Anyone heard of this...

I have about 96 acres just outside Gatesville, right close to Ft Hood on the Leon River. My neighbor has 150 acres that adjoin my property. Our properties border part of Ft Hood. He told me today the federal govt/army pay him to never develop his property commercially or do anything but farm it. They send someone yearly he said to verify he hasn't broken the agreement. I was going to get more info from him when he had time but has anyone heard of this? My grandfather bought this back in 2008 and since he passed its now mine. Just wondering what kind of deal this is and if anyone had done it or even heard of it. Thanks for any input.

New one on me.

Wouldn't surprise me. Admittedly, I didn't read the whole webpage, but this may be helpful:

Military Base Encroachment

Thanks. Once I foind out more from neighbor I will update. He had some surgery he was having done so wasnt best time to talk. Evidently he has been doing it for years now.

Haven't heard of that but have heard of something similar. My son's in-laws have family land that borders a river/wetlands. Many years ago some branch of the fed government approached the granddad about a similar setup as above- they pay some amount every year to the landowner who, in turn, agrees to some conditions associated with the land leased. I think they are now dealing with the fact that they can't do anything, improve the land, build anything, etc. from here on out.

My land was under CRP when I bought it a couple years ago. The contract just ran out on it last week, and I didn't renew. I knew what I was getting into when I bought it, but it wasn't fun being the new owner of land and not being able to do anything with it for 2 years. There's a ton of different programs like that out there, CRP, Wetlands, etc... it would benefit you greatly to find out exactly which program he's in. Or go by your county ag office and see what they have available.

Finally met with the representative from Ft Hood. It is a conservation easement they are offering. I'm not committing to doing it yet but will start the process at least. They pay a one time fee based on the market value of your land, between 70 and 100 percent of the value depending on what you qualify for, for you to not develop the land in any way or certain other restrictions. The easement is forever so new owners are bound by it and wouldn't get any of the monetary benefits. They did say the process could take up to 24 months but they paid for all the due diligence. Ill certainly talk to an attorney before signing anything or moving forward.Doesnt sound like it would alter anything I do now or have plans to do but I guess if some developer came in 10 years from now it would put an end to that real quick. Doubt anyone would want to develop it but who knows I guess. I think the property will appraise somewhere between $750k-$850 so it would be a nice chunk of change but other things to consider.

They are basically paying you to put a deed restriction on your property for you and future owners to never be allowed to build. This protects them and what they can do around that area as far as drills or munitions. It would be like buying air rights above somebody else’s property to ensure that you forever have a view of what you want to see.

They are paying you 100% of the value of the land and you get to keep the land. What's to think about. Take the money and
go buy another property and just use this one for fun stuff.

DO NOT DO A CONSERVATION EASEMENT.

I'm a lender. I've been doing this for many many years and conservation easements significantly lower the value of your property and make it very very difficult to sell.
In most cases the appraised value of the property is lowered by 60-70%.

Think about it. It significantly restricts the use of the land and it passes on to any potential buyer.
Most banks wont finance properties with conservation easements. Thus making it more difficult to sell.
They are bad news.

But, if he gets paid 70% of the value by the government, why would it matter if it loses 70% of its value on sale? Assuming he doesn't want to develop it.

Look at it this way, that 70% represents the 70% reduction in value of the property. Your land is worth only 30% of what it was.
Its true, if you plan on owning it forever and never developing it then It could be considered. But when you go to sell it, you'll loose any appreciation and more than likely have a very limited amount of buyers that will mostly likely have to pay cash for your property.

The larger the tract of land, the less sense it makes.

I've seen several of these easements in my day. You loose control of almost everything. If you want a deer blind, you have to get approval on the location. You have to get approval to graze your own land and they control how many head of livestock they will allow. No water wells, no oil and gas leases. They have the ability to come and go on your property as they see fit.

Your name is on the deed but you have very little say on what you can do with it. They are very, very restrictive.

You said it's on the river - how much is in the flood plain anyways?

