February 28, 2025 • 58 mins
In this episode of the American Landseller Podcast, we sit down with David Light, Chief Development Officer of the Land Broker Co-op and Publisher of the Land Broker MLS Magazine. David has played a pivotal role in transforming the land brokerage industry by empowering brokers and agents with greater control over their listings, marketing, and data.
We explore how the Land Broker Co-op, the only broker/agent-owned cooperative in the land industry, is changing the game for rural real estate professionals. David shares insights into the evolution of land MLS platforms, the challenges and opportunities facing land brokers today, and the future of digital marketing in real estate. We also discuss the impact of Land Broker MLS Magazine, its role in showcasing premier rural properties, and how technology continues to shape the land sales landscape.
If you’re a land broker, investor, or real estate professional, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!
🔔 Subscribe for more expert insights on land brokerage!
🌐 Learn more about Land Broker Co-op: www.landbrokermls.com
🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast platform!
#LandBrokerCoop #LandMLS #RuralRealEstate #LandBrokerage #RealEstateTechnology #LandInvestment #AmericanLandsellerPodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey everybody, it's Kobe.
I just wanted to give you acouple quick notes before you
dug into this episode.
First of all, the episode thatyou're about to see was taped
last year, about nine months ago, and so some of the things that
you might hear in it mightsound a little bit dated, but
99% of the episode we wentthrough we reviewed it is still
very relevant, and David Lightis always an incredible person
(00:24):
to sit down and have aconversation with, so I think
you're going to really enjoy it.
Second thing is we did takesome time off last year kind of
trying to figure out where wewanted to go with the podcast,
Did some stuff, I changedcompanies, and so I wanted to
let you know that we arecommitted to coming back to our
every Friday at 10 am, centralTime release, and so we will
(00:48):
have these every week goingforward, and we're excited to
show you what we've came up withthis year as far as new ideas,
new folks to visit with.
We appreciate you giving usthat time last year to get some
things together and getorganized, and now we're excited
to come back even better thanever.
So look forward to what webring this year and enjoy this
(01:11):
episode Today on the AmericanLand Seller, we have David Light
, chief Development Officer ofthe Land Broker Co-op and the
publisher of the Land Broker MLSMagazine.
With a deep commitment toempowering land professionals,
david has been instrumental indeveloping platforms that
prioritize brokers and agents'control over their data and
(01:33):
marketing strategies.
In his role at the Land BrokerCo-op, david oversees
initiatives that provide landreal estate specialists with
tools to manage their listingseffectively.
The co-op, launched in 2018,stands as the only
broker-agent-owned cooperativein the land industry, providing
members equal ownership and aunified voice in the marketplace
(01:57):
.
Under David's leadership, theco-op has expanded its reach,
featuring over 60,000 activeland listings and attracting
more than 4.5 million monthlyviews across its network of
sites.
As the publisher of the landbroker MLS Magazine, david
curates content that showcaseexceptional properties and
(02:19):
provides valuable insight to themarket.
The magazine serves as apremier resource for buyers and
sellers worldwide, reflectingDavid's dedication to delivering
quality information andenhancing the visibility of
members' listings.
Beyond his role at the co-opand the magazine, david is the
founder of Open Fences Media,further demonstrating his
(02:41):
entrepreneurial spirit andcommitment to the land brokerage
community.
Today, we delve into David'sjourney, discuss the evolution
of the land broker co-op andexplore the future of land
brokerage in an increasinglydigital world.
Stay tuned for an enlighteningconversation with David Light
right here on the American LandSeller Podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Welcome to the American Land Seller Podcast
marketing regulations, economicsand so much more.
Visit wwwamericanlandsellercomand find us on one of your
favorite podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Okay, Kobe and our special guests, let's get
started.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
All right, welcome back to the American Landseller
podcast.
We have with us today DavidLight with Land Broker Co-op.
Land Broker MLS.
David, how are we doing today?
I'm very well.
Kobe, very well, how are you?
I am doing great.
I'm excited to have you on tokind of talk about the Land
Broker Co-op.
(03:57):
I'm actually an ambassador forLand Broker Co-op, so I'm a big
fan of it.
But, um, talk to me just alittle bit about um, like maybe
your history a little bit david,so people can get to know you,
and then let's dig into how comewe have the land broker co-op
today sure, yeah, happy to.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Uh, thanks for having me on.
I appreciate the offer, theopportunity.
Um, I've been bouncing aroundthe land industry for over 20
years on the media side of thebusiness.
I started with Farm and Ranchmagazine when it was basically
the magazine was the MLS therewere no websites that's pretty
much how old I am at this pointand then after that went on to
(04:41):
start Open Fences magazine andwe acquired, through a
partnership we acquiredLandbroker MLS, which was the
existing website, became thewebsite for the magazine and did
that for a number of years.
And that was acquired by alarge group of industry brokers
and it was turned into sort ofthe basis of what is now the
(05:01):
Landbroker Co-op by a largegroup of industry brokers and it
was turned into sort of thebasis of what is now the
Landbroker Co-op.
And I've retained an interest infull disclosure because I love
the concept of the co-op.
I think it's a very importantpart of the industry and was
(05:24):
becoming more important everyday as this industry shifts a
little bit.
But yeah, so I've been aroundfor quite some time and you know
, just love, I just love thespace, I like people, I love
land, I own land, I'm a land guymyself, um and uh, so it's
always felt like the right fitbeing a Brit.
It's always also surprisedpeople like why?
(05:44):
Why like the right fit being abrit?
It's always also surprisedpeople like, why, why does this
guy have an accent?
But you know, I grew upfascinated by the west, I guess,
and ended up here and ended upworking in the space that's very
cool.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Um, yeah, that's, and you brought up an interesting
point through that.
This is, uh, this product is,is owned, and uh, by land.
It was kind of a vision forbrokers to be able to control
their own marketing.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthe origin of land broker co-op
and then how the brokers havekind of gotten involved the
(06:20):
broker owners.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
You know, the land brokerage space is sort of the
the dusty corner of the realestate industry, right,
everybody's very familiar with,uh, residential real estate it
affects all of us, um andcommercial real estate and that
and those two things um haveexisted side by side but are
really quite different, and adifferent set of tools are
(06:46):
needed to be really competent inthose spaces.
And there's certainly crossover.
And the land industry for along time has always been sort
of not one but not the other,but the lines were fuzzy, okay,
for a long time, unless you were, you know, really, a farm guy
and you were just sellingsections and half sections and,
(07:09):
um, that's probably kept youpretty busy and I'm talking back
in the day, right but it'salways struggled a little bit to
have its own identity, becauseit certainly requires its own
identity.
Um, I think the realtors LandInstitute is an example of a
group that have worked very hardand tirelessly to sort of
(07:30):
promote that over the years andwe see the co-op being.
You know, we're the other sideof the same coin with RLI.
We work very closely with themand we have a lot of the same
goals.
We just sort of come at it fromtwo different directions.
So we were frustrated by thefact that we didn't really have
our own space, as it were, andwe were also noticing that
(07:57):
technology entered the spacesome years ago and that was
great, right, everything.
The technology usually makesthings better to a point, at
least in my experience.
So that was a welcome change.
It needed to be freshened up.
But that technology comes witha price tag, um, and it became
(08:18):
cost prohibitive to be in theland specs.
Um, in the residential spaceyou might get a listing in.
You know, six months is a longshelf life and there's deals
that will sit out there for fouror five years in the land space
because they're so specialized.
So you're paying the same kindof bills but for much lower
(08:38):
moving product.
And it really became difficultfor people to afford their
marketing.
And a group of brokers gottogether and said what are we
going to do about this?
The costs are going up 50%,100%, 200% and it just isn't
there.
So that's how the co-op reallycame about.
(08:59):
Our suggestion was, if we createa co-op and everyone who is a
full member is an owner and theywill receive a dividend at the
end of the year, we can put thiscooperative in the middle of
this industry and work witheverybody.
Right, we want to work withevery website out there.
(09:21):
We want to work with everytechnologist out there.
We work with a lot of thembecause we believe we can build
value for the broker.
Everything points back to theland broker.
At the end of the day, ahealthy land broker is a healthy
industry, right?
So, um, there was a need.
It was financial.
It was also people were verysensitive to wanting to control
(09:44):
their data.
They they go out and in allweathers and take photos and
videos and pay a lot of moneyfor this drone photography and
all the things you have to havenow maps and just to then hand
it off to a multi, multi,multi-billion dollar companies
who then basically own it atthat point.
And that was, and that was arough patch for people, and so
(10:06):
we wanted to be a filter forthat as well, and we got huge
support right from the beginning.
Everybody recognized the needfor this, and if we made one
mistake, it was probablystarting too quickly and not
taking a breath because therewas such a momentum, which also
has been very encouraging, ofcourse, but I mean, that's
(10:27):
really the reason we're here.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Um, yeah, it's been a journey well, you know, you,
you kind of had mentioned that.
Uh, you started out talkingabout the history of, of land
brokers, specifically land realestate, you know, and just, and
I think what's interesting is isthat, um, for the longest time,
like there were really noinvestor players in the in the
(10:52):
ag world at least you know, andso you would have a local guy
that knew all of the peoplearound, that knew um, knew the
property and and would be ableto know you just go visit joe,
and joe's gonna do this, and youknow we're gonna find a person
and what we're gonna do first isask, you know, the cousins and
(11:14):
I'll be everybody in the familyif they want it, and if they
don't want it, then then joe'sour guy.
And what's been interesting isis, with technology, you're
seeing that that that old way ofdoing stuff is just so archaic,
you know, and and those peoplethat are still kind of in that
mind space are just leaving alot of money, and I think, um,
(11:37):
you know, I think the marketingthat we've created is it's just
pretty impressive, you know, andso, um, so kudos to you and the
and the guys that had thevision to do this.
That, uh, you know to kind ofand and again.
Like you know, you mentionedrli, a realtors land institute.
You know that's that's justmaking the industry better.
You know, like that's justpartnership with, with land
(12:00):
broker co-op r and some otherfolks are just making the
industry way better and so, yeah, it's very, very cool.
So, david, I'm sure that thereare challenges you know like,
but one of the things I knowthat you're really really
passionate about is your GetConnected program is basically
is using not just having thatmarketing platform so that
(12:24):
consumers can go to Land BrokerMLS and find listings, but also
be that jumping off point to allthe other sites that might have
and be able to help people sellproperty.
Talk to us a little bit aboutwhere we're at with that and
kind of how that incorporationis going and kind of how that
(12:44):
incorporation is going Sure.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
And I mentioned earlier people.
You know listing sites areimportant in the industry.
It's an important way topresent your product as a broker
to the potential buyers, thepublic, right, they're very
necessary.
A big part of what we do at theco-op is Landbrook MLS, which
(13:07):
is the website, the front-facingwebsite for the general public
to use.
People throw around stats allthe time but we are legitimately
the fastest-growing website inthe space and we continue.
We continue to push that.
However, the competition isstiff when you've got billions
(13:27):
and millions of dollars.
Um, we've always sort ofmaintained more of a quality
over quantity, but that is alsoshorthand, for we don't have as
much as they have.
Right, we're still building.
