Greetings from San Antonio!

[Latestarter]

Are there other counties that you could consider that may have better Ag exemptions? You only listed 2... I have no idea of what location/commute you're trying to maintain. True, the Ag exemption really isn't set up for hobby farms... it's set up for "commercial" ag-business... Funny that they're looking for you to make a profit and there's no income tax on it...

Some counties give it for hay... is there any chance you can buy land that has a hay field on it? Even if you sell the hay to someone else and they tend it, cut it, bale it and sell it, you still get the exemption... I understand that in a hay lease like that, most times, the lessee takes care of maintaining the fences. You could also rent out the pasture to someone else and let THEM keep THEIR cows on it, again, they'd take care of the fencing and feeding, you'd get the exemption and poss even a little side income. You just keep out enough land for your little homestead use as part of the over-all Ag exempt acreage (NOT as part of the home location acre). I mean, there are ways around it, but you may need to get a larger acreage than what you're looking at now to make it work.

I hope you can find a way. property taxes are horrendous without it.

 

[LMK17]

Well, we're trying to stay within 1 hr of Ft Sam Houston. Within that range would be Bexar Co and Guadalupe Co, of course, plus also parts of Atascosa, Wilson, Comal, and Kendall. Kendall Co is Hill Country and really rocky with thin soils. Their ag exemptions start around 25 acres, if I'm not mistaken. Also, land up there is very $$$$ and largely restricted. Still, I love the Hill Country and am keeping a hard eye out for anything available up there. Wilson and Atascosa probably give you more bang for the buck, land-wise, but (and this is just picky of me) I hate their sandy soils! Seriously, to me, it's like living at the beach, and I can't imagine dealing with that sand tracked everywhere, every day. I'm not sure what the exemption rules are in Wilson, Atascosa, or Comal. It's just that I've checked into some places more than others because we've found properties there that we liked.

And yes, taxes are awful! And land near the city is very pricey, too. It's a wonder anyone can afford to buy a place!

I've thought about leasing part of our land, but I hate the idea of thousands of dollars in tax money for our property being dependent on a third party. Also, land alone is expensive, so I hate to buy more than we need for our own purposes. My estimates put the price to buy undeveloped land at about $8500/acre, at least, and the taxes are roughly $200/yr/acre, so it would be quite a long time until we broke even if we bought extra land "just" for the exemption, ya know? Also, wouldn't the exemption in that case technically only cover the land used for hay? Say we have 15 acres: 1 acre homestead + 4 acre mini farm + 10 acres in hay. We'd still be paying market rate taxes on 5 acres, yes? Seems more reasonable to me to buy 5 acres total and just pay the taxes... Or am I missing something?

 

[Latestarter]

Looks like they've got you between the proverbial hard spots... Sounds like you'd be better to just get what you need and bite the bullet on taxes...

 

[LMK17]

Unless I'm missing something, that's the conclusion I've come to, too.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Welcome from NY!!! I hope your plans work out without any huge problems, and you enjoy the process!

 

[Gorman Farm]

Well, we're trying to stay within 1 hr of Ft Sam Houston. Within that range would be Bexar Co and Guadalupe Co, of course, plus also parts of Atascosa, Wilson, Comal, and Kendall. Kendall Co is Hill Country and really rocky with thin soils. Their ag exemptions start around 25 acres, if I'm not mistaken. Also, land up there is very $$$$ and largely restricted. Still, I love the Hill Country and am keeping a hard eye out for anything available up there. Wilson and Atascosa probably give you more bang for the buck, land-wise, but (and this is just picky of me) I hate their sandy soils! Seriously, to me, it's like living at the beach, and I can't imagine dealing with that sand tracked everywhere, every day. I'm not sure what the exemption rules are in Wilson, Atascosa, or Comal. It's just that I've checked into some places more than others because we've found properties there that we liked.

And yes, taxes are awful! And land near the city is very pricey, too. It's a wonder anyone can afford to buy a place!

I've thought about leasing part of our land, but I hate the idea of thousands of dollars in tax money for our property being dependent on a third party. Also, land alone is expensive, so I hate to buy more than we need for our own purposes. My estimates put the price to buy undeveloped land at about $8500/acre, at least, and the taxes are roughly $200/yr/acre, so it would be quite a long time until we broke even if we bought extra land "just" for the exemption, ya know? Also, wouldn't the exemption in that case technically only cover the land used for hay? Say we have 15 acres: 1 acre homestead + 4 acre mini farm + 10 acres in hay. We'd still be paying market rate taxes on 5 acres, yes? Seems more reasonable to me to buy 5 acres total and just pay the taxes... Or am I missing something?

