Why is it so expensive to buy rural?? (Austin: for sale, house)

[txtea]

All we need is a time machine to take us back to the early 1800's, when you could buy land in central Texas for as little as $.05 an acre.

[blakely]

Originally Posted by txtea

All we need is a time machine to take us back to the early 1800's, when you could buy land in central Texas for as little as $.05 an acre.

But no AC!

[txtea]

Originally Posted by blakely

But no AC!

Oh my time machine will have a/c...guaranteed!

[Trainwreck20]

Why is land so expensive? 'Cause people are trying to buy it......

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Current asking prices around my acreage is pretty ridiculous.... $6/square foot! for under 30 acres.
The 50 acres next to me sold last year for $2.5 million.
Crazy.

congrats! Keep holding

[ATX Wahine]

Wow! What a flashback of a thread.

We still live on our lovely little two-acre place here in Oak Hill, but prices have risen almost to the “we are crazy to not cash out” phase. We paid off our mortgage years ago, and when our property reaches the magic number we have in mind, we’ll sell and move out to our Fredericksburg property. COVID made working from home the new future for my husband, who will retire in a few years anyway, so staying in Austin is no longer required.

Never dreamed things would move this fast. Oak Hill was historically a slower-moving area of real estate. Not any longer!

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by ATX Wahine

Wow! What a flashback of a thread.

We still live on our lovely little two-acre place here in Oak Hill, but prices have risen almost to the “we are crazy to not cash out” phase. We paid off our mortgage years ago, and when our property reaches the magic number we have in mind, we’ll sell and move out to our Fredericksburg property. COVID made working from home the new future for my husband, who will retire in a few years anyway, so staying in Austin is no longer required.

Never dreamed things would move this fast. Oak Hill was historically a slower-moving area of real estate. Not any longer!

Make sure you have good internet in FB, it is not a given - just ask my mom . Where do you own property out there? My folks have lived north of FB for many years, but now my mom is in a 55+ community on the eastern side of town. The prices there are crazy now, too...

[ATX Wahine]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Make sure you have good internet in FB, it is not a given - just ask my mom . Where do you own property out there? My folks have lived north of FB for many years, but now my mom is in a 55+ community on the eastern side of town. The prices there are crazy now, too...

Man you aren’t kidding about the internet! It’s pretty bad. Baby steps! HEB finally delivers out there. That alone is huge! We have a small eight-acre farm off 2721, about 10 miles off of Main St. My husband’s parents bought it decades ago for a song. They planted a vineyard and began making wine and enjoyed a wonderful retirement out there. It too has risen dramatically in value. We haggle over whether we want to stay there, or flee to New Mexico. We just returned from a two-week trip to Taos, which we adore. We both love mountains. Too much winter for us, though. Southern New Mexico has some great areas with less snow that are probably better-suited for us. We both hate snow.

[Trainwreck20]

My folks bought ~25 acres off Eckert Rd (west of Willow City) in the mid 90s. My dad really would have liked to have that property stay in the family, but by the time they sold it 15 or so years later, it was already too expensive for me to buy as an investment. Not that it probably would not have done great value-wise, but that it was so much cash up front and we would have had to keep it in ag service to avoid being killed on taxes.

They moved for a few years to a 3 acre place of Knopp School Rd where you could get some area wifi service if you put up a big antennae. The Eckert Rd place was stictly satellite (Hughes?).

With the increase in valuation on our house, it does possibly move up retirement - assuming we sell it and move somewhere 'cheaper'. We are somewhat limited in that our special needs kid will probably always be with us and will need some support services as she grows older. In any case, the recent trip to CO put my wife more in the 'retirement and travel' mindset .

[ATX Wahine]

Wow ... land off of Willow City is DEFINITELY a sweet thing to own. It’s just amazing out there. That would have been real nice to hold onto. I’m sorry it was let go! We have an ag exemption on the farm with a gentleman’s agreement with a neighbor to host a small head of cattle each spring/summer. They eat all the grass, the tractor stays in the barn, and the taxes are really low. So far, that is.

We assume that some day it may get pretty expensive keeping the place. It’s excellent grape-growing land and I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually sell it to a full time grower. I don’t think either my husband or myself is interested in farming in retirement. We’ve had our share of it the fourteen years we’ve lived here in Oak Hill.

We love Colorado too but for that cold white stuff. We are hilariously snow-adverse. The Ruidoso-Las Cruces area appeals to us quite a bit. My husband never dreamed he’d be thinking of leaving Texas, but that dry New Mexico climate is just dreamy.

Our best friends live in LA and have a seventeen year-old special needs son who will remain with them forever. They chose LA to finally buy their forever home because there is such an incredible array of services for him there. It’s a huge consideration for folks like you and you have my respect, TW!