Um, we do believe in thequality side, um, one of the
ways we have created a value tothe broker.
If you put your listings juston the land broker co-ops
(13:49):
website, landbroke mlscom, andyou became a member and there's
a lot of values in there andyou're going to get leads and
you're going to get discountsand we have a couple of health
insurance programs that you knowdrive, that were designed for
us, that drive really goodvalues to the members.
You know there's a lot of otherthings going on, but you're not
(14:13):
going to look at the LambertCov's website and be blown away
by the leads, because it's stillgrowing, although they get
stronger every month.
And, as you mentioned, we'vedone a pretty good job of
working with others and othertechnologists.
There's some really cooltechnology in this space now.
I mean the ability to createand make maps and understand
(14:37):
value through solar and you knowall of these different things
that are out there which justmake a land broker and a land
owner smarter, and that's howyou maximize returns.
So we've partnered with a lotof them.
So when you become a memberowner of the Land Broker Co-op,
your listings go to Land BrokerMLS and you upload them, or
(14:59):
perhaps your brokerage doesautomatically.
We have a lot of feeds thatcome in from brokerages.
Yes, your listings are going togo on the Landbroker website,
which is landbrokermlscom, butthey're also going to go to the
Wall Street Journal.
They're also going to go to theDow Jones's site, mansion
Global.
They're going to go to Acres,which is now you get into the
(15:21):
industry sites.
Is now you get into theindustry sites, right?
So you've got acres.
You've got rpr, which is um.
It's more on the commercialside.
But we provide the landlistings to rpr.
We provide the land listings tothe realtors land institute,
site hunt, stand, land hub, umfarms, usa land search, land
Search, crexie, landgate, texasAssociation of Land Brokers,
(15:47):
acre Value.
Pretty soon we'll have Land ID.
That goes live soon.
Common Ground goes live soonand Farmland which is part of
the farm credit system goes livesoon.
Now all of those sites, yourlistings, are being pushed there
while you sleep, you don't doanything, and all of those sites
are included in your $9.90 ayear, $990 a year, or your $5.90
(16:14):
a year if you're a member ofthe Realtors Land Institute and
some other groups that we workwith that.
They've offset and created thatdiscount.
I mean, $5.90 a year is what?
$1.60 a day, that's a quarterof a cup of coffee.
You know, $2.70 a day is threequarters of a cup of coffee, and
that's before you put anythingfancy in it, right?
(16:34):
So if you were to go to theWall Street Journal and you
bought their minimum package ofthree listings and please don't
quote me on this because I'llI'm not going to be exact, but
it's hundreds of dollars a monthright?
All of that is already paid foron your behalf and included.
Some of those sites havecriteria.
I think the dow jones propertyhas to be over a million dollars
(16:55):
for the mansion global site.
There are some criteria inthere, but that is a huge amount
of value for a one-time paymentor you can spread it out
monthly if you prefer, with nostrings attached.
No one's making you sign acontract that you can't get out
of a land broker who sits downacross the table from a
(17:18):
potential lister and saysbecause this is what this whole
program gets white labeled, youcan put your own logo at the top
of this page because you're thereason it's happening.
You're a member, owner of thisorganization.
You can look someone in the eyeand say when you list with me,
right, and you can lay out allthe things that you're already
(17:39):
doing.
But then you can lay out thiswhole list of platform list Okay
, and that is a pretty completeapproach to the industry, to say
the least.
And I would say that once youget below the line the Wall
Street Journal, the Dow Jones,the big mega sites, as it were
(18:02):
and you start looking at RPR andAcres and LandHub and
LandSearch and Crexie, et ceterathose are industry sites,
people whose eyeballs are on,those are already vested some
way in the land space, right?
So when they react to yourlisting, it's not a Zillow
reaction.
Nothing against Zillow.
I use it myself, but it's not aZillow reaction.
(18:25):
Nothing against Zillow, I useit myself, but it's not a Zillow
reaction.
It's not a wow.
I'd love to know what thekitchen looks like in that house
and I'm never going to buy.
There's a level of relevancethere, so it's a really powerful
tool and, yeah, we're verypassionate about it because I
think it's a game changer.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
If you don't mind, david, we're going to take a
quick break and we will be right.
The American Land SellerPodcast is brought to you in
part by LandHubcom.
Join us today and experiencethe expertise of LandHub's land
marketing professionals, whetheryou're buying or selling.
(19:05):
Let us show you the way in theever-evolving world of land
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Visit landhubcom and discoverwhat the future of land
marketing looks like.
Landhubcom where your landjourney begins.
All right, we are back withDavid Light from the Landbroker
Co-op, landbroker MOS, and David, I've been a part of the
(19:30):
ambassador program with theLandbroker Co-op for a while.
Let's talk just a little bitabout that.
How did that get started?
And it's really kind of aninteresting difference from
other companies in the sensethat you have members that are
so excited about the programthat they're willing to go out
(19:52):
and talk to other folks and tryand try and recruit people into
the to the co-op, and I thinkI've gotten, you know, 10 or 12
in my time you know that havesigned up.
So, um, it's, you know it'sdefinitely not a.
So it's, you know, it'sdefinitely not a.
In my area there's not a wholelot of land brokers out there,
but talk about how theambassador program got started,
and what kind of a benefit isthat to the co-op?
Speaker 4 (20:28):
You know the ambassador program is.
It arguably sums up what theco-op is, right, and you said it
yourself.
There's a level of excitementand also, just, um, the
observation that how importantthe co-op is for lots of reasons
.
It's not just a listing site,right, people, people have to
get that out of their head.
It's, it's a lot more than that, and the ambassadors kind of
sum it up really, really wellbecause, um, I don't think we've
ever said, I mean, you may havegot a free hat out of it, but
(20:49):
that's about it.
You're doing it, because you'redoing it, because you
understand the big picture,right, there's a 30,000 foot
view here, um, and we have, Ithink, last count, we have 24
ambassadors around the countrywho use their own dime and their
own time to go out and talk togroups or show up where we can't
(21:11):
.
We can't be everywhere.
You know, a co-op is a leanmachine.
It is not running with somehuge war chest.
We keep the cost as low as wecan and if there's profit at the
end of the year, that goes backto the members.
In a check Last time I looked,we were the only company sending
(21:32):
money back, um, and it it's nota life-changing amount of money
, um, but the point is it is atrue cooperative and nothing,
nothing embodies that betterthan the ambassador program, and
it's been, um, it's been veryimpacted because brokers don't
want to be sold to by another.
You know the sales pro hey, buyone, get one.
(21:52):
That's not what's going on here.
This is an industry movement andthey want to hear it from their
peers.
They want to hear it from whyare you doing it?
Well, let me tell you thatconversation is so much more
powerful and it's really beenthe backbone of a lot of what we
do.
We're always really proud totalk about our ambassadors.
(22:16):
We put them in the magazine.
The Landbroker magazine Springissue is going together right
now.
Another benefit if you're amember of the co-op, you're
basically paying costs on that.
It's your magazine.
Why you would put money insomething else when you own your
own and you can sit down thelisting and say, well, actually
I'm one of the owners of thispublication through the co-op
(22:38):
too.
Is is powerful stuff and it's abeautiful publication.
Yeah, I think the we would beuh, we wouldn't be half what we
are without the ambassadorprogram, because I just it
surprises a lot of people.
It really gets.
It's an attention getter andit's very real.
There's a lot of passion behindit, so we appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, it's definitely a group of uh, of sharp.
You know, like I'm not justsaying that because I'm a part
of it, I kind of bring it down.
But, uh, you know like I'm notjust saying that, because I'm a
part of it, I kind of bring itdown.
It's pretty impressive peoplein the industry that are that
are on those calls when we dothem and and, uh, that um, uh,
that are a part of thatambassador deal, um, and so,
(23:21):
yeah, it's, it's definitely uh,it's fun to fun to kind of just
go talk to people about it.
I know, like I recently um I Ichanged it.
I know, like I recently um I Ichanged companies last year.
I've talked about this on otherpodcasts and so when I went
through that um, I joined acompany where I was more of my
own land broker and nobody elsein my company really did land.
(23:42):
I was the only one to there's.
Now there are almost 40 of us.
Oh, wow, and they're you andwe're from six different
companies, and so you know, anda lot of the companies and again
you know this book from talkingto brokers all over the country
is a lot of the.
The brokers still have that oldmentality you talked about in
the last segment.
Let's keep all the informationto ourselves.
(24:05):
Let's not share.
I worked hard for thisinformation.
I worked hard for thesepictures.
I don't, you know, I don't wantto share my commission with
anybody.
You know, like the, the, I cando it all myself and and don't
bother me, type of mentality.
(24:26):
And so you know, when you havepeople that come from that world
and then people that come frommy world, which is like man
rising tight, lifts, all boats,you know, it's all.
You know, like I'll give youeverything I got, you know, and
then, cause I'm always thinkingabout what the next thing is,
you know, so it, it makes people, makes the industry better.
Um, so you know, like that'sjust, that's just kind of one of
those things where, like, I hada guy that just recently joined
this is where my long story isgoing to get shorter.
(24:54):
Um, that was like, like by thetime he joined rli landbroker
co-op and land up, he hadfigured out that he had gotten.
You know, like, basically, rliwas free, you know, by the time
it was done because of thediscounts that he got from the
three different sources, youknow, and all three of those
sources work together, you know,and so, so and so talk about
that, talk about your connectionwith that RLI aspect.
(25:14):
I think at this point all thelistings are going to the RLI
site or they're working on it ordoes that change?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yeah, no, they're there, they're on the website.
You should go to theconnections area on the Realtors
Land Institute site.
You'll see all of the listingsare provided by the Landbroker
Co-op.
Yeah, rli.
My history with RLI goes wayback to the first meeting I ever
went to was in Las Vegas.
(25:42):
It was on my first day ofemployment at Farm and Ranch
Magazine a long, long time ago,long time ago, um, so I think it
was 2000, 2001, 2002 and uh,that was my first day of work at
farm and ranch and I went to anrli meeting in las vegas and
and uh, proceeded to calleverybody realtors, which didn't
(26:03):
go down very well.
And I met michael landreththere who was, um a very active.
He became one of the nationalpresidents, um, but was very
active in the Colorado chapterand he invited me along.
And I haven't missed too manymeetings in Colorado over the
years.
We sponsor the ranch tour everyyear.
(26:23):
In fact we were responsible forputting that together with a
couple of members, steve Flemingin particular, in Colorado.
So I mean I've done a lot withRLI over the years.
I saw the value day one Anyonewho's in this industry, you've
got to get continuing ed.
Why wouldn't you getland-centric continuing ed and
(26:45):
it's affordable.
They've got great instructors.
You don't want to be the guythat says, hey, you're the last
one through the door, close thedoor behind, right?
A lot of people are going tocome in and out of this industry
, as it should be, and that'sjust the way it is.
But rli and the land brokerco-op, you know indirectly and
directly, are sort of building awall garden around the industry
(27:07):
a little bit.
There is a level of knowledgenecessary to do land
transactions and you know you'vegot to understand pipeline
easements and mineral rights.
Water rights is obviously ahuge thing.
You can get yourself in a lotof trouble if you're doing a
one-off deal.
