Here's my story of becoming an owner of rural acreage:

When I was in my 20's, I was out of work and in debt. When I finally got back to work, we started having a family, and with kids and bills, the LAST thing I wanted was more debt. I bought a house that was less than what I could afford, bought used cars that were less than I could afford and drove them till the wheels fell off. I tried to eliminate any monthly payments that I did not absolutely have to have. I lost my job 2 or 3 times along the way, which reinforced the need to live cheap and avoid debt. Then came college.....and taking on land payments was out of the question. But I paid for college without any of us borrowing any money. I absolutely hated the idea of paying interest to anyone, so I kept the credit cards paid off every month. I lived below my means and saved my money. By the time my kids were out of college, I paid off my mortgage and I had saved enough to go in with my oldest son on some land......I put up 3/4 and he put in 1/4. We paid cash. Now, just four years later, I'm 60 years old, I have enough saved to live off the interest for the rest of my life without social security (if I keep living cheap). I'll work another 5 years and save a lot before then. I've paid cash for my last few vehicles, gone on an overseas vacation each year, all without any debt. If land came up next door to me now I'd have enough to buy by paying cash. I hate debt. Sure, I had to wait, but I avoided the risk of debt. I enjoy giving financial gifts to needy charities....because I don't have any debt.

So this is just me.....I'm not saying everyone has to do this. If you want to take on debt, that's your business. But this is how I got my own piece of multi-use land that I use for hunting and other outdoor sports. It's paid for and I won't lose it if I lose my job. I'll pass it along to my kids and grandkids. Not bad for someone who was broke and lost his job several times along the way.

Best decision I’ve ever made. I’m 36 years old and every time my family pulls into the gate it feels like a vacation. On my wife and I’s 8th wedding anniversary (March 2016) we closed on our first place (355 acres outside of Cisco). It was one of my proudest days. Flipped it less than 2 years later. Made enough money on the sale of Cisco to buy our current ranch East of Throckmorton (320 acres) and make some massive improvements on someone else’s dime (ran rural water to the place and had a 6 acre pond built among other things). I have 2 young kids (8 and 5) and they absolutely love coming to the ranch. Makes my heart so incredibly happy. Now that I’ve owned my own place, I can’t imagine life without it. My goal is to pay off all of my debt as quickly as possible. I never want to be put in a situation where this could be taken away from me bc of job loss or whatever. It brings me too much joy to ever risk losing.

My advice: take the plunge. As others have said, land isn’t getting cheaper. More and more people are flooding into our great state and property values (city or rural) will continue to climb quickly. With that being said, I always try to make my money on the buy rather than the sale. Find a good deal where you have instant equity (there are tons on places like this if you do your homework and look hard enough). There are great deals out there but you must be ready to act when you find them or someone else will.

My hat is off to all you fellows that have taken the plunge! Talk about a "band of brothers" in that our stories all ring the same.


Great advise that might not have been specifically addressed. Don't depend on the future value when buying, realize a real dollar value (of some kind) up front!

X3!!!

I'm one of those who also made my money at the buy and had almost 50% equity at closing. I also concur that there are those deals out there, but they may not always be in the location you expect or want. We wanted hill country and got the Panhandle. We couldn't be happier and have loved "immigrating" to a new small town.

Thanks to all who have shared their stories, definitely motivates me to find something sooner than later. Gonna start stashing some cash so I can take the plunge. I’ll have to start putting some feelers out and scouting some areas where I wanna be. One day I’ll share he good news of achieving my goal of owning my own slice of heaven.

We bought our place in '99 when prices were around $500 an acre. Started out with 100 acres, then had an opportunity to by another 100 next to it. Then a buddy of ours bought another 100 next to us. We're surrounded by large neighbors that don't hunt much if at all. Our friend only varmint hunts. The place had been shot out before we bought, but had beautiful hill country views and great potential. We've made it into a showplace and built two homes. Currently under wildlife valuation so taxes are reasonable. We got mineral rights on both properties. EOG offered us 20% of future production with $500 an acre signing bonus. They paid for our land and never drilled. Unreal. I love our little town of Bluff Dale. It has just about everything I need. Stephenville, Granbury and Glen Rose are all within a 15 minute drive if I need something from TSC or Lowe's. We will be buried on this place.

