West Texas Land
Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, three of the largest cities in the United State, are located in the State of Texas. Texas is also the second most populous state in the nation, with more than 25 million people. Yet the state contains 268,000 square miles, and parts of Texas are extremely remote areas with very few people. The region known as West Texas is one of those areas—and West Texas land can be one of the best real estate investment opportunities in the United States.
There are many tracts of land for sale in the vast western portion of the state for prices under $500 per acre. And in some rare instances, if you know where to look, land still can be found in the $299 per acre price range. Some may ask why they should invest in cheap, undeveloped land when there are large cities with land for sale. The obvious reasons are price, terms, and affordability.
Land in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio will sell by the square foot and can cost several million dollars per acre. Furthermore, most of this expensive land requires all cash with no terms. Remote rural land in West Texas still can be purchased for $299 per acre with easy seller financing and no credit checks.
The big secret in buying cheap rural land is to understand the meaning of the word “arbitrage.” This word basically means that the same asset can be valued using two entirely separate standards, each depending on two entirely separate uses. For example, a West Texas rancher might value his land based on agricultural values and the cattle-carrying capacity, while a city dweller might value the same land based on recreational uses and future investment potential. Two separate uses and two separate valuations.
To a person smart enough to purchase a cheap tract of West Texas land, two things will be working in his favor. One, he is buying land based on agricultural usage, and when he resells it years in the future, it will be based on investment value. Two, inflation alone will cause the value to be higher in the future, regardless of valuation of usage.