(27:28):
So that organization, I think,has always done an exceptional
job on their education andmaking sure people have the
tools so they don't getthemselves in trouble.
So yeah, we're big supportersof them, they're big supporters
of us and yeah, we work togethervery well.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, and to your point that you know like being a
realtor, you know that's partof the rules of being a realtor
is you have to know what you'redoing right, so to be confident
in the realm that you're workingon.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
You have a fiduciary duty to your client, right?
I mean, that's a pretty seriousdeal.
Duty to your client right Imean it's a pretty serious deal.
You can't perform that if youdon't understand.
You don't see too many landguys trying to sell apartment
buildings.
There's a reason for that, andvice versa.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So, david, why is the co-op so important?
I mean in your mind, in yourheart, why do you think it's as
important as it is?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I think that if the industry continues just to give
it all away to huge companiesthat are not vested in the
industry necessarily and there'sno bad actors out there, it's
(28:54):
just a different mentality, it'sa bottom line type scenario for
a lot of these companies, andthat's nothing wrong with that.
So grew this country.
I mean, that's all good, butyou got to at some point take a
step back and go.
What is?
How do we protect our situation10 years from now?
(29:15):
Right, how do we maintain alevel of understanding that when
somebody is thinking, well, I'mselling them, selling my house
in la, wherever it might be, andyou know, I want to buy a ranch
in Montana, am I going to usethe same agent?
Maybe there's a referral inthere?
(29:36):
Well, no, because they'reprobably not licensed in Montana
.
But take it back.
Maybe you're just buying aranch or land in California.
There's a difference, right,you're going to go out and
you're going to go find someoneto do business with that
understands and has thatknowledge.
But it's amazing how few peopleactually realize that that's
(29:58):
needed and and I think we arereally good at educating the
public as to, you know, use aland broker, use a land broker.
This is why we use a landbroker.
Um, we do that through thefront end.
We do that through the farmcredits, the sponsors.
We have the sponsorship side ofthings.
So how this looks in the future.
We have a lot of support fromfarm credit systems and other
(30:20):
sponsors.
Um, some of the people in theget connected program are now
turning into sponsors.
Rli is a sponsor sponsorindirectly, and our final goal
is to get to a point wherethere's enough revenue coming in
from our partners and sponsors.
That being a land brokerautomatically gets you a
(30:41):
membership.
There is no fee to be part ofthe co-op.
That's the goal down the road.
We want people to understandthis is a place you can come, a
hub in the industry you can cometo and you can get what you
need.
Yes, there's discounts ontravel and there's great health
insurance and there's discountsat Cabela's and there's all
these other things you can do,and your listing, as a result,
(31:03):
is being aggregated across anentire industry at no extra cost
.
Industry at no extra cost.
Um, it's a centralized.
It's a centralized system thatis way, way, way bigger than a
listing website, and the quickerwe have over a thousand members
now, the quicker we get to twothousand, the the least
(31:26):
expensive it will be because themore value that will be added.
And, man, it's like aninvestment in future savings.
And if the co-op hadn't existedin the first place, we drove
prices back down.
We stopped prices from going upas quickly as they were going,
(31:47):
because the very nature of theco-op made a lot of people
uneasy and they were like whoa,we better slow our roll here a
little bit.
I think a lot of people wouldbe surprised how much money the
co-op has saved them.
They haven't even joined it,right, and I would say, if
you're a land broker, if you'rein this space, you owe it to
(32:08):
yourself and the industry andthe long-term benefits um, that
become obvious very quickly tojoin the co-op.
Put that cup coffee down, gospend the money at the co-op
watch it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, let's think of other vices for the next segment
from david, so that we don'ttake people's coffee away.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Well, you know, I'm not putting my cup of coffee
down, to be fair, right now, andI do enjoy the coffee.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, you can make your coffee once or twice at
home once a week if you're ondire straits.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
To offset it.
That's a good way to look at it.
That's a good way to look at it.
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
All right, brother.
Well, let's take a quick breakand we will be back.
You got one more segment in youtoday, maybe 10, 15 more?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Oh sure, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
All right, been fun talking to you.
We will be right back Landisn't just dirt.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
It's where memories are made, families are raised
and livelihoods are built.
But when it comes time to sellor buy, the weight of the
decision is heavy.
Where do you even start?
Who can you trust to guide you?
(33:30):
For too long, land transactionshave been treated like a simple
exchange Numbers on a paper, asignature on a line.
But it's more than that.
At High Point Land Company, wedon't just list land, we walk it
, we learn its story and we findthe right buyer who understands
its worth.
You are not just another deal.
(33:54):
You are the steward ofsomething bigger and we're here
to help you navigate every stepof the way.
When it's time to sell, whenit's time to buy.
We're here Because land is morethan just land.
(34:24):
It's your legacy.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
All right, we are back with David Light with
LandBroker Co-op.
Landbrokermlscom is theconsumer face, I would guess.
I guess that's where people cango to shop for great land
listings.
Let's talk just a little bitabout that, david, because
that's important.
You know, we understand now,after the last segment, why it's
(34:57):
important to be a member forland brokers, but it's also an
incredible tool for consumers,correct?
Speaker 4 (35:02):
You know, these days it's all about getting people to
the end product as quickly aspossible, right?
That's sort of a which know Ithink is very important.
I personally don't mind a bitmore of a journey, um, but I
don't think that's uh good forseo and sem and all the things
that drive websites these days,right?
(35:22):
So you know they did a greatjob, um, ct adams runs our
operations and he worked withthe developers tirelessly and
they put together a really greatuser interface.
It's very simple.
It has a thing called anelastic search, so you can
literally type in a single wordand it will fill a criteria.
(35:44):
Now, usually you might want totype in farm, karma, iowa and
corn, and then you're going tosee every listing that's
relevant to you.
So it has a very intuitivesearch which makes life easier,
and then once the map shows upand you can filter it further.
(36:06):
There's only so many ways toskin the cat these days on
websites, so there's a lot ofsimilarities between all of the
sites and the target is alwaysto make the experience as easy
as possible.
We don't overwhelm people.
There's ads everywhere andflashing lights.
You see what you search for, sothere's no preference given.
(36:30):
You see what you search for.
So there's no preference given.
But if you are looking for 75acres in Colorado and it must
have a horse barn, somebody'slisting without the horse barn,
which is 40 acres, isn't goingto show up because they paid
extra.
Okay, you're going to see whatyou search for.
It's extremely clean in that,in that respect, and I think
(36:54):
that's that's a very, that'svery important to people.
They don't want to wait throughthings they didn't ask for so a
company can make more money.
They want to see what they needto see, um, so we've made sure
that that is is searchable.
The map interface works very,very well.
So, yeah, it's, you know, theonly advertising you're going to
(37:18):
see on there for the RealtorsLand Institute.
Because we're big believers andsupporters.
They're not writing us a checkfor that.
That's because they areimportant.
And you'll see a farm credit.
You'll see a lender.
A lot of people getting intothe land space don't understand
that there is, you know, so manydeals fall apart at the last
minute because the high streetbank actually only lends on the
(37:43):
house and 10 acres.
Even if you've got 500 acres,they don't really put value on
that extra 500 acres and youreally want to work with a
lender that understands land andhow to put a land deal together
.
So you will see those twothings out there, but it's all
about tools and the things thatwill help you be a better
(38:04):
landowner.
That's sort of how we like tofocus.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Right, and I think one of the things that's kind of
a plus to a two is is that allland brokers are created equal
on this site, right?
So you're not coming to me andsaying, hey, kobe, for a
thousand dollars a month, we canmake you the premier.
You know, it's all about theland.
It's not about funneling peopleto a particular property, like
(38:29):
you said.
It's not about funneling peopleto a particular property, like
you said, because of the factthat Sam the land broker paid
you more money than Kobe theland broker did.
It's helping our clients andour consumers find exactly what
they're looking for, which Ithink is epic in this space.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
It's a big advantage for us, because the consumer
wants that too.
They don't want to have to siftthrough a bunch of stuff just
because somebody paid to have itthere.
They want to see what they wantto see.
And the brokers doesn't matterif you you sell a hundred
million dollars worth of land ayear or a million dollars worth
of land a year.
You're an equal member, you'rean equal owner and you're of
(39:13):
equal importance, right?
Because, at the end of the day,this industry is driven at all
levels, right?
So, yeah, it's, it's a levelplaying field.
Um, and uh, that makes our joba whole lot easier.
Honestly, it really does.
Um, and there are some brokersthat are like, well, how do I
get a premium membership or howdo I become a platinum?
(39:34):
You don't, yeah, you don't.
But do you want people who arecontacting you because it's
pretty, or do you want peoplecontacting you because it's what
they searched for?
So you're going to have a highpercentage of quality hits that
way and not to go back to GetConnected in any major way.
(39:55):
But to that point, because ofthis program, we get copies of
those leads.
We don't get copies of theperson.
We're not contacting the people.
We see a lead came from one ofour Get Connected programs to
the broker.
So the brokers, through thatprogram and through the Lambroke
MLS site, are getting a wholebunch of leads every month
because of that membership.
(40:17):
So, yeah, that's all.
That's all part of the whole,part of the value.
But we're very proud of thefront end of this site and how
it affects um searches and howwe're able to inform the public
of hey, here's, here's how youdo it, here's who you talk to
and, um, you know, put qualitylistings in front of them yeah,
no, that's, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Put quality listings in front of them.
Yeah, no, that's again.
I think your point to Amy Romeis is it's not just about one
tool or one you know one agent.
It's about making, you know,creating a product that, once
the consumer figures out thatit's there, that's their go-to
right.
That's the whole goal is likeoh well, you know, I really
(40:59):
don't care.
You know I really don't careabout this.
You know this property I wantto find, you know, irrigated
farm ground in Dawson County,nebraska.
Or you know, like I don't wantto, you know, have to sift
through three ranches andsomething else when I search for
something specific, you know,just because somebody paid a
premium price I mean, that's a,it's been a.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
the most positive comment we get most regularly is
thank you for showing me whatI'm looking for.
Directly or indirectly, thatcomment comes a lot from the
public, and one of the reasonswe're growing so fast on leads
and in the network that is theinternet right is because a lot
(41:42):
of people we get reuses, reuses,reuses Because the experience
is clean and simple and they'renot being sold to, they're just
getting good information andbeing able to make smart
decisions.
So that's really key to thesuccess of the site.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
So yeah, and it's easy to do when you're a co-op
and I think the interestingthing is the last several years,
I think we've beentransitioning from the
technology and generation ortechnology era into more of the
information era.
People, more and more and more,are getting to the point where,
(42:21):
just give me where I need to goas fast as I can, don't lie to
me, don't you know?
And, and if you can be thattrusted space, um, you know in
in the, in our industry, whichyou are?
Um, that's incredible.
Let's transition to kind of oneof the flagships of what we're
(42:43):
doing is the magazine Landbroker.
What is it?
Landbroker MLS Magazine?
Yeah, landbroker.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
Magazine.
Well, that's kind of more of apassion for me, because I came
from the print side, right?
So people ask me how does yourwebsite do that?
And I have to find someone waysmarter than me to answer the
question, because I'm not a techguy.
