Kendall Woods

For this episode of Landowner Insider, I sat down with trial attorneys Steve Harrison and Justin Presnal of Harrison Davis, based in Waco and Beaumont, to talk about what happens once a transmission line route has actually been selected across a ranch or rural property. I've covered the earlier stage of this process before with attorney Carly Barton, back when the routes for the Dinosaur Longshore transmission line project were still proposed. That route is now finalized, and this conversation picks up exactly where landowners on it find themselves today: eminent domain, condemnation, compensation, and what happens to the rest of a property once part of it is taken. Trial Lawyers, Not Administrative Lawyers Steve and Justin were direct about what they do and don't do. They aren't involved in the Public Utility Commission process that decides where a line actually gets routed, that's administrative law, and in their experience it's an expensive, heavily political process with very little real influence available to an individual landowner. Where they come in is after a route is set: representing landowners in the condemnation process itself, fighting for fair compensation in front of special commissioners and, if necessary, a jury. Steve's background includes representing ranch families in wildfire litigation across the Panhandle and in this part of the state, and both attorneys have direct experience fighting the earlier generation of CREZ transmission lines that came through Bosque and Erath counties roughly a decade ago. Their read on the power companies is blunt: in their experience, utilities don't pay landowners what they should until a trial lawyer makes it clear they're prepared to take the case to a jury. Why This Round of Lines Is Different The current wave of transmission line construction traces back to a 2023 legislative session bill meant to address power demand in the Permian Basin. According to Justin, what started as a plan focused on West Texas turned into a statewide transmission buildout once ERCOT and the PUC got involved, driven by a mix of oil field electrification, data center growth, and general population growth. The lines themselves are also physically bigger. These new 765-kilovolt lines can carry five to six times the power of the 345-kilovolt lines already common across the state, which means larger towers, wider easements, and a visual and practical impact on the landscape unlike anything Texas landowners have dealt with before. What Happens When the Utility Company Contacts You The first real interaction most landowners have is a request for survey access. Texas law requires you to allow that access, but Justin was clear that landowners can and should negotiate the terms: notice requirements, timing, how gates are handled, and accommodations for livestock or hunting leases. This is the point at which he recommends bringing in a lawyer, before survey crews ever set foot on the property, not after an offer letter arrives. The Condemnation Process, Step by Step Once the utility company makes what's legally required to be a "good faith offer," and in Steve and Justin's experience that offer is rarely fair on its own, a landowner who declines it will see the utility file a condemnation lawsuit. From there, a judge appoints a panel of special commissioners, local landowners rather than lawyers, who hold a hearing and assign a value. Steve and Justin treat that special commissioners' hearing with the same seriousness as an actual trial, because the amount awarded meaningfully shapes what happens next. If either side disagrees with that award, the case can proceed to a jury trial, and importantly, if the utility company wants to appeal a high award, it has to post that money first. Historically, both special commissioner awards and jury verdicts have landed significantly higher than a utility's original offer. Why "Remainder Damages" Are the Real Fight The easement payment itself is often the easier number to agree on. The harder and more important fight, in Justin's words, is over remainder damages: how a transmission line affects the value of everything outside the actual right-of-way. He described reviewing an appraisal where a city taking a strip of land for a retention pond, land that happened to be a property's only access point, assigned zero dollars in damage to the remaining 20 acres. That's the pattern they see from utility companies as well, and it's where a legal team with access to real appraisers and ag economists makes a measurable difference in outcome. What This Means for Property Value and Marketability This is where my own experience as a broker lines up directly with what Steve and Justin see in litigation. High-end buyers routinely eliminate properties with a transmission line before ever stepping foot on them. On a recent tour of twenty properties with a serious buyer, every property with a visible line got less than five minutes of attention before we moved on, and the average price point on those ranches was around $10 million. That's not a hypothetical loss of value, it's buyers actively removing themselves from the pool, and it's a permanent condition for the property and every future owner of it. How Landowners Actually Hire a Trial Lawyer Harrison Davis works these cases on contingency, meaning their fee comes out of the amount recovered above the utility's original offer, not an hourly rate charged to the landowner. That structure covers the cost of appraisers, ag economists, and other experts needed to build a credible damages case, with no out-of-pocket cost to the client during the litigation itself. What's Next This conversation is part one of a two-part discussion with Steve and Justin. Part two covers wildfire litigation and what landowners impacted by wildfires, an increasingly common and devastating issue across Texas, need to understand about their rights and options. Watch the Full Episode This article is based on my conversation with Steve Harrison and Justin Presnal of Harrison Davis on Landowner Insider.   ▶ Watch on YouTube   Work With Mock Ranches If a transmission line project could affect a property you own or are considering buying, understanding how it impacts value and marketability matters before you make a decision. Explore current Texas land for sale at mockranches.com, and revisit our earlier conversation on eminent domain and transmission lines for more on how the routing process works before a route is finalized. About Harrison Davis Thanks to Steve Harrison and Justin Presnal of Harrison Davis, trial attorneys based in Waco and Beaumont who represent Texas landowners in condemnation and eminent domain cases involving transmission lines, pipelines, and other infrastructure projects. Learn more at thetriallawyers.com.

