East Texas Farm & Ranch Real Estate
East Texas is one of the strongest farm and ranch markets in the state - wooded acreage, pasture, hunting tracts, recreational land, and working ranches across Smith, Cherokee, Henderson, Anderson, Van Zandt, Wood, and Gregg counties. Stephanie holds the Farm & Ranch Specialist designation and our team has guided buyers through hobby farms, hunting properties, working cattle operations, and full-on ranch transactions. Here is how the process actually works.
Types of East Texas farm and ranch properties
Hobby farms
5-25 acres, room for horses, garden, chickens. Most common buyer profile.
Hunting tracts
40-500 acres, deer/hogs/dove, with or without a hunting cabin.
Recreational land
wooded acreage with creek or pond, weekend property or future build site.
Working ranches
cattle operations, ag-exempt land, fully fenced and infrastructure’d.
Build-on land
clean lots ready for a custom home with our partner Kirby Custom Homes.
Counties we cover
Farm & ranch transactions are county-specific work - taxes, water rights, ag exemptions, and survey practices vary. We regularly close in:
Smith County
Tyler area, the Bullard and Flint corridor.
Cherokee County
south of Tyler, hunting heaven.
Henderson County
west of Tyler, Lake Athens area, Cedar Creek Lake.
Anderson County
Lake Palestine south side.
Van Zandt County
Canton, Edgewood, Wills Point.
Wood County
Mineola, Hawkins, lots of recreational acreage.
Gregg County
Longview outskirts.
What buyers need to ask before closing
Land transactions have due-diligence items that residential buyers don’t think about:
Mineral rights
owned with the land, severed and held by someone else, or leased? In East Texas oil country, this matters.
Water rights and well/septic
most rural East Texas is septic. Co-op water vs. private well changes the inspection.
Ag exemption status
is the land currently ag-exempt? Will yours qualify? Loss of ag-exempt status causes a multi-year property tax rollback.
Easements
who has a right to cross your land? Pipeline, utility, neighbor access?
Fencing condition
material, age, posts. Re-fencing 100 acres is a real number.
Surface lease
is anyone running cattle on it? Hunters?
We’ll walk every one of these with you on every land transaction.
Building on your land
If you bought land planning to build, our family partnership with Kirby Custom Homes means you have a single team taking you from land purchase to designed-and-built custom home. Same family from contract to keys. Read our custom build walkthrough.
Frequently asked
How much does land cost in East Texas?
Highly variable. Wooded acreage in the $5,000-$15,000 per acre range is common for raw recreational land. Improved pasture with utilities and road frontage runs $20,000-$50,000+ per acre. Lakefront acreage is its own market.
What’s an ag exemption and why does it matter?
Texas property tax law allows agricultural-use land to be valued based on its productive agricultural use rather than market value, dramatically lowering property taxes. Loss of ag exemption - for example, if you stop running cattle and don’t replace with another qualifying use - triggers a 3-year rollback of the tax savings. We confirm exemption status on every transaction.
Can you help me find specific land?
Yes. We routinely run off-MLS searches for clients with specific criteria - acreage, water frontage, fencing, hunting cover. Tell us what you want; we’ll go look for it.
Buying or selling acreage in East Texas? Send us your criteria and we’ll get to work.
Ready to Talk with Kirby & Co?
Whether you're buying, selling, relocating, or building custom, Stephanie and the team will guide you from the first conversation to the keys.
Get in Touch →