Luckily, we've got really goodpeople, but the print side of
things, you know, print, haschanged a lot.
(43:12):
Okay, it used to be the onlyoption for marketing.
It used to be the only optionfor marketing, depending on how
a company is set up.
Sometimes they will do printbecause they feel like they have
to.
Sometimes, though, that meansthey're not being very creative,
in my opinion, but it's a greatway to brand a company.
It's a great way to improveyour opportunity to get listings
(43:39):
.
Plenty of buyers still comethrough print, there's no
question.
Um, it's not the same amount,but what drives somebody to a
property on a website?
These are unmeasurable, right.
So I know that when we send ourmagazine out, if it's a day or
two late getting to a particularindividual, my phone rings.
(44:00):
You know where's the magazine.
People wait for it, they expectit.
They've been getting it foryears.
They got it when it was OpenFences magazine and the name
change happened when it wasacquired to Labrador magazine
but it's the same magazine, andthey said they'll watch by it
(44:21):
magazine, but it's the samemagazine, and they said they're
watch fire.
Now they use it as a quiet mlsin some respects.
What's new?
What are the prices doing?
It's something they can pick upand put down without turning on
a screen and I I still I'm amagazine guy.
I'm a great believer in in theimportance of publications, but
(44:42):
if I'm going to be in apublication, it has to fit
within the budget, because mydigital budget's gone through
the roof.
If I'm going to wrap something,it's probably going to be print
.
I don't know that that's theright move as we move into a
situation where it's going to beharder and harder with all this
new stuff that's going on inthe world right now, with
commissions and lawsuits and etcetera.
(45:03):
It's going to be harder andharder for a buyer side broker
to get paid and it's going to beway, way more about the
listings than it's ever beenbefore and it's always been
about the listings, but it'sgoing to be even more so and I'm
going to be even more so andand I'm going to want to print
element that I'm consistent inand that magazine is the best
(45:25):
deal in town.
If you're a member the firsttime you put a magazine ad in as
a non-member, if you join andget the discount, you've just
covered the cost of yourmembership.
Yeah, or most of it.
It's a no-brainer right.
And Lambroker Magazine has acustom cover program.
So for not a lot of money youcan put your listing on a couple
(45:50):
of hundred copies on the frontcover with an ad for yourself on
the inside front cover.
The rest of the magazineremains the same.
Your ad is still in thereanyway and that can get directly
mailed to a list of your choicelocal landowners.
What to your office, you mightwant to hand them out.
People use them in listingpresentations.
(46:10):
Here's a national publication,here I am on the cover and the
inside front cover and as amember you're getting all this
for basically cost.
I mean, I think it's cost.
They've got to cover acommission, they've got to cover
a few things, but it is paperprinting, distribution, you know
, plus 10% or something.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
It's extremely inexpensive as a member and a
huge member benefit More andmore people need to utilize, to
utilize it's a really great tooland I have, uh, one time I had
a property that I did use thecolor cover um cover deal and it
was pretty, pretty smooth it's.
Not only was it slick, becausemy clients thought it was pretty
(46:53):
awesome that their, theirproperty was on the cover, but
it was was also.
I could take it to trade showsand stuff like that and be like
hey, this is the kind ofmarketing that we do.
I don't know what everybodyelse is up to, but where does
the magazine go If somebody'sinterested in getting signed up
for it, or is there a cost forthe consumer to get it sent to
(47:15):
them?
Speaker 4 (47:17):
No, I mean so.
No, there's an option tosubscribe and have.
You can have the digitalversion for free and you can
sign up for that.
That's so easy.
There's no hard cost to us todo that.
So we certainly don't pass thatcost, the fake cost, on.
But the actual magazine itself?
No, no, get with your landbroker, get with a co-op member
(47:41):
and ask them to put you on thelist.
They contact us.
If it's through a broker, thenwe'll put you on that list and
you'll receive a copy.
When we started open fences,which was this magazine before
the name change, um, we builtmost of the distribution before
we ever sold a page and we havea phenomenal distribution on
(48:02):
that publication, a very loyalreadership.
We can.
We have lots of examples of themagazine being the reason.
Somebody reached out and wewere talking about it earlier
and I didn't really finish thatpoint that you can't always
track where these leads comefrom.
Somebody sees a photo in amagazine.
(48:22):
It's usually one or two photosthat got their interest.
They don't have enoughinformation that is going to
drive them to the website.
It might drive them to yourwebsite directly or to the
Landbroker website so they cansee more photos, so they can
look, look at the mapping, sothey can look at a video, and
there's the guy or the galthat's representing it.
They pick up the phone andsomeone will say, well, how do
(48:44):
you hear about us?
Oh, I'm on your website, great,hey, our website Fantastic.
Well, yeah, your websiteprobably is fantastic and it
does a very important job.
But rarely will that gettracked back to a print ad.
But there are a lot of peoplethat like to read this
publication and have done formany years landowners, um and
(49:07):
wannabe landowners, the futurelandowners and people who are
considering selling and theywant to know well, who does good
marketing and they'll pick itup and go.
Yeah, these guys are consistent.
They obviously have the rightkind of budget and attitude.
Maybe I'll give them a call.
It's important, it's important.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
I think one of my largest clients that I have and
he's kind of an active investor.
He called me out of my ad inthat book.
Yep, that's true, it's a greatfeature and he's kind of an
active investor.
He called me out of my ad inthat book.
Yep, sure, so it's a greatfeature, I think it even I don't
know if I'm right on this.
Does it go to like some FBOs?
Yep, yeah, we have private jetterminals.
Speaker 4 (49:51):
Yeah, fbos, fixed based operators right.
Yes, it does.
We actually email a prettylarge number overseas to
potential investors as well.
We don't really ship thephysical magazine because it's
just cost prohibitive.
Um, you know, our goal is tokeep costs down for brokers,
give them as much value aspossible for the minimum cost,
(50:14):
right, and and?
Uh, if we make a profit, wesend them a check at the end of
the year, and we sent checks thefirst year the co-op existed
and we've sent one ever since,right?
So shipping magazines overseasdoesn't make sense, but it's
very easy to provide them with adigital copy and we do have a
good subscriber list on that aswell.
(50:36):
So it's far-reaching and it'sreally been around for a long
time.
Open fences started way backwhen, um, I mean, we're probably
15 years now of of magazinesand over a period of time, if
you're paying attention, you canbuild a really strong
readership, right, and we takethe readers and the lists very,
(51:01):
very seriously.
That's the backbone of anypublication.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Well, and it's, I mean, my own personal experience
is, it's kind of fun because asan ambassador, I get a case of
them sent to me every time,right, and so that's an excuse
for me to, you know, throw thosein the pickup.
And then I go around and visitlenders and you know some of the
farm lenders and and someonelike you know some of the
producers and different thingsin the area, and I can drop off
that magazine to them and talkto them about what's going on,
(51:28):
and it it's a once a quarter.
It gives me an excuse to getout and go visit some people and
and so, uh, it's, it's a fun,it's a fun deal, and there's
people that they look forward.
They'll call, like you said.
They'll call and be like, hey,where's my coffee?
Isn't it about time for springto happen for us here, bud, you
know, or the summer, or whatever.
(51:49):
So, yeah, it's a cool tool thatwe have fun with.
And, again, I think you don'thave to be an ambassador If you
want a box or something for anevent you're doing.
Uh, I, even before I was anambassador, I called me like,
hey, I'm going to a trade show,can you send me, uh, some
magazines, and they would sendme out a box of them um, so that
(52:11):
I could send them out of tradeshows and surprises, and and um,
for a few weeks after themagazine comes out.
Speaker 4 (52:17):
We've got, we've got homes for every copy at the end
of the day, so they don't justthey don't go to waste, but, um,
we always like to make sure wehave a few extras laying around.
So, um, yeah, no, it's, it's uh, the magazine's just a lot of
fun to work on too, and you knowit's.
I miss it because I don't get alot, a lot of time.
(52:38):
David swalick runs the magazinefor us, david z as we call him,
um, and he's always happy totalk to anybody about the
publication, and, and we'realways happy to talk to anybody
about becoming a lambroker co-opmember, um uh, speaking of that
, how do people get a hold ofyou?
Speaker 1 (52:56):
or uh, who do you want them to get a hold of at
the Land Broker Co-op?
If somebody's listening to thisand they're like hey, I know,
the website for consumers islandbrokermlscom.
You can search all the landlistings.
I would imagine thousands andthousands of listings at this
point, correct.
But if I'm wanting to getdirectly in touch with you or
(53:19):
somebody in your group, david,who do we go to?
Speaker 4 (53:22):
Well, if you have interest in joining the co-op as
a land agent, land broker, thendrop me a line, david at
landbrokercoopcom, and that'sjust C-O-O-P, just like the hair
, and I'll make sure the rightperson gets back to you very
quickly.
And, as far as that could befor the magazine, that could be
(53:45):
for membership, directmembership, more questions If
you want to get on, the curatoris a biweekly digital piece we
send out to the industry withupdates.
If you want to get on that list, I'll make sure sort of
centralize your information andmake sure the right people get
it and we'll get you hooked up.
(54:07):
If you're in this industry andyou're not a member of the land
broker co-op, you need to reallyseriously ask yourself why.
Why not?
Because there is not acompelling reason.
There are a lot of compellingreasons to do it.
There aren't many not to do itand it just probably is you
haven't got around to it yet oryou're just learning about it.
Either way, reach out anytime.
(54:29):
We're happy to talk about it.
We love, as you can tell, Idon't shut up so we love to talk
about it.
So please, please, reach out.
We want you as members, we needyou as members and we want to
grow together.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
Perfect, all right, well, awesome.
Well, I appreciate you takingthe time today.
David, I know you're a busy manand a great conversation and I
learned a lot in I'm anambassador, so that's that's
good, that there's so much goingon that even those of us that
kind of pay attention closelyare still learning.
(55:06):
So any parting shots, anythingyou want to say before we close
it out today.
Speaker 4 (55:13):
Just thank you.
It's actually nice.
Sometimes you do these things.
That reminds you of a lot ofthings you haven't thought of
for a while too.
You're like, wow, man, thisreally is a good deal Forgot how
honest I am.
I get a joy in it, yeah, sowe'd love to hear from everybody
(55:35):
.
We do appreciate theopportunity and thank you so
much for having us.
Speaker 1 (55:40):
All right, and if you're listening to this and you
want to receive a copy of theland broker MLS magazine, reach
out to me.
I'll try and get you on thelist.
Speaker 2 (55:48):
And thanks everybody for listening today and we will
see you all down the road as wewrap up another episode of the
American land seller podcast.
Thank you for joining us.
Visit wwwamericanlandsellercomand find us on one of your
favorite podcast platforms.
If you would be so kind and youenjoyed today's insights,
(56:08):
please like, subscribe, rate,follow and review us on whatever
app you are listening orwatching on.
Connect with us on social mediafor updates.
Until next week.
Kobe wishes you success in yourland endeavors.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Speaker 1 (56:24):
The American Land Seller is brought to you in part
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Hey everybody, it's Kobe.
I just wanted to give you acouple quick notes before you
dug into this episode.
