TexasWaterFrontRanches

Hat Creek

This quintessential Texas gentleman’s ranch features a dammed creek forming a 3 acre lake & plantation style Texas limestone home on manicured grounds. Located in historic Walburg, just outside of Georgetown, it offers easy access from Austin via new SH 130.

The 121 acre gentleman’s ranch is on both sides of the spring-fed creek running through the property, featuring a dam forming a picturesque 3 acre lake. A 4,905 square foot plantation style Texas limestone home sits on manicured acres surrounded by shady oaks and pecans.

Home and Pool

The recently updated home includes Saltillo tile and oak flooring, and recently plastered walls throughout the 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath main home with tall ceilings and open rooms. The big great room open to kitchen features fireplace, a wall of windows, and doors leading to patio and pool. The open kitchen with granite counters, recent appliances and big breakfast area is perfectly paired with the formal dining room with built in banquets.

The master suite has a balcony overlooking the beautiful grounds and lake. The master bath features big double vanity, garden tub, separate shower and walk-in closet.

Living

Other rooms include an additional living room or office at the entry with built in shelving, a main floor game room with sitting area, half bath and doors to the patio, and three additional second floor bedrooms and two additional second floor baths. The second story features a big balcony at the landing with stunning views of the countryside. 

The covered patio runs length of back with plenty of sitting areas, with refurbished pool and new limestone decking just off patios. A 3 car garage attaches to a covered entry leading into kitchen, and a detached garage workshop with 4 bay doors is also on the property. The entry and front border of property features classic white four board fencing.

Barn

Also on the property, one room fishing cabin with covered patio sits near the lake. 1 bed/1 bath foreman’s quarters with living and kitchen. For the equestrian, the property has 8 stall stables with fenced horse paddocks, a lighted riding/rodeo arena with new announcer’s tower, and is fenced and cross-fenced acreage form good grazing pastures for horses and cattle.

The listing and photos on The Hat Creek Ranch can be seen here. Or visit the virtual tour, here.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and many households are starting to decorate their homes for the holidays. Soon, our streets and neighborhoods should be filled with twinkling holiday lights. If lights are part of your holiday traditions, this year, LED lights offer a new option to save energy, save money on your bills, and more.

What are LED lights? LED is an acronym for “light emitting diode.” Lights are traditionally miniature incandescent bulbs, with a filament inside them. Basically, LED lights do not have this filament, but rather, are lit by moving electrons in semiconductor material.

These have many advantages. For one, they don’t burn as hot, making them safer, and cool to the touch. They can be encased in a plastic material, instead of the thin glass that older lights are made of, making them harder to break. The wires are thicker, making them harder to tangle. They last longer, sometimes 20 years. And of course, they save energy – using around 80% less energy than traditional lights.

LED technology has been around for a while, but has only caught on for holiday lighting in recent years. Now they come in all colors, and can blink. The past three years have seen LED lights grow more and more popular – they have been used on the Rockefeller Center tree since 2007.

Miller Creek Ranch

What are the disadvantages to LED lights? They cost more upfront, for one. You can expect to pay two or three dollars more, per strand. The main complaint with the lights is the appearance – the glow is just different, and some don’t like it. But as we get more used to seeing these lights, the safety and efficiency is something we can all feel good about seeing this holiday season.

Photo: Miller Creek Ranch

Read more:

Wise Geek’s LED article

“What We Are Decking the Halls With: LED Christmas Lights” from the Omaha World Herald

Perfectly located gentleman’s ranch in community east of Dripping Springs. Country Living Along Spring-Fed East Creek. 25 Minutes to Austin in Exemplary Dripping Springs ISD.

Full listing with features, photos and virtual tour here.

Video Tour:

Sandy Ranch

CNN Money’s article “What Housing Bust?” covers what areas of the nation have done well in the housing market, and why. According to writer Les Christie, areas with plenty of available developable land have smaller swings between home price highs and lows. This is because, when the demand for housing spikes, home builders are able to build more homes and keep the housing prices in check. Speed is also of the essence here, home builders need to be able to build quickly, thus, the need for available land.

“Elasticity of supply,” this is called, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic. And Christie says, it is the definition of Texas real estate, and similar throughout all the metro areas.

“Texas is the poster child for these ‘steady Eddie’ states. House prices during the past three years rose in all 26 metro areas with gains ranging from 2.8% for Dallas, the second largest metro area, to 9.7% in Houston, the largest, to a whopping 32.5% in Odessa.”

This is part of what is causing the metro areas in Texas, including Austin, to grow so rapidly. Landowners in the Austin area should continue to see their investments in high demand for buyers and developers.

Sandy Ranch Creek

Sandy Ranch features a 5,474 SF custom Tuscan style home in centered around a rooftop waterfall cascading into the pool with spa and surrounded by covered patios. Cantera doors lead to the great room with fireplace and open to dining area with a wall of windows revealing the patios and pool. From your stunning pool, you can view the centerpiece of the property: the dammed, spring-fed creek framing the back of the home. In times of severe drought, this creek is supplemented by its own 40 gpm well.

You can see more Sandy Ranch by viewing the listing, or enjoying this video of the waterscaping.

