I too have some land for sale within 2 hours of Fort Worth. 77 acres near Eastland. Check link below and PM me with any questions.
http://www.landsofamerica.com/property/5719-Hwy-2526-Carbon-Texas-76435/2916453

Yes you do, does it include mineral rights?

Yes, all that I own and I believe I own 50% of the minerals.

I have a friend that is an old time ranching property REA. It is his observation that rural property investment goes up when the stock market goes down. And vice versa. But, if the oil prices do cause a recession, it will take a lot of potential buyers out of the picture.

Oil has always boom or bust. Sometimes they drive Mercedes and sometimes they bum rides.

I've bought and later sold several properties over the years and have never lost $. But, I've had to hold some of it longer than I wanted to. I bought my Montague County 133 acres about 30 years ago for $375 per acre. It's debt free. With water well, trailer house, ponds/fish and other improvements I could probably get about $450,000 for it. It's been a neat way of life on weekends.

I would advise any younger person to do it.

"I would advise any younger person to do it."

Dave, I could not agree more about saying buy land if you can, But I don't want you to leave out us old folks. I wanted to buy land my whole life, but life got in the way with family, raising three daughters and paying on my home mortgage. After years of saving at the age of 63 I was able to buy a small place. It was only 54 acres but it was mine. I could not have been prouder if it had been 100,000 acres. There is nothing like planting a food plot on your own place and seeing it come up. I know that they are not my deer, but they are on my place, so it sort of feels like they are mine. This has been a long story to say that too many are just looking at the monetary return on land and not the way one feels when you close that gate behind you and step onto your own place.
So my advice to to forget driving that brand new truck and buy land, forget about buying that 5 bedroom house, buy a three bedroom and take the extra money and buy land......your soul will thank you many times if you do.

That's a great post Mr. T.

Words of wisdom there!
I feel you can't truly experience (and appreciate) full FREEDOM till you have your own piece of dirt big enough to do anything you want on it without being harassed, including bringing forth all kinds of life (both plant and animal) for sustenance, be responsible for defending it, and best of all, share with others (even outside your own family)!

I have enjoyed mine more than I can put into words. It becomes a part of you for sure.

Absolutely. Ours has been such a blessing to our family.

I am 32 and buying my first piece of land. It is only 15 acres but it will be mine (on March 1st). I would love to be able to buy a piece of land like Mr. T has for sale but at this time it just wouldn't work out. I hope to one day be able to put my house on this 15 acres and then buy a larger parcel for my weekend getaways....I guess we gotta start out somewhere.

And if you buy it for an investment get something to lower the tax rate. Either Ag. or Wildlife. Otherwise your profits will be eat up with the taxes you have paid out on it while you have kept it.

Exactly, and research it fully BEFORE you buy - many counties are 'clamping down' more and more every year on qualifications for an exemption, and x# of years BEFORE exemption kicks in (if it's allowed to lapse) from prev. owner, etc.

wow, just woke up from me nap... dosed off while reading... Had a day-mare were ya'lls was gathered at me funneral & the speaker said: the only land he'll ever own, tis this here dirt we use ta bury him with... tis not ya'lls fault, tis bad with #ers on the power 8 i didn't have any of the #ers, only bought one ticket, so was only out 2 bucks... land tis a good investment... Cool thread...
Edit: i culled that buckthat survived the season that i posted in a thread in the photo forum, i don't have a lot of doe... Now that thar is funny... As pappy says: i got cheap posts ...

20 years ago I inherited one acre with an old house on it that is 90 miles from Houston. It is surrounded by very, very large tracts of government and private property. Last year the only privately-owned neighbor property came up for sale. It was either buy it or take the chance that someone else would buy it and put something next door that I didn't like. I negotiated for 6 months but the lowest I could get them was $4800/acre. So me and the oldest boy pitched in and talked them into splitting off 27 acres for us. Not huge but like I said, it backs up to a billion acres of government land that won't be sold any generation soon. The neat thing is this was part of the property that my ancestors got in 1839 during the Republic of Texas. So I'll be able to pass this along to the next generations.

Don't look at the land like you own it, because actually you're just buying the right to squat on it till you die, then someone else gets it. You have an obligation to the next guy to take care of the dirt, trees, and animals on the properly. It's sure worth more than a new truck or a trip to the evil mouse empire.

Don't leave out the old folks? Heck, I'm 73. Actually I was really scared when I bought that place. I bought the front half on a Texas Veterans Land Loan and the seller carried the note on the back. About 5 years later the seller was going through a divorce and she needed cash. I dickered some, got a low interest family loan, and kept on making payments. I also had 2 young kids at home, went through a divorce, but somehow kept current on payments. Later, when more money came available, I paid off the balance. I dang sure didn't drive a new pickup and we(new Wife) didn't go anywhere on a vacation.

This place really qualifies as junk land. Dang near all rocks, hills, oaks and cedars. Just what I wanted. After 5 years, I got a road cut through it. About 10 years ago, I bought a used mobile home and hauled water from home. Got a little more $ and drilled a well. Later a 2 acre leaky pond. It's our home away from home.

After $ got as little more free, I picked up a couple of other smaller places and sold them for a profit. I'll have to sell this place in a couple of years when my Wife retires. Then maybe we can take a real vacation or 2.

Funny story; I was raised on a small ranch/farm West of Muleshoe by my Grandparents. When I got the road built, I took my Grandfather to see the place. When we got to the back he said "Well, I've finally found it.". I asked what he meant. He said "When the Lord built the world, he had one piece of crap that he didn't know what to do with. So He went to Texas and stuffed it all in one junky place. And damned if you didn't come along and buy it.".

Mr T, not one dang thing with a 53 acre place when it's yours. BTW, look into an Ag or Wildlife exemption. It makes a huge difference in taxes.

BTW, there were a couple of years that I had to lease the hunting rights so I could make the payments. That hurt.

LOL! I SO agree with you.

If the oil prices will stay this low land will get cheaper by the month!

Not around here. Actually they may go up. With cheap gas you get more people buying land and commuting to San Antonio to work.

small tract hunting land for 99% of users on THF are more independent of oil prices. now the rising interest rates will have a negative impact, but I don't think significant for major decrease in prices.

Why does everyone think this? Not even cose to the truth in regards to ranch land

Larger tracts mostly operated or maintained of the backs of oil revenues will be impacted, sub-1000 acre ranches not so much. The duration of the oil plunge will also dictate it as well.

I think rural/recreational land prices will lay pretty flat for places with a 7 figure price tag; say 500+ acres in the near term. Creeping interest rates will impact the soon to be retirees looking to have a 'place in the country' but that may be offset somewhat by cheaper transportation costs. The rate that cash heavy retirees enter the buyer pool will slow a little bit as some will choose to stay employed and wait and see what Wall Street does. That could lead to an oversupply of available properties - again leading to market stagnation. I don't think we will see a decrease of values as sellers won't come off their asking price.

My crystal ball says generally flat for the next 24 months.

While I agree that they aren't 100% correlated, you can't say that oil (low or high prices) doesn't have bearing on real estate prices in Texas. It is not 1981 but oil still drives the bus here in Texas, don't think it doesn't.

i dont see anything lowering land prices, the majority of land is owned by a small % of big dogs, we common folk just get to buy up the crumbs they dont want

You are so right! I think it was Baron Rothschild who came up with the phrase "Buy when there is blood...." However, there is a 2nd part of that phrase that rarely gets quoted: "Buy when there is blood in the streets, even if that blood is your own."