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May 16, 2014

Purley Gates Ranch

My friends, family and regular readers of this blog know I love to look at real estate ads and I've posted a couple of times about properties I'd love to own.   I first noticed this one on the Hortenstine website a couple of years ago.  One of the realtors was nice enough to answer some questions that had "bothered" me about the listing.

The price of the property was recently reduced to $6,500,000. (from over 7 million) To be honest, I was surprised it didn't sell at the higher price and I expect it won't last much longer at that price.  Of course, there's no way I could afford it...unless I won a BIG lottery.  Even if I did win a hundred million bucks, I don't think I'd buy it now;  I'm getting too old to try to keep up such a huge property.  If I had had the money ten years ago, sure, but now?  I'd have to move my entire family and THEIR families in with me to maintain the place.  Who knows?  They might be all for that.   With three large homes and several manufactured homes for employees, there'd be plenty of room for all of us.  I'd even build a home for my big sister.

Being several miles from the nearest town of any size, I'm not sure it would have good broadband internet, though.  That might be a deal breaker!

With it being on the market for a substantial time, I'm wondering why it hasn't sold.  From looking at maps and Google Earth, it appears that one leg of the Keystone pipeline went very close to the property, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker.  I don't think there's much oil/gas production close by and part of the royalties convey.  There are coal deposits not too far away, but I doubt they'll be developed and I think the sub-surface water (springs) are in no immediate danger of drying up.  I dunno;  I'm such a pessimist and there's GOT to be some reason it hasn't been snatched up already. 

I've got my Megamillions ticket for tomorrow night; the cash option jackpot is right at 47 million after taxes, so I would have close to 40 million left after buying this place.  Maybe if my family wouldn't want to quit their jobs and move there w/ me, I could talk some of my Internet pals into it!


8 comments:

Barb said...

Looks like the place to make your last stand ;) Let me know how you do with the lottery :D

The Local Malcontent said...

Offer "Rent To Own" options to your closest family members, my friend, and the same (plus a higher int., of course,) to your big sister, and to carpetbaggers like me and my wife, who would love to sublet 10 or so acres for a nudie camp.

You'd love naked people running all round your place, Mike.
Think of all the free cake and ice cream!
LOL, best wishes,

Mike said...

Except for the Internet thing, it seems almost perfect. Trees, live water, pasture, facilities, recreation...just everything you'd need. Nearly all the ranch is high-fenced to keep the deer in...and the riff-raff out.

It's a little far from any town of significant size - about eight miles to Mt. Vernon (home of Cowboy great Dandy Don Meridith - RIP)which isn't a huge town, but big enough to support significant business. There's a church in Purley, about a mile or so away and there's a nice little restaurant by the side of the road about the same distance the other direction. The only worrisome thing is access to medical care - not much anywhere fairly close. I guess that's part of the price for living in semi-isolation.

I was pleased to see the video; it showed a few things I had wondered about. I didn't win the lottery, but neither did anyone else, so it's going to be about ten million more next drawing. Neither the Powerball nor Texas Lotto jackpots tonight are enough to buy the place. I shudder to think what the electric bill would be for the place and the taxes on it are close to $20k/yr.

Thanks for posting!

sharintexas said...

Hey, I'm there! Just say the word. Do I need to start saving boxes to move yet? Just let me know!

Mike said...

I think your boys would be for it, sister, although as I said, I'd have to win a big jackpot - enough to be able to pay them salaries equal to or above what they are making now and put enough money in accounts for their retirement. I've figured that out before and like I said, it would take a substantial amount. I calculated that 2.1 million* in each account would convince them.

*2.1 million, making them multi-millionaires.

I'd prob. feel differently about a huge amt. of money if I had children, but other than yours and Sandy's children, I would have no one to leave it to.

So, I'd want to spend a good chunk on things I've always wanted to do. I'd convert that huge riding arena into a workshop, and the things I'd want to do to the lake/ponds are too numerous to list. (bubblers, fountains, spawning beds f/ the game fish and minnows, etc.)

I'd create a company/corporation and do things to make money, but mostly for a tax advantage. I'd have a lot of "chicken tractors" and sell free range eggs...for a premium. Buy big numbers of Cornish game hens, raise some hogs. Ditto for grass fed beef, all sorts of things.

I've also thought out and designed some tanks to raise catfish...sell them live and whole to get around regulations on selling meat. (that restaurant right down the road specializes in catfish) I wouldn't worry so much about making money, just try to come close to breaking even...and losses are tax deductible for businesses for a period of time.

I'd give the boys a substantial "signing bonus" to go into business with me, give them titles: Gary could be in charge of "Farm and Fisheries" and Brad could be "Property and Vehicle Maintenance" or some such. I've read about all that stuff and as long as I didn't...say...pay them $100k/yr. in a business that didn't make but $10/yr. the IRS can't really say anything.

Call it "HH Enterprises" or "Holland Bros." I wouldn't care about having my name on it.