190 One River Point

Rains have come and the rivers are up, giving waterfront properties in central Texas hill country beautiful  views and sounds.

The stunning property on One River Point in Johnson City is 15.68 acres inside a gated community, with 574 feet of waterfront on the Pedernales River.

The limestone bottomed Pedernales provides fantastic fishing holes, and the entire property has mature oaks and great hill country and river views, for your quiet, peaceful, serene slice of central Texas at its best.

This property was just listed at $399,000. You can see the full listing, and more pictures, here.

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A new rule approved by the Texas Department of Insurance and adopted in August allows title insurance companies to take a “Blanket Exception” on their responsibility to determine whether a landowner owns the mineral rights to their property. Under the rule, title insurance companies no longer have to do extra title searches on a property, and it also may protect them from legal action.

The new rule will make it harder for landowners to determine if they own the mineral rights on their property, but may not lead to a discounted price with (arguably) reduced coverage. A panel of judges have held a hearing in the past few weeks regarding insurance rates, and are currently reviewing paperwork and evidence. Insurance industry groups are seeking an increase in title insurance rates, while the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (which represents consumers) agrees with the new rule, but is seeking a rate decrease. Title insurance rates are typically higher in Texas than other states, and are set by the Insurance Department. The decision by the panel will come in November.

Title companies say that forcing them to insure mineral rights statewide on every piece of property they insured would be too high of a cost burden that would cause insurance rates for all consumers to skyrocket. Critics call the new rule less work for the insurance companies at the same rates.

 On if property owners should receive a discount, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Robert Carter, who oversees Title Insurance, says: “[the State Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin] wants to hear that issue in the future.”

Buyers or sellers are required to buy title insurance on almost every land transaction. A title policy is essentially a guarantee that the title company will defend the owner in court if there’s ever a dispute about the ownership of a piece of land. Title companies typically run a records check before issuing a title policy, to make sure there’s no cloud over the chain of ownership or over other issues such as easements. Typically, the title company will include a list of exceptions, such as alleys, that are not guaranteed under the policy (explains  Mike Lee of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who first reported this story).

East Creek

September’s #2 Top Real Estate Deal for Austin is even a better deal than before – a new price reduction has the East Creek gentleman’s ranch listed at $1,500,000.

See the listing for this stunning property here and read about this 5,700 sq ft Texas limestone home, completely updated 2004-2005, set among mature oaks and featuring a sparkling pool with waterfall and slide.

Dream Horse Property

The Dream Horse Property in McDade has also been reduced, to $1,995,000. Your horses will feel at home on these 51 acres of sandy loam soil, rolling hills and green pastures, and you will love the 6,800+ custom home with luxury features and beautiful design.

Read more about the property here, or see video of the outside of the home and all the horse features here.

Hill Country

Cow Creek

30+ acres surrounded by tall peaks with frontage on clear, limestone bottomed Cow Creek. Cleared, manicured land reveals big oaks and elms, nice grasslands – perfect for horses, hunting and grazing. Incredible Hill Country views throughout. Small hunting cabin with covered storage and fenced corrals. Entire property is fully fenced and gated with plenty of wildlife, including deer, turkey, and dove. No hunting restrictions, no deed restrictions. Accessed via the Preserve at Balcones Canyonland neighborhood (but not part of the community). This is the perfect Hill Country hideaway! See the listing here.

Farm Credit specializes in financing rural real estate in the south, and they offer plenty of free advice with their Fenceposts Blog and Landscapes Magazine articles. 

Also on their site, they offer Tips for Buying Rural Real Estate. These tips can be helpful for both someone new to ranch real estate or anyone who wants to make sure nothing is overlooked.

1. Local Advice

Get the advice of a local Realtor or loan officer who is both experienced in rural real estate, and knows the area well. They will know the local market, may know the histories of the properties in the area, and they can put you in touch with contractors and service providers.

2. Infrastructure

Be sure to ask about water and sewer services, trash pickup and road maintenance, school bus service, electric, phone, cable and high speed internet.

3.   Tax Advantages

A rural property may qualify for a tax credit, special appraisal or direct exemption. There may be existing ag exemptions.

4. Environmental Factors

By law, the presence of endangered species may limit ability to do some things like clearing brush or constructing buildings. Federal law also holds landowners accountable for contamination cleanup even if it occured before they owned the property – buyers can predetermine some environmental hazards and obtain  some liability protection.

Sandy Ranch

5. Codes and Restrictions

Government restrictions, county subdivision laws or extended territorial jurisdictions may affect subdivision of land.

6. Insurance

Some providers might not offer insurance for outside of city limits.  Your Realtor or loan officer can help.

7.  Local Land Use

Pay attention to what others in the area are using land for (for example, if you are ok living next to a large livestock operation) and any proposed developments.

8. Property Improvements

Improvements (such as fences or walls) can be expensive, especially on large properties. Certain improvements (such as septic systems or wells) may require certain county permits. Look into any permits and construction costs first, as well as needed well depths and septic system requirements for the soil conditions.

9. Maintenance Costs

Landscaping, repairs, equipment, and any building will all require additional costs.

10. Financing Country Homes

Some mortgage companies may only finance a certain number of acres, your Realtor can help you find a lender and the loan you’re looking for.