Ranch Investor Wisdom

[Baygall]

Water front, lake front property is where there’s big money to be made.

[lwelch70]

Tagged, but would also like to know how much advice from 2017 is still viable today with the current insane prices

I was wondering this same thing.

My wife and I are in a place where we are considering investing in rental properties and I had thought about purchasing some land - but looking at prices I can’t begin to even think about how anyone can afford some of this stuff today.


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[txtrophy85]

My opinion, which is worth what you paid for it, is not to buy a ranch as an investment. Buy it because you want to own a ranch. You'll probably make money when you go to sell it, but it will probably be less than you would have made if you'd put that money in a different investment.

I can say that land is one of the best investments a person can make, both in memories and financially.

Land usually averages 8% increase year over year, and can accelerate much beyond that. We saw 30-50% increases in land in some areas since this post was made

[Double C]

Oh to go back to 2017 and go all in on as much land as I could get …..

Question is will I be saying the same thing about 2023 in 2030??

[Drop Tine]

Oh to go back to 2017 and go all in on as much land as I could get …..

Question is will I be saying the same thing about 2023 in 2030??

I sure hope so! I window shopped and dreamed for years while building multiple businesses. Finally made the leap and we are loving it. We ended up with a special place. Not trying to make money. Trying to raise two good people and enjoy the process of being a good steward for the land and wildlife. If it’s worth a fortune when I’m dead then good for my kids.

[Darton]

Tagged, but would also like to know how much advice from 2017 is still viable today with the current insane prices

The margins remain the same, the price to get in the game has increased

[Phorizt]

Been dreaming of buying a place of my own for a long time and been working my tail off trying to get to that point but with the way land prices are it can be pretty discouraging. The better off things get for us financially the further away being able to purchase a nice place seems to get as land prices have gone through the roof.

How difficult is it to get financing to buy land as an "investment"? I own a small business, just closed on our 2nd commercial property which we lease both of them back to the business so financially we're on a good path but have all of our cash tied up in our other RE and business right now.

My uncle told me a story recently about a family meeting my grandparent had when he was a kid... Our family has a farm in Central Texas which has been in the family since the 1870s(100% owned by my uncle now) and he said when he was a kid the neighbor asked my grandparents if they would be interested in buying their 500+ acre farm of Leon River bottomland for $25 an acre. My grandparents met with all of the family and decided they just couldn't see how that land could ever be worth $25 per acre and passed on the offer. Of course that property is worth over $5 million today.

[Black Ice]

Oh to go back to 2017 and go all in on as much land as I could get …..

Question is will I be saying the same thing about 2023 in 2030??

Yes. it’s been the same way for as long as I can remember.

My grandfather bought 540 acres for 300k or something around that in 1992 or 1993 in south Texas.


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[Hockley]

Tagged just in case I win the lottery!

[Kong]

We’ve bought more than a few properties over the years for the sole purpose of doing a few improvements and selling them and we’ve done really well but every time we’ve built a 5 plus acre lake with a nice home site location overlooking it we’ve hit home runs. The number one thing I look for on a new property is the ability to build a small lake on it. It’s not a deal breaker by any means but it’s a huge bonus if you can build one.

[Tbar]

We sold our grandparent's ranch.... financially it was a good decision as we hit the market at its peak in that area. It was a very hard decision for me as I was very sentimental about it but the family all had different interests. Some took the money and bought a home in Mexico, another bought a home in Costa Rica, another bought a high-dollar condo in Dallas and another purchased a historic mansion in Dallas. My brother, another cousin and I bought a ranch in Stonewall County. Our criteria was no O&G and the land to have some contour. We got both. The property needed some improvements and we have been rebuilding miles of fences and adding some buildings. I was concerned about investing too much into the property but my fears were displaced when property values increased 408% over what we paid for the land just six years ago.

[warrington]

Purchase with
Good fences.
A couple of good pond
Electricity already ran
Good water producing wel

All big money savers

[Tyrex750]

I won't ever be able to afford and land at these prices. But it's like everything else, if people would stop paying these dumb *** prices, then it would come down.

[TxHamJello]

We bought a small piece of property between Harper and Fredericksburg some years ago. Unimproved land. With the intention of buying more attached and building a place on it. When attached land came available the prices were through the roof. So, we put ours on the market. I had been looking all over Texas for a larger property, and found one in east Texas about that same time. 8x the size, already had a very run down house (a good coat of fire would have been a significant improvement) that had a well, electricity and septic. Property also had a natural spring fed pond, multiple creeks, hayfields, hardwoods and pine timber ready for thinning. We jumped on it and started work on the rundown house. Watched the money we spent, and did most of the work ourselves. We made some pretty good money when we thinned the timber, which covered a lot of what we put in the house - and it made more lanes for hunting and provided space for more browse.

I'm sure we will turn a profit. But, I bought land because I was tired of getting bumped off leases when someone else bought the land. Absolutely love hunting my own place, and working it the way I want it.

Having a couple cold ones on your property while watching the sun set and the stars come out with some family and friends, taking animals off your slice of heaven or fishing in your own tank . . . I cannot put a price tag on that.

I think we did a pretty good job of following the advice already given on this thread. Do the same and don't look back.

[DUKFVR]

We bought a small piece of property between Harper and Fredericksburg some years ago. Unimproved land. With the intention of buying more attached and building a place on it. When attached land came available the prices were through the roof. So, we put ours on the market. I had been looking all over Texas for a larger property, and found one in east Texas about that same time. 8x the size, already had a very run down house (a good coat of fire would have been a significant improvement) that had a well, electricity and septic. Property also had a natural spring fed pond, multiple creeks, hayfields, hardwoods and pine timber ready for thinning. We jumped on it and started work on the rundown house. Watched the money we spent, and did most of the work ourselves. We made some pretty good money when we thinned the timber, which covered a lot of what we put in the house - and it made more lanes for hunting and provided space for more browse.

I'm sure we will turn a profit. But, I bought land because I was tired of getting bumped off leases when someone else bought the land. Absolutely love hunting my own place, and working it the way I want it.

Having a couple cold ones on your property while watching the sun set and the stars come out with some family and friends, taking animals off your slice of heaven or fishing in your own tank . . . I cannot put a price tag on that.

I think we did a pretty good job of following the advice already given on this thread. Do the same and don't look back.

Very well stated! We feel the same about buying our own place too!