March 25, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of The American Land Seller, we sit down with Sam Bowers, a seasoned land expert, Accredited Land Consultant (ALC), and the immediate past president of the National Realtors Land Institute. With over 35 years in real estate and a lifetime of experience in agriculture, Sam has a wealth of knowledge about land brokerage, market trends, and rural property investment.
Sam’s journey in real estate began in 1988, leading him to earn his broker’s license in 1991 and later found Bowers and Burns Real Estate Company in 2003. He’s a past president of the Georgia Chapter of RLI, a lifetime Million Dollar Club member, and a multi-year APEX award winner since 2021. His leadership has shaped the land industry at both the state and national levels.
Beyond real estate, Sam is an influential figure in his community, having served as President of the Coweta County Farm Bureau, the Coweta Cattlemen’s Association, and on the Coweta County Board of Zoning Appeals. His expertise spans land management, market valuations, and rural property investment strategies.
In this episode, we’ll explore:
✅ Sam’s journey from farming to land brokerage
✅ The evolving land market in Georgia and beyond
✅ Key insights for land buyers, sellers, and investors
✅ The impact of leadership in organizations like the Realtors Land Institute
If you're interested in land sales, investment strategies, and expert insights from one of the industry's best, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!
🔔 Subscribe for more expert interviews and land market insights!
📩 Connect with Sam at: www.bowersandburns.com
📢 Find us at: www.americanlandseller.com
#AmericanLandSeller #SamBowers #LandBrokerage #LandInvestment #RuralRealEstate #RealtorsLandInstitute #LandConsultant #GeorgiaRealEstate #FarmAndRanch #AcreageForSale #LandManagement #LandOwnership #InvestInLand #AgricultureRealEstate #RealEstatePodcast
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on the American Land Seller, we're joined by
Sam Bowers, a highly respectedland expert, accredited land
consultant and dedicatedcommunity leader from Noonan,
georgia.
With over 35 years in realestate and a lifetime rooted in
agriculture, sam has built animpressive career helping
landowners navigate theever-changing market.
(00:20):
Sam's journey started with abackground in agriculture
economics from Abraham BaldwinAgriculture College and the
University of Georgia.
He launched his real estatecareer in 1988, earned his
broker's license in 1991, andwent on to found Bowers and
Burns Real Estate Company in2003.
His leadership in the industryis undeniable.
(00:43):
He is the immediate pastpresident of the Realtors Land
Institute, a past president ofthe Georgia chapter of RLI and a
lifetime million-dollar clubmember.
Sam's also been an Apex Awardwinner every single year since
2021 and was named Georgia LandRealtor of the Year in 2003.
(01:06):
Beyond real estate, sam isdeeply involved in his community
, having served as president ofthe Coweta County Farm Bureau,
the Coweta Paddlemen'sAssociation and on the Coweta
County Board of Zoning Appeals.
His extensive leadership andmarket experience make him a
wealth of knowledge forlandowners, buyers and investors
alike.
Today we'll discuss Sam'sjourney, his insights on
(01:30):
Georgia's land market and whatbuyers and sellers need to know
in today's environment.
Stay tuned for a greatconversation with Sam Bowers
right here on the American LandSeller Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Welcome to the American Land Seller Podcast.
Welcome to the American LandSeller Podcast with your host,
coby Rickardson.
Coby is an accredited landconsultant and multi-state land
broker with High Point LandCompany.
Join us each week as we exploreall things land.
We bring you fresh insights andexpert guests on sales,
marketing, regulations,economics and so much more.
(02:04):
Visit wwwamericanlandsellercomand find us on one of your
favorite podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Okay, Kobe and our special guests, let's get
started.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
All right, welcome back to the Landseller Podcast
Today.
I'm excited to have Sam Bowersfrom Georgia on here today.
Immediate past president.
Sam, how are you doing inGeorgia today?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'm doing great.
I hope you are?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Oh yeah, we are, we're doing great.
Just finished up the landconference last week so I got to
ask you, man, let's just startout Like, I have been involved
in RLI for, uh, probably sixyears now, six, seven years.
Um, it's been a really great umasset to my business.
(02:56):
Um, but man, you were thepresident last year.
What's that like?
Was that pretty, pretty, prettygood work for you?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
That was pretty cool.
Yeah, I really enjoyed thatexperience.
We've got some of the bestpeople as members of our
organization that you could askfor from anyone.
Our people will bend overbackwards to help you in any way
, and they bend over backwardsto help each other, and that's
(03:26):
the big thing.
