Any idea on how water is considered? It may be the most important "mineral" ever!!!!

Some people even keep their water rights, wind rights are being kept in west texas. The most important thing to do is take your time,shop around and make sure your not buying more than you can afford. Don't become discouraged when something goes wrong. My wife and I have used the Texas Land Bank, and they have been great. You do have to have 20% down though, but we got our note for 30 yrs. I second and third the amount of time and money you will spend on your new property, but to me it is well worth having something to leave my kids. Property values only increase, it's the most stable investment anyone can make.

They don't increase when more land keeps popping up in this market. If you buy now, you better be ready to hold onto it for a LONG time.

Starting to be a buyers market if there are buyers. Land is down to $1,800 an acre in Montague on a place near us though it doesn't look that great. That is what it was going for 6 years ago. It was around $2,400+ I believe recently. Values only increase if someone pays the increase. Way too much out there to support the buying levels. We have had land for sale now going on 4 years near us and they won't drop the price... Makes no sense if they are actually serious. Still new properties are popping up for $3,000 an acre but you can lease for a heck of a lot less if you just want to hunt.

http://www.countryhomesoftexas.com/texas/index.cfm?detail=&inv_id=89737

A lot of people list land for sale under the "if the price is right" idealogy. They don't really want or need to sell, but will if they can a certain amount.

That amount is usually way above market value and the land doesn't sell and they don't care. You can tell who really needs to sell by their pricing.

If you look on "landsoftexas.com", close to 100% of the listings are very significantly higher than what the land actually trades at. I know that because I've been part of the buying process on 2 pieces I found there:

1 - 40 acres near Hallettsville. Ask: $196k Contract: $122k
2 - 40 acres near Caldwell. Ask: $178k Contract $128k

The ask is basically a suggestion. Many times it's way off.

I am a farm and ranch broker and I agree with cameron00 on his assessment. It is now a buyers market and most sales are 12% to 25% below list price. Some areas of the State are holding up well while others have really taken a hit. Overall sales prices are about where they were three years ago, more in some areas, less in others.

On insurance, you may want to carry liability, even if you have no improvements, etc. If someone (even a tresspasser) gets hurt on your land, you're liable.

It's not quite as simple as this. If you're found to have been contributorily negligent, you can be found partially liable.

Not just cut and dry "If a trespasser gets hurt on you're land, you have to pay them."

If your land has no improvements and isn't used for farming, you're likely already covered under your homeowner's policy. Check with your insurance agent.

The process is similar to buying a house, but expect to do a full income/ asset verification. As long as you haven't had mortgage lates, delinquint accts, no bk's or forclosures, you should be good. Rates will vary for non owner occupied/ vacant land, but with rates today, I would expect high 5's or low 6% range. Taxes for vacant land should be low/very minimal, insurance shouldn't be required as long as the lending institution does not require. Like most have stated, plan on putting 20-30% down financing no more than about 20 years, possibly less...definatly check with your local banks/ credit unions..most of your bigger banks will not do vacant land/ lot loans anymore..
The best advice I can provide::: Make sure you fully understand the terms (rate, fixed/adj, balloon or fully amortized, cost, rate/apr...Remember your signing your name to that note. Good luck!

We have our nearly 1500 acre place SW of Sonora for sale and this is the problem we are running into. No one loaning money out on land, or we would have already had it sold.

That's the type of faulty logic that created the Residential Mortgage Crisis/Bubble of the 2003-2008 time frame. The banks were underwriting 10%+ annual appreciation into their models, which was clearly unsustainable, and resulted in a huge bubble. I think land banks in Texas are clearly more conservative than that, and realize we may be in a time with 0% appreciation for the next 10 years or so (if you're lucky, it could be negative depending on this current recession!).

Good topic here by the way!

I went thru the texas veterans land board. It took about 4 months but it was worth it 5% down and thirty year note of 519.00 on 76 acres in west texas. Ive got nice bucks,turkey,quail,aoudad,hogs,dove,bobcats, and a mountain lion to boot. Tell you what its the best thing ive done with my 401k money. There is nothing like calling your place your own. Remember there not making land anymore, and it is only going to go up. I remember seeing 295.00 acred prices in land in sanderson texas now its going for a little over a grand. Just about everyone else is 20% down and no one will finance more than 20yrs. If your a veteran and you are interested my neighbor is selling his 55 acre tract for 1000.00 acre.

I can sell you land in sanderson/dryden area for $395/acre all day long....anyone interested?

Great post and a lot of good information. I recommend getting an agent that represents you that has vast experience in buying and selling land. Restriction, mineral rights, easements, water, electric, roads, power lines, neighbors and a lot more need to be considered. Buying land is very tricking and there can be possible hidden problems that are known or unknown to the seller. Just as a side note, I have learned that out in the country, good fences make good neighbors. Good luck.