First of all, the episode thatyou're about to see was taped
last year, about nine months ago, and so some of the things that
you might hear in it mightsound a little bit dated, but
99% of the episode we wentthrough we reviewed it is still
very relevant, and David Lightis always an incredible person
(00:24):
to sit down and have aconversation with, so I think
you're going to really enjoy it.
Second thing is we did takesome time off last year kind of
trying to figure out where wewanted to go with the podcast,
Did some stuff, I changedcompanies, and so I wanted to
let you know that we arecommitted to coming back to our
every Friday at 10 am, centralTime release, and so we will
(00:48):
have these every week goingforward, and we're excited to
show you what we've came up withthis year as far as new ideas,
new folks to visit with.
We appreciate you giving usthat time last year to get some
things together and getorganized, and now we're excited
to come back even better thanever.
So look forward to what webring this year and enjoy this
(01:11):
episode Today on the AmericanLand Seller, we have David Light
, chief Development Officer ofthe Land Broker Co-op and the
publisher of the Land Broker MLSMagazine.
With a deep commitment toempowering land professionals,
david has been instrumental indeveloping platforms that
prioritize brokers and agents'control over their data and
(01:33):
marketing strategies.
In his role at the Land BrokerCo-op, david oversees
initiatives that provide landreal estate specialists with
tools to manage their listingseffectively.
The co-op, launched in 2018,stands as the only
broker-agent-owned cooperativein the land industry, providing
members equal ownership and aunified voice in the marketplace
(01:57):
.
Under David's leadership, theco-op has expanded its reach,
featuring over 60,000 activeland listings and attracting
more than 4.5 million monthlyviews across its network of
sites.
As the publisher of the landbroker MLS Magazine, david
curates content that showcaseexceptional properties and
(02:19):
provides valuable insight to themarket.
The magazine serves as apremier resource for buyers and
sellers worldwide, reflectingDavid's dedication to delivering
quality information andenhancing the visibility of
members' listings.
Beyond his role at the co-opand the magazine, david is the
founder of Open Fences Media,further demonstrating his
(02:41):
entrepreneurial spirit andcommitment to the land brokerage
community.
Today, we delve into David'sjourney, discuss the evolution
of the land broker co-op andexplore the future of land
brokerage in an increasinglydigital world.
Stay tuned for an enlighteningconversation with David Light
right here on the American LandSeller Podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Welcome to the American Land Seller Podcast
marketing regulations, economicsand so much more.
Visit wwwamericanlandsellercomand find us on one of your
favorite podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Okay, Kobe and our special guests, let's get
started.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
All right, welcome back to the American Landseller
podcast.
We have with us today DavidLight with Land Broker Co-op.
Land Broker MLS.
David, how are we doing today?
I'm very well.
Kobe, very well, how are you?
I am doing great.
I'm excited to have you on tokind of talk about the Land
Broker Co-op.
(03:57):
I'm actually an ambassador forLand Broker Co-op, so I'm a big
fan of it.
But, um, talk to me just alittle bit about um, like maybe
your history a little bit david,so people can get to know you,
and then let's dig into how comewe have the land broker co-op
today sure, yeah, happy to.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Uh, thanks for having me on.
I appreciate the offer, theopportunity.
Um, I've been bouncing aroundthe land industry for over 20
years on the media side of thebusiness.
I started with Farm and Ranchmagazine when it was basically
the magazine was the MLS therewere no websites that's pretty
much how old I am at this pointand then after that went on to
(04:41):
start Open Fences magazine andwe acquired, through a
partnership we acquiredLandbroker MLS, which was the
existing website, became thewebsite for the magazine and did
that for a number of years.
And that was acquired by alarge group of industry brokers
and it was turned into sort ofthe basis of what is now the
(05:01):
Landbroker Co-op by a largegroup of industry brokers and it
was turned into sort of thebasis of what is now the
Landbroker Co-op.
And I've retained an interest infull disclosure because I love
the concept of the co-op.
I think it's a very importantpart of the industry and was
(05:24):
becoming more important everyday as this industry shifts a
little bit.
But yeah, so I've been aroundfor quite some time and you know
, just love, I just love thespace, I like people, I love
land, I own land, I'm a land guymyself, um and uh, so it's
always felt like the right fitbeing a Brit.
It's always also surprisedpeople like why?
(05:44):
Why like the right fit being abrit?
It's always also surprisedpeople like, why, why does this
guy have an accent?
But you know, I grew upfascinated by the west, I guess,
and ended up here and ended upworking in the space that's very
cool.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Um, yeah, that's, and you brought up an interesting
point through that.
This is, uh, this product is,is owned, and uh, by land.
It was kind of a vision forbrokers to be able to control
their own marketing.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthe origin of land broker co-op
and then how the brokers havekind of gotten involved the
(06:20):
broker owners.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
You know, the land brokerage space is sort of the
the dusty corner of the realestate industry, right,
everybody's very familiar with,uh, residential real estate it
affects all of us, um andcommercial real estate and that
and those two things um haveexisted side by side but are
really quite different, and adifferent set of tools are
(06:46):
needed to be really competent inthose spaces.
And there's certainly crossover.
And the land industry for along time has always been sort
of not one but not the other,but the lines were fuzzy, okay,
for a long time, unless you were, you know, really, a farm guy
and you were just sellingsections and half sections and,
(07:09):
um, that's probably kept youpretty busy and I'm talking back
in the day, right but it'salways struggled a little bit to
have its own identity, becauseit certainly requires its own
identity.
Um, I think the realtors LandInstitute is an example of a
group that have worked very hardand tirelessly to sort of
(07:30):
promote that over the years andwe see the co-op being.
You know, we're the other sideof the same coin with RLI.
We work very closely with themand we have a lot of the same
goals.
We just sort of come at it fromtwo different directions.
So we were frustrated by thefact that we didn't really have
our own space, as it were, andwe were also noticing that
(07:57):
technology entered the spacesome years ago and that was
great, right, everything.
The technology usually makesthings better to a point, at
least in my experience.
So that was a welcome change.
It needed to be freshened up.
But that technology comes witha price tag, um, and it became
(08:18):
cost prohibitive to be in theland specs.
Um, in the residential spaceyou might get a listing in.
You know, six months is a longshelf life and there's deals
that will sit out there for fouror five years in the land space
because they're so specialized.
So you're paying the same kindof bills but for much lower
(08:38):
moving product.
And it really became difficultfor people to afford their
marketing.
And a group of brokers gottogether and said what are we
going to do about this?
The costs are going up 50%,100%, 200% and it just isn't
there.
So that's how the co-op reallycame about.
(08:59):
Our suggestion was, if we createa co-op and everyone who is a
full member is an owner and theywill receive a dividend at the
end of the year, we can put thiscooperative in the middle of
this industry and work witheverybody.
Right, we want to work withevery website out there.
(09:21):
We want to work with everytechnologist out there.
We work with a lot of thembecause we believe we can build
value for the broker.
Everything points back to theland broker.
At the end of the day, ahealthy land broker is a healthy
industry, right?
So, um, there was a need.
It was financial.
It was also people were verysensitive to wanting to control
(09:44):
their data.
They they go out and in allweathers and take photos and
videos and pay a lot of moneyfor this drone photography and
all the things you have to havenow maps and just to then hand
it off to a multi, multi,multi-billion dollar companies
who then basically own it atthat point.
And that was, and that was arough patch for people, and so
(10:06):
we wanted to be a filter forthat as well, and we got huge
support right from the beginning.
Everybody recognized the needfor this, and if we made one
mistake, it was probablystarting too quickly and not
taking a breath because therewas such a momentum, which also
has been very encouraging, ofcourse, but I mean, that's
(10:27):
really the reason we're here.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Um, yeah, it's been a journey well, you know, you,
you kind of had mentioned that.
Uh, you started out talkingabout the history of, of land
brokers, specifically land realestate, you know, and just, and
I think what's interesting is isthat, um, for the longest time,
like there were really noinvestor players in the in the
(10:52):
ag world at least you know, andso you would have a local guy
that knew all of the peoplearound, that knew um, knew the
property and and would be ableto know you just go visit joe,
and joe's gonna do this, and youknow we're gonna find a person
and what we're gonna do first isask, you know, the cousins and
(11:14):
I'll be everybody in the familyif they want it, and if they
don't want it, then then joe'sour guy.
And what's been interesting isis, with technology, you're
seeing that that that old way ofdoing stuff is just so archaic,
you know, and and those peoplethat are still kind of in that
mind space are just leaving alot of money, and I think, um,
(11:37):
you know, I think the marketingthat we've created is it's just
pretty impressive, you know, andso, um, so kudos to you and the
and the guys that had thevision to do this.
That, uh, you know to kind ofand and again.
Like you know, you mentionedrli, a realtors land institute.
You know that's that's justmaking the industry better.
You know, like that's justpartnership with, with land
(12:00):
broker co-op r and some otherfolks are just making the
industry way better and so, yeah, it's very, very cool.
So, david, I'm sure that thereare challenges you know like,
but one of the things I knowthat you're really really
passionate about is your GetConnected program is basically
is using not just having thatmarketing platform so that
(12:24):
consumers can go to Land BrokerMLS and find listings, but also
be that jumping off point to allthe other sites that might have
and be able to help people sellproperty.
Talk to us a little bit aboutwhere we're at with that and
kind of how that incorporationis going and kind of how that
(12:44):
incorporation is going Sure.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
And I mentioned earlier people.
You know listing sites areimportant in the industry.
It's an important way topresent your product as a broker
to the potential buyers, thepublic, right, they're very
necessary.
A big part of what we do at theco-op is Landbrook MLS, which
(13:07):
is the website, the front-facingwebsite for the general public
to use.
People throw around stats allthe time but we are legitimately
the fastest-growing website inthe space and we continue.
We continue to push that.
However, the competition isstiff when you've got billions
(13:27):
and millions of dollars.
Um, we've always sort ofmaintained more of a quality
over quantity, but that is alsoshorthand, for we don't have as
much as they have.
Right, we're still building.
Um, we do believe in thequality side, um, one of the
ways we have created a value tothe broker.
If you put your listings juston the land broker co-ops
(13:49):
website, landbroke mlscom, andyou became a member and there's
a lot of values in there andyou're going to get leads and
you're going to get discountsand we have a couple of health
insurance programs that you knowdrive, that were designed for
us, that drive really goodvalues to the members.
You know there's a lot of otherthings going on, but you're not
(14:13):
going to look at the LambertCov's website and be blown away
by the leads, because it's stillgrowing, although they get
stronger every month.
And, as you mentioned, we'vedone a pretty good job of
working with others and othertechnologists.
There's some really cooltechnology in this space now.
I mean the ability to createand make maps and understand
(14:37):
value through solar and you knowall of these different things
that are out there which justmake a land broker and a land
owner smarter, and that's howyou maximize returns.
So we've partnered with a lotof them.
So when you become a memberowner of the Land Broker Co-op,
your listings go to Land BrokerMLS and you upload them, or
(14:59):
perhaps your brokerage doesautomatically.
We have a lot of feeds thatcome in from brokerages.
Yes, your listings are going togo on the Landbroker website,
which is landbrokermlscom, butthey're also going to go to the
Wall Street Journal.
They're also going to go to theDow Jones's site, mansion
Global.