That's something that's veryimportant about RLI it's you
know Dan Murphy mentioned this acouple years ago that a rising
tide lifts all ships, and Ithink that's very much.
The motto of RLI is yes, we'recompetitors, but if you're doing
better, I'm doing better.
So it was an honor to serve asa president for this
(03:51):
organization and I look forwardto still being involved.
I've been involved in RLI since1998, 97, something like that
1998, 97, something like thatand so I'm still looking forward
to being very involved in it,especially in our state chapter
(04:13):
here in Georgia.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, it's kind of fun once you've done that.
I served as like a regionalgovernance, you know, like a
governor for Rotary years ago,and so it's kind of nice to be
able to go back to your localboard.
You know like a governor forreal rotary a years ago, and so
it's kind of nice to be able togo back to your local board at.
You know, um and uh, bring someof that knowledge back and and
maybe um, uh, get back andplugged into your local, local
and state boards.
You know, once you're done withthat national deal, but, um, so
(04:40):
when you started, you know likewhat was your mission when you
first decided, hey, I want tobecome the Realtors Land
Institute president?
Like what did you think thatyou were going to be able to
change or improve upon when you?
Speaker 4 (04:55):
started Well.
I was following some prettystrong presidents.
We got Renee Harvey, deanSaunders, luke Worrell, dean
Saunders, luke Worrell, and youknow it was a lot of great
things and there's a lot ofgreat things going on with RLI
and I'm a very unseen person.
I wanted to look at more ofoperations and making sure we
(05:20):
had everything in place movingforward in the future, because I
think RLI is at a crossroads ofgrowth that is coming.
We grew a lot during COVID butI think that growth is going to
continue.
Sure that we had policies andprocedures and not the real
(05:49):
glamorous stuff, but more of thebookkeeping stuff in place, and
that we reviewed all that andmake sure that it was ready for
Dan and Jeff to step in and takeoff of this thing and grow us
even more.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, that's I think that we've seen it over the last
probably six, seven years ofjust the kind of behind the
scenes reorganization and Ithink that kind of cumulated
with you with some like bigsteps on, like taking those
steps to redo the education andstuff like that.
Uh, that kind of just started.
(06:23):
I don't know the year before orright around, but you're in
that leadership chain, you knowwhen that started.
So, yeah, it's just it's.
There was a lot going on whenyou were president and
president-elect and stuff likethat.
You know, with the redoing ofthe website and all that kind of
stuff, what kind of hours didyou have to put into this?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I mean, you're running a business too on, you
know um well, I'm fortunate I'vegot a partner, that he and I've
been partners, um, since 2003when we started our company, and
so that that was a big help.
But, uh, you know the hours.
Uh, I had a phone call everywednesday morning.
It was a set thing that everyWednesday morning through the
(07:05):
year I was president, we called,went over what was going on,
basically keeping each other inthe loop.
Then, of course, then we hadour executive board meetings and
our regular board meetingsmonthly.
So, to be honest with you, Ididn't really keep up with the
timeline of how much time ittook.
(07:26):
It was, um, it was a commitment, uh, but it was, um, it was not
the time consuming thing thatpeople would think it is because
of the way you know.
We had a phone call everywednesday morning at nine
o'clock, so I knew for an hour Iwas going to be tied up on
Wednesday morning, then I knewwhen the board meeting were, and
(07:47):
then we travel, some going tospeak to groups, so, um, but
with my partner here to holddown the fort.
You know it worked out, workedout well.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
What's really cool, though, that you guys work
together like that.
He lets you have that um timeto go invest into the real
estate world.
You know, like when we startedour venture eight years ago, I
kind of came into real estate alittle bit different.
I was an investor and propertyowner and really had a hard time
(08:19):
finding that solution for whenI was buying and selling stuff,
that, and so I kind of came intoit with the idea that I was
going to change the industry.
You know, in my area, you knowat least and so, um, the
investment that you made goinginto, you know, rl, uh, rli, and
investing into thatorganization as a leader, is
(08:41):
much appreciated, I know, bythose of us that, and again, it
did make an impact on the, youknow, on the industry, because
it just seems to me like landreal estate is just getting
better and better and better,you know, and more people are
joining RLI, and it's kind ofbeen a fun thing to watch.
You know, I was talking to afriend of mine the other day, a
(09:04):
guy that we're doing evaluationon his properties, and he said,
man, there's an awful lot ofland professionals anymore.
It seemed like when he wasfirst getting into the business.
