Well ... let me tell you my recent experiences on land purchase, prices, and general dealings. I have been looking for a ranch for about 5 years. Lots and lots of land for sale, not a lot of good properties for sale under $1M, and fewer yet in what I am looking for - as I am trying to stay away from "hot rocks and cedar".

About 5 months ago, I got a lead on a property from someone right here on THF. I really didn't think too much, as for five years I've heard a lot of great talk from agents and when I go to look at the property, it is substantially "less than advertised". Well, kinda dragged my feet going to look, but when I did - WOW! It was a great property. Made an official appt for a viewing and brought along a buddy who has ranches and is a bit of an expert. We walked on foot the entire property and the agent was really good about leaving us alone when we wanted, and being there when we wanted. Fell in love with the place, and got a big thumbs-up from my friend - basically told me "buy it!". Well, since I hadn't gotten my loan yet from CFC, I immediately went to work on that. I knew I wouldn't have any problems, just hadn't gotten around to filling out all the paperwork. Well, I SHOULD have put a contract on it right away, subject to financing - because in about 10 days I got a call from CFC with "good news and bad news". The good news is that everything went smoothly on the paperwork in record time, but they said they checked on the property the day before and there was already a contract on it!! My bad!! Really hated losing that property.

OK, have "cash in hand" now and resume searching, this time with a bit more urgency. As luck would have it, I found another property just a couple of weeks later. The agent said the current owner might add an additional adjoining 50 acres - I told him, check on it - I want it, and I was prepared to pay list. Had my agent write up a contract, waited on the selling agent to call me back. Didn't hear from him for 5 days, called the next week and I said I had a contract to give him. He told me the price went up 30%!!! Without the additional parcel. I said WTH? Now it was way over-priced (before it was a little under priced). I said "let me give you the contract anyway, maybe the seller would reconsider". Nope, he informed me the owner already had a "contract pending" for more than my offer. Again, WTH?

Oh well, back to looking - still have cash in hand. Another gentlemen from this board contacted me about a property. Not really interested that one, but was very interested in a cheaper property (didn't need a $200,000 house). Well, things got messed up from the start - miscommunication, different expectations, etc. But the one property I was ready to buy, but concerned about asking/appraisal - but sent a contract anyway at nearly the asking price. No word for a week, then told the seller decided to pull the property from the market. Again, WTH?

Three deals go south in 2 months left me with a pretty sour taste, I'm telling you. But still looking while my option period is still good.

Now here's what I found currently - and remember, I am neither an agent nor a seller, so I have no skin in these comments. I have reviewed over a 1000 listings all across Texas - and have put eyes on at least 100.

There a very few quality hunting properties out there in the 100-300 acre range. Lots of listings, but most of them have some "defect" in them that could be problematic, depending on what/how you want to hunt. The few quality properties are VERY expensive, and IMHO, generally overpriced - but they are selling so I guess if they sell at that price, they ain't overpriced. In that acreage range, a quality hunting property is going to cost you nearly $1M dollars. There are a few that are in the $800K range, if you aren't too fussy. Quality properties in the $500K range and at least 80-100 acres are virtually nonexistent - but they are a few that crop up. They go FAST! Sometimes only on the market a couple of weeks, and many times have buyers snapping them up before they come on the open market.

If you are anywhere close to a major urban area (within 30-40 miles), expect the price per acre to be $3000-$3500 and go upwards from there very fast. I saw MANY places that were $8000-$15000/acre. You can still find good dirt for $2000-$2500/acre, but you will tend to have small neighbors. Hot Rocks and Cedar is still $1000-$1800/acre, but there is an alarming trend for the larger ranches to be broken up and sold in 50-75 acre parcels at twice that.

There seems to be two types of agents. Ones that are selling small parcels and will sell you crap, shot-out, places at way over value. The other group won't have much interest in talking to you unless you want to spend $750K to $1.5M. And if you say your budget is $500K-$750K, they will start showing properties in the $800-$1M range as a start, and will whisk you off any property less than $750K. If your say your budget is $1-1.2M, they will show you $2M places. If your budget is $500-$750K, best tell them you are looking for a place in the $300K range.

There are some areas where the land price is rising, and some places it is falling (few). With oil prices in dumper, you can be sure there is going to be a LOT of new properties hit the market after the first of the year. In the areas where land VALUE is still reasonable, you are fighting large corporations like Ranch Enterprises, that are buying it up fast, subdividing it into smaller section, and bumping the price-per-acre up making it SEEM that prices are rising (and I guess they are, if you look at it that way), but after running purchase-to-listing price analysis for dozens of counties, you'll see that larger parcels are going generally for less than asking, and are more in line with value/appraisals.

The best VALUE for purchasing hunting tracks are around the lower panhandle down to north of San Angelo, slightly west of Menard, and if you are interested in Hot Rocks and Cedar, the Rocksprings area (oh - forgot to mention another deal I was interested in, west/north of Rocksprings - but before I could see the property the agent called and told me it got burned to a crisp - arrghh!). But be VERY careful in the Rocksprings area. The area is fast getting chopped up and shot out. Even if you find a nice parcel, be very careful about neighboring areas - you could find yourself surrounded by 20-acre plots in a few years.

If you just want a small place to hunt, with limited infrastructure and not much to look at, you might be able to find a small tract in the $200K-$300K range. But if you want a place with good dirt, and a place to enjoy outside hunting (maybe build a place), and has decent hunting with decent neighbors - you best plan on spending $1M on up, which is what I've resigned to pay. Anything less and you are most likely going to have neighbor issues or some other defect that could impact hunting.

I've actually found an 80ac place for about $400K that is loaded with animals, including axis, and right in Boerne. Neighbors are not an issue, and the hunting is great. But..... it is virtually useless to build (hardly any flat area), has no good roads, and has a cell tower easement on one side, and a huge power line running through the other side. But it would great for hunting, but I would never be able to sell it.

So when you start talking about outrageous lease prices - remember that 500 acres you are leasing is probably worth $2-$5M !!! Paying $10/$15 acre to lease is CHEAP by comparison - which is why the leasing price is high.

Unfortunately, hunting property - to own or lease - is getting (heck getting, it IS) very pricey and will soon be out of reach for the average Joe. Unless you have friends, family, or work out private deals with LO's who either don't care, or haven't checked into pricing.

Still, there are deals out there. I have run across several opportunities where large ranches (thousand or more acres) sometime consider carving out a few hundred acres. But best find these deals by getting to know folks and try to work a deal to purchase before it comes to market - and sometimes you can purchase without getting any agent involved. Ran across one of these last year, and I am still kicking myself for not doing it - but I just had too much going on in my life at the time to spend the time to close the deal.

And so far as listings on places like LandsOfTexas - fun to browse, but you won't find any deals there. I mean, you might (depending on what your looking for), but most of the really good properties have contracts on them by the time the website gets the posting up. Can't tell you how many times I found a listing that just cropped up - made a call only to find it was already under contract. More than dozen times in the past 5 years.

I know of a nice little place between Boerne and Sisterdale that I would love to have. Owned by a 79yo lady with no heirs. Been making friends, but I just might have to marry the old gal.