BLUE SKY COUNTRYREAL ESTATE
BLUE SKY COUNTRYREAL ESTATE
Selling land in Navarro County and the counties around it
A house sells on photographs and a floor plan. Land sells on access, water, fences, minerals, the ag exemption, and what the tract next door actually closed at — and most of that never reaches a listing unless the broker knows to put it there.
Who you’re calling
I have been in real estate since 1994 and working land in Navarro County and the counties around it for two decades — 361 closings and 17,689 acres across the record, and land is most of it. When you call (903) 695-2978, you get me, and you keep getting me through closing.
What happens when you call
I walk the ground where I can and drive or ride it where I can’t. Then the part nobody sees: the aerials old and new, the floodplain map, what the appraisal district has on file, and the rest of what is recorded against the tract and the ground around it. A listing written from the gate reads like it was written from the gate.
Closed sales near you are where it starts — adjusted for acreage, road frontage, water, improvements and how the tract would divide. Then the things that move a price and rarely appear in a comp: the exemption and what a rollback would cost, whether the minerals convey, whether the access is recorded, what is under contract nearby and has not closed yet, and who is buying in that direction right now. You get the comps themselves and the reasoning behind the number, not just the number — and if I think you should wait, I’ll say so. What land has actually sold for here, by tract size and by period.
Aerial and ground photography — I fly my own drone and shoot much of it myself, and bring in a professional when the property calls for it. Then the things a photograph can’t carry: an aerial with the boundary drawn on it, the survey and the field notes, the exemption status — put together so a serious buyer can work from it instead of guessing. Then it goes out: the MLS, the sign in the ground, my buyer list, and Facebook.
Every one gets a phone call, not a forwarded email. Then contract, title, survey, and the ag-exemption questions the buyer’s lender raises late — that’s where a land deal falls apart, and it’s the part I don’t hand off.
The parts that go wrong
They fall apart on something nobody looked at until it was too late to fix cheaply. Since 1994 I have been through most of them at least once.
What qualifies, what the appraisal district wants to see, how continuous use is documented, and what a change of ownership does to it. What this county requires.
Whether a tract can be split, what the county will accept, plats, access for every resulting piece, and what it does to the exemption. What dividing a tract actually takes.
Reading the ones already on the land, and drafting sensible ones when a seller is creating tracts.
What a FEMA map actually says, what a LOMR or CLOMR takes, and what a wetland delineation in a buildable area does to a buyer’s plans. I have carried a deal through all three.
In the file every time, and less often the reason a deal stalls: homestead and over-65 exemptions on a tract that is part homesite, 1031 timing worked with your CPA and intermediary early rather than late, rural water meters, tap fees and right-of-way, and which surveyors, title companies and attorneys do rural work properly.
What to have ready
But the sooner it’s in hand, the sooner the listing is honest and the fewer surprises show up at title.
The most recent one you have, even if it’s old.
In place, in whose name, and has the use been continuous?
Owned, leased, severed, or unknown. “Unknown” is an acceptable answer; “I’ll find out later” isn’t.
Deeded, easement, or by long use. If it’s an easement, who else uses it and is it recorded?
Pond, creek, well, rural water meter, or none.
Condition, and whether the fence line matches the survey line.
Grazing, hay, hunting, cell tower, billboard, and any wind, solar or data-center lease, option or letter of intent, signed or merely discussed. The paperwork itself is more use to me than a summary of it.
Pipeline, transmission, right-of-way, deed restrictions.
Have some of it? Email it to robert@blueskycountry.com. The survey, the appraisal-district notice and a couple of photos are enough to start. I answer it myself.
No obligation
Fill this out and I’ll get back to you with a real range and the closings I based it on. No automated estimate. Nobody has a robot that can price land honestly, whatever the website says.
Or email what you have. I answer it myself. Or Call (903) 695-2978.
Not ready for all of this? Just ask what it’s worth. Already holding an offer? Send it before you sign it.
Straight answers
Yes. Hill, Ellis, Freestone and Limestone regularly, and further when it makes sense. Navarro County is home.
Every property is different and so is every deal. I’ll walk you through commission, selling expenses and a written net-proceeds estimate on the front end, before you sign anything — not at the closing table.
Yes. Ten acres gets the same attention as six hundred.
Yes, and
Usually, yes — and usually priced for the buyer, not for you. Those offers are made without walking the tract and before anyone has looked at the exemption, the minerals, the access or what has actually closed nearby. Some are fair. The only way to know is to set the offer beside real closings, and I’ll do that with you before you answer it.
Yes, and it’s common here. It takes every owner in agreement, a title company that can clear an estate, and one person the family trusts to run the conversation. The largest tract on my record — 2,200 acres — was assembled from the heirs and sold as one property.
Take it seriously and sign nothing on the first visit. Find out what is actually being assembled and for whom — these offers come through agents under confidentiality agreements, and the owner is usually one of several being approached. Get the option terms, the lease terms, the rollback and the timeline on paper before you answer, and have them read by someone who has been through them. That’s a call I take, and what to do, in order is written out on its own page.
Not usually. More often it’s one property being offered to buyers who each want a different part of it — the house buyer doesn’t want the back pasture and the cattle buyer doesn’t want the house. There’s a worked example of that on this site: ninety-five acres that wouldn’t sell whole, taken apart and sold in four closings. Read what it took.
Working with professionals
Broker opinions of value for probate and estate planning, marketing of estate and heir property, and 1031 timing worked with the qualified intermediary from the first call rather than the last week. Call (903) 695-2978 or email robert@blueskycountry.com.
The survey, the appraisal-district notice, a couple of photos. Whatever is in hand. Email reaches me fastest, and I answer it myself. If you call and get voicemail, leave a message and I’ll call you back.
Call (903) 695-2978 · robert@blueskycountry.com
205 S Fordyce, Blooming Grove, Texas 76626 · by appointment. Robert Phipps, Broker · TREC #0460512.