Summer 2016

TEXAS LAND / Profile
Robertson counties.
“He called and said he had a client who was interested in
selling several ranches north of Houston,” Faust said. “As it
turned out, there were 12 ranches on 11,000 acres that were
basically contiguous, divided only by the Navasota River.”
The owners, who were foreign nationals, purchased the
ranch land in 1983 and now were ready to sell. The deal’s
challenge became evident when Faust began trying to
determine all the property boundaries without any plats or
surveys. He decided to open the title and turned to another
former client in the title business. Faust had built several of the
title company’s business offices in Houston. As fate would have
it, Faust’s former client had closed on the properties in 1983.
“My job got instantly easier,” Faust said.
The Senator Ranch properties sold quickly to buyers in
Houston and Bryan/College Station.
“As ranch brokers, we have to be good stewards,” he said.
“Point out the good and the bad of properties, but if there are
negative issues, then suggest a solution to the sellers. In the
long run, this helps the sellers—and the eventual buyers.”
LOVE OF THE LAND
Faust was reared in Houston, but spent almost every
weekend with his parents on a 40-acre property
near Brenham that his father had purchased through
a veteran’s land loan program.
“My dad was a master craftsman, we built
everything ourselves,” Faust said.
Although the pace of the work and location of the property
didn’t provide Faust a lot of opportunity for hunting and
fishing, two lifelong passions, it did give him country roots and
demonstrate the value of improving land.
“I’ve never been sentimental about land, although that
property in Brenham, held a lot of good memories,” Faust said.
“I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of buying something that
was rough around the edges, improving it and then selling it so I
could start over on another piece of property.”
While Faust has an affinity for the lakes and rivers of the
Hill Country and the diversity of wildlife and vegetation in
South Texas, he has recently embraced the splendor of West
Texas. He purchased a ranch 65 miles due east of El Paso,
where the “views and vistas and sunrises and sunsets are
like nowhere else.”
“Although there’s a learning curve to the new environment,
it’s an exciting venture,” he said. “It’s amazing to be there when
a storm rolls in, dumps some rain and then you see what that
country can do with a little rainfall.
The chance to see the country express its potential
continues to draw him to the land as does the value of owning
a tangible asset.
“I can look back over 40 years of business experience and
honestly say that all of my wise investments have involved
real estate,” Faust said. “When you can own property and
enjoy it from a recreational standpoint and see the investment
flourish over time there’s not a better return on your money.”
And then there’s the people. He is serving as president
of the Texas Alliance of Land Brokers, which represents
more than 300 professionals in the field. Several of the eight
founding members still attend every monthly meeting serving
as just one more reminder of the quality of people who are
connected to the land.
“Spending my life helping people buy and sell ranches
is as enjoyable as anything I can imagine,” Faust said. “The
reason I enjoy it so much is the caliber of people—I don’t
think you can find that in any other industry.”
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