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Ranch Land Buys? What is the catch?

kercher

Member
Joined
May 22, 2020
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1181
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21
I hope I am doing this correctly...lurker from pbb, but glad to have this place...

Wife and I are just outside Cleveland and are looking at acreage in the western part of the country. Am I missing something with these 40 acre parcels that are part of a "ranch"? I have asked realtors and I feel like I must be missing something as they are listed for 20k give or take...but it seems like you own the property outright without any obligation. Some of them are off grid, some are connected to water, electricity, etc.

what am I missing?

Thanks
 
You need to go to one of these "ranches". What your missing is it's usually in the middle of nothefuckwhere, off grid and scarce water. I can buy miles of desert off I10 east of El Paso Tx for pennies per acre. It sounds like a great deal until your out there in the middle of BFE looking at miles of nothing in all directions. Where does your food, fuel, EMS/Fire ect come from? Employment in BFE?
 
Not familiar with them, I can see if a developer bought the whole thing and then builds a subdivision on the more desirable parts, selling the fringes off independently.

If it’s going to remain a working ranch, they may keep the rights to run cattle on it, lease out hunting rights to someone else, keep the mineral rights, etc. The cost of putting in any utilities and a road that can be driven in wet weather may be astronomical.

If you just just want to truck in water and gas and live off solar/generator it might work out ok for you.

One other thing, don’t get caught up on having “x” amount of acres. 40 acres of land that you can’t grow shit on isn’t worth much unless you’re putting in a factory or parking lot. I’d rather have 5-10 acres of good land that backs up to a river, state owned land, or large ranch/plantation in most cases.
 
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Like said, you're out past the middle of bfe. I run W Tx and while its no big deal in a semi to spend a few hrs passing through, as much as I love being away from stuff, I dont want to be 2hrs from pretty much everything.
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
Around Big Bend it might actually be pretty.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...80129273_zpid/

On the other hand, this one looks like a shit hole.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/S...0174945_zpid/?
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Exactly what I was talking about.... :lmao:

I work in that area frequently. It is absolutely gorgeous out there..... BUT its BFE to the extreme. Alpine, Tx would be the closest major city and it isn't "major" by any means. Not to mention you will have illegals and border patrol all over the place out there. I'll be right back, I've got lots of pics of that area...
 
There's all sorts of different land "deals" out there. Just make sure you review the deed and know what your getting. You may not get mineral rights, water are sometimes tricky out west, grazing rights, easements, you name it there's an exception for it. Also make sure you can access the land and that its free and clear of taxes and claims. I once had someone try to sell me land that turned out to be on an indian reservation.
 
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Its takes about 5-7 acres of land per cow out there to keep them fed. Ranchers buy land by the square out there to cattle ranch. No crop is going to grow out there either. Basicly useless. But it is pretty though.
 
Also, every time you leave the Terlingulia area you have to go through a border patrol checkpoint. It's not a big deal unless the dog makes a mistake and barks at your vehicle. Ask me how I know.... :mad3:
 
I am not looking into getting into ranching or anything like that. I just fear it is like an HOA or something...
 
You won't have to worry about an HOA out there. You can live in a shack made out of pallets and cardboard, have 90 junk cars in your yard, pile up and burn your trash in a pit and shit on your front lawn and NOBODY will give a fuck..... Or be able to see you. :lmao:
 
Slowpoke, those are great pictures...

So aside from in the middle of nowhere, I think I need to look into mineral rights. Anything else? Thank you all for the help
 
kercher said:
Slowpoke, those are great pictures...

So aside from in the middle of nowhere, I think I need to look into mineral rights. Anything else? Thank you all for the help
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Dont get me wrong, if I were filthy stupid rich I'd move there in a second to be free from the world, but until you actually go out there you really cant imagine how far in the middle of nowhere you truly are.

I'm originally from RI and moved to Tx about 5 years ago. I was absolutely stunned by how much open land there truly is in this state. Its mind blowing!
 
kercher said:
Slowpoke, those are great pictures...

So aside from in the middle of nowhere, I think I need to look into mineral rights. Anything else? Thank you all for the help
Click to expand...


