Property Purchase Daydreams

Margali

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So stuck at home right now due to the Coronavirus. Seems like a good time for daydreaming about future property purchase, about 3 years out. We are stuck at in Houston metro area for my work as a mechanical integrity engineer. General search is east of 288 and south of Beltway 8 up to 225 down as far as Manvel.. I need good access to 225 industry and ship channel.

On to the daydreams! Bedlam's Barnyard will definitely have garden, bees, chickens, and rabbits. We also want a larger meat and dairy animal. Sheep or goat will really depend on taste testing critters and land type. Goal is to cut down a lot of grocery store needs for our family of 5. Oh there will also be a 7.5" gauge railroad and 8" observatory onsite. Did I mention we are odd?

So, most of the choices on market are mostly cleared with mobile home, clear cut raw land, or forested raw land. What did you choose? What would you do different if you could? What do you think minimum land is to pasture raise a meat animal with our other goals?
 

Baymule

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Have you thought about north of I-10 up 146 towards Dayton?

We bought a HUD repo, 8 acres with a doublewide, 5 years ago. There was nothing but the doublewide, no fence, barn, nothing. It was all grown up, people drove by it and didn't know there was a home here.

If you buy a place with a lot of growth on it, look into having it forestry mulched. It is fantastic!

Large meat animal, not a sheep or goat......Elk? Nilgai? Buffalo? :lol:

#1 thing, a place that DOES NOT FLOOD. Look carefully, you don't want to be 7 feet underwater, like my sister's place in hurricane Harvey.
 

Margali

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Have you thought about north of I-10 up 146 towards Dayton?
Forgot to mention our main constrain. We are Jewish. The only synoguages are in Cypress (current one), Humble, Clear Lake (tiny!), I10west & Beltway, or 3 near Rice in downtown. We already have a 45 min or more drive depending on traffic. The main Jewish community is Braeswood and Meyerland. Pushing farther east past Baytown would make it even longer. We try and be active in community but distance doesn't help.

Large meat animal, not a sheep or goat......Elk? Nilgai? Buffalo? :lol:
Larger than a chicken Bay! And smaller than a full size cow probably. My father in law has long horns and they are intimidating.
 

Baymule

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If there is a synagogue at Belt 8 and I-10, you could look in the Sheldon-Crosby area. I am familiar with the Meyerland area, I was raised Jr high-High School near Buffalo Speedway and South Main, graduated from Bellaire--a looooong time ago! LOL LOL I understand wanting to not be so far away from the congregation, worship of our God with others of faith is a great comfort. You might have a better chance of finding what you want in the Sheldon area.

I have no idea of what property prices are these days in the Houston area, have you looked at HUD repo's? We bought our place sight unseen, won the bid and hadn't even seen it! LOL There are deals to be found. Look at tax properties also. As the economy craters, you might be able to find a great deal on just what you want.

I had a Longhorn bull once. We had problems. He wanted to run me down and I didn't want him to. I carried a pipe, when he caught me in the open, I adopted a batter up stance and when he got to me, I clobbered him with the pipe. He also jumped the fence, ran up and down the road, the sheriff's department was always calling me, so I sold him. Good riddance.
 

Margali

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For easy if use, does it make a huge difference on long narrow property or squarish property for same acreage? My first thought is a squarish property is more useful because you can centralize things. Does anyone have a long narrow property that could chime in on how they made it work?
 

Baymule

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A friend of mine has a long narrow place, not even an acre wide. They never use the back of it, it's 5 acres.

We have 8 acres, it is 300-ish feet wide and just under 1200' long. There was nothing but a doublewide when we bought it, so we laid it out the way we wanted, fenced into 5 pastures plus a Pig Palace and a garden. Horse barn 36'x36' and a 12'x24' portable building with a 20' lean to off one side of it for a sheep barn.

It's what works for you, what you find that you like and what you get a good deal on. If you find a smashing good deal on a Spaghetti Ranch, and you like it, buy it. It may mean that neighbors are too close, you may or may not care. A more square shape means that your property line is wider and your neighbors aren't as close. What outbuildings do you plan on?
 
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