The process is similar. However, typically the lender will require at least 25% down. This environment is not the best; however, lenders are (were) willing to lend out to 25 years. No, if there is no structure to insure, the lender typically will not require insurance. For small tracts, the seller may be willing to owner finance. In a year, no telling what interest rates will be. Unless there is some real banking/wall street reformn as the current adminstration seeks, things very well might be the same they are now in terms of credit availability - very poor. Under the deregulation policies, banks were allowed to go into much more lucrative businesses and they just are loaning money out these days.

buying land (as a place to hunt) is harder than buying a house. you either have to have enough money to buy a big enough place that what your neighbors do isn't a big deal. or you have to find a smaller tract that isn't already surrounded by other small tracts. it takes a while to locate the right place.

you do not have to carry insurance on it. you can, but it is not mandatory. the only reason you would carry insurance is for liability purposes if the property is leased or saw lots of hunting guests.

for financing, most traditional banks will not finance land for more than 15yrs. you need to look for a land bank. check with texas ag finance or capital farm credit. they will lend out to 30yrs.

we bought our place 3yrs ago now. it took us six years to line it up though. don't get in a hurry on it. do your homework on the places.

Erich

Land is tough to buy, I bought my ranch 5 years ago...at that time down payments were 20%,Now they are 30% so get ready to shell out some cash. As far as insurance I dont have any and its not required,as far as good interest rates, dont expect that any more, we have excellent credit,and own stores that we have paid close to a million dollars for, we get better interest on them than the land. A good land interest I would look to pay at least 8% now. My payments on 504 acres that I paid 650.00 an acre for and put 58000 down on, are 33,000 a year, I make bi-annual payments 16,500 twice a year.Things have changed in the last 5 years, money is harder to get, and land is higher, good luck !!!

Hi, I'm new here, but I have been saving and have a down payment for some land. I know not all or even many realtors do this, but I have to ask: For those of you who've bought land using a buyer's realtor, how do you know they have your best interest in mind since they get paid on commission? Finding a good rate is one thing, but the price is still a huge factor up front. I know when I bought my second house, I used a buyer's realtor and it made the seller's realtor very angry and was generally an unpleasant experience.

I'm looking to buy 100-150 acres to hunt in east Texas within the next year or so.

Also, are there any suggestions on factors to look for when judging deer population without the ability to spend a season scouting it first?

lots of cameras and corn piles and see what all is showing up. I went in blind hunting a new property a while back. I had been hunting on my lease and my g/f, now wife, said there was an old deer stand on the place she had just bought, we should go sit in it and just see what walks out. I gave her the go-ahead to pull the trigger on the first buck that stepped out..... a cpl weeks later we put cams out and I've been kickin' myself ever since for telling her to shoot that deer.

Thanks Rifleman.

I've never bought hunting land before, but my dad bought some rural land as an investment (he doesn't hunt) in East Texas and there were no deer signs at all (had a few hogs come through though).

Is it typical for a seller to allow you to go put out feeders or cameras? I wouldn't think they'd be too open to that.

I was assuming you meant judging the pop. after purchasing the place. I wouldn't think it would be too easy to get cameras on the place before hand.

What area are you looking to buy?

I have a pretty wide area I'm looking at. My family is all in Smith and Anderson county, so pretty much anything in that area (Tyler, Palestine, Jacksonville, Athens, etc.). Henderson County, Cherokee County, Anderson County... I'd imagine Smith county's not worth it with the higher population. Maybe a little further west, but not too much further west than that. One of the sights had some Neches River frontage that might be good for fishing or ducks, too, it was about $1,500 an acre, which seems more reasonable than other places I'd seen.

I'd hate to buy land and find out there hasn't been a deer there in 20 years. That would kind of ruin it for me. I live in Waco now, so something close to a 2-3 hour drive would be nice, especially since I can stay with them while I'm hunting.

have a cpl friends who have land between Alto & Rusk and they have some bruisers to hunt every year. If I remember correctly, I saw an oil company selling land around 800-1200/acre around New Summerfield.

Yeah, New Summerfield would definitely be in the area I'm interested in. Thanks for taking the time to give me your input.

your welcome.

Last question - is 100 or 150 acres worth it? It's a big price up front, but I've been saving money for almost 10 years now and I've hardly hunted at all because of work, so I'm a little rusty on deer hunting in general.

I'm guessing that it depends mostly on the specific tract of land... I mostly hear about these 1,000 acre leases, 10,000 acre leases, etc... can 100-150 acres be managed to produce good deer if it's a good tract of land (i.e. not 150 acres of cow pasture, next to a shopping mall, etc.).