640 acres of West Texas - Ranch for sale for Bitcoin

[CryptoZen]

I'm listing my 640 acres (1 square mile) in West Texas, USA, near Terlingua, for 590 Bitcoins (at current market value).  $195,000 USD is what it is listed for, and I'll give a 2% discount if paid with Bitcoin (I desire BTC more than USD).

I own it outright (no bank lien, etc.).  I suppose it's possible that I might entertain some kind of owner financing, but I'd rather not -- if I did, the owner financing would be based on Bitcoin, rather than USD.

Although I'd rather not part with it, I can't figure out a better way to get some significant additional ownership of bitcoin right now... so I figured I'd put it on the market for a few months and see if someone who is heavy in bitcoin might want to diversify into a good real estate deal.

This place is really cool... it includes a 400+ foot mountain peak, that borders the Big Bend National Park.  Views forever (over 20 miles on a clear day), with not another human being in sight.  When I purchased it a few years ago (or if I keep it), one of my ideas was to make the longest zipline in Texas, just for myself and friends (over 5000 feet long, what a ride!)... or just throw some incredible parties (tech/bitcoin related) once a year.  Essentially, there are no restrictions to this property.  You can make as much noise as you like, and build whatever you like, whenever you like.   Setup a gun range, ATV trails, hike & bike, blade your own 4000 foot long airstrip, or even build a high desert dream home on it with views that will be guaranteed for a lifetime (assuming the US govt doesn't sell Big Bend national park

There are no improvements to the property, with the exception of there's a 5000 gallon water tank hooked up to a water catchment (water guzzler) system, for your own water or for the local animals.  Or you could always drill your own well if desired.  I'm not a hunter, but there are plenty of mule deer, javelina, etc., that you can hunt if that's your thing.  The 3'ish mile dirt road to it, off the paved road, is very well maintained by POATRI, and easily accessible.  Electricity is just under a mile away (I always planned on using solar myself), but one awesome thing -- fiber optic cable (with TWC) goes right through the property, so you can basically have the highest speed internet globally available, anytime you want (but no cell phone towers/signal yet!).

If interested, please email me:  cliff at cluemail dot com .  I check email regularly, but might not check this thread often, fyi.

Specifically, the property description is "Section 540", in Cedar Springs, Terlingua, Texas, USA.  You can find it through the maps and info at "www.poatri.org", and that website will give you a lot of the local info and surrounding properties -- in fact, this 640 acres used to be one of their hunting properties back in the 1980's.  Look for the slightly-rotated square (mile), that borders the multi-million acre Big Bend National Park towards the East, and you can't miss it.  Although it is surrounded by Terlingua Ranch Properties (and the National Park), there are no yearly assessments due.  County taxes are about $600 per year, and that's all that is needed to pay for ongoing ownership.  Realize this is $300 an acre for good USA land, which is incredibly inexpensive... although around Terlingua there are some great deals to be had, I challenge anyone to find property for less than this price per acre (be it 20, 200, or 2000 acres), that borders the National park (or even the State park a few miles to the West, for that matter).

FYI, I've been involved with and buying bitcoin since it was below $30 USD, and I haven't been keeping track much in 2014 of the largest BTC public transactions -- so I can't be sure, but I suppose it's possible that if this deal ever concludes, it might be the one of the biggest pure BTC real estate transactions to ever occur.  If it sells, I'll make sure to post the details on bitcointalk.org.

Thanks for reading, and any ideas are welcome.  I can email a few pictures for anyone seriously interested, and have a local realtor in the area that could provide an in-person showing.  I'll be happy to reach out via a phone call if you provide a number (I live in Austin, TX, fyi).  Please feel free to cross-post this to Reddit or anywhere else in bitcoin-land, if you think it worthy, as it's unlikely I'll get to it within the next few weeks.

Long live the Bitcoin marketplace!

[smoothie]

Pics?

Supporting info?

Proof you own it?

Perhaps a picture of your username right beside the deed of the land with your driver's license.

 This would go a long way to prove you own what you claim you own.

[CryptoZen]

Thanks for the great suggestions, smoothie.

Although I highly value my privacy, you're right, I should have a bit more info here… but posting my drivers license to a forum isn't likely to happen (of course any interested buyer is welcome to see it, and everything else required for a legal property transfer).

Here's a quick picture, from about 3 years ago.  Not great, as we were experiencing a drought then (much greener now with more wildlife), but it at least gives an idea.  It's looking West (or slightly NW), from an 80'ish foot hill on the property, and it shows the vehicle I was driving back then (for scale) on the main road, Cedar Springs Rd.  The mountain peak on the far left, is the one that works best for putting a zipline.   It's about a 400 foot elevation change from the top to where my jeep was.  The best views from the property, btw, are from on top (or part way up) that mountain, looking East over the entire National park.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2wnp9up.jpg

I've already engaged a realtor to list this in the "normal USD world", she is a licensed Real Estate broker (Pam Clouse) that I've purchased property from before, and their website is:
http://www.westtxrealty.com
It's not on their site yet, as she wanted to get some new/fresh pics taken first.  As soon as it's up, I'll post the link here.

