The land that is Terlingua Ranch is vast, varied, beautiful, natural and in general just raw land.
Property Owners of Terlingua Ranch will owe Brewster County taxes. Our tax office sends out statements in October for the current year and they are due by the end of January. Most Property Owners of Terlingua Ranch will also owe an annual assessment to POATRI. We send out our bills in December for the upcoming year and they are due by the end of March.
Terlingua Ranch cannot answer the often asked question “what is land worth”. What the land is worth is a matter of opinion that depends on many different factors and we do our best to help both the buyer and the seller. If you would like to know what land is appraised for you can look at your tax statement, check with the Brewster County Appraisal District online or call their office at 432-837-2558. You could also check the local real estate agents and land sales company websites to see what they are selling land for.
Only a licensed surveyor can tell you exactly where your land is and where its boundaries are. The 640 acre Sections of Terlingua Ranch were surveyed by the Developer – the vast majority of the individual tracts were not. Having a survey is highly recommended, especially for land you are going to build upon and invest in.
Only a title company can guarantee and insure your claim of title and ownership of your land. Title insurance is highly recommended especially for any land you are going to invest in and improve.
A title company insures your claim of title to your land, but they are unable to insure access to most Terlingua Ranch tracts due to easement & gate issues. Since the title companies cannot insure access to your land, the local banks have not been approving loans. Some Terlingua Ranch tracts are on County roads or do have proper legal easements filed, which included an easement signed by all property owners and a survey showing the location of the easement.
Terlingua Ranch cannot tell you what your mineral rights are. The only way to determine what the mineral rights are for any individual tract is to find every legal document filed on that tract since the 1880’s and have them analyzed.
There are regulations from Brewster County regarding subdividing existing tracts into smaller tracts. You can check the Brewster County website under Permits & Procedures for their regulations. Terlingua Ranch requires that surveys and easements be filed before any new roads are built to subdivided tracts and there could be a fee for the building of the new roads. Please check with our office first if you think new roads will need to be built to make sure a road could be made where you would need it.
Several areas of Terlingua Ranch are only accessible by high clearance vehicles. Several areas of Terlingua Ranch are only accessible by high clearance and 4WD or AWD vehicles. This could limit your capabilities of having a trailer, RV, manufactured home, delivery vehicle, or normal car from ever reaching your land.
Some of the land on Terlingua Ranch could have a well in just over a hundred feet. Some of the land on Terlingua Ranch would require a well to be drilled more than 1,700 feet. Unless you plan to move here full time, you probably do not need a well. Many residents, both part time and full time, can meet their needs using water catchments systems and/or transporting water. The first thing you do when you start building out here is to put up shade. The next thing you do is to start catching and storing water off of the shade.
There are regulations from either Brewster County or the State of Texas regarding drilling wells on your land.
Some of the land out here does have electricity or a reasonable way to acquire it; most of the land does not. Evaluate what your needs are and determine whether you want land that has a electricity easily available or if you can supply your needs using off grid power systems.
Physical address for Terlingua Ranch tracts can be requested from the Rio Grande Council of Governments who assigns them. Post office boxes are available in Terlingua and Alpine. Do not expect UPS or FedEx to be able to deliver to all tracts on Terlingua Ranch.
Most, but not all, Terlingua Ranch tracts have telephone & internet lines underground thanks to Big Bend Telephone. You must have a structure and power on your land for a phone line to be installed. Most, but not all, Terlingua Ranch tracts do not currently have cell phone capabilities. Satellite phones and television are a possibility along with wireless internet.
There are no public trash dumpsters on Terlingua Ranch. All dumpsters are privately paid for by individuals. You can purchase a dumpster, find neighbors to share a dumpster with or you can haul trash somewhere else to be disposed of properly. Our Ranch is beautiful. Please help us keep it that way.
There are regulations from Brewster County regarding septic systems. Please see the Brewster County website under Permits & Procedures for more information.
