Real Estate Tips From a New Homeowner

Buying a ranch is a great way to either just own a lot of property or to live out your life as a real-life cowboy or cowgirl. Unlike traditional residential properties, however, buying a ranch property for sale can be a little bit more complex. Before you just make an offer and put down money on a lot of land, here are a few things that you should do first. 

Step 1: Hire a Realtor Who Specializes In Ranches

Having good and accurate representation is a great way to ensure that you are making a good investment in real estate. While you may have a family realtor that you use for all of your residential properties, you may want to hire someone else to help you with your ranch property. Why? Because they will know the small stipulations and details involved in land purchases and anything tricky that you may run into. 

Step 2: Have It Surveyed

A land survey is a great way for you to see exactly where your property line starts and where it stops. When you are buying dozens (if not hundreds) of acres of ranch property, you will want to ensure that you do in fact have that much land and that it's not encroaching on someone else's. By having a professional survey done, you can ensure that you know exactly where your property lines are and that you are in fact getting as much land as you are hoping. 

Step 3: Have Water Rights Assessed

If you are going to build a house on your ranch, you need to have water rights. Also, if you are going to be a traditional rancher that has a bunch of cattle, you are going to need water in order to feed them and give them water. Because of this, you need to have your water rights assessed to see where there is water, how you can access it, and how much it will cost to get to it. By knowing exactly what you're getting yourself into in the world of water, you can better plan for the future. 

Step 4: Make Sure It's Good for Grazing

Not every type of land is good for cattle to graze on, and in fact, there's a lot of land out there that isn't green and won't grow anything on it. To ensure that you aren't just buying a giant pile of dirt, have all of the land evaluated beforehand. 

To learn more, contact a resource that has ranch properties for sale.