Wife and I have always wanted to live out in the country. We currently have a 2200sf house in the suburbs, sitting on about .2 acres (if that). We would love for our 6 month old son to have a lot of land to play on once he gets old enough to run around an enjoy it, so we are thinking we would like to make the move inside of 4 years.

Our biggest priority is a good school system for our son. We would like at least 20 acres, but 50 to 100 is ideal. We are considering the Belton area, and the Copper Canyon area, but other than that we don't know where else to look. If we can stay around the DFW area that would be great, but we are willing to relocate completely. We would like to be semi close to civilization...30-60 minutes away should be fine.

We could build a house, but an existing house we can renovate/add on to would be preferred. We would want 2-3 acres to live on, then the rest would be our play ground, including riding horses, shooting, hiking, etc.  depending on land amount, we could lease some of it out.

Any suggestions on areas to look?  We would like to get a short list together to start researching. Thanks for the help

You CAN leave the 20 acres or so alone but I'd suggest doing something with 50-100, even if that means leasing it out for grazing.
Depending upon where you end up and the vegetation on site it can get to looking unsightly PDQ.
Also, check restrictions on shooting. I think most areas require more than 50 acres. That being said I've never personally heard of people getting brought up on charges. This is a county by county issue.

As a farmer and a rancher I'll say this: don't be "that guy" if you move out to the country. Cows poop, animals have sex, most everyone does some amount of fertilizer and/or herbicide/ insecticide application, and farm to market roads will be used to transport livestock and large machinery year round.

I'm not addressing this to you personally, it's just we've had our fill of bogus claims to the EPA and other nonsensical complaints by those who have decided to move to the country and make everyone else's life hell.

ETA: id also be prepared to bring your checkbook. Rural living is all the rage within an hour + of any metro epicenter and the landholders see this. Not only are you competing with other individuals- but also land developers looking to build outlying suburbs and "Ranchettes". You'd think the land was sprinkled with gold for what some people are asking. Even in the small town we operate around, places are priced anywhere from $500,000-2M+. I know of at least 3 large tracts of farm land that have been flipped to housing developments starting in the 300s on acre lots.

Duly noted, my wife and I are familiar with the lifestyle (her more so than me) though.  It would definitely be an adjustment, but I think more because of our son...not only would we be raising a child in the country...he is also our first child

Our budget would likely be 500-750k.  Hopefully that gets us the amount of land we want and a decent house.  We dont need a massive or luxurious house.

I'm glad my intentions came off well meaning. I'll admit I come off rather blunt on the subject.

And this is coming from a 32 year old who lived in the 'burbs till he was 9. I don't know how old your child is but I hated it at first. For at least the first year I begged to go back. Having done most of my real "growing up" on the farm I can tell you there is nothing better.

He is 6 months old,  as long as he is fed he's happy.

Oh and I'm 34, so I'd be coming in early or late,  depending on how you look at it

http://www.landsoftexas.com/United-States/all-land/for-sale/5000-250000/over-55-acres/zoom-9/bounds-32.1976106201-n98.4114128272-33.7733569111-n95.9449821631/map/

I keep that bookmarked for myself. just to see what is out there near by.

schools are the main reason not to move out to podunk. but maybe after my kids are grown, or if I have the money just to have acreage for fun.

Graduated from a "podunk " school. My children attend "podunk " schools. Just like in the suburbs there are good ones and bad ones.
Everyone I talk to from our graduating class of 11 came out way ahead of their college peers who attended suburbanite schools.

It's ok. My wife grew up all her life in the lilly white suburbs of Arlington. She had the same misconception till she gave it a shot. Every single teacher and staff knows my kids by name. The expensive private school she was in before? Just another number, make sure your tuition check is in the mail...

Moved out of the subs. of Houston and ended up on a humble bit of land in rural America.


Access to water.. Make that important.


Check Internet connection.


School and Church.


Talk to the neighbors before you buy.  I was lucky and got one who liked to talk and was 2nd generation on their land.


Double check train and HW traffic nearby.


Look at infrastructure - gates, etc.
Check what happens when a bunch of water gets dumped on the property and when not enough water gets to the property.  The last 5 years history should do.

I did this about 20+ years ago.  I find these threads interesting.  

Have you checked out what land is going for within an hour drive of some of the large cities in Texas?  Don't forget to add in the additional expense of water, and sewer, and putting in a driveway, and finding someone who wants to drive out to where you live and build you a house.  Depending on what the land has been used for, you might have to have at least part of it cleared.  From what I'm seeing, it's going for about$12,500/acre, in smaller parcels.  Larger parcels are probably less, like around 10K per acre cleared.

