Texas Homesites is proud to offer land for sale in the master planned community of King Oaks. These are some of the highlights of buying land and custom building a home in King Oaks.

College town atmosphere: The Bryan-College Station area is home to Texas A&M University, one of the nation’s largest college campuses. Living near a college campus opens up a world of possibilities, beginning with the rich and storied football tradition at Texas A&M. You can’t help but get swept up in the excitement that overtakes the campus every fall.

College Station is also home to The George Bush Presidential Library, art galleries, museums, a local winery, and The Brazos Valley Symphony. It’s a culturally rich and sophisticated area that maintains the quaint appeal of a small town. A vibrant nightlife, the College Station Medical Center, and the nearby Post Oak Mall round out the reasons why this is simply one of the most charming communities in Texas.

Outdoor Activities: Located within the King Oaks community is a 60-acre nature preserve perfect for horse riding and picnicking. Additionally, a private park with nature trails, an outdoor pavilion, and fishing ponds are available to King Oak’s residents. A planned community pool is scheduled to be completed by December 2012. Just 10 minutes away is the Gibbons Creek Reservoir, a 2,770-acre reservoir perfect for boating and fishing.

Choice: Not only can you select your home site, your builder, and your building schedule, King Oaks offers residents the best of both worlds. You can spend the day alone relaxing on your wooded, secluded piece of Texas land, or take a short drive and experience all the amenities and excitement a college town has to offer. Your options are endless.

The Texas economy is roaring along and land value and land tax benefits are just two of the many reasons to buy land in Texas. For more information about land in King Oak’s or other master planned communities in Texas, find Texas Homesites on Facebook and Twitter today.

The possibilities for use of land for sale in Texas are just as big as the heart of the Lone Star State itself. Now, let's narrow it down some. Your first step is to determine how much land you need or want. There are a few basic questions you can ask yourself to get an idea of how much land you will need.

• What will the land be used for?

√ If the land is going to be your family home, make sure it is large enough for the style of house you want on the property.

√ If the land is going to be used for business purposes, make sure there is enough space to meet your business needs. You will also want to check for access to transportation and delivery routes.

• Are you planning to resale the land?

√ If you plan to resale the property, make sure there is enough space so the land can be used for different purposes.

√ Property that is closer to shopping, restaurants and schools tends to be more attractive to a land buyer. Consider future land value if you know that you will eventually resale the property.

• What are your needs right now?

√ If you have school-aged children, you will want to make sure the land you choose is located near a school district that is right for your children.

√ If you are retired, you may want to choose property that is close to shopping, restaurants and recreation facilities.

Do you want to live in a planned community?

√ Some communities in Texas are master planned communities, meaning there are certain restrictions regarding what kind of property is available.

√ Consider the benefits of a planned community. Amenities are already available to new residents. There is access to local schools and recreation.

The Texas economy has sustained recent economic difficulties surprisingly well. Land prices are reasonable, meaning your odds of finding a property that is right for you are greatly increased. Decide what your immediate and future needs are and start looking for properties that match those needs.

Texas Homesites is your source for all the information you need on Texas land. Before you know it, you will find the perfect piece of Texas that is right for you. Visit us online now or see what others are saying about us on Facebook and Twitter.

It doesn't take much effort to list the reasons to live in Texas. Some of the most popular reasons to call the Lone Star State home include no state sales tax, land prices below the national average and attractive land tax benefits. Put it all together and one thing is clear: Now is a good time to buy land in Texas. Properties are available throughout the state with locations in rural and urban surroundings.

Location

According to real estate surveys, most people buy land because they want to build their own custom home to their specifications. Land value in Texas has been holding below the national average, making it a good time to buy. Wide, open spaces throughout the state mean that property owners can install solar panels, windmills and other energy-saving options. Property locations are available to fit almost any lifestyle.

Growing Markets

Texas real estate is making some noticeable gains in large markets throughout the state right now. Austin is experiencing a soaring real estate market thanks, in part, to an increasing number of new businesses. This has spurred the commercial and residential real estate market in the area. Dallas, Houston, Amarillo, Midland and San Antonio are experiencing similar growth.

Additional Reasons to Buy Land in Texas Now

√ Tax benefits - Land tax benefits in Texas are an added incentive for new land buyers. There are additional tax benefits for those who go green in their construction efforts, especially where energy is concerned.

√ Recreation - Texas has numerous recreational opportunities including hunting, horseback riding, hiking and fishing. There is bound to be available property to enjoy almost any pastime pleasure Texas offers.

√ Conservation - Purchasing land in certain areas can be an ecological venture that prevents overdeveloping and makes the land more valuable in the long run.

√ Development - Depending on how much land you purchase, there may be space left over for multi-family homes or several businesses if you are developing the property for commercial use. Since you own the land, you can charge rent and lease fees.

