Has anyone else been looking for rural property online in the last couple of years? Very rarely does a decent listing show up. If it does, it is sky high and sells within a week.

90% of the listings I see have some sort of major problem (major powerline, 5 pipelines, no road frontage, oil wells, no minerals, junk neighbors/bad area, extensive flood zone, etc.). It wasn't like this before the covid/inflation price ramp in 2021.

Where are all the *decent* listings? Are people just not selling knowing they have an inflation hedge or are the realtors selling them before they even hit the market? The land listings have been an absolute wasteland the last couple of years.

If you really want land good land at a good price, you need to buy it premarket. Anybody with any sense of connections and finances will already have it sold before it hits the market. The only exceptions are places that have something terribly wrong with them and the places that command top dollar.

My advice is to buy land id or some other similar app and start making friends, writing letters and understanding the price per acre of GOOD land.

My personal anecdote: We were looking for a place to buy recently in an area of the state that isn't really even in high demand. Everything on the market had some obvious problem. I met with a friend who has lived there his whole life and we went through every parcel that would be a good plot.

We then went through all the owners and if he knew them or knew somebody who knew them. If we didn't have any connections then we looked up their info, places of work, and got their number. Made our lists, gathered numbers and started calling.

Currently in the process still but have a lot of leads now.

Have your money ready. People will be more responsive about an offer than they will be about a possibility.

Also realize you will be dealing with more than 1 person more than likely. So have good plan/idea of what you want to do. It has been my experience that people are way more emotionally attached to land than homes for the most part. There will be somebody financially interested in selling but there will be somebody who will probably be emotionally interested in holding. If you want this to be a place for your kids to be at and to fish and be outside, share that along with a picture.

If it is important to you, then start looking but not like you would browsing at the store. You have to look beyond what's available. Good luck to you.

Thanks for all the replies. I actually called a couple of people with distressed family land that I thought might be candidates someone would sell, i.e, places that looked like nobody has stepped foot on them in years and were run down. Got shot down on both. However, it sounds like I just need to doing this on a volume of places to have any success.

Bonfire97 said:

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Thanks for all the replies. I actually called a couple of people with distressed family land that I thought might be candidates someone would sell, i.e, places that looked like nobody has stepped foot on them in years and were run down. Got shot down on both. However, it sounds like I just need to doing this on a volume of places to have any success.

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Where are you looking to buy? What type of land are you looking for? What size?

RikkiTikkaTagem said:

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If you really want land good land at a good price, you need to buy it premarket. Anybody with any sense of connections and finances will already have it sold before it hits the market. The only exceptions are places that have something terribly wrong with them and the places that command top dollar.

My advice is to buy land id or some other similar app and start making friends, writing letters and understanding the price per acre of GOOD land.

My personal anecdote: We were looking for a place to buy recently in an area of the state that isn't really even in high demand. Everything on the market had some obvious problem. I met with a friend who has lived there his whole life and we went through every parcel that would be a good plot.

We then went through all the owners and if he knew them or knew somebody who knew them. If we didn't have any connections then we looked up their info, places of work, and got their number. Made our lists, gathered numbers and started calling.

Currently in the process still but have a lot of leads now.

Have your money ready. People will be more responsive about an offer than they will be about a possibility.

Also realize you will be dealing with more than 1 person more than likely. So have good plan/idea of what you want to do. It has been my experience that people are way more emotionally attached to land than homes for the most part. There will be somebody financially interested in selling but there will be somebody who will probably be emotionally interested in holding. If you want this to be a place for your kids to be at and to fish and be outside, share that along with a picture.

If it is important to you, then start looking but not like you would browsing at the store. You have to look beyond what's available. Good luck to you.

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This is good advice. Just a fair warning, be prepared to get chewed out by folks. I tried this with a hand written note to a few properties explaining that I was looking to buy 6-10 acres to build a homestead and I even made clear it was not for investment/development purposes and I got a phone call and got reamed for sending them a letter.
When I asked who it was just so I knew not to contact them again he wouldn't tell me, but he did say he would just burn the letter if he received another. Some people get irrationally angry if they feel like someone is eyeing their property they do not have listed for sale. Nice guy.

I have been looking for 50-150 acres in Washington, Austin, or Fayette county. Possibly Burleson or Brazos or Lee if the right place came up. Just looking for a good "clean" country place to build a house on.

Bonfire97 said:

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90% of the listings I see have some sort of major problem (major powerline, 5 pipelines, no road frontage, oil wells, no minerals, junk neighbors/bad area, extensive flood zone, etc.).

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First, know that I agree with you -- I'd prefer acreage without a pipeline and would pass on one with a pipeline unless I just couldn't find one to buy without.

That said, the landmen for the pipeliners (and particularly the appraisers they hire to go before the Special Commissioners) will insist that the presence of a pipeline has no bearing on the value of a place. I don't buy that, but they've got a job to do and insist they are right.

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Are people just not selling knowing they have an inflation hedge or are the realtors selling them before they even hit the market?

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That's the chief reason my family is holding our acreage. With the continual devaluation of the U.S. dollar, having property whose value can track the inflation rate (or exceed it) beats having cash in the bank. If you can combine it with the Agricultural Special Valuation to keep your property taxes at a minimal level, that's a good deal.

Besides, when the owner dies (and I'm thinking of myself) that step-up in basis for one's heirs saves on capital gains taxes should they decide to 'cash-out.'

I haven't priced acreage in the counties you listed lately, but a listing price $15K - $30K / acre seems pretty prevalent, particularly for a 'good' place like you want.

