(Real Estate) - The family behind home-building titan D.R. Horton is putting one of America’s largest ranches on the market for a staggering $142 million.
The Great Western Ranch, a colossal 500,000-acre spread in New Mexico, is now up for grabs — offering more space than the entire city of Houston, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The move comes just months after the death of D.R. Horton’s founder, Donald Ray Horton, and signals the family’s readiness to part with their rural empire. The ranch is near Quemado, close to the Arizona border — roughly 150 miles west of Albuquerque.
This sprawling estate isn’t just a random plot of land — it’s a fortress of cowboy heritage and prime real estate.
The Hortons, known for their massive home-building empire, pieced together the ranch by snapping up three adjacent properties over the last decade.
The first chunk alone, 293,000 acres, set them back $59 million in 2014.
It’s an operational cattle ranch with about 1,900 cow-calf pairs currently roaming the land. A buyer can even pick up around 900 cows as part of the deal.
The Great Western is a treasure trove of history and natural beauty, too.
There are Native American archaeological sites scattered across the ranch, including ancient stone dwellings, petroglyphs, and countless pottery shards, Jeff Buerger of Hall and Hall, the listing agent, told the Journal. (As it stands, the offering is located near Navajo nation, as well as the famed Acoma Pueblo.)
And when the sun sets, the night sky is nothing short of a celestial show. “You feel like you’re on another planet when you look at the stars,” Buerger told the outlet.
The property also comes loaded with eight homes, including a guest lodge and a ranch manager’s house, plus all the fixings you need for serious ranching — wells, barns, corrals and even an equipment shop.
The ranch is also a hunting paradise, leased to Black Mountain Outfitters for trophy hunting.
Living on the Great Western Ranch is like stepping into a different world, according to Jason Saulan, who oversees the Horton family’s ranch portfolio.
“I don’t know what the opposite of claustrophobia is, but that’s the feeling you get,” Saulan told the outlet, recalling his time living on the property. “We lived up on top of a hill, and we could see 28 miles to St. John, Ariz.”
D.R. Horton has been America’s biggest home builder by sales volume since 2002, and the Horton legacy is rooted deep in the South. Founded in 1978 by Donald Ray Horton, the company has built homes for millions, but it’s clear their heart was also in the vast open spaces of the American West.
With its combination of large-scale beef production and trophy hunting, Buerger says, the Horton family’s New Mexico ranch is rare.
Last year, a smaller ranch in New Mexico occupying 16,700 acres sold for $44 million. But with this deal, the Horton family is aiming to set a new high score in the ranching game.
And while 500,000 acres is a massive amount land, the title for the largest ranch in the United States goes to the King Ranch in South Texas, which spans a jaw-dropping 825,000 acres.
By Mary Jacob
August 16, 2024