√ Low risk - Right now, real estate in the Lone Star State is extremely stable with growth in several key markets. The recent recession was relatively low impact in Texas, especially when it comes to Texas real estate.

Texas Homesites is your choice for land in Texas. Visit us online or on Facebook and Twitter.

Getting the Most for Your Money

A real estate investor from NJ, who wants to buy land in the hard-hit market of Cape Coral, FL, has found lots for sale on or near the water at about a third to half below their peak prices of two years ago.

On a larger scale, Ray Alcorn, an investor in VA, is picking up parcels of land after two years on the sidelines. He has bought more than 100 acres throughout VA this year, much of it at reduced prices. “It’s just crazy out there right now,” said Mac Boyd, 65, a real estate broker in Arcola, IL, who has sold farms for more than three decades. “The land market has never been stronger.”

Emily Wilson, a realtor in Shelbyville, TN (south of Nashville) was asked to comment on land sales in her area. She stated “acreage is selling better than homes in our area. We sell a lot of horse farms and high dollar properties…but if I were depending on starter home sales for a living, I’d be crying hard times.

Instead, our company sales are up $1 million over this same time last year.” Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest home builder by unit volume, is selling off thousands of lots in outlying markets while holding on to land with development potential closer to major metropolitan areas.

The parcels closer in are located in markets that are expected to rebound more quickly. The sales figures cited indicate that Horton sold 2,000 lots in Southern California for $7.8 million, a 90+ percent markdown from the estimated $110 million purchase price. In a separate transaction, Horton also sold a 4-acre parcel near San Diego for $4.4 million, a 75 percent markdown from the 2005 purchase price.

Also worth noting in the article is the figure on new-home sales, which are now at a 17-year low. Land in the Heart of Dixie has been an excellent investment. That’s the conclusion one draws from a recent report titled Alabama Farm Real Estate: A Comparison of Returns and Values Since 1970, which was prepared by John Adrian and Walt Prevatt, professors and extension economists at Auburn University.

Here are the high points. In 1970, buyers were paying on average $200 per acre for Alabama farmland. In 2007, the average price per acre was $3,100, a 1,450% increase over the period or 40.3% per year.

This figure covers a substantial timeframe, but it does offer insight into the underlying market conditions inherent throughout much of the state. Farming and agriculture have long been key drivers buoying rural land values in Alabama.

Numerous additional factors have pushed up demand, including the recent stretch of historically low interest rates and the popularity of 1031 Exchanges. And then there are Alabamans themselves. These people love to hunt. They love to fish. They love to get out on the land and out on the water.

Residents of Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, and Huntsville are excellent examples of urban dollars propelling the market for rural and recreational land to even higher levels.

Baby Boomers will continue to drive a portion of their investment portfolio into real estate, specifically raw land, fueling the demand for land like never before. For example, a developer purchased a large tract of land in Western North Carolina and divided it into 1800 parcels ranging from 1 to 6 acres. The lots range in price from $40,000 to $100,000 (depending on the size of the parcel and it’s location in the subdivision). Within one year they sold 800 parcels!

The essence of their promotional campaign – buy the lot and grow your money as the property appreciates (like it is a stock). At some point the landowner will either build on the lot or sell it. They also offer an affordable monthly payment program to those who cannot pay in full.

There is no “deed restriction” for this community which means the buyer is not required at ANY time to build on the property. One of the other motivations for this generation to invest in land is that they are nervous about having all their funds in investments related to the stock market. Certainly we have seen a lot of volatility in the stock market in recent months.

More and more investors are taking a portion of their investment portfolio and purchasing land. Why? The premise is – historically land has never gone down in value.

Developers are sensing this trend and shifting their strategy. In the past, a developer purchased a large tract of land near a city and then subdivided it into lots to build houses. Now they are buying land in desirable rural locations throughout the country, dividing it into smaller parcels and marketing to Boomers.

As documented above, they are having great success. Even Wal-Mart is addressing the migration to rural areas.

FL and AZ are no longer the primary destinations for retirees. Retirees are looking all over the country to purchase rural land on which to retire, with Texas being one of the hottest destinations.

The core criterion for their purchase is that the parcel is within a reasonable driving distance of a Super Wal-Mart and medical care. Wal-Mart has sensed this trend and they are building many of their new stores at rural crossroads cities throughout the US – thus opening up areas of land originally thought too far from amenities and supplies.

What are buyers looking for in today’s market?

Buyers are looking for a deal. Buyers are willing to turn over more rocks, and pass up opportunities if they don’t perceive it as a great opportunity.

Buyers are looking for sellers that are willing to work with them in the process of purchasing property.

Buyers are looking for properties where the seller and the seller’s agent have taken all of the guesswork out of the decision making process.

Buyer’s are looking for properties that meet their needs, are priced reasonably, are surveyed, and are good investments. Any type of property will still sell in today’s market if it meets the buyer’s demands.

