Overcoming Expertise Barriers

Decide on your specialty – We believe the best foundation for finding your niche is to go with what comes naturally to you and what you have plenty of life experience with. It’s imperative that you have confidence in your ability to market and represent the real estate and the clients you choose to work with.

Find your mentor - Find someone that does what you want to do, really well, and join them. Rural real estate will throw you a new curve on a weekly and, sometimes, even daily basis.  If you can align yourself with a solid team and/or an experienced Broker within your specialty, you’ll remove the majority of the risk factor and frustration for everyone involved just from their experience and willingness to help.  Nothing is more exhausting than having an inexperienced Broker floundering on one side of a land deal that doesn’t know how to troubleshoot, problem solve, and keep everyone moving in a positive direction, causing one side to do most of the work in the best interest of their own clients.

Take Courses - Organizations like RLI provide courses, like those part of their LANDU Education Program, that can give new agents the expertise they need to get started and thrive in the land industry as an agent. Make sure to seek out these opportunities and to continue learning throughout your career.

Overcoming Cost Barrier

Vehicle/Fuel costs – If you choose a niche that you’re already living, chances are you have the appropriate vehicle.  Just clean it up and make it presentable. Again, if you join a team, they may have a company UTV available for showing properties. Fuels costs can be somewhat alleviated by having a plan in place to pre-qualify your buyers as far as their wants and needs and their ability to finance. Don’t waste your time in a truck with someone that doesn’t have the stack to purchase the properties they’re asking to see.

Marketing costs within a team can be shared and the experienced Broker can advise a new agent on what works and what doesn’t saving a lot of unnecessary output. Your team or established Broker will usually have a marketing plan in place with appropriate websites and subscriptions that come with no added cost to their Brokers.

Land real estate allows us to make a living at something we’re made of.  It gives us the ability to spend our work days with people that love the same way of life as we do.  It’s absolutely rewarding and can sometimes be brutally hard. Just be prepared to gather more lifelong friends than you could ever imagine, and be sure you protect and treat every one of them like they’re family.  Submerse yourself in education and always do the right thing and you’ll have an amazing career in land real estate!

About The Author: Clint Flowers, ALC, is the top producer nationwide at National Land Realty, a member of the REALTORS® Land Institute, their RLI Alabama Chapter, and the Chair of their 2019 Future Leaders Committee. He was the NLR Top Producer Nationwide in 2016, 2017, and 2018. He also won the 2017 APEX National Broker of the Year award for Timberland and was in the 2018 APEX Producers Club.

About The Author: Lisa Johnson, ALC, is the Owner/Principal Broker at Horsepower Real Estate. Specializing in Farms, Ranches, and Equestrian Properties in Western Oregon, her and her team of land Brokers are among the top rural agents in the area. Lisa is a member of the RLI Pacific Northwest Chapter, and a 2019 Future Leaders Committee member.