One other thing is...  Take a look at the area.  You want to go to the movies?  For me, it's a 35 mile drive.  A good grocery store,  about the same.  Decent department stores.  Same.  One of the things you will see about the small towns in these areas is, they have lots of gas stations.  There's a reason.  Internet service is satellite.  Television is Dish or an antenna.

Now there's lots of nice things about living out in the country.  It's quiet.  I haven't heard a car drive down the road for a while.  I talked to my neighbor across the road a couple of weeks ago.  You're going to have to learn to do a lot for yourself.  I hope your wife doesn't mind helping out in doing farm things, which sometimes include getting dirty.  Sitting on a tractor mowing acreage only looks like fun till you are doing it in 95 degree weather for days at a time.  And speaking of that, I hope you are good mechanically, because it always needs working on.  

Edit:  With some additional info.

Well I did live out in the sticks as they say until about 5 years ago! All my neighbors have Houston address's. They buy a parcel of land then they urbanize it! pour concrete plant bushes and trees put in these fancy brick and stone entry ways LED lights alarms and there goes the county side!
Then they bitch and complain to the county commissioners about the rough dirt county roads and want them paved with guard rails and lights like it is a main street from they are from. Moving out to the country is grand just leave the city ways in the city, we have cow's and flies and other strong smells out here. And yes I spray weed killer on my pasture and the next door neighbors complain about the smell and they have also called the EPA on a few of us.

I have nothing wrong with folks moving out in the country hell I would not live in any town with a pop over 2000. Just all I ask is blend in and be like country folk leave the concrete and big city ways in the big city.

I'd say to get a little farther "out" than you think you want to be.

I made my move in 1980 and it's been great until the last four or five years.  In that time, the area has filled up, mostly with the offspring and in-laws, and cousins of the old timers.  When the county road got paved and people started building expensive homes, the taxes skyrocketed.  The noise level at all hours is often maddening.  So, I will repeat, go a little farther out than you think is needed.  Believe me, the stores and other "civilization" will be following.

So here I am, now in my 60's, contemplating one more move, and that's a bitch.

+1 on the concrete.  

If you really want to piss your citified neighbors off, run some chicken manure through your spreader, a couple of days before a good rain.

Counties can can't make ordancnes for under 10 acres. There is a point where it jumps up to 50 if the population is big enough but I think that is 450,000.

ETA: I meant can't, not can.

What is you budget?

This looks pretty cool. http://m.landsoftexas.com/property/813-county-Road-126-Trent-Texas-79561/3568092

Abilene is half hour away and is big enough to have whatever you want.

In my searching for land anything remotely close to the big cities is sky high because there are tons of people there that want the same thing.

I live by lubbock and recreational acreage less than an hour from here costs nearly double per acre what I can find stuff for if I step out about 2 hours away in the middle of nowhere.

N  E of DFW,  90 miles. $3-5 K per acre timber/grassland

It can be as low as $1250-$2500 per acre if you know where to look, for mixed timber/hay field. I've bought land in Bowie county (multiple parcels) for about that (currently at 150 acres).

However, budget on at least $30k for a water well somewhere around 1000+ feet deep, for a residential size well, and closer to $50k for a well that flows well enough for agricultural use.

If I didn't have equipment to move up here, you could expect to spend at least another $20-30k on a decent tractor (60+ HP) and some implements just for moving dirt, building roads, land clearing, etc).

I was never a "city" boy but I wasn`t a farmer/rancher either. When we retired we put up a new home on about 110 acres with a nice large shop for me. Been here six years now and we STILL love it. The town is VERY small. No City Hall or PD small. We shoot around the house at will. Deer,ducks,pigs etc. are all over the place. I ride my CanAm to the bank branch, Family Dollar and Post Office.

You`ll have a few issues but none are insurmountable from my experience. Be prepared to learn how to fix things as there won`t be any trades five minutes away. We are about an hour away from a larger city with all the stores etc. Close enough but far enough as well. Being out in the sticks is wonderful in terms of quiet.

Don't worry about the school system. As the husband of an educator I can tell you in all certainty that a good education starts AT HOME and there's no way around it. Folks obsess over good schools for their children, then don't nurture learning at home and teach responsibility. Remember that some of our nations best and brightest received their initial education in one room school houses. The hardest working, best people I know received their educations in "podunk" schools and spent most of their free time doing chores, plowing, working cattle, etc.

As others have alluded, the closer you are to town, the more expensive the property will be and the more likely you'll have neighbors who move to the country and bring the city with them. You know, those that buy 10 acres, build a house then mow the entire lot as though it were a manicured lawn? (What a waste of good grazing)

Thanks for the info everyone...lots to process.

