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 |
|---|