Homes for sale in Lajitas

[presidio]

I contacted Reggie Brown this summer about his very house, by email and by phone, but I guess he wasn't motivated because he never emailed or called me back.

That's because you didn't put out the effort to show up in person with a certified check in hand for the full asking price!!!   :shock:

[presidio]

Know the home well.  The 1982 built date is correct.

That is one well-maintained 25 year old house.

[presidio]

Real Estate in Brewster and Presidio Counties is remarkably high.

Yes, and a lot of sellers clearly are hoping to capitalize on what they think is some sort of boom. More of interest is how long these properties stay on the market and for what they are eventually sold.

Apparently, there is just enough outside money coming in to keep their hopes elevated. West TX is not like Santa Fe/Taos, Sedona, or Palm Springs. It is unlikely the current 'interest' in this area by the faux cognoscenti can be sustained for very long.

Extraordinarily high real estate prices coupled with no services and no truly compelling reason to relocate to an area other than a few artists have 'discovered' it = a situation much like Lajitas.

When the bust occurs, the lingering ill effect of elevated property taxes based on the boom will further depress the local economy and these towns will resume their former role as dusty outposts in a vast desert. While that is my preference, it will be very hard on those who are the original residents, who watched their taxes skyrocket and are the innocent victims of a market that got out of control for a time.

This is exactly what happened in Santa Fe and Taos when the wealthy Californians, Texans and Coloradans discovered the area and moved in. The locals can no longer afford the taxes on properties held in their families, for centuries in some cases. The only difference is that the Santa Fe/Taos boom did not abate; it got and remains worse.

Marfa/Alpine/Marathon will find it very difficult to replicate that kind of dubious 'success' but they will pay the price for trying.

[homerboy2u]

...Amen, Presidio.

Okeihiker: A house for $ 595,000.00 thousand :?: ...in the middle of the desert :?: .

 Hey fellas, be on the look out for some great abandoned homes out there.

[gmglenn]

Steve Who??  He's a city boy right?  Vanity, pride and fortunes will waste away like the Pharisees.  You'd expect people to live here, get to know the other locals unless you're only in it for pride and the almighty dollar.  The bought and paid for Lajitas will waste away.  The locals and people that are drawn to the area will survive the greed.

[chisos_muse]

Frankly, I think that the Big Bend area is best enjoyed and appreciated with very little $. What it has to offer, $ cannot help with.
I have lived my whole life having just enough that I need, and no more. I expect to finish my life with the same. What matters most to me anyway, are the relationships shared and quality of life. This is different for everyone.
 
I joke about not having the "HEB" here, but in all honesty, I sure wouldn't want it! Hey that reminds me, I think the Schwan's truck is coming this week! :D

[TheWildWestGuy]

I think I agree with the majority that think Lajitas is a train wreck waiting to happen.   I miss the old days of the trading post before it was "renovated" into a upscale wine / grocery store.   Last time I was there (several years ago now) it had no customers but plenty of expensive steaks sitting around aging and I thought to myself "what a huge waste of inventory nobody is going to buy all those steaks before they rot".    It seemed like I was the only live customer in town that day because the baker, the waiter, and the liquor store clerk all came out to make conversation as I walked around - they were bored just sitting in there stores with nothing to do.   Either that or I looked like an outlaw covered in trail dust... TWWG

[homerboy2u]

Just reading your post TWWG.....makes me sad to imagine , those poor folks sitting in Purgatory Desert.

 I have to ask, what if Lajitas dropped its prices and make it more accesible. Could it , turn out to be the desert magnet that it was suppose to be?.

 Homero

[tinneyr]

Just reading your post TWWG.....makes me sad to imagine , those poor folks sitting in Purgatory Desert.

 I have to ask, what if Lajitas dropped its prices and make it more accesible. Could it , turn out to be the desert magnet that it was suppose to be?.

 Homero

Homero, in my point of view, that won't happen because of an elitest attitude.  A number of years back Lajitas held a nationally renowned mountain bike race every February and we'd have 800 to 1000 riders show up to participate.  Once Smith came onto the scene though that all pretty much came to an end.  The race is now being based out of Terlingua but can you imagine turning away a few thousand people and the $$ they brought in for the weekend?

