Real talk from real landowners. Ask questions, share stories, learn from people who've been there.
I used to think buying land with adjudicated water rights meant the hard part was done. The decree exists, the priority date is senior, what else matters? Plenty, as it turns out. When I looked at a ...
I used to assume that a pre-purchase well log told you what you needed to know about groundwater on a parcel. Static water level, pump rate, done. I bought a 160-acre piece in 2014 with a well log sho...
I spent two years pursuing a lease-to-own arrangement on a 12-acre parcel outside Weaverville thinking it was my path to land ownership. I was wrong, and I want to save someone else the frustration. ...
I used to assume that if a property had a working well, that was enough. Pump turns on, water comes out — what else matters? That thinking cost me dearly. When we expanded our operation and bought a ...
I used to think if you could drive to it, you owned the access. Bought a 47-acre parcel in the foothills because it had a gravel road running right to it. Felt solid. Turns out that road crossed three...
When I bought my first additional 80 acres back in 2009, the NRCS soil maps showed mostly Class II and III soils. Looked solid on paper. What I didn't do was track down the county tile maps or talk to...
Everyone told me to verify that water rights transferred with the land. I did. What nobody told me was to check the priority dates on each individual right relative to the upstream neighbors on the sa...
When I bought my first 80 acres back in the late 90s, I was fixated on price per acre and overlooked a single paragraph buried in the chain of title — a timber deed reservation from 1961 that gave a p...
I passed on a 40-acre parcel years ago because the canopy looked thin from the road. Walked away thinking the timber was degraded. Bought a different place instead — one with a gorgeous closed canopy ...
I made this exact mistake on my Hill Country lease-to-own negotiation and it nearly wrecked my first year budget. Everyone told me the ag exemption was established on the land, so I'd inherit the lowe...
I used to think stream access was straightforward — if it's a navigable waterway, you've got rights, end of story. Then I spent two years trying to access a gorgeous spring creek that cuts through a p...
Every piece of buying advice I ever got said to negotiate price first, then do due diligence during the option period. I followed that exactly on my Hill Country acres and nearly got burned. I paid f...