So, in an attempt to at least get myself on some kind of movement towards goal here, I printed out and filled out the form the realtor wanted me to sign, was approved to go look at the property and drove on out there.  About 6 miles out of town off a 2 lane highway that I know quite well, I parked next to the highway and walked up the very long driveway to view everything.  

On the way up, I heard the sound of water and noted a small creek running through it, the listing claims it runs year round.  There is also a water company that has piping out at the road, another huge plus, don't have to find water and dig a well.

At the top of the drive, around the corner, the pad came into view. Yes it's large, but the area surrounding it is larger.  I walked around, heard some machinery from the operation next door.  It's the same company with the pad on the property, but that pad has buildings and running fans and such.  The noise not loud and couldn't hear it on the far side of the pad - where there is more property and a place to clear out a dwelling space.  After probably 30 minutes of looking around, I looked at my email on my phone.

The realtor was giving specific instructions how to get out there, of which I didn't need, and then proceeded to say he had an offer at list price and probably would be under contract by this evening.  

It figures.  This has been my luck in finding land out here.  I suspect someone had been hemming and hawing about buying it and then the realtor probably got a hold of them and said, look, I have a real prospective buyer en queue, if you want this land, you're going to need to act now.  That's my guess, cause the listing isn't new.  

Okay, acting a bit more proactively, I just called the county tax assessor's office. The next tax lien sale is december 1st.  They didn't have  it up online, even tho they told me it was.  So I can come down there and get the list? Yes sir.  And miraculously, the new sale list is up online! lmao.  Ohhh and SEVERAL properties WELL within my budget for starting bids. I mean, I could bid on some of those for a while before having to fall out if it came to that.  If I can get that day off, I am going to go.

In other news, the boys went over to Maria's at her behest last night when I told Taylor I'd be home today and can watch them.  She wanted them over there for whatever reasons so she got them. And now? I just received a picture of the 3 year old's face covered in blood.  The 5 year old punched him in the face.  This isn't the first time those boys have gone over there and gotten into trouble.  I'm not sure what it is about Maria's place and them acting out, but it's turning into a pattern now.  The 5 year old is well out of character in punching his brother like that.  I've seen them get into mild shoving contests but never a fisticuffs brawl.  

The 5 year old is also going to be in serious trouble when both dad and mom get off of work. I suspect a good spanking, an extended time out, sitting on the couch will be his deal for a while.  The 5 year old's excuse? "Jaxon wouldn't catch the ball".  Jaxon is 3 years old. His attention span is that of a gnats.  He isn't as coordinated and gets frustrated easily.  Even if he didn't want to play catch, that is no reason for the other boy to punch him smack dab in the face.  

Back to lien properties.  Cause' I found the site that actually processes the tract numbers, comes up with info on taxes going back decades and also shows a map.  I couldn't find this site last time i was looking and I couldn't even see what I would have been bidding on and therefore didn't know where the property was or what kind of property it is.  Because what I don't want is one of the thousands of properties with gas wells on them in this region. They are literally everywhere, they have easements and you can't do anything with that portion of the property on your property. The people that sold these easements made their money off of it, now I guess they don't care what happens.

Anyway, the largest tract of land has no address and no location attached to it, no map available to view of it.  So how do you find out where it is?  I'll have to go down to the courthouse and ask them about that one.  Anyway, of the tracts with at least 5 acres on it, all of them sans 1 are completely wooded properties. They are all in the 1 to 3 thousand dollar range for starting bid.  They all appear to have access by either regular roads or forest roads.  Forest roads are easements and yes, you can drive on them.  Sometimes, these properties are in the middle of other properties, completely surrounded.  If there is no road or easement, you can't get to it without one of the property owner's permission.  And in these parts? Good luck with that, this is Texas and people don't want strangers on their land for any reason.  

Oh this is exciting! I can look at the satellite view of the properties, see what town they are located in, how much of it is wooded and cleared and if I'm interested or not.  I can tell ya right now, any properties completely wooded I am completely interested in. Any properties that have been completely cleared of trees I have zero interest in, except perhaps to buy and attempt to resell.  Ohhh there's so many of them that would make an excellent site for an RV park.  I don't even know how you would go about finding out the county requirements for zoning or such for such a land, or if they even care. From what I've seen, they don't care, but those parks are probably old as the hills and around long before any of the newer type of regulatory reaching that the government engages in.  

Even if not for RV park, resell potential.  The county evaluation of the properties is well beyond what the starting bids are and those evaluations are usually well short of market value. 

Oh well.  Just something to delve into now that I have found out how to get the relevant information at my fingertips without having to stand in a tax assessor's office for hours, looking up propertiesin their books.  

And there are small tracts in the city here.  They call this place a city, I call it a town, but whatever.  But again, I don't know what the zoning is on any of it and without that knowledge I don't know what you could put on those little tracts. Their just normal, house sized city lots. A mobile home put on one of them, fix it up nice and rent it out.  Or even sell it owner finance.  The possibilities.......