San Diego firm's Internet sale leads to West Texas land boom
9:07 a.m. February 14, 2005
SAN ANTONIO – A California land speculator has generated a land boom in some of the most remote areas of West Texas, thanks to the Internet.
San Diego-based Zarzar Land bought 8,500 acres west of Valentine in Jeff Davis and Presidio counties and began selling 10- and 20-acre plots on the eBay Internet auction site, the San Antonio Express-News reported in Monday's editions.
More than 400 land parcels have been sold, sight unseen, to buyers as far away as France and Hawaii, the newspaper reported. Some land is going for less than $200 an acre.
"We've done 1,000 pages of deeds in January on this property alone. Normally, 1,000 pages lasts about four months," said Jeff David County Clerk Sue Blackley.
The remote, rugged acreage is home to little but cacti, mule deer, mountain lions and drug smugglers, the Express-News reported.
"You can see it's just old greasewood flats – absolutely gorgeous country, but try making a living off of it," said Superintendent Glen Nix of the Valentine Independent School District, which draws 53 students from its 900 square miles.
In fact, about 100 acres is required to support each cow, the newspaper reported.
Try telling that to the buyers.
"You wouldn't believe the number of people who call and say, 'I'm online right now. I have to make a decision. I only have so much time left to buy this land," said Joann Lujan of the Presidio County appraisal office.
"They ask if there is electricity or water and what is the nearest town or city. We advise them there is nothing out there," she said.
Undeveloped land in nearby Brewster, Culberson and Hudspeth counties also is for sale on the Internet.
Some unsatisfied buyers already have complained to state officials, but the officials said they have found no fraud.
"The only thing we could take action on is something like the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, but if you look at the Web sites, they tell people there is no survey, no water, no utilities," said Jim Daross, an assistant state attorney general based in El Paso.
Sandy Pridgeon, chief appraiser for Jeff Davis and Hudspeth counties, said no real estate broker would touch such wasteland in the past.
"To someone back east, $100 an acre sounds like a wonderful deal, but if you can't find your land it's not that wonderful. And if you can find it, you won't be able to live on it," she said.
She said she hasn't seen any "material misrepresentations" in the marketing of the land. "You have things like 'utilities are available.' Yeah, they're available, but it will cost you $50,000 to get a line to your land," she said.
Bob Dillard, former Jeff Davis County judge and publisher of The Mountain Dispatch weekly newspaper in Fort Davis, said West Texas has seen numerous dubious land offerings over the years.
"Barnum is right. The suckers are just jumping on this deal. And it will come to haunt us. The system will bog down trying to collect taxes, trying to foreclose," he said.
Zarzar officials did not respond to requests for comment and further information, the Express-News reported. Zarzar Land, which does not have a telephone number listed with San Diego's directory assistance, has not responded to an e-mail from The Associated Press.
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