They're going to go to Acres,which is now you get into the
(15:21):
industry sites.
Is now you get into theindustry sites, right?
So you've got acres.
You've got rpr, which is um.
It's more on the commercialside.
But we provide the landlistings to rpr.
We provide the land listings tothe realtors land institute,
site hunt, stand, land hub, umfarms, usa land search, land
Search, crexie, landgate, texasAssociation of Land Brokers,
(15:47):
acre Value.
Pretty soon we'll have Land ID.
That goes live soon.
Common Ground goes live soonand Farmland which is part of
the farm credit system goes livesoon.
Now all of those sites, yourlistings, are being pushed there
while you sleep, you don't doanything, and all of those sites
are included in your $9.90 ayear, $990 a year, or your $5.90
(16:14):
a year if you're a member ofthe Realtors Land Institute and
some other groups that we workwith that.
They've offset and created thatdiscount.
I mean, $5.90 a year is what?
$1.60 a day, that's a quarterof a cup of coffee.
You know, $2.70 a day is threequarters of a cup of coffee, and
that's before you put anythingfancy in it, right?
(16:34):
So if you were to go to theWall Street Journal and you
bought their minimum package ofthree listings and please don't
quote me on this because I'llI'm not going to be exact, but
it's hundreds of dollars a monthright?
All of that is already paid foron your behalf and included.
Some of those sites havecriteria.
I think the dow jones propertyhas to be over a million dollars
(16:55):
for the mansion global site.
There are some criteria inthere, but that is a huge amount
of value for a one-time paymentor you can spread it out
monthly if you prefer, with nostrings attached.
No one's making you sign acontract that you can't get out
of a land broker who sits downacross the table from a
(17:18):
potential lister and saysbecause this is what this whole
program gets white labeled, youcan put your own logo at the top
of this page because you're thereason it's happening.
You're a member, owner of thisorganization.
You can look someone in the eyeand say when you list with me,
right, and you can lay out allthe things that you're already
(17:39):
doing.
But then you can lay out thiswhole list of platform list Okay
, and that is a pretty completeapproach to the industry, to say
the least.
And I would say that once youget below the line the Wall
Street Journal, the Dow Jones,the big mega sites, as it were
(18:02):
and you start looking at RPR andAcres and LandHub and
LandSearch and Crexie, et ceterathose are industry sites,
people whose eyeballs are on,those are already vested some
way in the land space, right?
So when they react to yourlisting, it's not a Zillow
reaction.
Nothing against Zillow.
I use it myself, but it's not aZillow reaction.
(18:25):
Nothing against Zillow, I useit myself, but it's not a Zillow
reaction.
It's not a wow.
I'd love to know what thekitchen looks like in that house
and I'm never going to buy.
There's a level of relevancethere, so it's a really powerful
tool and, yeah, we're verypassionate about it because I
think it's a game changer.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
If you don't mind, david, we're going to take a
quick break and we will be right.
The American Land SellerPodcast is brought to you in
part by LandHubcom.
Join us today and experiencethe expertise of LandHub's land
marketing professionals, whetheryou're buying or selling.
(19:05):
Let us show you the way in theever-evolving world of land
transactions.
Visit landhubcom and discoverwhat the future of land
marketing looks like.
Landhubcom where your landjourney begins.
All right, we are back withDavid Light from the Landbroker
Co-op, landbroker MOS, and David, I've been a part of the
(19:30):
ambassador program with theLandbroker Co-op for a while.
Let's talk just a little bitabout that.
How did that get started?
And it's really kind of aninteresting difference from
other companies in the sensethat you have members that are
so excited about the programthat they're willing to go out
(19:52):
and talk to other folks and tryand try and recruit people into
the to the co-op, and I thinkI've gotten, you know, 10 or 12
in my time you know that havesigned up.
So, um, it's, you know it'sdefinitely not a.
So it's, you know, it'sdefinitely not a.
In my area there's not a wholelot of land brokers out there,
but talk about how theambassador program got started,
and what kind of a benefit isthat to the co-op?
Speaker 4 (20:28):
You know the ambassador program is.
It arguably sums up what theco-op is, right, and you said it
yourself.
There's a level of excitementand also, just, um, the
observation that how importantthe co-op is for lots of reasons
.
It's not just a listing site,right, people, people have to
get that out of their head.
It's, it's a lot more than that, and the ambassadors kind of
sum it up really, really wellbecause, um, I don't think we've
ever said, I mean, you may havegot a free hat out of it, but
(20:49):
that's about it.
You're doing it, because you'redoing it, because you
understand the big picture,right, there's a 30,000 foot
view here, um, and we have, Ithink, last count, we have 24
ambassadors around the countrywho use their own dime and their
own time to go out and talk togroups or show up where we can't
(21:11):
.
We can't be everywhere.
You know, a co-op is a leanmachine.
It is not running with somehuge war chest.
We keep the cost as low as wecan and if there's profit at the
end of the year, that goes backto the members.
In a check Last time I looked,we were the only company sending
(21:32):
money back, um, and it it's nota life-changing amount of money
, um, but the point is it is atrue cooperative and nothing,
nothing embodies that betterthan the ambassador program, and
it's been, um, it's been veryimpacted because brokers don't
want to be sold to by another.
You know the sales pro hey, buyone, get one.
(21:52):
That's not what's going on here.
This is an industry movement andthey want to hear it from their
peers.
They want to hear it from whyare you doing it?
Well, let me tell you thatconversation is so much more
powerful and it's really beenthe backbone of a lot of what we
do.
We're always really proud totalk about our ambassadors.
(22:16):
We put them in the magazine.
The Landbroker magazine Springissue is going together right
now.
Another benefit if you're amember of the co-op, you're
basically paying costs on that.
It's your magazine.
Why you would put money insomething else when you own your
own and you can sit down thelisting and say, well, actually
I'm one of the owners of thispublication through the co-op
(22:38):
too.
Is is powerful stuff and it's abeautiful publication.
Yeah, I think the we would beuh, we wouldn't be half what we
are without the ambassadorprogram, because I just it
surprises a lot of people.
It really gets.
It's an attention getter andit's very real.
There's a lot of passion behindit, so we appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, it's definitely a group of uh, of sharp.
You know, like I'm not justsaying that because I'm a part
of it, I kind of bring it down.
But, uh, you know like I'm notjust saying that, because I'm a
part of it, I kind of bring itdown.
It's pretty impressive peoplein the industry that are that
are on those calls when we dothem and and, uh, that um, uh,
that are a part of thatambassador deal, um, and so,
(23:21):
yeah, it's, it's definitely uh,it's fun to fun to kind of just
go talk to people about it.
I know, like I recently um I Ichanged it.
I know, like I recently um I Ichanged companies last year.
I've talked about this on otherpodcasts and so when I went
through that um, I joined acompany where I was more of my
own land broker and nobody elsein my company really did land.
(23:42):
I was the only one to there's.
Now there are almost 40 of us.
Oh, wow, and they're you andwe're from six different
companies, and so you know, anda lot of the companies and again
you know this book from talkingto brokers all over the country
is a lot of the.
The brokers still have that oldmentality you talked about in
the last segment.
Let's keep all the informationto ourselves.
(24:05):
Let's not share.
I worked hard for thisinformation.
I worked hard for thesepictures.
I don't, you know, I don't wantto share my commission with
anybody.
You know, like the, the, I cando it all myself and and don't
bother me, type of mentality.
(24:26):
And so you know, when you havepeople that come from that world
and then people that come frommy world, which is like man
rising tight, lifts, all boats,you know, it's all.
You know, like I'll give youeverything I got, you know, and
then, cause I'm always thinkingabout what the next thing is,
you know, so it, it makes people, makes the industry better.
Um, so you know, like that'sjust, that's just kind of one of
those things where, like, I hada guy that just recently joined
this is where my long story isgoing to get shorter.
(24:54):
Um, that was like, like by thetime he joined rli landbroker
co-op and land up, he hadfigured out that he had gotten.
You know, like, basically, rliwas free, you know, by the time
it was done because of thediscounts that he got from the
three different sources, youknow, and all three of those
sources work together, you know,and so, so and so talk about
that, talk about your connectionwith that RLI aspect.
(25:14):
I think at this point all thelistings are going to the RLI
site or they're working on it ordoes that change?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yeah, no, they're there, they're on the website.
You should go to theconnections area on the Realtors
Land Institute site.
You'll see all of the listingsare provided by the Landbroker
Co-op.
Yeah, rli.
My history with RLI goes wayback to the first meeting I ever
went to was in Las Vegas.
(25:42):
It was on my first day ofemployment at Farm and Ranch
Magazine a long, long time ago,long time ago, um, so I think it
was 2000, 2001, 2002 and uh,that was my first day of work at
farm and ranch and I went to anrli meeting in las vegas and
and uh, proceeded to calleverybody realtors, which didn't
(26:03):
go down very well.
And I met michael landreththere who was, um a very active.
He became one of the nationalpresidents, um, but was very
active in the Colorado chapterand he invited me along.
And I haven't missed too manymeetings in Colorado over the
years.
We sponsor the ranch tour everyyear.
(26:23):
In fact we were responsible forputting that together with a
couple of members, steve Flemingin particular, in Colorado.
So I mean I've done a lot withRLI over the years.
I saw the value day one Anyonewho's in this industry, you've
got to get continuing ed.
Why wouldn't you getland-centric continuing ed and
(26:45):
it's affordable.
They've got great instructors.
You don't want to be the guythat says, hey, you're the last
one through the door, close thedoor behind, right?
A lot of people are going tocome in and out of this industry
, as it should be, and that'sjust the way it is.
But rli and the land brokerco-op, you know indirectly and
directly, are sort of building awall garden around the industry
(27:07):
a little bit.
There is a level of knowledgenecessary to do land
transactions and you know you'vegot to understand pipeline
easements and mineral rights.
Water rights is obviously ahuge thing.
You can get yourself in a lotof trouble if you're doing a
one-off deal.
(27:28):
So that organization, I think,has always done an exceptional
job on their education andmaking sure people have the
tools so they don't getthemselves in trouble.
So yeah, we're big supportersof them, they're big supporters
of us and yeah, we work togethervery well.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, and to your point that you know like being a
realtor, you know that's partof the rules of being a realtor
is you have to know what you'redoing right, so to be confident
in the realm that you're workingon.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
You have a fiduciary duty to your client, right?
I mean, that's a pretty seriousdeal.
Duty to your client right Imean it's a pretty serious deal.
You can't perform that if youdon't understand.
You don't see too many landguys trying to sell apartment
buildings.
There's a reason for that, andvice versa.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So, david, why is the co-op so important?
I mean in your mind, in yourheart, why do you think it's as
important as it is?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I think that if the industry continues just to give
it all away to huge companiesthat are not vested in the
industry necessarily and there'sno bad actors out there, it's
(28:54):
just a different mentality, it'sa bottom line type scenario for
a lot of these companies, andthat's nothing wrong with that.
So grew this country.
I mean, that's all good, butyou got to at some point take a
step back and go.
What is?
How do we protect our situation10 years from now?
