We just decided to nix a promising piece of land this week. Unfortunately the restrictions put in place on the plots required that a “committee” decide whether your house plans were acceptable, whether you could build other buildings on the land (e.g. a barn or shed), and so on. We don’t want to have our life governed by a busy-body committee of neighbors more interested in having a suburban HOA in the country than in actually doing something useful with land.
The prices for this land, about 30 miles outside of Austin, hover around $10,000 per acre. Now, these are hay fields we’re talking about. An old farmer dies and the urban children sell the land off after getting it surveyed into 5 – 10 acre plots. Hay isn’t that profitable. It varies widely depending on the location and water and demand and a hundred other factors, but let’s say generously someone could make $500 per acre just growing and cutting and selling hay. We’re pay $10,000 per acre. Meaning, twenty years worth of profit.
A farmer could put that $10,000 in bonds, make 5% interest, and come out with $500 per year just sitting and doing nothing! Why go to the time and expense and labor of making hay when the stock market will pay you just as much?
But my point is that the price of the land has no proportionality to how much could actually be made off it with hay. The prices are high ($10K/acre to $30K/acre) because the Austin area is booming and people are moving here in droves.
The sad thing is, a ton of land sits in monoculture crops all around the area. Thousands upon thousands of acres of cotton, corn, and wheat surround us. It isn’t that profitable for the farmers, but it’s all they know how to do. They’re locked into the system and cannot imagine using the land for, say, a CSA growing produce, or pastured poultry, or grass-fed beef. Or selling it to a young family who wants to make a homestead with a dairy cow, a small flock of sheep, some chickens, and a big garden.
So what we’ve seen is unrestricted land that isn’t quite what we want and restricted land that is too restricted to be useful for us. We are almost to the point of cold-calling some of the monocrop farmers and saying: “Hey, we’ll give you $10k/acre for those five acres of land. Twenty years worth of profits for you and you only lose five acres out of the thousand you own. And you help out a young family who wants to do something good with the land.” How hard can this be?
Devin,
Frustrating.
Is that plot of land 30 miles from a city with pop. 5000 or less? Austin is the 14th largest city in the nation, so good luck finding anything reasonable within commuting distance.
Remember this chart I found?:
http://newchristendom.blogspot.com/2012/06/farm-real-estate-values-by-distance-to.html
You are running into the problem that guys like us will face if we want to have a foot in both worlds (farming and office job). Also, I am sure you know this, but the high price has little to do with hay and a lot to do with speculation and commute times. Dont think of it as farmland. Because it simply isnt. It is an exurb, which is exactly why blokes like you and I want to go there!
Get out of commuting range and you will find very nice prices and no busy-body committiees. Perhaps you could helecopter to work? Seriously though, perhaps a bullet train would be nice in our situation so we could live a hundred miles away and still reasonably commute.
David, yes this land is 30 miles from Austin, a big city. And about 10 miles from Georgetown, which has 50,000 people (growing up there it was only 16,000).
It is an exurb, but we hope to make it something else, a place to put down roots and invest in the people and land there, to hopefully do something small to build community (this you know of course).
Yes if we go out another ten miles we start getting lower prices, $4,000 per acre for instance. And truth be told I could make that commute a few days per week and work from home the others. But we don’t want to be so far out that we are not close to a church or monastery or convent. We are still trying to stay within range of the Dominicans’ future convent. Unfortunately they got a great piece of land right on the San Gabriel river and the land around there is $30,000 to $150,000 per acre. Yes, you read those numbers right.
We will see! Blessed be God,
Devin
They want to build a bullet train in California in areas where almost no one lives.
We’ve got billions to waste.
Hang in there, Devin. You’ll find what you are looking for. If not exactly, then close.
Thanks Steve!
I think cold-calling the farmers, or writing letters, would be a great idea! It’s becoming popular in The Woodlands to write letters to residents of homes you’re interested in buying, even though they aren’t for sale. Some friends of ours got their “dream home” that way, and some other friends recently got a letter themselves and are thinking of selling!
Blair, we are considering that. Our first step is to find the feed store where the local farmers hang out and maybe chat with some people or post a notice “Young family wants to purchase 5 – 10 acres for homesteading. Please help us reach our dream of doing good with the land!” Or something like that.
We were thinking about cold calling the owner of one huge, beautiful tract of land (hundreds of acres at least). But we were at the local farm store and they told us “that’s the old Holstrom place. He would die before he sold any piece of it to anyone!”
Well, now we know.
I’m a 3rd Order Carmelite. I’m personally praying for you. Don’t give up hope. God is really amazing.
I’m a stay-at-home Mom who quit practicing law after converting to Catholicism. My husband and I have tons of grad school debt. We searched for 5 years to find a house in the horribly over-priced Washington DC Housing Market. Tons of plans fell through. Last year we bought our first house in the perfect town for a ridiculously small mortgage.
It’s tempting to get discouraged by all the “sin” around you. (For us the housing bubble in an Urban area was just as crazy as selling overpriced hay fields near Austin.) God wants to bless you with shelter. Keep going on in Faith. Model that sense of St. Joseph’s perserverance in finding shelter for Mary in Bethleham for your sons!
Abigail,
This is so kind of you! Thank you for your prayers. I know a third-order Carmelite or two and at one time discerned my vocation with the Carmelites.
I am so glad that y’all found a good place, one that you could afford also. The housing prices were insane and in some ways still are. At one time we also were considering the D.C. area to live, and the cost of living blew us away, though that was not the ultimate reason we chose not to move there.
God bless!
Devin
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Devin, cold calling and going to the feed store are great ideas. That land seems really high! Around here, I’ve seen a farm (80 acres) for sale for over 5 years for 10,000 / acre but that was the highest. Our family farm land could probably sell for 4,000 – 6,000 / acre because it is irrigated, flat, and fertile, great for monsanto corn and soy. Most small plots like 10 – 30 acres, out of town 15 miles or more are 2,000/ acre up to 5,000/ acre.
Don’t give up!
$10k/acre is pretty much what you should expect to pay around Austin, unfortunately. On the other hand, you could make a lot more than that per acre by turning that used-up hayfield into a diversified small-scale production farm.
Devin, perhaps your search should expand from central Texas to the area adjacent to Clear Creek Monastery(Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey) near Hulbert, Oklahoma. Price per acre is far less than that which you are encountering. It is, however, 60 miles to Tulsa, the closest large metro area. Check out the area by joining in the next Abby Work Day on March 2, 2013 (Go to http://www.abbeyworkday.com) . Also, here is the address of a old news story indicating that a small community was already growing up around Clear Creek Abbey:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20080323_1_A1_spanc15125
Paul,
We almost moved to Tulsa and also by the Clear Creek monks. We were even looking at properties. But then we felt called to move to central Texas. Still, I follow the monks’ newsletters to keep up with them. Thanks for suggesting I check them out!