Looking for some feedback/recommendations if possible. My family inherited some land that has an early 1900s well-built home (very cool house) and large barn located on the property. The property, along with the house, was deeded to 5 separate family members to subdivide equally amongst themselves. After approx 2 yrs of discussion no party is overly interested in taking the plot of land with the house and barn simply because no one lives in the area and wants to deal with the house upkeep.

Has anyone else ran into a similar situation? The house is amazing due to its age and solid construction - We'd rather not tear it down so looking for options.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Can the house be moved? I'm also in the La Grange area and years ago when Round Top was becoming a bigger deal, someone came and moved our home place house to Round Top to one of the antique places. If I recall we just let them take the house since no one was keeping up with it. I was just a little guy. The house was also from the early 1900s.

Brad - Thanks for your comments! Yes we believe it can be relocated by "cutting" it up in a couple pieces. How did you get connected with the eventual owner? I'd have to assume there is some market for these old home with great lumber.

Rent it out? It would help with taxes. I doubt anyone would want to manage it though.

Surely one of the five wants to sell? Get an appraisal on the house and include it in that person's portion.

Steve - We've thought about this but the house is pretty much in original condition. Would need some upgrading, HVAC mostly, before a renter would be interested. And yes we live in Houston so managing the rental would be another challenge.

CS - You bring up a good point. Actually a few of the 5 wouldn't mind selling out but the family has an obligation to keep the entire place in the family. No one seems to have interest in buying each other out at this point. The family is focused on what to do with the 125 year old house and barn as of now.

aggiebrad16 said:

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Can the house be moved? I'm also in the La Grange area and years ago when Round Top was becoming a bigger deal, someone came and moved our home place house to Round Top to one of the antique places. If I recall we just let them take the house since no one was keeping up with it. I was just a little guy. The house was also from the early 1900s.

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That is actually my family's house that was moved. The house dates backs to the 1860s and is now a bed and breakfast in Round Top.

dallasiteinsa02 said:

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aggiebrad16 said:

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Can the house be moved? I'm also in the La Grange area and years ago when Round Top was becoming a bigger deal, someone came and moved our home place house to Round Top to one of the antique places. If I recall we just let them take the house since no one was keeping up with it. I was just a little guy. The house was also from the early 1900s.

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That is actually my family's house that was moved. The house dates backs to the 1860s and is now a bed and breakfast in Round Top.

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Unless you're my cousin I'm sure we are talking about different houses haha. I think moving old homes to Round Top was a pretty popular thing to do in the 1990s and 2000s.

I am jealous that you know which house your families is. We're not sure where ours ended up.

Holy smokes! Yeah ours looks like a dump compared to that. What was his last name?

beautiful house! glad it could be saved

aggiebrad16 said:

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Holy smokes! Yeah ours looks like a dump compared to that. What was his last name?

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Meyer

His son, my great grand father, went to A&M, class of 1902. After going to Tulane medical school, he never moved back to the area.

I can think of a couple of places near LaGrange that have moved smaller historic houses to form a hotel with rustic cabins -- one in Fredericksburg and one in Boerne.

Those places probably don't have any more land but surely there is someone out there looking to do something similar, or add on to an existing portfolio.

Maybe google "rustic cabins for rent in Texas" and see what you come up with??? Might be worth reaching out to those places to see if there's any interest.

I can tell you that it is going to be hard to get much for it if you decide to sell it with the intention to move it. The cost of moving a house like this is high. Unless, you can find a neighbor who would want it and it is just moving it across of fence line type of thing.

I owned one of those 1920s farm houses at one time. I can tell you that they are nothing but problems in terms of keeping humidity out and insulating and heating and cooling them.

Eclipse -- Good points and I'll do this! Thanks.

Bonfire - Thanks for your input. Yes moving long distance seems to cost as much as the house is worth. What did you send up doing with your 1920s home?

I would think the lumber (way better quality than today) would be worth something on its own.

I knew a guy who did reclaiming old lumber full time. He mostly wanted barns. They are simpler to deconstruct. And he would remove the barn at no cost to him. Sometimes he even got a fee from the owner. I doubt you could get much money for the house for that purpose.

I actually ended up selling the property. But, there were other factors involved, the house just being one of them. I think your best bet would be to find a local guy who owns a backhoe/excavator who would be willing to tear it down and haul it off in dumpsters. You can probably find someone to do it pretty cheap if you ask around. If someone can get you in touch with a good real estate agent in the area, they usually know about those type of folks.

Bonfire97 said:

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I actually ended up selling the property. But, there were other factors involved, the house just being one of them. I think your best bet would be to find a local guy who owns a backhoe/excavator who would be willing to tear it down and haul it off in dumpsters. You can probably find someone to do it pretty cheap if you ask around. If someone can get you in touch with a good real estate agent in the area, they usually know about those type of folks.

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If this is the route you take, I could probably help with some recommendations.

Looks like your house is up for sale, huge color photo front page of the Houston Chronicle business section today... what a beautiful home.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2024/round-top-estate-the-bid/

Also OP, I am hopefully closing on a ranch near Giddings by the end of the year. It's a long shot but do you have any details on the size or possibly have some photos of the home. The property could work for it. I'm a member of the Texas Dancehall preservation association also so could run it by them for you as well. They could have some ideas.

I do have pictures. How can I get in touch with you?

Houston Ag 2009,
I may be interested in the house if y'all want it moved. Send some pictures over to me. Ate 3 to. 7 nine 5. 3 one 6 one
Thanks

Hey sorry I've been out of town with not a lot of cell service, please get in touch. Two ate 1, six tree six, zero ate ate 9

You can try to get in touch with taunia elick or her husband in Bellville. She's moved several old houses to their property.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/garden/17collector.html

canadianAg said:

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You can try to get in touch with taunia elick or her husband in Bellville. She's moved several old houses to their property.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/garden/17collector.html

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Oh man, I got some stories about them. John is one of the most colorful guys I have ever met.

I came over one day to his house. He answered the door, and told him I saw some sort of varmit like a possum that I can't remember exactly at this time scurry off from his walkway to his house. He slams the door in my face, and comes back less than 60 seconds later holding a pistol that had been used by navy seals at one point. I was coming over to see his daughter, and I thought, welp, this is it for me I guess. He owns lots of land, my family will probably never find my body. And even if they do find my body, he's a kickass lawyer so he'll probably make it look like it was an accident or already has a gun with my fingerprints on it that he'll plant on me.

He goes, "where did you see that son of a *****.", and I just pointed because I'm still trying to process what is going on and wondering what the afterlife is like.

He looks over and sees it and just starts blasting it super close to me. My ears were ringing, casings were hitting me and I thought what the hell is going on.

He looks at me, and says something like "That son ***** has been bothering me for weeks. Thank you. <Smiles a huge smile at me.> Now how can I help you?"

"Well, sir, I was here to take _____ ( his daughter) out on a date."

His face drops.

Did I tell you that this gun was what the navy seals use?

"Yes sir. Did you have a military supplier or something like that that you bought it from."

"No, it's not same TYPE of gun that the Navy Seals use, it's the SAME gun the Navy Seals used. One of them gave it to me personally. It's killed dozens of people in far off places. Would make quite an impressive list….<long pause>.


<looks me in the eyes>

Don't make me add to the list.

<I gulp>

Yes, sir.

I would also appreciate some photos if your home is still available. Nine seven nine too five one zero four four nine