There was like one guy andeverybody kind of went to him.
He's like now you throw a stickand you can find a land
professional.
What kind of comment would yousay?
(09:24):
Are you weary?
Are you weary, are you excitedto see more and more people
picking that?
You know, it kind of seems likethat's nationwide, that there's
more and more folks that arekind of educating themselves and
getting themselves into theland world.
Is that kind of exciting orkind of weary for you?
What's your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Well, I'm pretty excited about it.
I think that it's a good thingto get people involved in a
business and get them educatedand have them knowledgeable,
because the ones that are goodat it are knowledgeable at it
will have stay in power.
The ones that don't, the marketwill roll them out.
(10:06):
I had an old real estate mantell me many years ago, many,
many years ago, he had beenselling real estate for a long
time and whenever anybody toldhim said, what do you think
about me getting in real estatebusiness, he'd say, boy, you
just jump right on in, you'llfind out real fast if it's for
you.
But yeah, there are a lot moreagents involved that are
(10:27):
specializing in land sales and Imean that's just the nature of
the beef.
When I early on in my careerthere was very few people.
It was mostly foresters thatdid forestry and land sales that
were primarily doing that.
(10:50):
Now I started with a realestate company in the 80s that
we did a lot of land back then.
We did a lot of farmland.
We did well for us farmland andtransitional land.
But it's good to see a youngergeneration that are stepping up
and getting involved in the landbusiness and you know it's
(11:13):
keeping old guys like me havingto keep our game up, so I see it
as a good thing.
It's.
I think it's good for themarket and I think it's good for
the business.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, I tend to agree with you.
I think it is good for thebusiness and I know myself, if
it wasn't for people competingagainst me, I might get
complacent and a little bit lazy.
So it's fun to wake up everyday wondering you know what new
thing we're going to, you knowlike we're going to come up with
to improve our clients'experience.
(11:45):
And so, but yeah, no, if youdon't mind, let's just take a
quick break and we'll be rightback.
If you don't mind, let's justtake a quick break and we'll be
right back.
The American Land SellerPodcast is brought to you in
part by LandHubcom.
Join us today and experiencethe expertise of LandHub's land
(12:05):
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Let us show you the way in theever-evolving world of land
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Visit landhubcom and discoverwhat the future of land
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Landhubcom where your landjourney begins.
(12:26):
All right, we're back, and we'reback with Sam Bowers from
Georgia.
Sam, we're talking just alittle bit during the break kind
of about like how you gotstarted in real estate.
I think people would befascinated to know like at a
certain point you had to make adecision to stick with the land
(12:48):
stuff or kind of keep going withthe company that you're with to
a real residential focus.
Talk just a little bit aboutyour origin story and how you
kind of got into this industry.
And you know you were a farmer.
You come from a farm ranchbackground kind of similar to me
.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So I think it's always fun to see how do you get
from from farm ranch to to realestate and, specifically, land.
Well, you know, basically we Igrew up on cattle ranch, um
registered charlotte cattle andthen we transitioned to
commercial cattle.
I've even dairy.
We grow crop uh, corn, soybeansand wheat.
And before I went off tocollege, um, my dad told me, son
, you're gonna have to findsomething else to do besides
farming.
Uh, it was in the downspin ofuh in our area and so, um, I
(13:42):
went to abraham baldwinagricultural college and then to
university of georgia.
I majored in ag economics, uh,and took some real estate
courses while I was at theUniversity of Georgia and my dad
it's funny, my dad got his realestate license in 1972 as a
hobby and as a sign of thefarming.
(14:03):
He then had to start sellingreal estate part-time to support
his farming habit, and beforeit was over with, he had to sell
real estate full-time tosupport his farming habit.
So I basically followed him.
After school, I put a littlesmall desk in his office in the
corner and I worked in hisoffice for three or four years
(14:24):
at the same company before Imoved it to my own little office
, and so that was how I gotstarted in real estate business
back in the 80s.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It's always great to have a good mentor in this
business.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I have a friend of mine that is considering getting
into real estate and I've beenreally trying to get him to
understand like this is not.
You know it's not just like youcan show up Monday at 10 and be
done at noon and make a milliondollars a month.
You know you got to.
It's a lot of work that goesinto it.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
So uh well, my wife refers to the real estate
business as my mistress.
Uh it, uh.
She feels like that I've got.
She's my wife, but I also havea mistress, and that's real
estate because, especially earlyon it, I mean it consumed a lot
of time.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, and I think you'd agree, the good ones are
the ones that are always like Imean, it's, it's, there's really
no schedule.