Man, I've seen nothing but good stories and good advice from every poster in this thread!

My current home purchased in 2002 was from a man that was lazy, and what he did do was half-assed. Nothing more than two cycle gasoline, a 16' trailer, and grit is all it took to turn what looked like 2 acres of brush, into a 2 acre park of 70 neatly trimmed trees, and nice Bermuda grass. All the problems with the house repaired, and I added on, myself, 10 years ago. From the piers to the shingles, I did the work. Remodeled nearly the entire house by now. I am ready to walk away from it, the county has too many people, and my asphalt county road is much busier than it was when I bought the place. My sale price potentially will be three times what I paid for it. Nothing but sweat equity, and a changed market.

In 2013 I took the plunge. The owners of 70 acres lived way off in the metromess and just didn't do a single minute of work to the place. Well, a driveway, pipe fence, electrical ran, an extremely nice all steel shop, half the fence torn out and built back new, more two cycle gas, burned brush piles, plowing, shredding, invasive tree killing, and the list goes on. All done by my own two hands. I'd probably clear $300k right now, but I don't want to.

My strategy is to buy the place that needs lots and lots of work, and then go do the work myself. Fortunately I know how to do pretty much every trade, and can run about anything with an engine and hydraulics, so that helps.

Wife and I bought 433 acres the year our last child graduated from high school. Paid $750,000 for it in 2000. It had a beautiful 3 bedroom 3 bath home on it along with another home we used as a bed and breakfast. Truthfully was one of the most beautiful properties I had ever seen. Live creek running through it and an 8 acre lake. Coastal fields, barns, etc. I also put in exotics - black buck, oryx, etc.

We put up a high fence and I killed out all the native deer. I then bought 3 bred does and 3 young bucks and released them. Did some other improvements and also bought another 100 acres off a neighbor for $1,000 and acre for a total of 533 acres.

We kept it five years and then sold it. The place was around 45 miles from my office and our families so we were commuting every day which got old. That is why we sold it. We got 1.8 million for it - point being land can be a great investment if you buy it right.

It is back on the market now for 5 million. I clearly wish I had held on to it longer! Lol

Here is the link - click on the pictures and then the video

https://www.landsoftexas.com/property/12649-Oakalla-Road-Killeen-Texas-76549/3561091

TLK that place is gorgeous, I’m not sure I could ever leave it. It must have been a tough decision. It’s amazing what some of you were able to afford initially and after selling a few places to get where you are today. I’m certain my initial purchase will probably top off at around $100k. I’ll have to be fairly lucky to get into something around me for that price, but after reading your stories I’ll look for neglected properties and take my chances as long as they can meet my requisites.

One other thing. Obviously an "all weather road", meaning mostly gravel. Electric availability and water are a different story. I bought mine knowing the water main was down the road, quite a ways from my place. Well, I paid for an "investigation" through the S.U.D. 15 August 2018. I finally got an answer in November. $26,000 to bring water to my SW corner. Well, that's still 1400'from where I need it. So I'm on the hook for probably another $5k. Low pressure S.U.D. with no tower, so when the power is out, the water is off. I said "no thanks". I have been doing extensive research for the last two weeks. To catch the water off my all steel shop, 6000 sq ft. will yeild all the water I need. I called my current Co-Op where I live in Melissa and got my monthly totals for 12 months. I am planning on a 16,400 capacity which will hold us for 5 months of no rain. In-line pump, UV filter, and I'm into it for $10k, as opposed to $30k the S.U.D. route would be.

Point being, you are only bound by your imagination when it comes to utilities. Roof water, all house propane or diesel generator, septic system. And you're off the grid. That helps you build where many will not.