What can sellers do to increase their chances of putting their property on the SOLD list?

Sellers can meet the buyer’s demands. Today’s market is a buyer’s market. The buyer is in control of most transactions. The seller should go ahead and take care of the things that the buyer is demanding. When the seller does that, the property will sell.

Buyers do not care how long a property has been on the market if it fits what they are looking for and they are provided with enough information to make a buying decision. In today’s market the seller should:

1. Ask a reasonable listing price – unreasonable pricing gets few, if any lookers.

2. Have the property surveyed if there is not a current survey.

3. Take care of any issues that affect ownership or use of the property. If the driveway to the property crosses another landowner, and you have a simple gentleman’s agreement with that landowner, you should get that agreement in writing at the least. Most buyers would rather have a deeded easement to use the land for access. Think about it from the buyer’s perspective. The buyer does not know the landowner the way that you do. What if he decides that he will no longer allow access through his property?

4. If there are any issues that you cannot clear up, be up front and honest about the issue AND price the property accordingly.

5. Sellers should be proactive, and educated about the market. The buyer is.

6. Make the property accessible. Buyers will not buy something that they cannot see. You might know the creek at the back of the property is beautiful, but if the buyer cannot get there, it might as well not exist. Opening up timberland properties with 4×4 roads, view spots, and wildlife plots is a great place to start.

7. CLEAN UP!…Rural properties tend to have junk piles. Clean them up. Buyers do not want your junk. They have their own. Junkiness around and on a property is a huge turn-off for buyers. I see many sellers loose interest in the properties they are trying to sell and let things like mowing and simple upkeep go. This is the time when you should keep it looking its best. 8. If your property is not getting any lookers, it is priced too high!

“Value” is a word that everyone uses, but what does it mean and how is it measured? What makes some real estate valuable and some not?

What makes land, in particular, valuable to buyers? This question has more than one answer, and “location, location, location” is often in the chorus, not the spotlight. 

Start with the idea of amerchantable asset, which is something that someone in his right mind will pay you a fair price for right now. (More technical definitions are available but don’t add anything useful.) Some buyers look for — and value — properties that contain one or more merchantable assets that can be sold quickly to reduce the purchase cost. These might include an unwanted extra house, back acreage or mature timber ready to harvest.

The buyer’s objective is to keep a core piece of the property and pay for as much of it as possible by selling unwanted, peripheral assets. Retained assets that add value in a buyer’s calculation are items that can be leased (pasture and crop land, storage space, hunting rights, trails for horseback riding), rented (vacation homes, equipment), producing something for sale (crops) or used immediately by the new owner (house, outbuildings).

Property with all environmental rights retained and conveying should be considered a financial asset if it lends itself to a conservation easement. Property that bears a conservation easement should be discounted in value, because one or more important uses have been severed or limited. The value of property adjacent to property with a conservation easement usually rises owing to the adjoining restrictions on development.

Most buyers value assets that are tangible keepers–a useable house, well-maintained fences, functioning utilities and other infrastructure. Specialized buyers will value specialized keeper assets, such as a year-round trout stream in the front yard or a developed horse operation. Less tangible assets but no less important are “things” like compatible neighbors, quiet, privacy, an absence of boundary disputes and proximity to whatever most people like to be close to and away from what most people want to be out of sight, sound and smell.

Developers of rural land usually add value by packaging lots with natural and man-made amenities, such as recreational water (lake, river, stream), views, woods, clubhouse, trails and an appropriate level of infrastructure. Buyers should pay more for land whose various assets can be used compatibly and simultaneously. Where using one asset precludes using others, value usually falls. A forest with an endangered species in residence is a high environmental asset, which, however, is likely to prohibit many other uses such as farming, timbering, road building and construction.

The more diverse a property’s assets and the more ways property can be used and enjoyed, the more market value and marketability it has, at least in my experience. One buyer I know appraises property using what he calls, “opportunity analysis.” As an investor, he values parcels that provide the most opportunities to do the most number of different activities, from making money to kicking back in a pretty spot and watching the breeze blow through the leaves. Since assets can appreciate, depreciate and change over time, their future values need to be considered when figuring their current worth. The commercial value of many woodland tracts will increase as trees add girth and height, but overgrazed, eroding hillside pasture will deteriorate into a bigger economic and aesthetic liability. A good fishing stream can become polluted, turning an asset into a liability. Property acquires value in terms of how it fits with a buyer’s multiple needs and wants.

And the more “as is” the fit — that is, no additional investment required — the stronger the property’s appeal. When property meets the needs and wants of many buyers, particularly “as is,” its value rises as does its marketability. Property has no value to a buyer whose needs it doesn’t fit, though it may be very valuable to a different buyer. It’s generally more cost efficient to buy an existing asset (assuming it’s in good shape and does what you want it to do) than build it from scratch.