I finally, um, I learned from,uh, from a real estate agent
couple of years ago that, orwhen I first got started that
everything goes on your calendar.
That way, everything's anappointment, you know.
And so if the kids got soccer,then that's an appointment.
(15:36):
If the, if the, if your wifewants to go, you know, out for
dinner, then she puts it on yourcalendar.
That's an appointment.
And the calendar is sacred, youknow.
And so that's kind of the rulewhen we first started with my
wife was that okay, that if youwant to put something on there
and it's open, you know, thenput it on there and then that's
the sacred time, you know, aslong as you don't abuse that.
But right but uh, no, it wearsout pretty good.
(15:59):
So you come from, uh, farming,like you always specialized in,
in like land, like farm ranch,you know that kind of.
Or did you go through a timeLike when I first started?
I started residential because Istarted as my own, you know,
like broker myself and startedmy own office.
(16:19):
I didn't have anybody to mentorme or anything, which I would
not recommend anybody I hadfriends with, but um but um, so
you, you kind of, is thatsomething you just started out
in that specialty or did you no?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
In the beginning it was I'd sell anything, it didn't
matter, because it was.
I was stalking, trying to makea living Right, and over time it
evolved into more of aspecialty the company I was with
the first real estate well, theonly real estate company
outside of mine that I've everbeen with I was with for 15
(16:54):
years and our focus there becamea lot of rural land development
.
We did a lot of mini farms, wedid a state lot and that really
honed me more into land sales,honed me more into land sales.
And then in the early 2000s iswhen we started Bowers and Burns
(17:17):
and that was because of thecompany.
That company had grown in size.
Parks and Motley had grown tothe size that for them to
survive they had to go moreresidential based.
And so the two guys that ownedit went and talked to them.
(17:39):
They completely understood andwere very supportive.
And so my partner and I left in03, october of 03, and have
been primarily focused on landand homes and acreage.
In our area we don't really haveag land anymore because most of
the ag land in Georgia is inSouth Georgia, in the coastal
plain area.
We're in the Piedmont region ofGeorgia.
(17:59):
Most of our land is either recland, rec slash timberland or
transitional land and this yearwe track to people that are
looking to build a home.
It's what we call end users.
So we've seen the end usermarket get a lot stronger.
(18:20):
It started during COVID andpeople looking to buy to move
out of the city, so that's a lotof our business.
Now is either rec land,transitional or people buying
land to build a home on.
That's what primarily it is.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, so this is always fascinating to me too,
because like farms, you know,like farms, ranches,
recreational property, you saythose things and then every
different region or everydifferent actually state kind of
has a different idea of whatthat is.
So, a recreational property,are you like?
Are you talking more of, uh,acreage for, for hunting, or
(19:01):
like for?
When you say recreationalproperty, what, what?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
do you mean for that?
Yeah, it's primarily forhunting sure, what is a?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
what size of a property do you guys consider
kind of average for that?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Most of ours are going to be 100 acres and up.
A large parcel here would be400 or 500 acres.
A good-sized parcel here wouldbe 1,000 acres, but most of our
sales are probably going to bebetween 100 and 200 acres yeah,
(19:36):
it's it's.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And recreational property.
I mean realistically that hasbecome like a really interesting
um niche in the land marketbecause that's everything from
campgrounds to, you know, trailsfor s or the utvs to hunting to
you know like there's all kindsof different stuff going on
inside that particular box whichis a fairly new.
(20:00):
You know it's a fairly new kindof property type.
I think you know it was back inthe late 90s, early 2000s when
that kind of first startedpopping up.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, what we look at is, if you wanted to paint a
picture of our typical buyer, um, they're going to live within
60 to 80 mile radius of theproperty they're going.
This is going to instead ofthem going to the panhandle and
buying a beach house, they'rebuying 100 200 acres of land.
They're probably probably havepre-teen to very early teen kids
(20:34):
and they know those kids aregoing to be headed off to
college here soon.
So they want somewhere they canspend their weekends on or
evenings with their kids.
Hunting, riding four-wheelers,fishing to spend time with them
before they go off to school iswhat our typical buyer is.
They're most likely coming outof Atlanta, Georgia or Columbus,
(20:56):
Georgia and they want it wherethey can drive to it in an hour
to an hour and a half.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Sure, and so you didn't have like.
We had a certain like duringCOVID in our area.
We had California and Coloradofolks that were kind of moving
in.