Lots of good stories/info here. We were in the same kind of place years ago- looking all around for some bit of land. Looked in the Hill Country (too expensive), to the east (lots of choices but crappy neighbors everywhere we looked), and out near Jacksboro. Found two places near Jacksboro but they both fell through.
Then we started looking up north and found 130 acres near Wichita Falls. Nothing on it but a power pole and one tank. We made an offer and got the place in 2009.
Since then we’ve added 6 tanks, a little farmhouse (found on Craigslist), and two barns, cross fencing, etc. I have 4 different box blinds and 4 ladder stands and it’s mostly me that hunts it now my boys are grown and into child-rearing.
My suggestions:
Do it as soon as you can. If you wait until you can “afford it” it might never happen.
Use a local bank that specializes in farm and ranch. Jacksboro National Bank is who we chose.
If you get a place, get someplace to stay on it- fast. We looked into RVs, sheds, manufactured homes, etc. Finally found a 1920’s farmhouse on Craigslist and had it trucks in for 3k$. We have 2 sets of good friends that have tracts of land since 2008 and they have no accommodations on their place and have yet to spend the night out there. I couldn’t imagine that.
If it has an ag exemption in place, maintain it. We run some cows and if we didn’t, the taxes would triple.
Our place has appreciated quite a bit and we could clear a good profit on it but it would have to be a peach for me to uproot. We have a paved county road on the front, a county maintained gravel road on the back, the only two small tracts near us are good folks and friends now, everything else around us in 1-10k acres. Closest full-time neighbors I’m any direction is a mile, but we’re only 15 minutes from everything we need in Wichita Falls.
Like JG said, you can overcome most anything. We don’t have city water and we had drilled a well but it’s salty. We haul some water and have a rain catch system and 5.5 k storage in tanks and that’s plenty.
You’ll regret not doing it more than doing it when you might feel like it’s too early. There’s no feeling like sitting on the front porch and deciding which blind you’re going to go sit in without having to figure out who else might be hunting there.

About 25 years ago Mom, Dad and I got tired of paying for leases and driving hours to get to them. Dad was taking real estate classes for his license to use when he retired and needed to take a course that was being offered in Sulphur Springs. Another realtor told him about a foreclosure on 160 acres northeast of town. He called me and we met at the property to walk it. It was totally overgrown from years of being abandoned. The PO had taken a loan against it for "repair" and drank all the money thus going up for sale. Land was 90% hardwoods with all the old pastures grown up in brush up to 3" diameter. fences were mostly down, only 1 cross fence also down, no roads water or electricity. We made an offer, came in 2nd on the bid but the first guy's financing did not go through so we got it. Started clearing with chain saws but with me working 10 hour days at UPS and living 100 miles away it was slow work. Decided we had to have a tractor and brush hog and that helped a lot to open it up some and move the camping trailer in. We still had a lot of brush clearing, fence row clearing and roadwork to do so bought an old dozer. Nearest electric pole was 1200' away and power company said their subcontractors doing the clearing for the lines was one year behind! Luckily things were different back then and they said if we cleared the right of way the would put up the poles and run the power no charge, 2 months later we had power. Years later we had checked on drilling a well but water was very deep and there was a very good chance it would be bad. Talking to the county water co-op we found that we could pay for the pipe from the main on the county road to our front gate and they would provide the labor, we would own for one year and could collect money from anyone wanting to get on the line during that time. The ownership would then revert to the co-op. We did it and collected from 3 people which paid for the line. We then ran the 1200' from the gate to the trailer ourselves. We still primarily use it as a hunting and fishing area and getaway place, hunting and fishing is way better now due to management. Leasing grazing rights gave us a huge tax break (being near a county school with a lot of acreage can kill you in taxes). We have a couple mobile homes and my motor home there so we are comfortable for as long as we want to stay. It is great and would highly advise buying your own place.

I’m fifth generation, I’ve Inherited a little and bought a lot. I re-invest back into more land any chance I get

I’m about half way to my acreage goal. Hopefully my daughters will understand why I’ve worked so hard to keep this soil in thier hands.

Thanks for the reminder to keep an open mind and find alternatives for utilities. I’ve seen a few properties with rain water collection systems guess it all depends on rainfall avg each year. Really inspiring reading these stories, gonna have to re-evaluate our budget and get to stashing cash ASAP.