We could do all sorts of other things for the business, too. We could build wind chimes or bird houses or any sort of thing, sell them online. We could go to estate sales, buy furniture and stuff, fix it up and sell that. One fairly lucrative sideline could be selling the "antler sheds" from the several hundred deer on the property. The market isn't nearly as good as it's been in the past, but it's still fairly good and I've seen things made with antlers go for outrageous prices, such as chandeliers, etc. Gary would enjoy making knives w/ antler handles, I bet.

I wouldn't even bother with trying to maintain the golf course...at least not my fat ass mowing or the boys, either. I'd hire h.s. kids from the area to mow, pay them better than they'd make elsewhere. Tax deductible, too. I'd sit in the shade w/ a book and a Diet Coke and make sure they didn't goof off.

There's a clearing in the middle of the course that looks like a fantastic spot for a lodge. That could be another "sideline" business, a golf, fishing and bow hunting weekend package for rich bastards. I'd price it outrageously, just to discourage people from actually buying the package, use the lodge for my online friends to come visit.

You could be "Head of Housekeeping", sis, making sure all the bills were paid, keep tabs on the propane and fuel deliveries, be in charge of h.s. girls we'd hire to clean and help in my one acre garden. (I've found a great place for it) You wouldn't have to do any physical labor, just be a boss and tell them what to do.

So many pine trees, we could buy a wood shaver and sell horse bedding. We could build and sell chicken coops, chicken tractors, etc.

As you can tell, I've given it a lot of thought. I guess it's just a pipe dream, but it didn't cost me anything to think this stuff up.

Mike said...

Also, it's a 9-hole golf course, but I've done measuring and estimating w/ Google Earth's measuring tool and it seems to me it would be fairly easy to make an 18-hole disc golf course. The baskets would be portable/moveable, so they wouldn't interfere w/ the regular golf layout.

I've looked at several places to build another home and there's a few right on the lake...it slopes down, so the home would have to be build on "stilts" at the front as so to provide for a septic tank in back of the house.

To be honest, I would prob. spend quite a bit of money if I ever won a huge JP, but prob. not as much as some might think. I've always wanted a BMW and I'd love a couple other vehicles, but my home wouldn't have to be huge and full of antiques. If I won several million dollars and bought this place, the one thing I'd want to do is buy one of those amusement park trains, get a couple miles of track, some bridges, etc. That'd be a million bucks, I bet. Silly, but that's something I've always wanted and I've researched them online.

Something else I'd buy if I had this place: one of those electro-fishing boats where you cruise along and shock the fish and they rise to the surface, stunned. I like to fish, but that'd be perfect for our monthly fish fries we'd have. The best boat is around 80,000 bucks for the entire pkg.

Even if business wasn't the goal, I still want enough land to have some chickens and a garden. I want enough for that last to have plenty of asparagus plants, that stuff is outrageous in the grocery store! Even though I'd be rich, I still wouldn't want to pay the prices they charge!

sharintexas said...

Brad and I have "dreamed" about an antique store....more furniture than anything (even though I know next to nothing about antique furniture) I would run the store and go to antique sales when I could. Brad would fix up the furniture pieces and we would make a living doing what we loved. Pipe dream, but everyone needs a dream. I did get an offer from a lady at a craft show here in town last month. She and her husband grow all kinds of flowers and she makes the most gorgeous pictures from the flowers. She actually offered me a rent house and a job helping her take care of all the flowers...especially in the summer when she and her husband are at the shows. She lives in Bailey, Colorado which is not far from Denver in the mountains. Now that would be my dream job. I just wish I could really afford to pick up and move to the mountains. Just thinking about it makes my heart happy.

Mike said...

That sounds good, sis. I know how much you love the mountains. Me? Not that I've ever been there, but the cold winters would turn me off the deal.

Art w/ flowers, huh? Sounds good, although I wonder if your hay fever could handle it. (I've developed some allergies now in my old age, some mornings I'll sneeze several dozen times, then it quits. Itchy throat, weepy eyes, the whole bit)

Wonder if she grows "something else" now that it's legal there. I saw a silly argument in a Cowboys forum saying that D Ware could now smoke pot that he's gone to the Broncos. People tried to tell them his employer - the NFL - like any other employer, can forbid it. Really stupid.

My idea for a chicken tractor/portable coop is really good, I think. I've looked online and haven't seen anything even close to similar. I've thought about it and figured two/three guys could easily knock one out per day or five/week. I think there's room for a couple hundred bucks/profit or more on each one.

I really want some chickens and if I had a nice tall wooden fence in my back yard, I'd have as many as the local ordinances allow (nine, I think, no crowing roosters)The local hoodlums would kill them, though...hell, I can't even have a tomato plant on my front porch b/c of the little thugs and thugettes.

I watch a chicken cam (I posted about a few weeks ago) fairly often, love to tune into it in the morning when the chickens are up and she's not opened up the coop doors yet, they run out like a shot, so funny. They're also inside on the roost long before sunset, guess there's something to that old adage "going to bed w/ the chickens."

Haven't got a Powerball or Texas lottery ticket f/ Wed., but I do have the Megamillions for tomorrow night; after taxes it's over 52 million.