Did you have any of that?
I call them jokingly politicalrefugees or whatever, but did
you have any of that kind ofmigration in your area?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Ours was more out of the city of Atlanta, sure, a lot
of people looking for familycompounds.
They want a place that theycould build a house and then
their kids could build homes onSure, and so that's backed off a
little bit now, but that wasthe strongest demand.
The latter part of COVID washey, I need property I can build
(21:50):
three houses on or four houseson, I want to build my house and
my kids are going to build, andthey're basically looking for
family compact.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Sure, no, that makes sense.
I mean, that's, a lot of peoplewere looking for acreages
during COVID because they, youknow, especially in the cities,
because you know they was kindof sucked to be in an apartment.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, oh, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So no, um, so zoning down where you're at when you're
taking, are you kind of justselling track by track, or are
there people still that havekind of some larger parcels that
you're able to kind of dividedown and and uh, or is it kind
of just, you know, whatevercomes up you sell it as a big
track?
Speaker 4 (22:35):
No, we always evaluate stuff from what we call
HBU higher and better use Sure,and we'll offer taking
something all the way topreliminary plat for an owner,
because our company is primarilyan owner representation.
We are more of a listingcompany than we are so
representing buyers, and sowe'll what's the best return for
(22:59):
our seller here and um?
So you know we've got onetimber investment fund that we
do division of property for, andthen the other ones that you
know they'll only sell as wholetracts.
So it all depends on what oursellers are wanting, because
(23:20):
we'll lay everything out on thetable and then you know it's
their property and we let thempick which avenue they want to
go down.
So we do some zoning, someworking with engineers, land
planners, but again it dependson how far the sellers want to
go with.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Perfect.
Yeah, that's pretty fascinating.
I just love learning about likedifferent people and what
they're doing in different partsof the country.
That's one of the great thingsabout the Realtors Land
Institute is getting to befriends with a bunch of people
from all over that kind of doweird, totally different things
than what I do.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well, you know what I found was really cool?
Because a couple of timesduring the year last year, I was
asked to speak to groups andtalk more from an economic
standpoint, and so what I woulddo is I would call around the
country.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I think I called you.
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I called you.
Yeah, yeah, one of them.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
And I had.
I would ask every member theexact same question and it was a
great way to realize that howdifferent our business is, but
how similar our business is, uh,all across the country, cause
there are some very uniqueniches in, uh, in the land
business and uh, but it is, um,even as big as this country, is
(24:40):
it all boils down to, it seemslike the same basis of land
sales.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
No, it's definitely.
It's definitely an interestingbusiness, but, um, we're going
to take a quick break and, uh,if you got some time, man, we're
going to do one more segment,but we will be right back.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Land isn't just dirt.
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.
Comes time to sell or buy, theweight of the decision is heavy.
Where do you even start?
(25:17):
Who can you trust to guide you?
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
(25:41):
its worth.
You are not just another deal.
You are the steward ofsomething bigger.
You are the steward ofsomething bigger and we're here
to help you navigate every stepof the way, when it's time to
sell, when it's time to buy.
(26:03):
We're here Because land is morethan just land.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
It's your legacy.
All right, we're back with SamBowers from Bowers and Burns
Real Estate.
Sam, we're talking just alittle bit during the break
about I kind of asked you tomaybe put your crystal ball
together after I don't know howmany times I've thrown mine up
(26:48):
against the wall.
But I just kind of want to getyour feeling on what you're,
what you guys are seeing downthere as far as where the
market's going this year.
We just had the land conferenceso we kind of had a feel from
them.
But are you bullish, are youbearish?
What are you kind of thinking?
I'm thinking.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I don't know.
And that's coming from somebodywith an economics background,
All right.
Well, here's my whenever I lookat something.
If you ever studied economics,you know what the bell curve is.
Bell curve is supply and demandand you know I would have
(27:24):
thought last year that interestrates would have had a big
impact on land sales.
They had none.
We didn't see any impact onland sales from interest rates
going up.
One thing that has reallysurprised me is the amount of
(27:45):
cash that's out there.
Most of the larger transactionsthat we were doing last year
there was no leverage used,there was no borrowed money, so
I'm not sure where to go withthat.
So coming out of the gate thisyear right now I can tell you
that supply of land on market islower now than it was this time
(28:06):
last year and if you look atsupply and demand and how that's
going to impact price, it'sgoing to take a big adjustment
in the market, I think, to hitprices right now because of the
low supply.
Now other parts of the country.
