[ot] Texas hoomesteading law?

[Satanta]

where can I get info about homesteading in Texas? Did a google search but came up with nothing useful.

by Homesteading I mean moving onto some abandoned land and claiming it kind of thing.

 

[SouthernStar]

From what I understand from this article homesteading is no longer in practice.

http://www.nps.gov/home/homestead_act.html


But I could be wrong

 

[Freeholdfarm]

Sat, does it have to be Texas? Because I saw something not too long ago about some towns in the Mid-west (Kansas?) offering free house lots -- maybe even with houses on them -- to anyone who would move there and live on the place. Unfortunately the Homesteading Act is no longer. It died in the early 1970's, I think, just before I was old enough to take advantage of it (which is what I'd been planning on doing ever since my folks sold their homestead in Alaska).

Anyway, good luck finding something.

Kathleen

 

[Libertarian]

I saw a spot on the news about it yesterday. The localities (not the state) are giving away 1/3 acre plots on the condition that you build a house on it within the year. I believe that it was Kansas or somewhere north of there (It could have been Nebraska). Once I heard "1/3 acre" I quit listening.

Sat, I am planning on selling my 1.4 acre in suburbia and finding a few acres (10-20) NW of town out towards Fredericksburg but south if that town. If you learn anything of interest, let me know. I will let you know anything I learn.

 

[A.T.Hagan]

where can I get info about homesteading in Texas? Did a google search but came up with nothing useful.

by Homesteading I mean moving onto some abandoned land and claiming it kind of thing.

Sat, for what you seem to have in mind that sort of thing came to a close decades ago. There is no more land that you can simply move onto and prove a claim in order to receive title.

Alaska, I believe, still has some land that you can get really cheap, but as you might expect there's a reason for it. Mostly that it's in the back-of-beyond and so remote that few people want it.

.....Alan.

 

[DustMusher]

Sat

The Texas Homestead Law you may be referring to and that shows up in the news regularly is the law protecting the Homestead from certain seizures and the Ad Valorem tax exemption.

You have to own (or have a mortgage) on it and live in the home on Jan 1. there is a nice exemption from a part of the real estate and school taxes. Plus the homestead is protected in case of lawsuit or other leins. (as is one car and one truck, and certain personal property)

DM

 

[peachfuzz]

Deleted because I'm braindead.
Sorry.

peachfuzz

 

[A.T.Hagan]

Peachfuzz,

You'll likely get more responses to your question if you'll post them in their own thread.

Spaghetti sauce freezes well.

.....Alan.

 

[Kimber]

I think Alaska was the last place you could homestead. You may still see ads for doing this, but if you go to the state's web site, they expressly tell you it is thing that died in about the 1970s.

Also, the Bureau of Land Management has some web page saying all the too-good-be-true-cheap government land sales are just that.

While true homesteading is dead, "adverse possession" is still alive and well. If you squat somewhere, in plain view, for about 10-15 years, you can get title from the lawful owner.

Regarding homesteading, while it is generally dead everywhere, a few small towns in, I think, Kansas will give you small city lot if you want take the trouble to build a home and live there.

David

 

[Freeholdfarm]

Unfortunately, you can't really find any cheap land in Alaska anymore, even if it's way out in the boonies. There is so little land available (mostly belongs to Fed and State govt. and the Native corporations) that it is all high priced.

Kathleen