I would value a 50-acre tract with a nice home site and view that’s accessed by a well-constructed mile-long road much higher than a comparable 50 acres with a marginally nicer home site and marginally nicer view that requires the construction of a one-mile road. When I was younger, I was more taken with views; at 63, I balance long views against the short view of the balance in my check book. I’ve often seen buyers take their eyes off the ball. They develop a smart, reasonable set of search criteria, and then discard it when, for example, they’re shown a mint-julep house with two-story white columns on property that does not fit their needs. They saddle up on a runaway team of impulse and emotion.

It’s often easy to assume that all buyers value property in the same way. While many do, others don’t. Most buyers might pay a high price for a lake-front house that features a water view and private dock, but some won’t touch it owing to boat noise and lack of privacy, preferring instead an interior lot with water privileges. A timber investor would value 100 acres of scrub woods at no more than $500 an acre while a protectionist who plans to put a do-nothing-ever conservation easement on it and use it exclusively for bird habitat might pay $1,000. Infrastructure in place — roads, water, sewerage, phone, electricity, high-speed Internet, cell service and so on — has more monetary value than it’s usually accorded.

When infrastructure is done conscientiously, it makes everything else easier. Calmness on a property’s periphery and in the general vicinity is worth paying for. Sellers rarely disclose nuisance, trespass and annoyance, which are often not obvious to a visiting buyer. Peace and quiet is worth a lot over time, though it may not be monetized by either seller or buyer.

Large acreages are subject to the same boundary disturbances as small ones. Buying peace and quiet is the value that buyers seek; don’t assume that buying bigger automatically inoculates you from commotion. If a buyer is looking for an investment property or second home in the country, less travel time is a factor that translates into a willingness to pay a higher price. A closer place will be used more frequently and taken better care of than one more distant. Weekend use maxes out at three to four hours one-way driving for most of us.

Buyers discount the value of assets that are burdened with negatives, those running with an individual asset or with the property as a whole. A charming old house in bad shape is worth less to someone in his right mind than the same house in good shape; I know this opinion is considered a minority view in some circles. A nice place that’s too hot, too inaccessible or too near a zone of repugnance deserves to sell for less. Too often, value is found in the fluttering heart of the beholder. A sharp pencil is useful in bringing a buyer with the pitty-pats back to his senses, even if it’s only applied to paper.

Take this excerpt regarding the current inflationary fears from a recent interview that CNBC had with legendary investor Jim Rogers, CEO of Rogers Holdings: “Markets do not trust the governments' plans to keep struggling banks alive and investors will only calm down when the companies with bad assets are allowed to go bankrupt”, legendary investor Jim Rogers, told CNBC recently.

"The way to solve this problem is to let people go bankrupt," Rogers said.

"Then you will hit bottom and then you start over. The people who are sound will take over the assets from the people who aren't sound and we will start over. This is the way the world has worked for a few thousand years."

“The current rescue plans, which will force governments to issue more debt, print money and flood the markets with liquidity, will flare up inflation after the crisis is over and will create worse problems”, Rogers warned.

"We're setting the stage for when we come out of this of a massive inflation holocaust," he said. "Many people bought 4-5 houses with no money down and no job… you think we'll just say well, that's too bad, we'll start over and nobody loses their job? Be realistic."

Economies who did not take part in the subprime bonanza are likely to suffer along with Wall Street and the developed economies as the crisis unfolds, he warned. "What about all the people in countries that minded their manners, saved their money, didn't get overextended and now all of a sudden they're being asked to bail out a bunch of guys on Wall Street who were incompetent at best and some of them crooks?"

"I thought it outrageous that anybody has to step in a bail out a bunch of 29 year olds driving Maseratis," he said. “There are not many safe havens in the volatile markets”, he said. Well, it is hard to disagree with Mr. Roger’s proven track record, however, there is a hedge that is a safe haven and is neither subject to general commodity deflation nor the volatility of the stock market…Land investment.

Another factor keeping the land market stable — it hasn't been hit as hard by the credit crisis. Most land buyers put down 20% on their purchases and the industry, for the most part, avoided using creative financing which got the rest of the real estate world in a heap of trouble. If you view an investment in land as a long-term strategy and avoid leveraged positions, buying land might just be the best investment option for anyone wondering what to do with their money.

“Buying land on time with a long-term fixed rate, coupled with tax-deductible interest and cash potential from a partial sale or rental, is a strategy that floats over turbulence,” according to Curtis Seltzer, in his post In a Recession, Does Land Offer Refuge? on LandThink.com. “Undeveloped land that has marginal characteristics—so-so location, limited uses, negatives—will not do well. But quality land will ride out a recession.”

[Source: http://www.whybuylandnow.com/2009/06/a-nice-inflation-hedgea-nice-inflation-hedge/]