[SHANEA]

Homero, in my point of view, that won't happen because of an elitest attitude.  A number of years back Lajitas held a nationally renowned mountain bike race every February and we'd have 800 to 1000 riders show up to participate.  Once Smith came onto the scene though that all pretty much came to an end.  The race is now being based out of Terlingua but can you imagine turning away a few thousand people and the $$ they brought in for the weekend?

I tried to play golf there once  :shock:  they wouldn't take my money unless I had a club membership @ $75,000 Brazillion dollars or was staying in a room at the resort - just couldn't walk up and play.  Guess they didn't need my $.  I always thought he'd have a better "chance" of making a go of it if he would ratchet it down several notches for common folk to afford.  I mean, come on, what is there for the "lifestyles of the rich and famous" to do there?  Play golf, ride polo ponies, etc.  Great, until May - August when it's hotter than blue blazes.  No gambling, so it can't be a Vegas.  No ski slopes, so it's not a Taho or Vail or Beaver Creek, not many "trendy" shops to visit, etc.  No wonder Marfa has taken off.

[presidio]

No wonder Marfa has taken off.

Marfa has taken off mostly due to hype and having 3 more stores than Lajitas.

[gmglenn]

Here's a link to a really good read on the REAL value of our Wilderness land:  

http://whyfiles.org/252why_nature/index.php?g=1.txt

This is exactly why Smith's Lajitas won't survive.  He's out of place, out of touch and in it for the wrong reasons.....

I have some nice .jpeg from my last trip to the Bend and Gila. If you want, e-mail me and I'll share....

[Roger, Roger]

I mean, come on, what is there for the "lifestyles of the rich and famous" to do there?  Play golf, ride polo ponies, etc.  Great, until May - August when it's hotter than blue blazes.  No gambling, so it can't be a Vegas.  No ski slopes, so it's not a Taho or Vail or Beaver Creek, not many "trendy" shops to visit, etc.  No wonder Marfa has taken off.

Most rich people aren't famous, and they don't want to be famous either.  On average they work very hard, and when they want to unwind they're not all going to St. Barts and Aspen on the weekends (off-topic, but The Millionaire Next Door is a great read for those of you that haven't read it).  Anyway, most of them are finding places in reasonable proximity where they can get away from their jobs and hang out for a while, just like the rest of us.  Some of them are probably camping out in BIBE right next to everyone else.  Others want to sleep in a comfortable bed with 400-count linens, and they're booking rooms at Lajitas.  To each his own I guess.

Last I heard Lajitas was running at about 50% occupancy on their rooms, so obviously someone is interested in going out there.  There are weekly flights on a chartered plane from Dallas and Austin for $400 round trip, and I assume there has to be some demand or they wouldn't be doing that every week.

I'm not saying Lajitas was a good business plan, but I don't think Smith gives a crap about that.  He's a middle-aged divorcee who doesn't have anything better to do with his money, and I don't see him closing up shop any time soon.  Even if that's not the case, he's built enough rooms at this point that some resort company would probably snap it up if he wanted to sell (at a significant loss).  It actually is a functional business at this point.  So any notions of Lajitas retreating back to the desert from whence it came are probably just wishful thinking.

Honestly, if I had $500mm in the bank the first thing I would do would be to come out to the Big Bend area and buy the biggest ranch I could find.  And these guys end up doing just that, and spending a bunch of money on their places, and then they think, "hey, if I love it this much and all my friends love it, then why wouldn't people pay to stay out here?  I can offset some of my cost that way".  And it's all downhill from there.  

My problem with Smith has been the whole Rio Nuevo thing and the fact that he changed up the golf course to a lush resort-style course, which sucked a ton of water.  But he has since removed much of the grass in changing the course to a desert-style layout, removed the salt cedar along miles of the river, and has done a few other things to placate me.  At this point I'm almost indifferent.  He should have taken a page from Poindexter's book 5 years ago and I think he would have a lot better reputation down there.

[homerboy2u]

So Lajitas, will be good and alive for a good while....well, best of luck to him.

[SHANEA]

Smith is NOT dumb.  He's not stupid either.  He's a good business person and from what I gather from having "off the board" conversations is that he is drawing heavily upon venture capital and banks to "float" the resort.  Use and lose other peoples money.  That's why it's risky to be in the venture capital business.  You can make huge windfall type of profits or you can lose your shirt, pants, and boxers.  Smith didn't get to have deep pockets from not being business savy.