Good luck.

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But if you're willing to put in the work and get on a tractor and really work it, then you can find it.

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Yeah, I actually put a top market offer on a property that was in a good location, but was highly neglected and was 100% solid with huisache. It was to a 65 year old lady who was an only child and was never married. I even got introduced to her through a friend, so it made it more personable. Got shot down on that, too.

What I have also noticed is that older people can get very defensive about their inherited properties. I even poked around about buying 50 acres from another only child older lady in my neighborhood who also has never been married. She said something to the effect that she "would never sell any of her land". Although, she never even goes out there or uses it.

It's amazing what a skid steer a tractor and about 10 years can do to a property

Bonfire97 said:

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What I have also noticed is that older people can get very defensive about their inherited properties.

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I understand. I've been making pitches on a piece of property for 19 years now to (3) heirs on a very neglected place that's completely overgrown.

They won't give me the time of day, but I continue on, varying the pitch each time trying to find something that will break the ice. Recently (2) of the (3) heirs passed and I'm pitching their children but still no cigar.

Sure, I could find another piece, but this one is in McLennan county and adjacent to mine and adds road frontage so I persist.

You just need to thicken your skin and not let it bother you when people are rude / defensive, or completely ignore you. Just think of how much rejection a door-to-door insurance salesman gets and know that you'll never reach that level!

BTW, speaking of rural property valuations, I just got my Fayette county appraisal today and the land value is up 25% Y-O-Y.

Yeah, I completely get it. I would probably be the same.

Yeah. Grief and family can be funny things.

My wife and I bought >100 acres and a decent house in the Ozarks this last August. The property taxes and overall cost of purchase are way better than Texas.

Bonfire97 said:

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Yeah, I completely get it. I would probably be the same.

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alot of times those properties have been in families for generations. It's very sentimental to them and land is not being made anymore. It's a finite resource. People don't give that up easily.

Texaspainter said:

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Bonfire97 said:

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Yeah, I completely get it. I would probably be the same.

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alot of times those properties have been in families for generations. It's very sentimental to them and land is not being made anymore. It's a finite resource. People don't give that up easily.

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It's a nice thought but they are only sentimental because hard cash and serious buyers haven't shown up. Living where we live in a ranching community I see it play out every year.

Lots of developers are looking in rural areas, and some make obscenely high offers. When they do, owners have no choice but to accept, if they don't the neighbor will. It gets done off market with NDA so no one ever knows the sale prices and there is no way to get that information to my knowledge. One day it's 50 head of cattle, the next day it's bare dirt and concrete foundations being poured. It's nuts. It's a damn shame, but money is money and everyone has a price.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Texaspainter said:

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Bonfire97 said:

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Yeah, I completely get it. I would probably be the same.

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alot of times those properties have been in families for generations. It's very sentimental to them and land is not being made anymore. It's a finite resource. People don't give that up easily.

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It's a nice thought but they are only sentimental because hard cash and serious buyers haven't shown up. Living where we live in a ranching community I see it play out every year.

Lots of developers are looking in rural areas, and some make obscenely high offers. When they do, owners have no choice but to accept, if they don't the neighbor will. It gets done off market with NDA so no one ever knows the sale prices and there is no way to get that information to my knowledge. One day it's 50 head of cattle, the next day it's bare dirt and concrete foundations being poured. It's nuts. It's a damn shame, but money is money and everyone has a price.

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Haven't had the right people contact me yet then I guess

Man, this whole thread hit home for me. Good land is rare, good land for sale is even rarer, and virtually non existent at reasonable prices. I'm near the point of giving up hope after years of casually looking. I wish I'd be lucky enough to get a bunch from family but here I am trying to change the trend but the market and cost just keeps pushing it farther away.

My only hope us probably going to be through a connection. I've been spreading the word for years. Actually got close a while back and the owner decided not to sell.

Well, where are you looking for land friend? The least you can do is tell us and maybe somebody on here will have a lead for you.

Texaspainter said:

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BrazosDog02 said:

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Texaspainter said:

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Bonfire97 said:

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Yeah, I completely get it. I would probably be the same.

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alot of times those properties have been in families for generations. It's very sentimental to them and land is not being made anymore. It's a finite resource. People don't give that up easily.

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It's a nice thought but they are only sentimental because hard cash and serious buyers haven't shown up. Living where we live in a ranching community I see it play out every year.

Lots of developers are looking in rural areas, and some make obscenely high offers. When they do, owners have no choice but to accept, if they don't the neighbor will. It gets done off market with NDA so no one ever knows the sale prices and there is no way to get that information to my knowledge. One day it's 50 head of cattle, the next day it's bare dirt and concrete foundations being poured. It's nuts. It's a damn shame, but money is money and everyone has a price.

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Haven't had the right people contact me yet then I guess

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Just hang tight. The Californians are moving in in droves and developers can't eliminate pastures fast enough.

RikkiTikkaTagem said:

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Well, where are you looking for land friend? The least you can do is tell us and maybe somebody on here will have a lead for you.

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Panola county or surrounding counties depending on the property or distance.

We are looking and finding the same problem. Willing to build septic and even looking at smaller lots. Can't seem to find the right one. Two kids headed to A&M and family already in the area. Any advice? - edited to add: *We are searching for one acre in Bell, Brazos or Grimes county. We are getting old and we want a place that will be appealing to our kids and their future families. My husband spent his whole life in the service away from Texas and we want to come home.