I’d been circling the idea of my own land since early 2021 — not shopping seriously, just watching, thinking about it. After leaving the 30 acres that had been home for nearly a decade, I knew I didn’t want that much land to manage on my own again. A good 2 acres would do it. A sweet little house that just needed some TLC would’ve been a bonus.

I’d also been familiar with this area’s local economy for close to 20 years, going back to working near Rodeo, New Mexico starting in 2006. I knew this region was never going to reliably produce the income to support a big mortgage. This household has been, and will likely always be, a single-income household. So whatever I bought had to make sense against that reality, not against what a bank would approve me for.

That circling turned into actually looking in February of 2025.

Here’s what nobody tells you about looking under $100k: agents ghost you. Repeatedly. I’d reach out, get a nibble of interest, and then nothing — no callback, no follow-up, sometimes not even a response to a direct question.

The worst of it was a foreclosure property, shown to me by a realtor. I was working directly with a lending agent — trying to nail down the cost, what information she could actually provide me, the basics you’d need before making an offer. That part went fine. But when it came time to find out from the listing agent/real estate “professional” who was responsible for turning on the utilities for inspection, she vanished. Five calls. Not one returned. The property ended up going to auction instead. In hindsight, I’m relieved I didn’t get that place — but that doesn’t make the silence okay. Five calls and nothing back isn’t how I operate, and it isn’t how anyone should operate when someone’s trying to hand you money.

That wasn’t a one-off. It was the pattern with agent after agent, property after property: if the number wasn’t big enough to matter to them, I wasn’t worth a callback. A lot of real estate “professionals” out here act like their commission is the only thing on the table — not the deal, not the customer, not their own reputation. I spent years in high-end retail in New York and Telluride. I understand commission. It has never once been my only motivator. I like it when everyone walks away happy with what they bought and what they sold. That’s apparently a rare standard.

At some point I just thought, fuck it. I don’t need a middleman who isn’t going to do the work anyway. I can build this myself, & be free and clear, in 4-5 years — without dealing with any of it.

So I started sourcing land myself — driving it, calling on it directly, doing the legwork nobody else would.

I closed on two adjacent parcels in Sunsites, with 360-degree views of the valley and surrounding mountain ranges, in August 2025.

That’s when the next issue started: figuring out how to do this legally. Cochise County land code varies by zoning, like anywhere — and my first steps weren’t about the house at all. They were about the ground under it.

Ironically, since finding and improving my own land, I’ve met a wonderful local real estate agent — someone I feel lucky enough to call a friend now. Proof that the good ones exist, even after everything above.