  For this episode of Landowner Insider, I did something a little different: a solo breakdown of what's actually happening in the Texas land market in 2026. Our team is on appointments every single day across the state, and I wanted to pull together the real data, not just the feel of the market, so landowners, buyers, and sellers can make decisions based on numbers instead of headlines.   I pulled data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Realtors Land Institute, Texas Farm Bureau, USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service, the Land Report, the Republic Report, Independence Title, Capital Farm Credit, and our own transaction data here at Mock Ranches, along with insight from AgTexas and AgTrust Farm Credit. Here's what it shows. The Short Version: Texas Land Values Aren't Crashing, But Fewer Properties Are Selling Texas land prices remain near record highs and are up year over year. But transaction volume has slowed, and total dollar volume statewide is down. That's not a contradiction, it's a market getting more selective. Well-positioned, high-quality ranches are still generating strong interest and multiple offers. Average or overpriced properties are sitting longer and, in many cases, need a price adjustment before they move. The market isn't forcing sellers to sell, and it isn't creating urgency for buyers to buy, so we're seeing a standoff rather than a crash. What's Actually Driving Buyer and Seller Decisions Right Now Interest Rates Rates get blamed for a lot, but they're actually close to the 30-year average right now. What's really happening is a five-year memory problem: buyers remember 2 and 3 percent COVID-era rates like they were yesterday, so today's rates feel high by comparison even though they're historically normal. The real impact is on monthly carrying cost. For every point rates climb, the monthly payment on a leveraged purchase goes up roughly 10 percent, which has pushed a lot of first-time and debt-dependent buyers out of the market. Cash buyers, meanwhile, are comparing land against distressed commercial and residential real estate that's producing actual monthly cash flow, something raw land typically doesn't offer, which pulls some of that capital away from land purchases. The Shift Toward Quality Buyers still want Texas land, but they're no longer willing to pay peak prices for average properties. The "one of one" ranches, the ones with strong water, current improvements, real productivity, wildlife, views, and good access, are still commanding multiple offers. The more common properties, the ones that look like a hundred others on the market, are seeing longer time on market and offers well below list price. In Erath, Hood, and Parker counties, the average sale price is running about 84 percent of list price, compared to 95 percent in stronger markets. If a well-marketed property isn't showing, the issue is almost always price, not photography or exposure. Cattle and Farm Economics Strong cattle prices help established operators who want to expand and help legacy ranch families catch up on improvements and equipment, but they're not creating new land buyers. As I discussed with cattleman Wesley Wood a few episodes back, and as Brandon Stephens laid out in his breakdown of small-acreage ranch economics, even at today's cattle prices, a cow-calf operation might cover three to four months of a property's annual carrying cost, not the note itself. Row crop farmers are facing more pressure: commodity prices for corn, cotton, soybeans, sorghum, and wheat are down while fuel and fertilizer costs have roughly doubled, which is putting downward pressure on Panhandle farm ground specifically. Water Buyers are increasingly underwriting strong groundwater as a core part of a property's value. Places dependent on a water meter with no groundwater backup are simply weaker assets in this market. Surface water adds real value for recreation, cattle, and wildlife, but groundwater is what gives a property security through a drought like the one much of the state is in right now. Population Growth and Fragmentation Texas will keep seeing land near metro areas subdivided and fragmented as the state grows. It's rare that we sell the same ranch configuration twice, a 500-acre property often comes back to market five or ten years later split into 250-acre or even 10-acre tracts. That fragmentation trend isn't slowing down. Drought Much of Texas has been in a serious drought for six to seven months, mirroring last year's pattern of good rain through early summer followed by a dry back half. Dry, brown pastures and low ponds are hard to market and hard to photograph, which is why we're advising some sellers to wait for spring green-up. As I told several sellers this month: a good two-inch rain can be worth a million dollars to how a property shows. Texas Land Market by the Numbers: Statewide Q2 2026 Average price per acre statewide: $5,218, up 3.27% year over year Typical tract size: down 22% year over year Number