Sand ha ha, I live in Florida about an hour inland from the Gulf. Our soil is basically sand, we have to amend the soil for many things to grow, on the flip side I think sand is easier to clean up than say clay based soils, vacuuming works pretty well. That said many of the things I grow do well in sandy soils, like bananas, pineapple bromeliads, squash, and melons, even the cucumbers don't mind the sandy soil.
It also drains really well after heavy rains, and isn't slippery when wet. This is a big plus when you have track out into a rainy wet pasture for some reason. Also we do not have to feed the turkeys or chickens grit because of the sandy soil. If the sandy soil is covered in grass you really don't track in much honestly.

 

[LMK17]

That's a good point about the drainage! Lots of what I'm used to around here is heavy clay expansive soil, and it WREAKS HAVOC on foundations! I can't tell you how many houses we've looked at that had major foundation issues from the surrounding soils. Honestly, I probably ought to start trying to get over my "fear" of the sand...

On the flip side, though, how stable is sand for building a house? Won't it shift or sink or something?

 

[Gorman Farm]

That's a good point about the drainage! Lots of what I'm used to around here is heavy clay expansive soil, and it WREAKS HAVOC on foundations! I can't tell you how many houses we've looked at that had major foundation issues from the surrounding soils. Honestly, I probably ought to start trying to get over my "fear" of the sand...

On the flip side, though, how stable is sand for building a house? Won't it shift or sink or something?

We have a modular home set on concrete footings, it is about 12 years old, no problems with sinking or shifting so far. I think if you build on concrete you will be fine, we cannot have basements here because of the water table, if you are lucky enough to have a basement, the surrounding sandy soil is less likely to leach moisture in since it doesn't hold onto moisture the way clay based soil does.
Sink holes happen in Florida, but they have a lot more to do with the water table than the soil type. I do not know if sink holes are common in Texas.

 

[LMK17]

Well, if we end up choosing raw land over pre-existing construction, we are considering a modular home, so I might pick your brain about that if the time comes.

We can't really have basements around here, either. As far as sinkholes, they do happen, but I think they're more common in FL. At least, that's what it seems like from the media coverage. We had one open up here just south of town recently in the middle of a road. The poor unfortunate woman whose car was swallowed up did not make it out. Scary stuff!

 

[greybeard]

so they just kept the fence gates open, the cattle were free to come and go between the properties, and so they were ag exempt for cattle. If we were to buy that land, we'd also need to keep the gates open. Otherwise, we'd have to drop the ag. In Bexar Co, the tax folks told me, there is a roll back penalty if you drop the ag, even if you continue to run a hobby farm on it. In the case of that property, the roll back was $15K+, which was just too much. Plus the yearly taxes after that were very high.

So, we're just running into trouble with the ag exemptions; it doesn't seem like we can run a small, diversified family farm and still qualify for the ag exemption!?!? Fellow Texans, are you all getting the exemption for your homesteads? How are you able to do that? I'm really upset about this-- I don't see why putting 5 cows on 100 acres is "ag" but running a self-sufficient little homestead on 10 acres is not "ag!" I would absolutely love any tips you all can offer on navigating this!

As I explained in your other thread, it is mostly because of the "production" aspect of the ag exemption. 'Production' meaning making $$. Anything predominantly raised for one's own use is not considered production.

As far as "keeping the gates open" goes, that's simply not true. When grouping individual plots together, all that is required is for the livestock to have access to each parcel in different times during the year--not all year long. Even the largest producers close off different parts of their pastures to allow land to rejuvenate. In fact, in Texas, you can remove 100% of your acreage from production for a full calendar year within any 5 year period without losing the ag exemption, but the key to all this is the word "production" and ag market value--what the land is capable of producing in agricultural products. Home use does not count.

For ag, you need a plan, showing how you intend to produce an ag 'product'.

I took 60 acres of raw forest land, and converted it into a ranch. (I call it a farm, tho I do no row crops) I lease 2 different adjoining parcels totalling another 65 acres and am about to lease another 17.5 acres for additional pasture. At no time, do the cattle have access to every acre under production in relation to my or the other landowner's ag exemption. The landowner that is actually involved in the production aspect is known as "The Operator". You'll find all this out once you are involved in it and receive your first USDA Agriculture Census, assuming you do in fact begin 'production'.