My wife & I have been searching for some rural land. We are ready now for the next stage in our exodus out of suburbia.

Recently we have been looking at a variety of areas outside of the Dallas area. What some people not familiar with the region may not know, is that the terrain 2 hours East of Dallas is radically different than the land two hours West. Or North or South as well.

The latest trends people have had in leaving the city, is to expand into house farms North and West of the city. So, we want to move either South or East. These areas still have rural locations kind of close to the Metroplex.

Basically if you drew a series of rings aound Dallas, property 1 hour or less drive is $5-10k per acre. Thats way too much money for me. What compounds it, is that much of this property is not very scenic. Its mostly mesquite covered prairie if you are lucky, otherwise it can be open pasture. What makes that kind of suck is if you want privacy, open land does not help with it. Yes your neighbor may be 1/4 of a mile away.. but if you can still see them... its not private.

So with these things in mind, we have been looking at property 2 hours out. At this range it starts to drop down to $2-3k per acre. Much more do-able. Whats nice is that the land also gains more distinct characteristics. The farther south and east we go, the more moist and wet it becomes.


Yesterday, while looking online I stumbled on two properties. Both very close to one another. The price is very inexpensive: under $900 per acre.

One tract is 48 acres for $42,669.00. The other 68.9 acres for $62,010

What makes me wonder... is why so cheap?

The land is about 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes outside of Dallas.





Here is where the property is located:



The other 68.9 Acres is somewhere off the County road shown. On the map, the dark spot is a lake. I do not know if the 68.9 acres borders on it. I would assume not:



OK.... now on the surface I can kind of see why the property could be discounted. If it was recently cleared and has some old drilling debris on it. That would make sense. But still, it does not seem like enough.

What has my curiosity is the structures shown in the Satillite views:



Any idea what those structures are?

My first guess is that are for raising chickens. Anybody have any thoughts on it?

Does anybody know if Chicken Farms like that have any major drawbacks to being a neighbor to one (if it was the case)?

Do I have ground water issues? Or is there going to be a nasty smell? I have lived in dairy country, so I know first hand what thats like. But I have no experience with chickens.


So, what do you all think?

I used to live about a mile from a chicken farm. When the wind was blowing the right direction, it was horrible. I can tolerate the smell of cattle and horses (I actually kind of like those smells). But chicken smells are just plain foul (or "fowl", lol). Groundwater issues could be a problem, depending on how they handle their waste.

Both properties are worth checking out. The price is awesome. And you're correct to want to check out what's around it. I can't tell what those structures are, and a row of chicken coops sounds reasonable. They could be some sort of industrial storage warehouses. I noticed that the access to each building is only at one end (not along the sides).

I will say this about the area east and southeast of Dallas. It's major redneck bubba territory. East Texas rednecks are a special breed of their own, and they are not open-minded about a lot of things. There is a lot of poverty too (with a lot of drug use, namely meth). Raising children in that environment will require special considerations. But all in all, if the land prices are that cheap and you can get some breathing room, I think it's a good step.

If those are chicken, turkey, or hog production sheds you don't want to be anywhere near them. They smell truly horrible when the wind is right and the disinfectant chemicals can ruin ground water. The only other thing those look like are greenhouses. Again you may have groundwater issues. Nice looking property though, worth more checking.

My wife & I both grew up around dairy farms. So the smell of that would not be quite so bad. Sure on some days it could be funky, but it was not the end of the world. But that is cows. Not chickens.

I would hope that they were industrial warehouses. But I would not hold out too much hope for that. Typically to handle any kind of industry, there would need to be better paved roads I would think to access the buildings.

Those buildings are nearly 300 feet long. Pretty huge.

What kind of confirms this, is that the nearby town is home to Bo Pilgrim. He is the "Frank Purdue" of Texas. So there is alot of chicken farming in the area.

Sorry about not giving too many specifics on the property.... please omit the town if you know it


I understand about East Texas. But I have spent some time in Longview and other communities. I really do not think its that bad. Many of the stereotypes I read and hear about East Texans can really be applied to almost all rural folk anywhere in the US. Personally, I think the worst bubba-rednecks are from upstate and western New York State. In my work travels throughout the Deep South I have yet to be personally proven wrong on that opinion and outlook.

The meth epidemic is also worrisome. But once again, I see that as a rural problem I would have whether I lived in East Texas or Montana. Still you are right... its a vaild and major concern I have to look out for for my children.




Thanks for confirming the Chicken nasties DRman.

I was hoping for greenhouses as well. But if you look at the Satillite photos of the northern buildings, you can see the roof is patchy. It looks to me to be like rusted corregated steel roofing. The white/silver roofing could be galvanized.

Because its a 2+ hour drive to that area, I emailed both real estate agents to see if they are indeed chicken farms.

I don't see any obvious pipeline right-of-way in the satellite photo. Having worked on pipelines myself, I would normally expect to see a cleared ROW in the photo. I would want to find out more about that. It could be an old abandoned line, and the ROW is grown over. If it's an active line, you'd want to do some research on whose line it is and what they're carrying through it. There will undoubtedly be times where their service people will need to access your property to check on the cathodic protection, clear the ROW, maintain their signage, repair the casing (which might involve moving in heavy equipment to excavate), etc. You might be required to give them access through your property to the ROW, which means they can tear up other parts of your property to get the equipment to their line. It is definitely worth finding out about, as it could severely disrupt your privacy and destroy/damage your property.

There are two pipelines nearby.

Notice that the property is downhill from the alleged chicken farms.

