Every week, a county office in Nebraska publishes a list of who bought and sold land. The latest one covers Friday, Sept. 25 to Friday, Oct. 2, and it comes from the Dawson County Register of Deeds in Lexington. The list is short, dry and oddly useful: nine transactions, each with the buyer, the seller, a legal description of the land and a dollar figure.
So what are you actually looking at? According to 1340 KGFW, which published the Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 batch and credited Brian Neben of Central Nebraska Today, the Register of Deeds released the weekly real estate transactions from that period. The weekly list is that release, sorted by week.
Why the legal descriptions look like that
Each entry describes the parcel in the language of the survey system, not a street address. "Lot 4 and the East 40.5 feet of Lot 5, Block 3, Suburban Third Subdivision to the City of Cozad" pins down an exact strip of ground. Rural parcels go further: "the Southwest Quarter of the Southwest Quarter of Section 5, Township 10 North, Range 19 West of the 6th P.M." That is the wording as it appears in the recorded descriptions. This connects to our earlier piece, Green yachting technology: where the industry actually stands on emissions.
For a newcomer, the useful habit is to read the description before the price. It tells you whether you are looking at a town lot, a subdivision plot or a farm tract. This week's list has all three: lots in Cozad, Gothenburg and Lexington, plus open tracts described only by section and township.
What the dollar figures mean
Most entries on this list carry a modest number followed by the word "revenue": $531.20, $823.36, $268.92, $680.60, $713.80, $438.24, $906.36. The source lists these as revenue figures, not sale prices. The largest figure on the list is $3,652.00, for Lot 22, Crapple Corner, Johnson Lake, sold by Zane D. Malcolm and Jocelyn J. Malcom to Jerome R. Fast and Deborah S. Fast. The source's legal description places that lot in Section 32, Township 9 North, Range 22 West of the 6th P.M., Dawson County.
The plain reading: these numbers are what the record shows, and the record says what it says. Treat the figures as filing data. If you need the underlying sale price, the deed document itself, not the weekly summary, is the place to look.
Who sold, who bought
The Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 list, as released by the Register of Deeds and published by KGFW:
- Leland Spanjer and Elaine G. Spanjer to Eric Ide and Meggan Ide — Lot 4 and the East 40.5 feet of Lot 5, Block 3, Suburban Third Subdivision to the City of Cozad, $1,085.64.
- Rex Crisman to Jace J. Barker — Lot 6, Block 11, West Lawn Addition to the City of Gothenburg, $531.20 revenue.
- Lea Ann Stephenson, successor trustee of the Laird Living Trust, to Amaya Groves — a tract in the Southwest Corner of the Northeast Quarter of Section 2, Township 10, Range 24 West, $823.36 revenue.
- Jose E. Lopez to Sindy Michelle Giron Alvarado — Lot 20, Block 8, Gatewood's Addition to the Original Town, now City of Cozad, $268.92 revenue.
- Timothy D. Schoneman and Kim R. Schoneman to Juan Enrique Lucas Rafael — Lot 3, Mesa Addition to the City of Lexington, $680.60 revenue.
- Vernon Thompson, Jr., personal representative of the Estate of Vernon E. Thompson, Sr., to Steven Applegarth and Laura L. Applegrath — a tract in the Southwest Quarter of the Southwest Quarter of Section 5, Township 10 North, Range 19 West, $713.80 revenue.
- Zane D. Malcolm and Jocelyn J. Malcom to Jerome R. Fast and Deborah S. Fast — Lot 22, Crapple Corner, Johnson Lake, $3,652.00 revenue.
- Lilliana E. Shannon to Jose A. Gomez — Lot 5, Block 3, Toberer's Second Subdivision to the City of Cozad, $438.24 revenue.
- David Freese to Ivan Sandoval and Aime Sandoval — Lot 8, Block 4, St. Ann's Second Addition, an addition to the City of Lexington, $906.36 revenue.
Two entries stand out for how the seller is named. One transfer comes through a living trust, with Lea Ann Stephenson acting as successor trustee. Another comes through an estate, with Vernon Thompson, Jr. acting as personal representative for his late father. The weekly list records both the same way. Readers following this should also see Boot Düsseldorf opens its 2026 halls: nine days, one indoor fleet.
How to use a list like this
If you own land in the county, the list is a neighborliness tool: it shows who moved in down the section road. If you are watching a market, it is a starting point, not a conclusion. Nine transactions in a week, spread across three towns and several rural tracts, is a snapshot of recorded deeds, and nothing more. The figures are dated to the filing week; next Friday's list will be a different set.
The one water-adjacent entry is the Johnson Lake lot. The parcel is defined by a plat name, in this case Crapple Corner, and that is as far as the record takes the story.
What the evidence established: nine recorded transfers in Dawson County between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2, with buyers, sellers, legal descriptions and the revenue figures as listed. What it does not establish: sale prices, terms, or anything about the properties beyond their legal descriptions. For that, the deeds themselves sit at the courthouse in Lexington.