Speaking of bringing the city with them...wife and I were driving to Columbus.  We were a couple hours away and I saw a lot of nice ranches out there. In the middle of no where, saw a place with just-planted palm trees running to the house. I laughed and thought of this thread.

We moved from the suburbs to our place 2.5 years ago.  The things we've learned are things we never thought we'd need to know.

It's nice to be close to town between 9-5 but it won't make a difference outside those hours.  The only thing open in town after 5 is restaurants and Walmart.  I'm not knocking Walmart they are actually pretty decent in a rural town, it just never has what I need.  

When a sink supply valve starts leaking at 8 o'clock at night be prepared to shut off the water to the whole house and wait till morning.

Everything bites, stings, and sticks you.  Scorpions hurt especially when you step on one in the middle of the night.  The kids don't even notice fireant bites anymore.  I've seen all three of them almost hit a yucca plant face first.  

Friends and family will come visit from the 'burbs and they'll wear the cute little sandals you told them not to, have a first aid kit handy for their kids.

We home school so schools weren't high on our list.  We do have a great ISD and I'd be happy to send my children there if we had to stop home schooling.

Even 10+ acre places have deed restrictions and HOA's.  Make sure you know what you're allowed to do on your property,  We looked long and hard for a place with no restrictions.

Internet is a luxury, we had Verizon Home Fusion for a bit, data caps suck.  Hughes Net sucks I don't know anybody who has kept them after the first contract.  We currently use a WISP from a local company.  Most days we have a decent enough connection to stream TV and surf the web.  

My kids are 9, 7, and 5.  Death is a common thing to them.  They've seen me shoot a deer from the kitchen door, were active participants in the Raccoon War of '16, and don't bat an eye when their favorite chicken gets picked off.  

Be prepared for the learning curve and you'll love it, I know we'll never go back to the 'burbs.

one other thing worth mentioning - if possible, you want to own the mineral rights to the property you purchase.

 
Yep.




It's like a lifetime lottery ticket as long as you hold it.


You may not ever reap the benefits of it, but there's always that one small chance.


 

Of course if you end up with a couple acres or so, then don't worry about it

  Just be prepared to pay ALOT more if you own mineral rights. With today's drilling technology drilling companies aren't going to mess with drilling on small parcels of land.

You know, they pool the land around a well.

Missed this the first go round.  Coryell, Hamilton, Lampasass, and Mills Counties are all nice.

Im with ya on the lights, but i for one am sick of the dam dirt road.  A paved road is not much to ask for from a county that raises your taxes every dam year.

OP. Up here near Coldspring land is around $5k an ac over 20ac in spots, and your by a lake. :)

We got tired of our dirt road too, way to rough.
And never having a clean vehicle.

 That is why it is called the country,if people move to the city do they expect the road people to remove the concrete and asphalt!

 Exactly. I'll trade dirty vehicles for life out of the city all day, any day.

You don't say?

We haven't washed the outside of a car in two and a half years.  When it rains the big chunks get knocked off but that's about it.

Yep, got tired of the washboards, dirt and cow shit.
Did it for 10 years.

I have our vehicles washed once a week now.

Indeed, they can now drill laterals to produce your minerals without touching your surface. Odds are you'd be 'pooled' into a well - were one to be drilled very close to your land. 

OP, the downside to buying land near a major metro area is the fact that 99% of your neighbors are of the same ilk that you moved to get away from. If I'm going to be living in a rural setting...the more rural the better. 

Thanks for these suggestions.  Hamilton county looks promising, specifically Hico.  Haven't looked at the others close enough yet

Hico is just up the road from me, I've passed through it numerous times.  Seems like a decent town.

I live in a dirt road that is so bad people wont drive down it. My drive is another 600 yards of dirt, and I have a gravel parking area. I would put a gate across the county road and grade the road myself if I could. That's why I moved here and picked this spot. I don't want it changed. Some folks from Houston bought the land across from me and immediately wanted the road widened and paved. He said he would sue someone if he needed and ambulance and it took to long to get to him. He had a massive stroke and had to sell. Six packs of cigs a day after open heart surgery will do that. The new owners like the road the way it is.

If wanting to live rural life and have poor health, buy careflite insurance.

6 packs a day!!!  That's over 200 bucks a week.  Hell, heroin is cheaper.


On a sad note.  On the western side of Liberty county, Dayton is in talks with a developer to build 1400 homes on postage stamp size lots, along with 3 schools and a hospital.  This is just the beginning of the eastward expansion of Houston.

The guy cant speak or use his right hand, he uses his left hand to hold a cigarette now. That sucks about Dayton. The owner of the land that Fayette county gun club is on wants to develop it into a subdivision. He is being pushed by a club member who is a realtor.

I didn't want our road paved because it would bring out even more trespassers.