to me is 2 miles. The property is really only approachable from one direction, which is a paved farm to market road that dead ends at the corner of my property.

The only really negative thing I can tell is that there are no minerals to go with it. The current landowner does not have them.

 

[txdon]

Oh, one more thing about TEXAS Ag-exempt property. If you do NOT plan on continuing the ag practice you can still retain the exemption, and this is only available for land currently under ag-exempt. You can do this by making the property a wildlife management use property. Here is a web site with information: http://www.noble.org/AG/Wildlife/TaxExempt/index.html

 

[jinman]

One other thing...are you a veteran? If so, you should consider what help you can get through the Texas Veterans Land Board. This is not the VA, but rather for Texas veterans only or those vets who have made Texas their home for at least 5 years. Here's the website:

TX VLB

 

[sandman2234]

I bought 25% of 26 acres in Ga a couple months ago. 50% is owned by my Mother in law. The last 25% is owned by a cousin in Central Florida. I bought it without a survey, no title insurance, just a quick claim deed that I went and registered. It is under the same program HGM mentioned, and if I even bush hog it, I can be nailed with the back taxes, plus interest. Yikes!!
The property I live on in Florida was sold by the executor of an estate, AS IS. He walked me to the back of the property, to a large crosstie in the fence and said that was the back of the property. My research showed it not to be, but I didn't say anything. At closing, he picked up the survey and noticed the property was a little larger than he thought. It actually went 440 feet deeper than what he said. Do your reseach, it could go the other way...
David from jax