This weekend I'll go dig through my paperwork to find some documentation I might feel comfortable to scan & post.
FYI, anyone can look up the online tax info for properties in Brewster county:
  http://www.brewstercotad.org
Just do the property search, "Advanced", and property ID # 31009

Any potential buyer should realize, this is a real estate transaction, that we need to do correctly.  It'll take at least a week or two to get all the paperwork and small fees done through the title company/escrow company/county assessors office/etc.  Plenty of time for the buyer and Title company to strongly verify legal ownership and right of transfer.

Any questions, please ask.  I also turned on "notify" on my BTCtalk account, so PM'ing me at CryptoZen is fine, too.

[smoothie]

Thank you for taking steps to do this right.

Looking forward to those greener pics!

 

[sega01]

What is the weather like there? I love Texas, but have never been in West Texas very much. Amazing that you can get Fiber from TWC on the property.

Anyone interested in a group buy for an objectivist or anarcho capitalist colony to seceed from the US?

[TheButterZone]

What is the weather like there? I love Texas, but have never been in West Texas very much. Amazing that you can get Fiber from TWC on the property.

Anyone interested in a group buy for an objectivist or anarcho capitalist colony to seceed from the US?

Yes, but I need to become a pilot and afford my own plane and everything that goes with it too, first.

[malaimult]

IMO there are too many risks using bitcoin to buy and/or sell a piece of real property. I don't think there are any/many title companies that will deal in terms of bitcoin when assisting with the transferring of title of a property so you would have no real guarantee that all the paperwork is being handled properly and that you would have clear title once you pay for the property

[KingOfSports]

How much are you trying to get for these 640 acres of what looks to be desert?

[malaimult]

How much are you trying to get for these 640 acres of what looks to be desert?

The OP is asking for 98% of $195,000 worth of bitcoin

[CryptoZen]

What is the weather like there? I love Texas, but have never been in West Texas very much. Amazing that you can get Fiber from TWC on the property.

Anyone interested in a group buy for an objectivist or anarcho capitalist colony to seceed from the US?

Yes, but I need to become a pilot and afford my own plane and everything that goes with it too, first.

The weather is pretty nice, in my opinion.  Lots of sunny days, which is great for solar, but it helps to set up some kind of shade if a group is hanging out for an extended period of time.  Also, being "high desert" and generally low humidity, there is a relatively large temperature change between 2pm and 2am.  Check out the yearly weather for Terlingua, Zip code 79852, for the full story.

By the way, I'm pretty sure many kinds of Ultralights would be able to take off and land on the main road without too much difficulty… especially the "parachute w/a fan on the back" kinds, gyrocopters, etc..  And no pilot license required for some kinds - although common sense says one had better be trained and/or experienced before just "going for it".  There is no lack of amazing scenery around the Big Bend area to fly over.  There is also both a (currently rough) dirt strip airport, and a quite nice paved one, within 20-45 minutes drive.

[jh0w4n1z]

How much are you trying to get for these 640 acres of what looks to be desert?

The OP is asking for 98% of $195,000 worth of bitcoin

thats some serious money , but i like the land and view how did u took the picture

[CryptoZen]

IMO there are too many risks using bitcoin to buy and/or sell a piece of real property. I don't think there are any/many title companies that will deal in terms of bitcoin when assisting with the transferring of title of a property so you would have no real guarantee that all the paperwork is being handled properly and that you would have clear title once you pay for the property

Well, although there are probably some extra difficulties in doing the main part of the transaction in Bitcoin, I highly doubt this is the first piece of US real estate that has transacted with a crypto currency.  To be sure, the Title company (and some others) will want to be paid for their services in cash, but converting a small amount of BTC to do so ought to be fairly straightforward.

Regardless, let me ping my Realtor this week and get a complete and thorough description (and prices / or at least good estimates) of any and all things that may need some US cash to do the transaction correctly, and I'll post all of that up.

[malaimult]

IMO there are too many risks using bitcoin to buy and/or sell a piece of real property. I don't think there are any/many title companies that will deal in terms of bitcoin when assisting with the transferring of title of a property so you would have no real guarantee that all the paperwork is being handled properly and that you would have clear title once you pay for the property

Well, although there are probably some extra difficulties in doing the main part of the transaction in Bitcoin, I highly doubt this is the first piece of US real estate that has transacted with a crypto currency.  To be sure, the Title company (and some others) will want to be paid for their services in cash, but converting a small amount of BTC to do so ought to be fairly straightforward.

Regardless, let me ping my Realtor this week and get a complete and thorough description (and prices / or at least good estimates) of any and all things that may need some US cash to do the transaction correctly, and I'll post all of that up.

This is not the first piece of real estate that has been sold/purchased in bitcoin, however in the past the seller has used bitpay, and received fiat. It is likely that bitpay took some level of risk in providing fiat to the seller's title company prior to the buyer receiving title to the property.

In this case the seller is asking for bitcoin, which is very different from bitpay providing fiat to the seller