Yes, I would be in a whole other situation in Brewster county. A few sources says Wolfe City, TX has average rainfall of 45". Well, as of yesterday, I have recorded 41.8". On the size roof I have, a 1" rain yields 1800 gallons. So, I need as much capacity as I can afford to buy. So far, the best source I've found for above ground tanks is coming to $0.46 per gallon. I like the idea of self sufficient water, and better water.

Oh, one MAJOR thing that you need to do. Budget an additional 15-20% of your land price budget for improvements. And not major improvements, but clearing land for foodplots, gates, etc.

I love reading these stories. Nothing quite like hunting your own place then come in after dark with your Wife or significant other sitting by the fireplace, telling you that supper is ready.

I'm currently looking to buy another place out towards Brady/Menard and that area, Im looking for 250+ acres. I've noticed a bunch of the "ranchettes" for sale out that way and have been advised to stay away from those types of places. Anyone have experiences with those smaller tracts?

Congratulations, hard work pays off! I have been tucking away a nest egg with the same thing in mind, but my wife isn't really on board with it at this time so I will wait a little more. Hope to buy some type of commercial property first.

I can understand the debt adverseness, but im not of the same mind. My parents started looking for land 1/2 heartedly before they bought. If they would have pushed a little harder at the time they could have bought 2x the land 1/2 the distance from home for less money and if they would have bought one of the places they looked at would probably have producing minerals. Hind sight is 20/20, but they wish they would have took the plunge sooner and that isn't my opinion its from them.

I don't know how long i'll live. Judging from family history I don't get to optimistic that I will see much or any of my 70's I sure hope to be able to enjoy the land I work to buy.

The stories sound like ours. After a succession of leases, each worse than the last, we bought some land to hunt on and to spend weekends. Pretty soon it was every weekend, which answered our question about where to retire. Sold the place in Houston, built a house here, moved here, and are very happy.

The oldest grandson loves this place. He said when his year in Spain is over, he wants to spend weeks at the ranch and eat till he drops. My wife, his grandmother, is the only real cook in the family.

Similar story here - I had hunted for years on a place in Coleman County and when the ranch was sold, I got on a lease with some guys and it was not a good experience. Tried another lease and about same outcome - maybe it is me! Anyway, I decided to start looking for land within 3 hours of DFW - meaning we looked from central Oklahoma to the Hill Country. I am a commercial real estate consultant and happened to be at a meeting with realtors in Brownwood and mentioned I was looking for something around 100 acres and one of the realtors mentioned a property he had listed in southern Brown County. I immediately drove out to look and fell in love. My wife and I came back out that following weekend, made an offer on Sunday, was accepted on Monday, and we closed 6 weeks later.

In my case, the property was a bit smaller that I originally wanted, but it already had metered water and electric, was ag exempt, good fences, and the biggest bonus, it has a deep tank that holds water - even in drought conditions. Originally we stayed in our camper, but in the past 4 years we have made a number of improvements including a nice shop and apartment - so I sold the TT. My goal is to buy some of the adjacent properties if/when they come on the market until I get to 140 acres or so.

We fully plan to move there full time once kids out of school. We have moved the property to a wildlife valuation, but at some point I plan to move back to ag and raise a few head of cattle.

A couple of suggestions -
- Keep an open mind on where and size. As I mentioned, mine was a tad smaller than my search criteria, but I wouldn't trade for now. It is perfect for us.
- You will need to invest in equipment over time. I think, at minimum, you need a capable tractor for basic maintenance, and especially if you plan to plant food plots, etc. I have a nice tractor and adding implements, but also think we will get a skid steer for more involved dirt work.
- Make friend with neighbors. We have good neighbors and try to manage the area more like on property. I have loaned equipment and time, and have received the same in return. For instance, I do not have a tiller, but a neighbor does and I can use as needed.
- Meet with a land bank re: mortgage. The rates are a bit higher than a traditional mortgage and the terms shorter, but getting a traditional mortgage on unimproved land is very difficult. These guys understand your needs and are a great resource.

Have fun and good luck in you search! We toured probably 50 properties before making our decision and with each, we refined what we wanted and were ultimately rewarded with the right property.

