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Texas Veterans Land Board – Strong in Service, Support, and Cooperation

by Jay Myers on April 30, 2009

in Texas Veterans

The following  is a question that was posted by John on Buying a Home with the Texas Veterans Land Board Program (TVLB) and by the time I was done writing, I felt it was too long for a response to a comment, and deserved the attention of it’s own article.


Q As a disabled veteran, How do you buy forfeited or foreclosed land? How does it work if you missed the April and October sales for Texas land commission. I have not gotten straight answers from civilian auction groups that seem keep certain people out their circle to purchase at auctions etc..I have not been able to get straight information in how it all works. Since your a subject matter expert, can you help?

John

A Hello John, and thank you for your question. The Texas Veterans Land Board has two kinds of land sales.

  • Type I – Which are tracts that are only able to be purchased by eligible Texas Veterans, and auctioned in April and October. The tracts are posted for sale 60 prior
  • Type II – Are tracts of land that are listed for sale throughout the year, and are open to civilians, the general public and Veterans.


    • It is safe to say the bulk of the Texas Veteran Land Board forfeited or foreclosed properties are put up for auction as Type I’s. The Type II properties are typically the ones that did not sell from the bi-annual auction.

    Now, here is the honest, straight shooting answer (other Realtors cover your eyes and hold your breath) you do not need an agent, an auction group, or anyone else who is trying to sell “a service” to you to buy land from from the TVLB! With that being said, in any other case outside of the TVLB I would not encourage a buyer to go at it alone. Whether it be an attorney, or an experienced agent like myself, a buyer of a property really should have representation — because typically the seller will, you should too.

    The Texas Veteran Land Board, has the most helpful, and easiest people to reach out to I have had experience with on special programs (ie First Time Buyers, Veterans Assistance, Foreclosure Relief, etc) the fact is if you buy a tract of land from either of the auctions and you want to use a REALTOR you would have to pay them out of your own pocket. Which is not a terrible thing if you need help getting PERC test, a survey, or understanding the lingo. Typically when buying a house, or land a Co-Broke is paid to the Buyers Agent from the Sellers Agent, this is not the case with auctions.

    The Texas VLB is there to honestly help Vets in anyway within their means, the contract and all of the guidelines and procedures can be found in this handbook and whenever you have questions you can call them at (800) 252-VETS (8387). They have always been an incredible help to me when I need some clarification on  things. And, if you do not get the results you want from that hot line #, you can always call me and bounce it off me, and I may share a couple direct lines I have.

    OK, enough bragging on them, and I am not even on their payroll. John, I am sorry that you missed the last auction on April 28th, by possibly getting the run-around, but now you will know for the October auction, or for any, Type II’s listed on their site here I do happen to know there will be quite a few new properties listed there by the first of next week.

    So much for a quick answer but I love this stuff!

    In closing I suspect that if you were trying to talk to any “civilian auction groups” it was not for Texas VLB properties, they do everything in-house, and if some group was putting their nose up at you, and not allowing entry to the circle — they were probably misrepresenting themselves, or envious of you. Because YOU are in the club, and they are probably not.

    You are the Texas Vet!

    My other thought is that perhaps some land tracts you were interested in were not TVLB properties at all, and perhaps VA1 foreclosures, which the notes are typically held by Countrywide Mortgage. I hope all this helps, and the shameless self promotion, and attempt at some humor was understood. Regardless, anyone is always free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.

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    • Thank you John, I am glad I could be of some help, and you did not even need a secret decoder ring. There is another SOP for Bank Owned Land (VA) of course, perhaps I will address that in my own way in future article as well.

      I agree with you on the folks getting out of the military -- a lot of them know they have benefits coming to them, but just don't know how to get them. From Vet Certs, to proving disabilities of 30% or more can be like jumping through hoops. I am by no means an expert on all of that, but I do know the people that are, which I hope at least puts one more ribbon on my uniform as a hard working real estate agent.

      Although I have never been in the military myself, I do respect and appreciate those that do serve, and I hope educating myself, and putting myself out there to help those wanting to use the benefits coming to them is appreciated. As I have said previously, the articles on on Texas Veterans benefits get a LOT traffic from visitors searching Google and other search engines, Yet I am currently only working with 3 Vets, and hopefully 2 more by the Fall when their deployments end. Even though I have let the cat out of the bag that Tex Vets do not need an agent to buy the auctioned land, I do welcome the questions by phone or email just the same. This is not a TOP SECRET mission, naturally my intentions are to provide a service even some for free, and hope that when friends or family are looking to buy or sell real estate my name is at the top of the list.
    • John
      Roger that. Will comply. That was what I needed. All I was looking for was the "mission essentials" for a successful victory plan in this venture. Now I got a mission:)

      Alot of people get out of military with no clue of how to function in this economy. Not alot of people care. It can take years to find the right people to translate life in this fiat system and the profoundly buerocratic tech talk with obstacles.

      Thanks for your help. Many blessings and promotion in your business.
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