Of the nine parcels on the OneHome search, only one is adjacent to an existing Walhus property, has Cedar Creek frontage, and already has a working tiny-cabin demo on it. The asking price is unrealistic — but the owner's basis is roughly $60K, which means there is real negotiating room. The other large parcels are pure dirt at five to ten times that basis.
Direct neighbor to 180 Ladybug Lane — Paul's home and rental complex. Same Leverence subdivision survey. Operational synergy from day one: shared management, shared eyes on the property, single drive between sites.
Real creek frontage on Cedar Creek — the amenity the larger Hwy 304 and FM 535 parcels do not have. That's the kind of feature people pay rent premiums for and that anchors a community brand.
Currently on shared neighborhood well — a new well could be drilled to give the parcel its own capacity. Septic is a composting toilet today; an aerobic OSSF would be required for multi-occupant use. Both are known-cost, known-permit items in Bastrop.
A tiny cabin previously run as a successful Airbnb is already there. That's a working prototype of the Alpine Innovation Village concept on the exact land we'd build on — and immediate income to offset carry while the bigger play develops.
Make an offer in the $70–95K band against the owner's $60K basis. Close in 45 days. Keep the cabin running as Airbnb income while site-planning the larger village around the connected acreage.
Bastrop County continues to absorb Austin spillover. Inventory thins, basis prices climb, and the leverage we have today on a 122-DOM listing with a $60K-basis owner is structurally gone.
13 modular container live-work units · Affordability Unlocked compliant · ~$1.92M total development cost. The industrial / cargo-architecture rendering of the village concept — proof of the unit math and the financial model.
Affordable live-work homes and shared spaces for hardware hackers, makers, entrepreneurs, artists, digital nomads and freelancers. Live · Work · Create · Belong. The community + culture treatment of the same village.
Sixteen years of hackathons, community experiences, and live-work development in Austin. Founder of Tiny Hacker House (since 2010). The track-record sheet that says this JV has the right operator on it.
For honest comparison: every parcel on the OneHome saved search, scored against the same twelve-criterion small-home-village rubric. This is how we know 183 Clover Road isn't the answer just because it's next door — it's the answer once you weight adjacency, creek frontage, owner basis, and existing-cabin income alongside acreage, septic, and zoning. The big dirt parcels are still in the working set as Phase-2 village sites.
We're not buying a ranch. We're buying a parcel that can hold a dozen small homes, a community building, a shared shop, a garden, and septic / water capacity for a multi-family use that has to last decades.
The rubric is tuned for things most listings don't tell you: zoning posture, county-level deed restrictions, soil percolation potential, distance to grid power, slope and floodplain exposure, road frontage, and the friendliness of the immediate neighborhood to a 10–20 unit cluster.
A parcel that scores 5/5 on view-from-the-porch can still score 1/5 on "can you legally put thirteen homes on it." We weight the legal and infrastructure criteria the hardest — those are the killshots.
The killshot. If the parcel sits inside a deed-restricted subdivision that caps homes-per-acre or bans rentals, the village is illegal before it starts. Bastrop County unincorporated is generally permissive; Travis County varies.
5 · unrestricted/ag · 3 · light HOA · 1 · strict subdivision deed
Enough land for 10–20 small units + 30% buffer for septic, drives, common areas, setbacks. 5–25 ac, roughly rectangular is ideal. Below 4 ac you can't fit a real village.
5 · 8–20 ac, square-ish · 3 · 4–7 ac or odd shape · 1 · <3 ac or strip
Each home needs septic (or a shared aerobic system). Sandy-loam percolates; heavy clay or rock fails. Bastrop soils trend favorable. Look for prior perc results or existing OSSF.
5 · perc'd & approved · 3 · likely OK · 1 · failed perc
Municipal water (Aqua TX, Aqua Water Supply) = best. Well = drilling + maintenance + multi-home capacity. Each parcel here has a "Water" flag in the listing — verify what that means (meter? line? well?) before offer.
5 · municipal tap · 3 · proven well · 1 · no water
Bluebonnet Electric covers most of Bastrop. Pole within 100 ft of build site = cheap; a half-mile run = $20K+.
5 · pole on parcel · 3 · within 200 ft · 1 · long run
Paved county frontage = drivable in any weather + emergency access + USPS pickup. Highway 304 frontage (parcels 3, 4, 5) = great access but road-noise tradeoff. FM 535 = paved.
5 · paved frontage · 3 · caliche easement · 1 · undefined
FEMA Zone X = good. Zone A/AE = elevated builds + flood insurance. Walter Hoffman Rd and the Hwy 304 cluster need FEMA checks — they're near drainages.
5 · Zone X · 3 · partial · 1 · majority A
Cedar Creek & Bastrop are 25–40 min SE of central Austin. Hwy 304 parcels are deeper into Bastrop County (40–50 min). FM 535 corridor is closest to ABIA.
5 · <30 min · 3 · 30–50 · 1 · >60
Ranchland or low-density residential = good. Industrial, feedlot, quarry, planned highway widening = noise and falling resale. Check satellite view + Bastrop CAD.
5 · rural/residential · 3 · mixed · 1 · industrial
Heritage oaks add character but limit footprint. Steep slopes drive grading costs. Rolling parcels with mixed cover ideal.
5 · rolling, mixed · 3 · heavily wooded · 1 · steep / bare
Bastrop unimproved comp band ~$15–35K/ac unimproved, $40–70K improved. Several listings here are 4–8× comp because they're <2 ac (small-lot premium); those aren't village-scale anyway.
5 · <comp · 3 · at comp · 1 · 30%+ over
Bastrop unincorporated is permissive — septic permits via county OSSF + on-site sewage inspections. Cedar Creek 78617 ZIP straddles into Travis County (Del Valle area) — check ETJ.
5 · unincorp, no ETJ · 3 · some ETJ · 1 · in city limits
| Address / MLS # | Acres | Price | City · County | H₂O | C1 Zon | C2 Acre | C3 Sept | C4 H₂O | C5 Elec | C6 Road | C7 Flood | C8 ATX | C9 Adj | C10 Trees | C11 $/ac | C12 Perm | Score | Verdict |
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