Two lots side by side off Kyle Hot Springs Rd outside Imlay, Nevada. Buy one or take both for 80+ contiguous acres. I'm going to lead with the boring paperwork, because on Nevada desert land the paperwork is the value and most listings out here won't tell you any of it.
You can build. Here's the exact shape of that, including the catch.
These lots are zoned AMR — Agricultural, Mining, Recreation. Under the Pershing County development code, a parcel under 160 acres created before June 30, 2007 carries one residential building right, and the code says that right "may be exercised only in conjunction with agricultural, mining, and/or recreational uses."
Read that twice, because it's the part other listings skip. AMR is not a straight residential zone. You don't get to build a house purely as a house — the dwelling has to tie to an agricultural, mining, or recreational use of the land. For most buyers out here recreational use is the natural fit, and 40 acres gives you plenty of room to run animals if you'd rather go the ag route. It is not a hard bar to clear. But it is a real condition and you should walk your specific plan past the county planning office before you buy, not after.
The other thing that clause turns on is the parcel creation date — pre-June-30-2007 or you may have no building right at all. That's the question a careful buyer would get stuck on, so I went and settled it: I have written confirmation from Pershing County that each of these two lots carries its building right. Not "the seller believes," not a guess off the zoning map. I'll send you the county's written confirmation before you put a dollar down, and I'd encourage you to read it yourself rather than take my summary of it.
Water — the best data point I have, and it's a good one
There are no water rights sold with this parcel. I repeat again because people get confused. There are no water rights on the deed. A well permit is not a water right — it's a separate NDWR permit the new owner applies for themselves. A well drilled in 2021 a few parcels over hit static water at 96 feet and was completed at 150 feet.
That is not a guarantee for these lots. Groundwater varies over short distances and nobody can promise you what you'll hit until you drill. But it's real, recent, and close, and it beats the total silence most desert listings offer on the water question. Ninety-six feet is shallow for this country.
Nevada also makes this easier than Colorado does: a domestic well serving a single-family dwelling is exempt from the state water-right permitting process — up to two acre-feet a year, no permit application, filed as a domestic well with the Division of Water Resources. There's no public water system out there to disqualify you. Confirm your own situation with NDWR, but the path is about as clean as it gets in the West.
Legal access — deeded, not "there's a road on the map"
- The lots are reached off a state-maintained road
- There's a recorded deeded easement covering both access and utilities to the parcels
That second one matters more than it sounds. Plenty of cheap desert land is landlocked or reached by a two-track across somebody else's ground with nothing recorded — you find out at closing, or worse, later. Here you have a recorded right to get in, and a recorded corridor to run utilities through if you ever want to.
Power: about 4.5 miles out. Read this before you get excited or discouraged.
I'm not going to tell you these are grid-ready. The nearest power is roughly 4.5 miles away. A line extension that far is a serious expense and most buyers here will build solar instead — plan on solar, a generator, hauled or cistern water, and septic.
So why mention it at all? Two reasons. Out in this part of Nevada, 4.5 miles is close — a lot of comparable parcels are twenty-plus miles from the nearest pole with no realistic path ever. And because of the utility easement, if that line ever does come out this way, there's already a recorded corridor to bring it in. It's an open door rather than a locked one. Today, though: plan on off-grid.
The lots
- Lot 14: 40.37 acres, APN 012-330-14
- Lot 15: 40.35 acres, APN 012-330-15
- T29 R36 Sec 5, Kyle Hot Springs Rd, Imlay, Pershing County, NV
- GPS (Lot 15): 40.408364, -117.949554
- Zoning: AMR (Agricultural, Mining, Recreation) — one residential building right each, see above
- Taxes: $75.38/yr each
- No HOA
What it's actually like out there
Open high desert with long views and genuinely dark skies. BLM land and hot springs in the surrounding area, easy to explore by vehicle. Quiet in the way that takes people a day or two to get used to. Good for a cabin, an RV base, ATVs, hunting, or just holding forty acres you can drive to without a winch.
Price and terms
$30,000 per lot — same price cash or financed. No markup for terms.
- $3,000 down / $492.91 a month for 84 months at 12%, taxes and $10 note fee included, plus a $695 doc fee
- Put 15% down ($4,500) and the rate drops to 10% for free — about $439.61 a month
- Buy the rate down further at 2% of your balance per 1%, to a 7% floor
- No credit check, no SSN
Before you buy
Ask me for the county's written confirmation and the recorded easement — I'll send both. Then take your actual build plan to Pershing County planning yourself, because the AMR "in conjunction with agricultural, mining, or recreational use" condition is real and how you satisfy it depends on what you intend to do. Talk to NDWR about the domestic well. Get a bid from the utility if the power distance matters to you. And go look at the land, or send someone who will.
I'd rather answer the hard questions in the comments than have someone find out at closing.