What is the relief scale on that topo map, Thed? The topo curves represent what change in elevation? Are they 10ft? 50ft?

Looks like you have a nice valley through the property with possible running water. If the valley is deep enough, it might be great for shooting practice with natural backstops and noise reduction.

But being downhill from the alleged chicken coops is worrisome.

You also seem to have part of the top of a hill down in the southwest corner. That could be advantageous if it gives you any view.

My guess is 10 ft elevations. I count two lines between the 400ft and a 425ft peak mark.

I like the idea of water and that its not flat. I tend to think it would/could have great potential for being a shooting practice and training facility. Specifically because a shooting station could be made in the valley.

The issue still is the chicken farm. That kind of puts a damper on using the property for future living. But it has potential as recreation property. That does not fit my primary goal... but it is an option. at $42k its cheap. Probably could talk em down to $40k. It would be different if I went in with 3-7 other people to buy shares. The thing is that adds in a bunch more new complications of contracts.

Usual topo relief lines are 10'. You aren't kidding about western and upstate NY. Very scary area. You do need to be careful of ROW's on rural land. My property in NH has a ROW. I almost didn't by it because I could not find details. Finally found 1870 deeded ROW across my land for ox carts during maple sugar season. No ones asked yet.

Many areas in NY are beautiful. But once you move into the deep rural areas, it gets crazy. Mostly from the redneck view. I think the rural deep south is more tame in comparison because of the strong Baptist religious influence. Good or bad, it does have an effect. Not so much up there.

You know Thed, I never really thought of it that way but you're right. Fundamentalist religion is not very big up north here. Rural areas have very few still active churches. Many fine old churches have been made over for other purposes. Godless heathen rednecks, that does explain alot.

Redneck New Yorkers... scary.


I received an eMail from the Realto selling the 68.9 acres. Turns out it borders the 48 ac tract. The 68.9 acres is on the south edge of the property. So it would be possible to get all of the acreage into one tract.

Also, I responded to the eMail asking what the rectangluar buildings are. Specifically asking about a smell. I am anxious to read the response.

Now that would be a hell of a deal. 118 acres in one chunk for under $105k. Now you're talking about enough space to actually be able to get some privacy.

Unless it reeks of liquid chicken

As I stated earlier in this post, one of the advantages of moving to the more wet East Texas is there are alot more trees. So privacy is more easily achieved with less area. This is one of the reasons why I have been having problems with properties due south of DFW. The Mesquite trees on prairie require greater distances for the feeling of solitude.

Would that pipeline afford you any special perks? A guy I work with told me his parents have a natural gas line running through their property and, as a result, they don't have to pay a gas bill. Ever. Pretty cool, huh?

frye

Hey man, it's true! The line is above-ground, and could prevent them from maximizing their use of the property. The free gas is simply fair compensation.

My guess would be.

1.) Chicken coops
2.) Storage buildings

You would be amazed at the U-Store-It bldgs. that folks are putting up in the middle of nowhere. And filling them up.

My only concerns with coops are the smell and water contamination. If you had to dig a well, it could pose serious problems.

Living out that far, I would want a well in addition to city/county water just for self-sufficiency.

Can you zoom in any closer?


DK

I believe you Mike.

When I lived in West Branch, MI they had natural gas pumps right out back of the apartment house I lived in. I remember talking with the landlord and he mentioned the same arrangement with the gas company.

I remember the smell was terrible in the mornings. Maybe that is why our rent was really cheap too.

Well, I think Frye may have been referring to the fact that most of us have natural gas lines that run through our property. After all, something has to get the gas into our homes.
But the pipeline on the property I'm speaking of is actually raised about 4' off the ground, and is likely a main "artery" of some sort.
Not sure if the one Thed's talking about is above ground or buried, which is why I asked my question.

I'll back you up. I had a teacher in HVAC school that had this arrangement with the gas company in a house out in rural KS. He had gas lights, gas refer, gas stove, gas furnace, and gas A/C, which is how we got on the subject in class.

These folks live in McClouth (sp?), KS. And yes, it's pretty damned rural.

The "perks" of having a pipeline through your property can vary wildly. It needs to be checked out. This is likely not a regular gas distribution line, as they tend to follow roadways and such. I'm thinking it's a transmission line, much like the ones I used to work on. It could be carrying anything from gasoline to natural gas to MTBE to crude oil or fuel oil. It might even be carrying differrent products at different times. I'd want to know what size line it is, the depth, where the vents are (if any), if there are any control valves on the property, etc. And then I'd want to know if the pipeline company has an ongoing agreement for "rights" through the property. Did they originally purchase the ROW, or is there a yearly "rent" they pay the land owner for it?

A friend of mine used to live on 90 acres for free. There were 6 pipelines in a corridor that ran through one side of the property, and the "rent" that the oil companies paid for the privelege of running their lines through there basically paid her mortgage payments. And on top of that, they maintained a nice gravel road through the property to access their lines, which she used to get back to the rear of her property for other purposes.

The downside of having a pipeline is that you must allow them access any time, day or night. Any gate or fence you put up must be cleared with them so they have access, and they'll put their own pipeline padlocks on it (I still have several of these padlocks that I use for various things; they're very handy). You may occasionally have low-flying planes coming over your property doing pipeline patrols. If they have people on the ground coming to check their lines, they may or may not even notify you that they're on your property. I know when I was on the pipeline, it was never part of our operating procedure to notify land owners.

This means that you can never really assume that people trespassing on your property are bad guys. You kind of have to give up the idea of making your property an impenetrable fortress or a secure zone. That can have major implications for the kind of stuff we talk about.

Edited for anger........