Welcome Back!

Welcome back! It has been a long time since I’ve written. So much has happened! Let me start with our E-Zine. Some time in April it locked up the entire server and froze forever. I bet you thought we just forgot to up date it. Unfortunately, we just got too much information on it, too many hits and it froze. Then, no matter what my great web master tried and the server people did, they could not recover it. The only thing we could do is buy a new system and have it rebuilt and that was a very time consuming process.
So as we sat and waited for the E-Zine to be built we watched the economy deteriorate. Loans dried up, real estate agents, mortgage officers, title companies, an entire industry slowed to a crawl putting many folks out of work. These people were the first to start losing their homes as they scrambled to find other employment to feed their families. Home owners in Texas weren’t as badly affected at first because there weren’t as many bad loans written in Texas as other places but the economy slowly began changing here as well and gas prices began to go up.
Next the Presidential election began to consume our lives and again the Nation slowed even more as we wait to see who will be our next President. Then in the mists of all this came the “Economic Reform Package”. Will it save us? Who knows but I do know that the real estate agents, mortgage officers and so on left in this industry are learning great lessons in fiduciary responsibility for their clients and the economy.
So, now as we sit and wait on the economy, the election and things to change, we are using the time to make big changes within our E-Zine and our office. The new “Texas Legacy Country E-Zine” is up and running and though we still have a few things to change, we have a great line up of experts joining our team. Watch for their pictures and articles to start appearing on the home page. They will teach and entertain us about things we need to know about everything from farming, land care and animal issues to insurance, mortgage and economy issues. I’ll continue telling you about farms, ranches and great recreational land I’ve had the privilege to visit and even throw in a few pocket listings here and there. The economy will change for the better and when it does we'll be here bigger and better than ever.
I’m really excited about the growth of our E-Zine and can’t wait to see who joins us next. I hope you will continue on this journey with me and see where it takes us next.
/Annie

Land for Sale with Mineral Rights in Abbott Texas!

It rained all day Sunday, good for the garden but bad for people who love to be outside. So I spent most of the day reading newspaper articles in a book my husband found in an old building in Waco. The newspapers were from the 1850’s and up for Tarrant County. I can’t wait till I get to that area so I can tell you about the information I discovered but for now I’m still down here in Hill County and consumed with my garden. The sun is out this morning and though I need to be finding buyers for land and advertisers for the website, I thought I’d take a moment to tell you about piece of land for sale right here in Abbott and another one in Mt. Calm.

The property in Abbott is about forty acres, give or take an acre or two. Currently the land is being farmed in beautiful rows but would make a great place to sprig and grow coastal hay and raise a few head of cattle. It has a stock pond and a few trees and rolls down to a seasonal creek. It has water and electric available and has a great home site with some nice views. The school district is one of the best with teachers who really care about their kids. One of it’s best features is it comes with its mineral rights and since it’s rumored that one of the local land owners has hit gas that might be real appealing to those looking for a future investment. Did I mention the great neighbors?

The next property is 40 acres a little to the east close to the Mt Calm light. This property was farm land but has not been maintain for a while and has many young trees on it. It has water and electric available and would make a great home site or ranchette. It has great neighbors and school district. It’s only a short drive to Waco on good roads and mineral rights are negotiable. This flat land would make a wonderful place to raise your family and some horses.

As always you can check these and hundreds of other properties out on our website at www.TexasLegacyCounty.com and if you’d like to see them give us a call or email us. If you have property you want to sell this is a great place to advertise. We’re also looking for Rep’s so if you want to make some extra money and know how to sell contact us.

Land For Sale In Mt. Calm Texas

It’s lunch time and I thought I’d take a break and write on the blog a little. It’s going to rain again this afternoon or evening and we’re in phase 3 of the garden. We’ve tilled up another block of ground and are getting ready to plant again. I’ve had so many requests for fresh veggies that I don’t think I can plant enough. That’s the nice part about a large piece of land, need more garden just till up another acre and get to planting. I wish it was that easy, hah! I know of a really beautiful place not to far from here with gorgeous dirt and big trees like I’ve got. Actually I know of several places but today I thought I’d tell you about one just outside the little town of Mount Calm, Texas.

Now considered to be a bedroom community of the city of Waco, Mt. Calm has a population of over 300 people. The only surviving part of the original community is the cemetery which is next to this property. The original community was located on this land we’re featuring. It makes you wonder what treasures could be buried beneath, Humm!

The town built around 1850 moved to follow the railroad in 1881. The most notable person buried there is J.J. Elliott, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto as well as 19 veterans of the Civil War and 11 veterans of World War 1.

The town was probably named for a French black smith “Mountcalm”. An estimated fifty families moved to the area, attracted by the rich soils of the Blackland Prairie. In 1855 residents organized a Baptist church and applied for a Masonic charter. In 1858 the general store and post office were opened. The community reportedly expanded slowly due to fear of Indian attacks and the Civil War. Then in 1881 the Texas and St. Louis Railway Company extended its lines from Athens to Waco passing within a mile of the town. The train meant revenue so within the year most of the residents and all of the businesses moved along the tracks. The little town has now migrated again. When highway 31 came through the town moved closer to it.