of sales: up 4.3% year over year Total acres sold: down 12.5% year over year Total dollar volume: down almost 10% year over year Five-year annualized price growth: 8.17%   The headline isn't that Texas land is falling in value. It's a volume story: fewer acres and fewer total dollars changing hands, even as price per acre and transaction count both tick up. Dissect those numbers further and the pattern holds: strong, well-located ranches are up 6 to 8 percent, while average properties are down slightly, offsetting the gains. Texas Land Prices by Region: Where the Market Is Strong and Where It's Soft Panhandle, South Plains, and North Texas: Softest Market in the State Price per acre down 7.5%, typical tract size up 4%, number of sales down 10%, acres sold down 19%, and total dollar volume down 25.3% year over year. Severe drought, strained aquifers, row crop headwinds, and wildfires have all weighed on this region. Far West Texas (Trans-Pecos and Big Bend Region) Price per acre is up, though typical tract size is down close to 25% as fewer of the very large ranch sales that usually anchor this market's numbers have closed. Total dollar volume is down about 4.8%. Northeast Texas (Tyler, Palestine, Athens) Price per acre is flat to down, typical tract size down about 2%, but number of sales is actually up about 9%. Total acres sold are down about 5%, and total dollar volume is down about 10%. Gulf Coast and Brazos River Bottom (Victoria to Houston) A mostly positive, fairly flat market. Typical tract size is up about 1.7%, number of sales is roughly flat, and total acres sold and total dollar volume have each softened modestly, down roughly 6% and 3.5% respectively. South Texas: One of the Strongest Markets in the State Price per acre up about 1%, number of acres sold up about 5%, total number of sales up a striking 26%, total acres sold up about 7%, and total dollar volume up almost 8%. Two factors are driving this: closed borders after years of stagnation from illegal crossing traffic, and a wet summer that filled ponds and lakes across a region that had been in a multi-year drought. Austin-Waco Hill Country: Strong and Fragmenting Price per acre up about 8%, typical tract size down about 4.5% as properties continue to fragment into smaller pieces, number of sales up 2.6%, total acres sold up almost 3%, and total dollar volume up 11.81%. The one soft spot in this region is the over-improved luxury ranch, a large house on a small acreage, where high carrying costs and depreciating improvements are creating resistance. How This Compares to What We're Seeing at Mock Ranches Our own numbers tell a similar story of volatility layered on top of an overall strong year. January was down 20% year over year, but February rebounded 30% and March was up 120%, making Q1 one of our strongest quarters in six years. April dipped 10%, then May jumped 110% and June was up 50%, another strong quarter. July was up 40% year over year, and August came in flat. We've seen some slowing here in Q3, but the year is shaping up to be a strong one overall. What Sellers Should Understand Before Listing a Ranch The best time to sell is when you need to sell. Family circumstances, debt, death, divorce, and estate settlements remain the primary drivers for sellers today, more so than the discretionary trade-up market, which is notably softer. If you have real urgency to sell, price at or slightly below current market value rather than anchoring to 2022 pricing. In a declining or flat market, every day on market without a sale means the property is further from where it needs to be priced. Pricing correctly the first time, not chasing the market down over months, is what actually produces the best outcome. It's also why we started Texas Land and Wildlife, our staging and land-improvement company: properties that need brush clearing, road work, or fencing before they hit the market are not performing as well as move-in-ready properties, and a relatively small investment upfront can make a meaningful difference in final sale price. What Buyers Should Know Before Making Their Next Move Buyers have more leverage today than they've had in years. Unlike the 2021 post-COVID market, when buyers had to take what was available, today's buyers can afford to be patient and disciplined, watching how a property performs on market before engaging. That patience is rational, not a sign the market is weak. It just means the properties worth paying a premium for are the well-positioned, well-maintained ones, and everything else has room to negotiate. Watch the Full Episode This article is based on my solo market breakdown on Landowner Insider.   ▶ Watch on YouTube   Work With Mock Ranches Whether you're trying to time a sale, understand what your ranch is really worth in today's market, or find the right property while buyers still have leverage, our team can walk you through the numbers for your specific region. Explore current Texas land for sale or reach out for a free market analysis at mockranches.com.  

