One of the single most important parts of buying a ranch is communication. One of the best ways to make that communication work to accomplish your goals is to find a quality ranch broker who knows how to not only understand your goals, your lifelong aspirations and vison but to take that knowledge and connect you to the right ranch. In that Ranch Broker you are searching for the right drive, the right set of strengths, the right set of knowledge and most of all the depth to not only get you on the right property but to get you through the issues along the way through to a successful closing.
Dedicated Ranch brokers strive to be in the know, working every day to know the next landowner, to know what is on the market, or in today’s very popular ranch buying market, they are concentrated on what might be coming on the market. Success for a ranch broker is defined by “you eat what you kill” making each transaction extremely important. Bottom line to a dedicated ranch broker they are all, every single transaction important. I grew up in the outfitting business my wife and I owning outdoor adventure companies in Alaska, Montana, Colorado and Texas, the mantra of our company was no matter how tired you are, to this client, this is always their big day. The ranch company is very similar, no matter the size of the deal. To that ranch buyer many times it is the culmination of a lifetime’s efforts. That ranch acquisition, big or small, is a lifetime of effort, a lifetime of goals, a chance to build a family legacy, the investment they have strived to afford. It comes back to the saying never judge a book by the cover, for a land broker truer words have never been spoken. When you take on the responsibility to work with clients who often become friends, that effort to pursue selling a family legacy or helping the person trying to establish one. Each transaction, each marketing effort, each and every tour is a chance to make an indelible impact on a life, a dream, a reality.
Many dedicated ranch brokers represent a lifetime of achievements, a lifetime of commitment a lifetime of experience that led to a much better understanding. An understanding of a multitude of issues faced in not only finding the right ranch but in helping you to secure that ranch and its assets. The list of issues is long, but they quickly become less daunting when you have the right person who brings knowledge of key points such as water rights, conservation easements, mitigation benefits, river restoration, grazing improvements, big game licensing, wildlife herd migrations, regional regulations, to mineral rights and historic drought conditions.
One of the biggest laughs we have in this business is the line “I have a guy” if one thing is a standout on a dedicated ranch broker is that person being the source of the source. No ranch broker has ALL the knowledge, and a good one will let you know when they do not have that knowledge, that is when the line “I know a guy” comes to life. Having a broker who is smart enough to tell you “I don’t know” is as or more important than the person who stives to have every answer.
As I was writing this article and looking at what really does build a good to great land broker, I realize how tied this language, this thought process, this determination is to RLI, Realtor Land Institute. RLI is built on producing better brokers, better people, and better results. As owner of M4 Ranch Group and the current president of Colorado RLI I am so fortunate to not only see my agents, my partners and even my son strive to be great in this business but I get to see truly dedicated men and women who care deeply about tis business, about their relationships, about their integrity coupled with their continued pursuit of education, always striving to be better, to know more or to “know a guy”.