(29:15):
Right, how do we maintain alevel of understanding that when
somebody is thinking, well, I'mselling them, selling my house
in la, wherever it might be, andyou know, I want to buy a ranch
in Montana, am I going to usethe same agent?
Maybe there's a referral inthere?
(29:36):
Well, no, because they'reprobably not licensed in Montana
.
But take it back.
Maybe you're just buying aranch or land in California.
There's a difference, right,you're going to go out and
you're going to go find someoneto do business with that
understands and has thatknowledge.
But it's amazing how few peopleactually realize that that's
(29:58):
needed and and I think we arereally good at educating the
public as to, you know, use aland broker, use a land broker.
This is why we use a landbroker.
Um, we do that through thefront end.
We do that through the farmcredits, the sponsors.
We have the sponsorship side ofthings.
So how this looks in the future.
We have a lot of support fromfarm credit systems and other
(30:20):
sponsors.
Um, some of the people in theget connected program are now
turning into sponsors.
Rli is a sponsor sponsorindirectly, and our final goal
is to get to a point wherethere's enough revenue coming in
from our partners and sponsors.
That being a land brokerautomatically gets you a
(30:41):
membership.
There is no fee to be part ofthe co-op.
That's the goal down the road.
We want people to understandthis is a place you can come, a
hub in the industry you can cometo and you can get what you
need.
Yes, there's discounts ontravel and there's great health
insurance and there's discountsat Cabela's and there's all
these other things you can do,and your listing, as a result,
(31:03):
is being aggregated across anentire industry at no extra cost
.
Industry at no extra cost.
Um, it's a centralized.
It's a centralized system thatis way, way, way bigger than a
listing website, and the quickerwe have over a thousand members
now, the quicker we get to twothousand, the the least
(31:26):
expensive it will be because themore value that will be added.
And, man, it's like aninvestment in future savings.
And if the co-op hadn't existedin the first place, we drove
prices back down.
We stopped prices from going upas quickly as they were going,
(31:47):
because the very nature of theco-op made a lot of people
uneasy and they were like whoa,we better slow our roll here a
little bit.
I think a lot of people wouldbe surprised how much money the
co-op has saved them.
They haven't even joined it,right, and I would say, if
you're a land broker, if you'rein this space, you owe it to
(32:08):
yourself and the industry andthe long-term benefits um, that
become obvious very quickly tojoin the co-op.
Put that cup coffee down, gospend the money at the co-op
watch it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, let's think of other vices for the next segment
from david, so that we don'ttake people's coffee away.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Well, you know, I'm not putting my cup of coffee
down, to be fair, right now, andI do enjoy the coffee.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, you can make your coffee once or twice at
home once a week if you're ondire straits.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
To offset it.
That's a good way to look at it.
That's a good way to look at it.
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
All right, brother.
Well, let's take a quick breakand we will be back.
You got one more segment in youtoday, maybe 10, 15 more?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Oh sure, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
All right, been fun talking to you.
We will be right back Landisn't just dirt.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
It's where memories are made, families are raised
and livelihoods are built.
But when it comes time to sellor buy, the weight of the
decision is heavy.
Where do you even start?
Who can you trust to guide you?
(33:30):
For too long, land transactionshave been treated like a simple
exchange Numbers on a paper, asignature on a line.
But it's more than that.
At High Point Land Company, wedon't just list land, we walk it
, we learn its story and we findthe right buyer who understands
its worth.
You are not just another deal.
(33:54):
You are the steward ofsomething bigger and we're here
to help you navigate every stepof the way.
When it's time to sell, whenit's time to buy.
We're here Because land is morethan just land.
(34:24):
It's your legacy.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
All right, we are back with David Light with
LandBroker Co-op.
Landbrokermlscom is theconsumer face, I would guess.
I guess that's where people cango to shop for great land
listings.
Let's talk just a little bitabout that, david, because
that's important.
You know, we understand now,after the last segment, why it's
(34:57):
important to be a member forland brokers, but it's also an
incredible tool for consumers,correct?
Speaker 4 (35:02):
You know, these days it's all about getting people to
the end product as quickly aspossible, right?
That's sort of a which know Ithink is very important.
I personally don't mind a bitmore of a journey, um, but I
don't think that's uh good forseo and sem and all the things
that drive websites these days,right?
(35:22):
So you know they did a greatjob, um, ct adams runs our
operations and he worked withthe developers tirelessly and
they put together a really greatuser interface.
It's very simple.
It has a thing called anelastic search, so you can
literally type in a single wordand it will fill a criteria.
(35:44):
Now, usually you might want totype in farm, karma, iowa and
corn, and then you're going tosee every listing that's
relevant to you.
So it has a very intuitivesearch which makes life easier,
and then once the map shows upand you can filter it further.
(36:06):
There's only so many ways toskin the cat these days on
websites, so there's a lot ofsimilarities between all of the
sites and the target is alwaysto make the experience as easy
as possible.
We don't overwhelm people.
There's ads everywhere andflashing lights.
You see what you search for, sothere's no preference given.
(36:30):
You see what you search for.
So there's no preference given.
But if you are looking for 75acres in Colorado and it must
have a horse barn, somebody'slisting without the horse barn,
which is 40 acres, isn't goingto show up because they paid
extra.
Okay, you're going to see whatyou search for.
It's extremely clean in that,in that respect, and I think
(36:54):
that's that's a very, that'svery important to people.
They don't want to wait throughthings they didn't ask for so a
company can make more money.
They want to see what they needto see, um, so we've made sure
that that is is searchable.
The map interface works very,very well.
So, yeah, it's, you know, theonly advertising you're going to
(37:18):
see on there for the RealtorsLand Institute.
Because we're big believers andsupporters.
They're not writing us a checkfor that.
That's because they areimportant.
And you'll see a farm credit.
You'll see a lender.
A lot of people getting intothe land space don't understand
that there is, you know, so manydeals fall apart at the last
minute because the high streetbank actually only lends on the
(37:43):
house and 10 acres.
Even if you've got 500 acres,they don't really put value on
that extra 500 acres and youreally want to work with a
lender that understands land andhow to put a land deal together
.
So you will see those twothings out there, but it's all
about tools and the things thatwill help you be a better
(38:04):
landowner.
That's sort of how we like tofocus.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Right, and I think one of the things that's kind of
a plus to a two is is that allland brokers are created equal
on this site, right?
So you're not coming to me andsaying, hey, kobe, for a
thousand dollars a month, we canmake you the premier.
You know, it's all about theland.
It's not about funneling peopleto a particular property, like
(38:29):
you said.
It's not about funneling peopleto a particular property, like
you said, because of the factthat Sam the land broker paid
you more money than Kobe theland broker did.
It's helping our clients andour consumers find exactly what
they're looking for, which Ithink is epic in this space.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
It's a big advantage for us, because the consumer
wants that too.
They don't want to have to siftthrough a bunch of stuff just
because somebody paid to have itthere.
They want to see what they wantto see.
And the brokers doesn't matterif you you sell a hundred
million dollars worth of land ayear or a million dollars worth
of land a year.
You're an equal member, you'rean equal owner and you're of
(39:13):
equal importance, right?
Because, at the end of the day,this industry is driven at all
levels, right?
So, yeah, it's, it's a levelplaying field.
Um, and uh, that makes our joba whole lot easier.
Honestly, it really does.
Um, and there are some brokersthat are like, well, how do I
get a premium membership or howdo I become a platinum?
(39:34):
You don't, yeah, you don't.
But do you want people who arecontacting you because it's
pretty, or do you want peoplecontacting you because it's what
they searched for?
So you're going to have a highpercentage of quality hits that
way and not to go back to GetConnected in any major way.
(39:55):
But to that point, because ofthis program, we get copies of
those leads.
We don't get copies of theperson.
We're not contacting the people.
We see a lead came from one ofour Get Connected programs to
the broker.
So the brokers, through thatprogram and through the Lambroke
MLS site, are getting a wholebunch of leads every month
because of that membership.
(40:17):
So, yeah, that's all.
That's all part of the whole,part of the value.
But we're very proud of thefront end of this site and how
it affects um searches and howwe're able to inform the public
of hey, here's, here's how youdo it, here's who you talk to
and, um, you know, put qualitylistings in front of them yeah,
no, that's, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Put quality listings in front of them.
Yeah, no, that's again.
I think your point to Amy Romeis is it's not just about one
tool or one you know one agent.
It's about making, you know,creating a product that, once
the consumer figures out thatit's there, that's their go-to
right.
That's the whole goal is likeoh well, you know, I really
(40:59):
don't care.
You know I really don't careabout this.
You know this property I wantto find, you know, irrigated
farm ground in Dawson County,nebraska.
Or you know, like I don't wantto, you know, have to sift
through three ranches andsomething else when I search for
something specific, you know,just because somebody paid a
premium price I mean, that's a,it's been a.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
the most positive comment we get most regularly is
thank you for showing me whatI'm looking for.
Directly or indirectly, thatcomment comes a lot from the
public, and one of the reasonswe're growing so fast on leads
and in the network that is theinternet right is because a lot
(41:42):
of people we get reuses, reuses,reuses Because the experience
is clean and simple and they'renot being sold to, they're just
getting good information andbeing able to make smart
decisions.
So that's really key to thesuccess of the site.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
So yeah, and it's easy to do when you're a co-op
and I think the interestingthing is the last several years,
I think we've beentransitioning from the
technology and generation ortechnology era into more of the
information era.
People, more and more and more,are getting to the point where,
(42:21):
just give me where I need to goas fast as I can, don't lie to
me, don't you know?
And, and if you can be thattrusted space, um, you know in
in the, in our industry, whichyou are?
Um, that's incredible.
Let's transition to kind of oneof the flagships of what we're
(42:43):
doing is the magazine Landbroker.
What is it?
Landbroker MLS Magazine?
Yeah, landbroker.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
Magazine.
Well, that's kind of more of apassion for me, because I came
from the print side, right?
So people ask me how does yourwebsite do that?
And I have to find someone waysmarter than me to answer the
question, because I'm not a techguy.
Luckily, we've got really goodpeople, but the print side of
things, you know, print, haschanged a lot.
(43:12):
Okay, it used to be the onlyoption for marketing.
It used to be the only optionfor marketing, depending on how
a company is set up.
Sometimes they will do printbecause they feel like they have
to.
Sometimes, though, that meansthey're not being very creative,
in my opinion, but it's a greatway to brand a company.
It's a great way to improveyour opportunity to get listings
(43:39):
.
Plenty of buyers still comethrough print, there's no
question.
Um, it's not the same amount,but what drives somebody to a
property on a website?
These are unmeasurable, right.
So I know that when we send ourmagazine out, if it's a day or
two late getting to a particularindividual, my phone rings.
(44:00):
You know where's the magazine.
People wait for it, they expectit.
They've been getting it foryears.
They got it when it was OpenFences magazine and the name
change happened when it wasacquired to Labrador magazine
but it's the same magazine, andthey said they'll watch by it
(44:21):
magazine, but it's the samemagazine, and they said they're
watch fire.
Now they use it as a quiet mlsin some respects.
What's new?
What are the prices doing?
It's something they can pick upand put down without turning on
a screen and I I still I'm amagazine guy.