 Podcast   For this episode of Landowner Insider, I sat down with Jordan Smith of Calibrated Land Services, who has been spraying our own place for a few years now. We talked through timing, pre-emergent versus post-emergent treatment, where drones actually make sense compared to traditional ground rigs, and the biggest mistake he sees landowners make. From Ag Teacher to Building a Drone Spraying Business Jordan's path here wasn't a straight line. He got his ag degree at Tarleton, worked in animal health sales for a while, then went back and became an ag teacher, first in Forestburg, then Decatur, then back home to Stephenville. The business started almost by accident. When his dad got sick, the family's hay and cattle operation landed in Jordan's lap, and he realized he didn't actually know when or what his dad had been spraying and fertilizing all those years. Around the same time, a former student mentioned wanting to become a drone pilot for crop spraying, which sent Jordan down a YouTube rabbit hole during his conference periods. What started as a side hustle he hoped might reach 30 customers in two years hit that number in about four months, and Calibrated Land Services was born. Why Drones Work Where Ground Rigs and Planes Don't Jordan's operation is now roughly 75 percent drone work and 25 percent side-by-side ground spraying. The advantage of the drone isn't just efficiency, it's access. Steep hillsides, washouts, brushy country a side-by-side can't get through, areas around ponds and tank dams too steep for a ground rig, all of it is fair game for a drone with no soil compaction and no risk of getting stuck. Helicopters can cover some of that terrain too, but as Jordan pointed out, a helicopter isn't going to show up for a 40-acre job. Drones fill exactly that gap, especially on smaller or oddly shaped parcels where a landowner might want a different mix on one section than another, something a 500-gallon ground rig isn't set up to do economically. The Biggest Mistake: Calling Too Late Jordan was direct about this. The hardest conversation he has with landowners is the one where they've waited until a weed problem is already obvious, grass burrs established, broomweed waist-high and half-woody. A plant that's actively growing takes up herbicide far more effectively than one that's gone dormant or drought-stressed with no leaf left to absorb the treatment. Broomweed sprayed in February or March is a straightforward kill; the same plant knee-to-hip high in August with a woody stem and no leaves is a much harder fight. His advice is simple: treat early, before the problem is visible from the truck window. Pre-Emergent vs. Post-Emergent: Getting the Timing Right Jordan broke the calendar down clearly. Pre-emergent treatment for grass burrs and spring broadleaf weeds needs to go out in January or mid-February, ideally before the region's typical late-February rain, since the product has to be watered into the soil to stop weeds from germinating in the first place. From there, post-emergent treatment, usually a 2,4-D broadleaf herbicide often mixed with fertilizer, goes out in April or May once soil temperature hits around 65 degrees and grass is actively growing enough to actually benefit from the fertilizer instead of just feeding the weeds. After that, the calendar gets more situational: brush and mesquite treatment works best in June through August when mesquite shows uniform dark green growth with minimal insect damage, and prickly pear treated with a root-activated herbicide can take months to fully die back. Patience Pays Off, Especially With Brush Not every treatment shows results the same day. Jordan described spraying a field of actively growing weeds in the morning and seeing them wilted down by evening, compared to prickly pear, which can take four to six weeks before you see real results, or longer. Timing brush treatment around rainfall adds another layer of complexity, since new growth after a rain means waiting roughly two weeks before mesquite is ready to treat again. Beyond Pastures: Aquatic Weeds and Row Crops Jordan's business has grown into areas beyond standard pasture work, including aquatic herbicide treatment for ponds choked with coontail and pondweed, and occasional row crop perimeter spraying, where the drone's ability to treat without a machine trampling the crop is a real advantage. His territory runs roughly 60 to 70 miles around Stephenville, covering areas from Abilene to Fort Worth and down through Hamilton and Breckenridge. Watch the Full Episode This article is based on my conversation with Jordan Smith of Calibrated Land Services on Landowner Insider.   ▶ Watch on YouTube   [Related clip: TBD] Work With Mock Ranches Good pasture management is part of what makes a property valuable, whether you're improving land you already own or evaluating a new purchase. Explore current ranch listings at mockranches.com. About Calibrated Land Services Thanks to Jordan Smith and the team at Calibrated Land Services for the conversation. Calibrated Land Services works with Texas landowners on pasture and land management needs, including drone spraying and targeted applications built around each property's treatment goals. If you're considering a pasture treatment or want to learn whether drone application fits your property, visit calibratedlandservices.com to learn more.