Land questions, plain answers.

About 10 acres stay in ag or wildlife use, and about an acre is left for your home, barn and yard.

Ag rules are set county by county, and a house takes its own ground out of ag, so the extra acre matters.

Evan puts it this way: "To protect buyers long term we offer 11 acres as our smallest offering."

Check with your county appraisal district for the rules where your land sits.

It's not really an exemption. Your land gets taxed on what it can produce as a farm or ranch, not on what it would sell for, and that's usually a lot less.

The land has to be used mainly for ag at your county's standard, with ag use in 5 of the last 7 years, and you file with the appraisal district before May 1.

Standards vary by county, so check with your county appraisal district.

It's doable, but it's real work and paperwork. The land has to be in ag first, then you file a wildlife plan (TPWD form PWD 885) with the appraisal district.

Every year you do at least 3 of the 7 practices TPWD lists, like habitat work, erosion control, extra water or food, and game counts.

Keep receipts, photos and notes, because the district can ask for a report. Minimum acres vary by county, so check with your county appraisal district.

There's no one number for Texas. It depends on your grass, soil and brush, and most of all on rainfall.

A cow with her calf counts as one animal unit. Fayette CAD's ag guide runs about 10 to 20 acres per animal unit on larger native pastures, but that's a tax standard, not a promise of what your land will carry.

Ask your county Extension agent or NRCS office, and check with your county appraisal district.

Not on its own. A new owner files a new ag application with the appraisal district, due before May 1.

Your tract gets judged on its own size and use, not the ranch it came from. We help buyers with the plan and the paperwork.

Rules vary by county, so check with your county appraisal district.

Yes, but the house and yard come off the ag acres. The appraisal district taxes the ground under and around your home as residential.

Only the acres really used for ag stay on ag value, and some counties look hard at small tracts with a house.

Check with your county appraisal district before you build.

If land on ag value changes to a non ag use, rollback tax comes due.

It's the difference between the ag taxes and the full market taxes for each of the last 3 years. Since HB 3833 in 2021 there's no interest, unless the bill goes past due.

Who pays depends on your sales contract, so read it before you close.

Electric is at the road or on the tract lines. There's no water line, so buyers are required to put in a water well.

In Texas a house or livestock well on more than 10 acres doesn't need a groundwater permit, but you still register it before you drill.

In Fayette County that's the Fayette County Groundwater Conservation District.

Yes. In Texas a septic system needs a permit before it goes in, and it gets inspected.

Out in the country the county usually issues it. For Jeddo Grove that's Fayette County.

Plan on a site evaluation and a licensed installer, and call the county for current fees.

A regular home mortgage isn't the only way. Farm Credit lenders make country land loans, and you don't have to farm to use one.

Texas veterans can look at the Veterans Land Board. If you'll really farm or ranch it, USDA has farm ownership loans.

Every loan needs credit approval and terms change, so call the lender.