If it were me personally - even with what Lipan says - I'd have to think long and hard about it. Inherited land (no cost to you), probably non-taxable income (would need to look into that), and you keep the land. I'd make sure the conservation easement was extremely well written to give you at least SOME protections (allowing you to at least have normal freedoms for hunting - blinds, feeders, etc)...almost...but not quite...free money...that you can use to go pick up another place.

Appreciate the lender perspective. We definitely haven't made a decision and won't for a few months. We also were given the option to apply with the national resource conservation center and possibly get 100 percent return on value if we qualify. Got a lot of paper work to look over this week front the agent that goes into more detail about what you can and can't do. Sometimes things seem to good to be true and this may turn out that way. I sure don't like the idea of being told what you can and can't do within reason. The things the agent mentioned we don't or wouldn't do but still have to consider the long term repercussions

I don't think Gatesville will have a run in development anytime soon but I guess you never know. We only have 96 acres and probably 25-30 are close enough to the Leon river and where it floods that you would never want to build a home there. Since my neighbor who's property connects to mine has already done it I'm really going to pick his brain about it. He has 150 acres he did this with. I kind of thought if we ever did sell it would be to him and since he has his property under it already he wouldn't care. Of course short of having to sell it there is no plan to sell any time soon. I'd just as soon keep it forever since it was my grandfathers.

Each easement is different. Would suggest looking at the following articles:

Texas land trust
Wildlife easementant
introduction-to-conservation-easements

I would suggest you ask for a copy of the agreement and then take to an attorney that has experience with conservation easements.

Just my 2 cents.

If the hunting is good there are always people out there with the cash to buy it. Seems like a good thing to me that your neighbor's property will never be developed. One option would be take the money, buy a new place and lease the grazing and hunting on the old place for some extra cash flow. Or just have an extra place for recreation. What has it done to your neighbors value? How does the appraisal district value (market value not ag value) his property vs yours? Spend a few hundred bucks and get an appraiser to appraise it with the hypothetical of the easement. Just be sure you use an appraiser familiar with your area and similar easements. As texasgal states, get an attorney with experience to review it. Good luck.

I had a lease on a tract of land that was Conservation Easement Property, It did make some things a little more difficult but like has been said hunting was good. You could not take vehicles off of the established trails & roads, no tree cutting unless blocking such roads, trails. and could not place permanent or semi-permanent blinds on it. That last restriction was not an absolute no-no and I never knew of anything coming of it. It was tough at times to get a big buck or hog out of the woods but since the land flooded several times each year tracks disappeared regularly. I was on the lease for 4 years and never knew of any officials inspecting the land for violations.
In this situation, it would be an easy choice for me. Take the money and invest in more land elsewhere or the market.

Do you have any heirs who will eventually own the property?
That's a big consideration. You're tying their hands forever.

My Father-in-Law owned farm property that had been in the family since before the Civil War. He loved farming, and wanted the land to remain farmland forever.
But, he only had daughters who didn't want to be farmers, and one grandson who's a pilot and likewise doesn't want to be a farmer/rancher.
He looked at the Conservation Lease option, but thankfully his grandson talked him out of it. As a SIL and not really a direct heir, I tried to stay out of that issue.

If you have no direct heirs, then do whatever you want.
But, don't try to make your dreams into your children's dreams. They seldom match up well.

We considered this option on some property we owned. As stated before, you are basically selling the property and becoming a tenant with a very restrictive long term lease (all be it at a great price...free). The biggest consideration in my opinion is is the opportunity cost. If you have no plans for the property and are only interested in hunting / recreational aspect, it may be a good option. Due diligence definitely required. Best of luck.

let us know what you decide.

We are going to start the process and see what the offer turns out to be. They said it could be between 12-24 months to get through it. So worth seeing what it offers. If it is up to me I'll keep the place until I'm gone. I'd never sell it. The only reason we would is if my moms health got bad and she needed money when she got much older for long term care. If they offer enough that could solve that problem and I could have it. The good thing is they pay for al their die diligence so we just have to sit back and wait.

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