Mt. Calm is a quiet community with lots of nice people living there who are always happy to welcome new neighbors and make them feel at home. If you’d like to know more about this property give us a call but if you’d just like to take a drive out to see it, here are the directions.

From Mount Calm on Highway 31, go south on FM 339. Turn west/right on 1st Street. Go about .5 mile and turn left/south on HCR 3278 (Nickles Ave). Go about a mile to LCR 102 turning right/west. The cemetery is about .2 mile on the left and is easily seen from the road. The land surrounds the cemetery, you can’t miss it. So go have fun and I better get back to gardening.

Living in Hill County

Said to be “ The riches dirt in the world” brought farmers from far stretches of the world. In the 1870’s one of the most influential groups to settle Hill County were the Czechs. They came from Austria-Hungary via Fayette County. They had neat, well managed farms, strong spirits and kept to them selves speaking their own language and practicing their old world customs. They settled in the Abbott area and just south down into theMcLennan County town of West. There’s a Historical marker in front of the “Turkey Shop” along the freeway at Abbott. (Did I mention I love the food at the “Turkey Shop”?) The Czechs keep their customs alive for future generations in so many ways including their wonder food, (my favorite, Kolaches) and their yearly celebration called “West Fest”, which happens on Labor Day in the town of West every year.

My family and I live near Abbott. My kids have all grown up and married into the local heritages. We have a beautiful piece of land which is mostly farmed by a local Czech family, now related by marriage, but my brother and I maintain a small garden. And like the Czechs, I must admit the dark, rich soil with slightly rolling hills and big trees is what captured my heart when I first saw the property. The farm girl in me emerged and I wanted to live here. The pecan and fruit trees, flowering bushes and bulb flowers that surrounded the old ranch house were planted over the last 100 plus years by the Czech family that lived here but the grapevines and vegetables are my babies.

Owning and working the land does something to your soul. It gives you a sense of pride and belonging. Our land has history of it’s own from the family that lived here for so long before us and now we're adding to it.
If you’d like to own land but don’t know how to get started, check out our website. www.Texaslegacycountry.com and let us help. We specialize in Texas land and it's needs. It’s easy to use and grows daily. Plants some roots, be part of Texas history and own a farm or ranch of your own and grow your own garden.

Hill County

As I traveled through the mountains of information I found on the internet about Hill County,( not to be confused with hill country) I was overwhelmed with how much history took place in this county alone. (I am starting with Hill County for a reason, it is my home and dear to my heart.) Depending on how far back you want to travel and how in depth you want to get you could spend years researching. There are 89 Historical Markers in Hill County telling us about everything from Indians making their homes here along the lakes and the rivers and frontiers men and Spaniards made their camps here ( Phillip Nolan was killed near the town of Blum by Spaniards in 1801) .
The county was established in 1852 and is named after Sam Houston’s secretary of war under the Republic of Texas, Dr. George Washington Hill. Forts were established to protect the settlers from the Indians, though the Indians were pushed out by the mass of settlers. The Chisholm Trail followed along the river and was used to move thousands of head of cattle but the land, the soil to be more exact, is what really brought the people to Hill County.

Hello!

I am a real estate agent that specializes in land in the state of Texas. I was a police officer for many years in a big city here in Texas but my body got old and tired and I decided to do something I thought would be easier. It was a smart move for a few years but a bad move in this economy. I started out in residential sales but because of my upbringing and life style selling land; ranches, farms and recreational land, became my passion. There is nothing like spending the day driving around on hundreds of acres of gorgeous ranch land on a gator or a mule or even horse back. I live on a farm just outside of Waco, Texas where we have large pecan trees, fruit trees, a vegetable garden, stock ponds, tall grass, wild flowers and a few animals to share it with. I love our place and can’t imagine living in the city, especially in these times.

As I think about the economy, it’s interesting to note that as houses lose their value, land seems to hold or even rise in price especially around here. That’s partly because of the gas and oil being found but mostly because the increasing shortage of land. But if land is in such demand why does it take so long to sell? The answer is advertising! If you don’t know it’s for sale, you can’t buy it. Unlike houses and sites like Realtor.com there was not easy to locate and use source for land. To resolve this problem my team and I created and are building http://www.texaslegacycountry.com/ , a land e-zine.

Our goal is not only to build a place for folks to find land but also once they have it, find the resources they need to work and maintain it. It’s just in the beginning stages, though at last count we had fourteen counties of Texas land for sale on it. We’re also looking for rep’s to sell advertising space so that we can grow and take on more counties and someday more states. But in the meantime, I’m looking for ways to get the word out about our site so I decided to start a “Blog”.

I’m not sure what a blog is really suppose to be about but this one will be about Texas land and high light a county every month and a property every week. Texas land is full of history, beauty and will warm you deep into your soul. So, I’ll tell you a little history about it as well as the details on each property. I invite you to look at our site and choose properties you’d like to hear about then let me know. Maybe you’ll find a piece of land that calls out to you and you’ll join me in the country, planting gardens, canning fruit, watching the horses graze and living the good life.