Located 130 miles southeast of El Paso and 57 miles away from the artsy desert city of Marfa, this ghost town in Lobo, Texas just went on the market for less than many houses in the region. The property is buried in the heart of the desert, a remote area which for nearly a century has never housed a population greater than 100 people. The town became fully abandoned in 1991 when the last of its residents headed for greener pastures, and what happened next was truly remarkable…

In 2001, having sat abandoned and mouldering for the better part of a decade, the ghost town was bought by a group of artists and friends from Frankfurt, Germany. “One of my friends drove by it in 1999, so we pooled our money and bought the town,” Alexander Bardorff, one of the town’s owners, told Texas Monthly of the group’s unusual purchase. Just two years later, the gang had scraped together the necessary funds to set about creating their own bohemia.

When the group bought the 10-acre property, it comprised a few houses and outbuildings, as well as a former motel, a grocery store and post office, a former gas station and a restaurant. The entire layout was ideally suited for the friends to have their own spaces – a private, rustic cottage where they could work on their respective projects – as well as larger spaces that could be adapted for communal purposes.

While the Frankfurters refused to disclose how much they initially paid for the town, the property certainly needed a substantial investment to make it habitable again. The group dug new wells, refurbished the remaining buildings with new roofs and windows, and even installed a bathhouse – pictured here with numerous shower stalls and a large communal sink - to accommodate for the lack of facilities in the cottages. 

After some much-needed TLC, Lobo became a bohemian mecca, the perfect place for the group of artists to ‘get away from it all.’ For nearly 20 years, the German friendship group used the patched-up town to host a variety of music and film festivals, inviting artists from all over the world to come and stay. This picture from the property’s heyday shows the gang making the most of the pool, the perfect community watering hole in the West Texas heat.

For the group of artistic ex-pats, the remote town was a dream come true – the perfect place to escape the world, enjoy each other’s company and simply create. Many of the commune’s common spaces are still intact, including this rec room with its large pool table, kitchen and bar space, suggesting that the town is just waiting to welcome the next generation of reclusive artists.

However, Lobo needed almost constant upkeep, and since nobody lived on the property year-round, the Frankfurters were faced with an uphill battle to keep the town operable. “You come back after a year and things have been destroyed, and then you have to start over again,” Bardorff explained.

This, coupled with the constant fear of running out of water familiar to all Texans, meant that Lobo was not quite as idyllic in reality as it might appear on paper. As maintenance fees and drought anxieties mounted, the friends’ energy began to flag, and the property that had once been an artist’s dream began to slowly devolve into a landlord’s nightmare.

With Lobo rapidly nearing its 17th birthday, the German cohort, most of whom have returned home to Frankfurt, have finally decided to cut ties with the town and have placed it back on the market for just $100,000 (£80.2k). The town’s buildings have been stripped to the studs and now sit largely empty and unfurnished in preparation for the sale.

However, while the group may be ready to sell, they aren’t willing to part ways with the beloved property to just anyone. "We’re hoping to find a buyer with lots of energy, endurance, motivation and an interesting vision for Lobo’s future," Bardorff told Narcity.

"We will consider all offers, taking into account not only the sales price but also the buyer’s vision." With so much history and potential, “we don’t want to sell Lobo just to someone for the water rights, or as grazing land,” Bardorff emphasised.

Indeed, the dream of the bohemian paradise once created appears to be dying hard with Bardorff in particular, which explains, at least in part, the low list price. “We are not just trying to make a profit,” he told Texas Monthly, an unusual assertion from any real estate owner. “We would like to find a group of people that want to do something interesting out there. Not necessarily what we did, but some idea.”

In an effort to attract the right kind of buyer, the friend group is hosting one last hurrah at Lobo on Memorial Day Weekend, and have encouraged potential buyers and curious parties alike to come and experience all that the town has to offer. “They can camp for free. They can use the bathhouse. Just enjoy being out in the desert, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the solitude,” Bardorff explained.

And, while it could definitely use another round of TLC, it's not hard to see through the dust to the property’s tremendous potential. “This place is not for everyone, for sure," the listing reads. "But campfire under the stars, isolation but still within a 20-minute highway drive to a grocery store, gas stations, and a McDonald's, this place is way out there and only for the 'way out there.'"

So, if you’re in the market for your very own Texas ghost town, a place to retreat from the world or establish an international artists’ colony, look no further than Lobo. Rich with history and packed with potential, this dusty old town is just waiting for someone to breathe new life into its buildings!

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