I'm a great believer in in theimportance of publications, but
(44:42):
if I'm going to be in apublication, it has to fit
within the budget, because mydigital budget's gone through
the roof.
If I'm going to wrap something,it's probably going to be print
.
I don't know that that's theright move as we move into a
situation where it's going to beharder and harder with all this
new stuff that's going on inthe world right now, with
commissions and lawsuits and etcetera.
(45:03):
It's going to be harder andharder for a buyer side broker
to get paid and it's going to beway, way more about the
listings than it's ever beenbefore and it's always been
about the listings, but it'sgoing to be even more so and I'm
going to be even more so andand I'm going to want to print
element that I'm consistent inand that magazine is the best
(45:25):
deal in town.
If you're a member the firsttime you put a magazine ad in as
a non-member, if you join andget the discount, you've just
covered the cost of yourmembership.
Yeah, or most of it.
It's a no-brainer right.
And Lambroker Magazine has acustom cover program.
So for not a lot of money youcan put your listing on a couple
(45:50):
of hundred copies on the frontcover with an ad for yourself on
the inside front cover.
The rest of the magazineremains the same.
Your ad is still in thereanyway and that can get directly
mailed to a list of your choicelocal landowners.
What to your office, you mightwant to hand them out.
People use them in listingpresentations.
(46:10):
Here's a national publication,here I am on the cover and the
inside front cover and as amember you're getting all this
for basically cost.
I mean, I think it's cost.
They've got to cover acommission, they've got to cover
a few things, but it is paperprinting, distribution, you know
, plus 10% or something.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
It's extremely inexpensive as a member and a
huge member benefit More andmore people need to utilize, to
utilize it's a really great tooland I have, uh, one time I had
a property that I did use thecolor cover um cover deal and it
was pretty, pretty smooth it's.
Not only was it slick, becausemy clients thought it was pretty
(46:53):
awesome that their, theirproperty was on the cover, but
it was was also.
I could take it to trade showsand stuff like that and be like
hey, this is the kind ofmarketing that we do.
I don't know what everybodyelse is up to, but where does
the magazine go If somebody'sinterested in getting signed up
for it, or is there a cost forthe consumer to get it sent to
(47:15):
them?
Speaker 4 (47:17):
No, I mean so.
No, there's an option tosubscribe and have.
You can have the digitalversion for free and you can
sign up for that.
That's so easy.
There's no hard cost to us todo that.
So we certainly don't pass thatcost, the fake cost, on.
But the actual magazine itself?
No, no, get with your landbroker, get with a co-op member
(47:41):
and ask them to put you on thelist.
They contact us.
If it's through a broker, thenwe'll put you on that list and
you'll receive a copy.
When we started open fences,which was this magazine before
the name change, um, we builtmost of the distribution before
we ever sold a page and we havea phenomenal distribution on
(48:02):
that publication, a very loyalreadership.
We can.
We have lots of examples of themagazine being the reason.
Somebody reached out and wewere talking about it earlier
and I didn't really finish thatpoint that you can't always
track where these leads comefrom.
Somebody sees a photo in amagazine.
(48:22):
It's usually one or two photosthat got their interest.
They don't have enoughinformation that is going to
drive them to the website.
It might drive them to yourwebsite directly or to the
Landbroker website so they cansee more photos, so they can
look, look at the mapping, sothey can look at a video, and
there's the guy or the galthat's representing it.
They pick up the phone andsomeone will say, well, how do
(48:44):
you hear about us?
Oh, I'm on your website, great,hey, our website Fantastic.
Well, yeah, your websiteprobably is fantastic and it
does a very important job.
But rarely will that gettracked back to a print ad.
But there are a lot of peoplethat like to read this
publication and have done formany years landowners, um and
(49:07):
wannabe landowners, the futurelandowners and people who are
considering selling and theywant to know well, who does good
marketing and they'll pick itup and go.
Yeah, these guys are consistent.
They obviously have the rightkind of budget and attitude.
Maybe I'll give them a call.
It's important, it's important.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
I think one of my largest clients that I have and
he's kind of an active investor.
He called me out of my ad inthat book.
Yep, that's true, it's a greatfeature and he's kind of an
active investor.
He called me out of my ad inthat book.
Yep, sure, so it's a greatfeature, I think it even I don't
know if I'm right on this.
Does it go to like some FBOs?
Yep, yeah, we have private jetterminals.
Speaker 4 (49:51):
Yeah, fbos, fixed based operators right.
Yes, it does.
We actually email a prettylarge number overseas to
potential investors as well.
We don't really ship thephysical magazine because it's
just cost prohibitive.
Um, you know, our goal is tokeep costs down for brokers,
give them as much value aspossible for the minimum cost,
(50:14):
right, and and?
Uh, if we make a profit, wesend them a check at the end of
the year, and we sent checks thefirst year the co-op existed
and we've sent one ever since,right?
So shipping magazines overseasdoesn't make sense, but it's
very easy to provide them with adigital copy and we do have a
good subscriber list on that aswell.
(50:36):
So it's far-reaching and it'sreally been around for a long
time.
Open fences started way backwhen, um, I mean, we're probably
15 years now of of magazinesand over a period of time, if
you're paying attention, you canbuild a really strong
readership, right, and we takethe readers and the lists very,
(51:01):
very seriously.
That's the backbone of anypublication.
Speaker 1 (51:05):
Well, and it's, I mean, my own personal experience
is, it's kind of fun because asan ambassador, I get a case of
them sent to me every time,right, and so that's an excuse
for me to, you know, throw thosein the pickup.
And then I go around and visitlenders and you know some of the
farm lenders and and someonelike you know some of the
producers and different thingsin the area, and I can drop off
that magazine to them and talkto them about what's going on,
(51:28):
and it it's a once a quarter.
It gives me an excuse to getout and go visit some people and
and so, uh, it's, it's a fun,it's a fun deal, and there's
people that they look forward.
They'll call, like you said.
They'll call and be like, hey,where's my coffee?
Isn't it about time for springto happen for us here, bud, you
know, or the summer, or whatever.
(51:49):
So, yeah, it's a cool tool thatwe have fun with.
And, again, I think you don'thave to be an ambassador If you
want a box or something for anevent you're doing.
Uh, I, even before I was anambassador, I called me like,
hey, I'm going to a trade show,can you send me, uh, some
magazines, and they would sendme out a box of them um, so that
(52:11):
I could send them out of tradeshows and surprises, and and um,
for a few weeks after themagazine comes out.
Speaker 4 (52:17):
We've got, we've got homes for every copy at the end
of the day, so they don't justthey don't go to waste, but, um,
we always like to make sure wehave a few extras laying around.
So, um, yeah, no, it's, it's uh, the magazine's just a lot of
fun to work on too, and you knowit's.
I miss it because I don't get alot, a lot of time.
(52:38):
David swalick runs the magazinefor us, david z as we call him,
um, and he's always happy totalk to anybody about the
publication, and, and we'realways happy to talk to anybody
about becoming a lambroker co-opmember, um uh, speaking of that
, how do people get a hold ofyou?
Speaker 1 (52:56):
or uh, who do you want them to get a hold of at
the Land Broker Co-op?
If somebody's listening to thisand they're like hey, I know,
the website for consumers islandbrokermlscom.
You can search all the landlistings.
I would imagine thousands andthousands of listings at this
point, correct.
But if I'm wanting to getdirectly in touch with you or
(53:19):
somebody in your group, david,who do we go to?
Speaker 4 (53:22):
Well, if you have interest in joining the co-op as
a land agent, land broker, thendrop me a line, david at
landbrokercoopcom, and that'sjust C-O-O-P, just like the hair
, and I'll make sure the rightperson gets back to you very
quickly.
And, as far as that could befor the magazine, that could be
(53:45):
for membership, directmembership, more questions If
you want to get on, the curatoris a biweekly digital piece we
send out to the industry withupdates.
If you want to get on that list, I'll make sure sort of
centralize your information andmake sure the right people get
it and we'll get you hooked up.
(54:07):
If you're in this industry andyou're not a member of the land
broker co-op, you need to reallyseriously ask yourself why.
Why not?
Because there is not acompelling reason.
There are a lot of compellingreasons to do it.
There aren't many not to do itand it just probably is you
haven't got around to it yet oryou're just learning about it.
Either way, reach out anytime.
(54:29):
We're happy to talk about it.
We love, as you can tell, Idon't shut up so we love to talk
about it.
So please, please, reach out.
We want you as members, we needyou as members and we want to
grow together.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
Perfect, all right, well, awesome.
Well, I appreciate you takingthe time today.
David, I know you're a busy manand a great conversation and I
learned a lot in I'm anambassador, so that's that's
good, that there's so much goingon that even those of us that
kind of pay attention closelyare still learning.
(55:06):
So any parting shots, anythingyou want to say before we close
it out today.
Speaker 4 (55:13):
Just thank you.
It's actually nice.
Sometimes you do these things.
That reminds you of a lot ofthings you haven't thought of
for a while too.
You're like, wow, man, thisreally is a good deal Forgot how
honest I am.
I get a joy in it, yeah, sowe'd love to hear from everybody
(55:35):
.
We do appreciate theopportunity and thank you so
much for having us.
Speaker 1 (55:40):
All right, and if you're listening to this and you
want to receive a copy of theland broker MLS magazine, reach
out to me.
I'll try and get you on thelist.
Speaker 2 (55:48):
And thanks everybody for listening today and we will
see you all down the road as wewrap up another episode of the
American land seller podcast.
Thank you for joining us.
Visit wwwamericanlandsellercomand find us on one of your
favorite podcast platforms.
If you would be so kind and youenjoyed today's insights,
(56:08):
please like, subscribe, rate,follow and review us on whatever
app you are listening orwatching on.
Connect with us on social mediafor updates.
Until next week.
Kobe wishes you success in yourland endeavors.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Speaker 1 (56:24):
The American Land Seller is brought to you in part
by LandHubcom.
Are you in the market for theperfect piece of land?
Look no further than LandHubcom, your solution to the biggest
challenges facing land buyersand sellers today.
At LandHub, we'rerevolutionizing land
transactions by effectivelyconnecting buyers and sellers.
Say goodbye to the struggle offinding or marketing land for
(56:46):
sale.
We understand the power of newmedia marketing, leveraging
social media and targeted ads tobring together the ideal
audience for all property types.
Join us today and experiencethe expertise of LandHub's land
marketing professionals.
Whether you're buying orselling, let us show you the way
in the ever-evolving world ofland transactions.
(57:09):
Visit LandHubcom and discoverwhat the future of land
marketing looks like.
Landhubcom, where your landjourney begins, and High Point
Land Company.
When it comes to buying andselling land, High Point Land
Company sets the standard forexcellence across the Midwest
(57:29):
and beyond.
Our expert land specialistsbring unmatched market knowledge
and a personal touch to everysingle transaction, Whether it's
a farm, ranch, recreational oreven investment property.
We provide the expertise andintegrity you can trust.
Looking to buy or sell, weoffer a premier selection of
properties and a marketingstrategy designed to get you
(57:52):
results.
From productive farmland torecreational retreats, we help
you maximize your investment.
Visitwwwhighpointlandcompanycom today
and experience the difference.
High Point Land Company a trueleader in land sales.
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