Those things have been around for 40 years or more. They are much like a timeshare, they don't care if you default because they just turn around and re sell it. Mineral rights are almost never included in the sale.
Theres tons of that shit on ebay or at least used to be. I worked with a guy once from Alabama who couldn't wait to tell me that he owned property in Elko NV and thats where he was going to retire to. He bought 2 40 ac. lots, after I got done laughing I had to tell him there wasn't anything out there except hookers and tumbleweeds.
 
rockmup said:
Those things have been around for 40 years or more. They are much like a timeshare, they don't care if you default because they just turn around and re sell it. Mineral rights are almost never included in the sale.
Theres tons of that shit on ebay or at least used to be. I worked with a guy once from Alabama who couldn't wait to tell me that he owned property in Elko NV and thats where he was going to retire to. He bought 2 40 ac. lots, after I got done laughing I had to tell him there wasn't anything out there except hookers and tumbleweeds.
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and I'd rather fuck a tumbleweed then any hookers from out there
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
You won't have to worry about an HOA out there. You can live in a shack made out of pallets and cardboard, have 90 junk cars in your yard, pile up and burn your trash in a pit and shit on your front lawn and NOBODY will give a fuck..... Or be able to see you. :lmao:
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And you’ll have Rattlesnake in every junk car, coyotes trying to eat your domesticated animals, and will have water trucked in.

it sounds cool, but it gets impractical, REAL fast.

and Fuck border patrol check points.
 
Hey slowpoke693, you run across any quail out there? On land that I could get the right to hunt in would be a plus. For the last 5 years I was leasing bob white quail hunting rights on 16k acres in Eldorado Oklahoma.
The rancher used the money to quadruple his cattle, destroying the habitat in drought years.

As far as any cheap land out west goes WATER Is the issue. Drilling for it may be a problem. If you even have the right to drill, it might be 10x the price of the land. You do not necessarily have the right to collect the rain water, but that doesn’t even matter When it only rains 3 days a year, jokingly not joking.


As was said, out west a small, useable 1-10acre parcel that backs to blm or accessible government land is where I would look. Stay away from any land near an Indian reservation. I would rather buy property that had a landfill, prison, and ghetto projects surrounding it. It would smell better and have way nicer neighbors.

Power off grid is not as much of an issue with current solar. I have an off grid cabin, and once you figure out how to operate without electricity life can pretty simple. A refrigerator is the only thing I find lacking at my place, and that is easy enough to solve. I have 58psi of gravity fed spring water and propane oven/stove and water heater. I don’t live full time at my cabin, just use it as a getaway.
 
heavytlc

Can't recall seeing many on my trips out there, but I dont exactly bird watch. I mostly see rattlesnakes, hogs, coyotes and mtn goats(?) down that way. Locals say there are big cats roaming out there at night also.

I find that area interesting. There are very few places left on earth that have not been fucked with by us humans. Down their, other than a few roads and trailer houses, its probably been like that for 1000's of years. Well, after the water receded anyway.
 
heavytlc said:
Hey slowpoke693, you run across any quail out there? On land that I could get the right to hunt in would be a plus. For the last 5 years I was leasing bob white quail hunting rights on 16k acres in Eldorado Oklahoma.
The rancher used the money to quadruple his cattle, destroying the habitat in drought years.

As far as any cheap land out west goes WATER Is the issue. Drilling for it may be a problem. If you even have the right to drill, it might be 10x the price of the land. You do not necessarily have the right to collect the rain water, but that doesn’t even matter When it only rains 3 days a year, jokingly not joking.


As was said, out west a small, useable 1-10acre parcel that backs to blm or accessible government land is where I would look. Stay away from any land near an Indian reservation. I would rather buy property that had a landfill, prison, and ghetto projects surrounding it. It would smell better and have way nicer neighbors.

Power off grid is not as much of an issue with current solar. I have an off grid cabin, and once you figure out how to operate without electricity life can pretty simple. A refrigerator is the only thing I find lacking at my place, and that is easy enough to solve. I have 58psi of gravity fed spring water and propane oven/stove and water heater. I don’t live full time at my cabin, just use it as a getaway.
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A/C is a pretty damn big deal in a place where it’s close to triple digits half the year. Don’t see that being sustainable on any sort of reasonable solar setup.
 
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IF you're serious, you need to understand the water issue out there. As in, there isnt much of it.

Im fairly certain we're moving to the Abilene area. My plan for water is to haul it in at about 2k gallons at a time with 4-5k gal of storage.

If I were you, Id be looking at doing the same in that area because a well will cost you more than 40k to have drilled with no guarantees you'll hit water.
 
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