West Texas ghost town hits the market for $100,000 less than the average price of a home in the area
A small West Texas ghost town with an old motel, restaurant, post office and gas station that was used as a watering hole in the 1800s goes on the market for $100,000.
The unusual opportunity comes after a group of German friends who bought the house twenty-two years ago hoped to sell the remote town to a buyer with “vision.”
Lobo is located in a remote corner of the Lone Star State, just off Route Texas 90, 130 miles southeast of El Paso, 15 miles east of the Rio Grande, and 57 miles from the desert city of Marfa.
The town, which spans 10 acres, is home to several former business buildings, including a few surviving buildings such as a grocery store, post office, motel, gas station, restaurant, along with a few other homes and buildings, according to the real estate listing.
The $100,000 asking price is well below the median home price in the state of Texas, which is currently $341,300.
In San Antonio, Texas’ second largest city, the median price for a family home is $274,000.
Lobo is in the heart of the desert, in a remote area that has never seen a population of more than 100 people in nearly a century
The town was finally abandoned in 1991 when the last residents had to leave for personal reasons before a group of German friends bought the place
A hotel in Lobo is depicted in a photograph from the mid-1800s
Located 210 miles southeast of El Paso, 57 miles away from the desert town of Marfa, the ghost town in Lobo, Texas has been put on the market for $100,000
The German friends from Frankfurt first bought the small town in November 2001 and started rebuilding different parts of the city.
For the next two decades, the property played host to art exhibitions, film screenings, and music events.
Desert Dust Cinema was one of the small short film festivals that took place. During the event, people gather to watch movies and enjoy live music and art shows.
Now that the friends are older, the group say they find it challenging to maintain the land and want to sell the land to someone who would appreciate the quirky nature of the offer.
“We are now too old to continue our efforts to maintain the buildings and 10 acres of land and would like to sell Lobo to someone who appreciates the special character of ‘our’ little ghost town,” they write in their ad.
“You come back after a year and things are destroyed, and then you have to start over,” Alexander Bardorff, one of Lobo’s owners, told me. Texas monthly.
‘I’ll be seventy in a month and all my other friends are in Germany, so we’re running out of energy.
The town would hold a regular film festival, the Desert Dust Cinema Festival
The remote location has played host to a number of art and film festivals
Desert Dust Cinema saw people visiting the area for something different
Spanning 4 acres, the town is home to several former business buildings, including a few surviving buildings such as a grocery store, post office, motel, gas station, restaurant, along with a few other homes and buildings.
The inside of the gas station could be a fun location for a bar – possibly?
The buildings are now all boarded up and ready for new owners to take over and renovate
Lobo is about as remote as you can imagine, in the middle of the desert in West Texas
The entire 10-acre plot of land, complete with buildings, is for sale for $100,000
A star-shaped fire pit can be seen next to a dilapidated swimming pool
Quite a bit of maintenance and renovation would be required for any prospective buyer
“We’re not just trying to make a profit. We’d like to find a group of people who want to do something interesting,” Bardoff said. “We hope to find a buyer with a lot of energy, stamina, motivation and an interesting vision for the future of Lobo.”
The name Lobo refers to wolves that used to roam the area and cause trouble.
The town rose to prominence between 1850 and 1860, when Lobo became a stop on the San Antonio to San Diego mail route.
In the 1880s it became a watering hole and depot for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1882.
In 1914, Lobo had a population of just 20, but the town grew and by 1962 was home to 90 people despite two powerful earthquakes that sent people away.
The whole town needs a lot of work to restore its features, including the swimming pool
The pool is seen during better days when the city would attract visitors
During the festival, the pool was used as a pit for a band to play
A roadside sign was once used to welcome visitors coming from far away
A disused motel is just one of the buildings included in the package
There are a number of outbuildings, but no one lives in the town full time
Weathered metal structures in the abandoned town of Lobo, south of Van Horn on US 90 in Culberson County, Texas
Eventually, a drop in groundwater levels meant that the city could no longer support its population or local businesses.
The relocation of the city’s train station was the final death knell.
As the town began to fade, a man named Bill Christ bought the town in 1969, opened a new gas station and general store.
Christ continued to own the town for another 22 years until 1991, when he was forced to sell it due to “crime and personal problems,” according to the property’s website.
While Lobo needs some work, the sellers believe it still has potential as a desert art center or perhaps a nature lover’s retreat.
An ‘open city’ event will be held over Memorial Day weekend, allowing potential buyers to come and experience the city for themselves.