Become A Landowner

On land, water is frequently the single most important factor, and Texas treats groundwater and surface water under two different legal frameworks. Groundwater generally follows the rule of capture, subject to local groundwater conservation district rules. Surface water is owned by the state and requires a permit for most uses.

Whether a property has a usable well, access to a rural water supply corporation, or only the theoretical right to drill are three very different situations with three very different costs.

Ask this: Is there an existing well, what is its depth, flow rate, and water quality report? If not, what have neighboring wells cost to drill, and is the property inside a groundwater conservation district with permitting requirements? If it is on a rural water supply, is there an existing meter or a tap fee to buy in?

This one surprises people constantly. In Texas the mineral estate can be severed from the surface estate and owned by someone else entirely, and it is common for previous owners or their heirs to have kept the minerals.

The part that matters practically: in Texas the mineral estate is generally the dominant estate. A mineral owner or their lessee has the implied right to use as much of the surface as is reasonably necessary to develop the minerals underneath, whether or not you agree.

Ask this: What mineral rights, if any, convey with the sale? Is there an existing oil and gas lease, and what are its terms? A title company can run a mineral search, and a surface use agreement can limit where and how a mineral owner operates. Both are worth doing before closing rather than after.

Two separate questions. First, who has the right to cross or use your land. Pipelines, utility corridors, and shared roads all show up as recorded easements and they restrict what you can build and where.

Second, and more serious: do you have legal access to the property yourself? A parcel reached only by driving across a neighbor's land needs a recorded easement. A handshake or decades of habit is not access. Landlocked parcels are more common than buyers expect, and a lender will usually not finance one.

Ask this: Show me Schedule B of the title commitment. What easements are recorded, where do they run, and what do they permit? Is there a recorded, deeded access easement to a public road, or does the property front one directly?

On acreage you need to know exactly what you are buying and where the lines actually fall. A current survey shows real boundaries, encroachments, easements, and acreage.

Fence lines are not property lines. Fences get built where the ground was easiest, moved after storms, and rebuilt by neighbors who guessed. On a large tract the difference between the fence and the deed can be acres, and acres are money. An old survey that does not match current conditions is not much better than none.

Ask this: Is there an existing survey, and when was it done? Does the surveyed acreage match what the listing and the deed say? If there is any discrepancy, or if the survey predates any fencing or construction, order a new one during the option period.

Part of a property sitting in a FEMA flood zone affects where you can build, whether flood insurance is required, and what the land is usable for. That does not necessarily make it a bad buy. Bottomland is often the best pasture or the best wildlife habitat on a tract. It does mean you need to know before you plan a homesite.

Drainage matters even outside a mapped flood zone. How water moves across the property after a hard rain determines where you can put a house, a barn, a septic field, or a road, and in North Texas clay it determines a great deal about your foundation.

Ask this: Pull the FEMA flood map for the parcel and identify which portions sit in a special flood hazard area. Then walk the property after rain if you can, and ask where water stands and where it runs.

Whether the land carries an agricultural or wildlife valuation can change your annual cost dramatically, often re-valuing qualifying acreage from market value down to a productivity value a fraction as large.

The trap is on the other side. If ag land is converted to non-agricultural use, Texas recaptures the tax savings through a rollback assessment covering prior years plus interest. If you buy ag-valued land and stop the qualifying use, that bill lands on you, not the seller.

Ag valuation also does not transfer automatically on sale. A new owner generally has to apply, and continuous qualifying use has to be maintained at a real degree of intensity set by the county.

Ask this: Does the property currently carry ag or wildlife valuation, what use qualifies it, and what does the county appraisal district require to keep it? If I intend to build or subdivide, what would the rollback exposure be?