My wife and I started looking for some land about six years ago. I had been on leases in Throckmorton and Ballinger and really wanted to consider something out west of DFW. My wife's family was from the Winters area where she spent a lot of time in her youth - and she really wasn't interested in moving in that direction. We decided to look for properties within about 2 hours of Dallas in any direction. The properties had to have a good fishing pond, a cabin or structure where we could stay immediately with toilet, electricity and running water and of course some deer hunting potential. We looked at two properties up around Graham, but neither of them appealed to us. We then saw a property in Anderson County east of Dallas that looked good on the internet. We visited the property and really liked it. The realtor kept calling my wife - "I'm not a high pressure realtor, but you better get your bid in if you want this property". My wife called me throughout the week, but it was a very busy time for me a work, so I put off putting a bid in until the weekend. I was also a bit hesitant since it was only the third property that we looked at. The realtor called and told my wife that there were two other good bids in before ours so we probably were out of luck. My wife wasn't happy, although we had agreed if we didn't get the property it was not meant to be. We kept looking, but a couple months later I got a call from the realtor and he asked me if I was still interested in the property. I said I was and he suggested I call my wife about putting in a bid. I told him that I was not going through the "unhappiness" that my wife would provide if we didn't get the property again. I sent him an offer on a Thursday evening without consulting my wife. That weekend I went to my deer lease in Ballinger (just south of Winters where she spent her summers). On Saturday morning the realtor called and said, "you bought the farm". I was excited, but didn't tell my wife until Sunday afternoon when I got back home. I told her I had some good news and bad news. She said give me the bad news first. I told her the bad news was that I had spent a boat load of money over the weekend and the good news was that I had purchased a property. She immediately became very concerned as she thought that when I was in Ballinger I had bought a piece of property in that area. I calmed her quickly by showing her the internet site with pictures of our property in Anderson County. We couldn't be happier with our purchase. We put every extra nickel into paying it off which should happen in March. We spend almost every weekend there and it only takes 1.5 hours to get there. We just started working with a home designer to put together a plan to build our dream home right above our spring fed pond. We couldn't be happier. I just wish we would have done it sooner.

^^^Great stories, guys. Keep 'em coming. To the gentleman asking about Menard subdivisions or "ranchetes", do your homework. We own 3 smaller places near Leakey- Camp Wood area. Some places have a lot of hunting pressure. Ours do. You can shoot a deer but the quality may not be there. Lots to do down that way though, just a long way from Dallas.

I bought my 133 acres, 10 miles South of Bowie, about 35 years ago. It's on a "private"(not County maintained) road off the County Road. It can be truly classified as junk land with lots of rocks, oaks and cedar. But butt deep in deer and now hogs. Paid about $400 per acre and now worth about $3,000 per. Half came from the Texas VLB and the sellers carried the balance. Since then, over time, I've paid it off, cut a road through it, had 3 camper trailers and now have what I call my poor white trash trailer house. 2 bedrooms, one bath and meets our weekend needs. Had a well dug, burnt down the outhouse, added tractor shades, a shipping container and a construction office trailer. Lots of oaks and cedar. Also had a couple of tanks/ponds built and stocked with fish.

I was concerned, having 3 kids, about making the payments. But, it all worked out.

I agree with buying property as soon as you can. However, there are always other considerations and priorities such as family needs.

If it can be done; it's a great investment if you buy it right. One of the biggest considerations might be already having a good water well. I had one drilled but it only produced 1/10 gal per minute. But, 24 hours per day, it goes into a 4,000 gallon tank. I never run out of water but can't have a orchard.

Glad to see more stories, David Davidson I have considered using Texas VLB Loan as well. That will help with getting financed with less down especially for a first time land purchase just limits my purchase price unless I get another loan to cover the balance like you did.

It’s good to see success stories thanks again for those who continue to share your experience. I feel better knowing that some of thing the things I have considered during my approach to making a land purchase are in line with what most of you have done. I am considering getting into real estate because it can be a supplement to my income and give me some networking opportunities as well. We will see how far I get into that idea.