(28:27):
There's outside influences Ag,land, commodity prices, input
costs.
I mean you know I know lastyear they were seeing some
shifts in downturn, but justlooking at Georgia, in our area
supply is so tight the demand isstill there.
We're doing more 1031 taxexchanges last year than we've
(28:53):
done in a good while.
You know I don't know if allthis cash is coming from people
liquidating equities, becausehistorically land has been used
as a hedge on inflation.
So I'm going to just qualifythat my crystal ball has a crack
in it.
I've tried to put a bandaid onit but it's foggy too.
(29:15):
So it's.
You know, there's a lot ofuncertainty right now in the
world, there's a lot ofuncertainty in the country, and
so I'm a little concerned aboutthe latter part of this year,
the last quarter, and I guessthat's more from an inflation
standpoint.
Inflation, I think, has tickedup a little bit here recently.
(29:39):
You know where?
Where does that go?
I don't know.
Hopefully, politically theycould maybe do something to get
gas and oil prices down.
A direct shot in the arm forthe economy if we could drive
down the cost of gasoline anddiesel fuel.
(30:04):
So all we're seeing right now isthe price in our area is that
we think prices are going to uhhold where they're at.
We may see a little bit moredays on market, but I don't
think it'll be much because thedemand is there and, um, when
we're we're bringing mark landto the market, uh, every week,
(30:26):
and it's drawing a lot ofinterest.
So so you know, when you getoutside of the southeast and you
get more up in your area andinto the Midwest and ag land,
you know, especially in theMidwest, goodness, what some of
that land, ag land, was bringing.
It.
Was that sustainable?
You know, when I talked topeople at the end of last year
(30:48):
it was backing off because thecommodities and input costs it
wasn't balancing out.
But, man, people are stillmoving from transitional land
standpoint the southeast.
They're still building houses.
We have a housing shortage inthe US that I don't know how
(31:09):
we're going to catch up.
And so, with that being said, Ithink I don't see a big
disruptor right now, unlessinflation just gets completely
out of control.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, I think I tend to agree with you on that.
I think the disruptor in myarea is going to be how much
land is going to be availablecoming up, just because the
owners of the property that youknow, most of the farms and
stuff in Nebraska, kansas, areowned by, you know, 70 plus year
olds, and so I think there's aninevitability on the fact that
(31:44):
that's going to change hands.
And so if we get a large supplyon the market all at the same
time, um, and then again it'sthey're still aggressively
pricing stuff, right, you know,and we're just not seeing that
fight for it.
Um, if it's priced right, it'sselling, um.
But I just last week on mypodcast had a big producer from
(32:04):
my area talking about he's onthe sidelines as a producer,
producers are sitting it outuntil land prices come down a
little bit and his estimation isis we're talking two to twenty
five hundred dollars over whathe can pencil out, you know, as
a producer and and make it makesense.
So he says he's renting rightnow and happy to do so and, you
(32:25):
know, hopes to be able to, youknow, because his family's
growing hopes to be able to getback in it soon.
But yeah, that that to me isgoing to be able to, because his
family's growing hopes to beable to get back in it soon.
But yeah, that to me is goingto be.
The big thing is how muchproperty is going to come on the
market or change hands in thenext probably five years or so.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
And that's interesting.
I remember you bringing that upwhen I called you last year and
that's very interesting thatyou're going to that.
Y'all know within a time periodperiod there's going to be a
large influx, most likely aninflux of property coming on the
market, and it would beinteresting to see how that
(33:00):
plays out over time.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Well, what really fascinated me recently I've had
several calls from people that I, honestly, sam never thought
would ever want to sell it'slongtime family land.
They've been able to maintainit up until this far, and then
all of a sudden, you know,nebraska's property taxes are a
real big problem, because oureducation is tied to property
taxes and so our taxes areextremely high, and so a lot of
(33:27):
people are just they're callingand they're saying you know what
we feel like the market'sprobably going to go another way
someday and we want to get outwhile it's at least pretty good,
you know, and so that's beenpretty shocking to me, is just
how many families that have beendedicated to keeping the family
farm, you know, are looking toliquidate it and do something
(33:48):
else with the money.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
But you know the land prices we're seeing.
That doesn't surprise me, andwe did see that for a bit,
probably the first part of thisyear.
It was very noticeable.
It was almost like people hadbeen sitting on this property
and they felt like the train wasleaving the station on these
higher prices and they wanted tohop on that train before it got
(34:13):
out of the station.
Because there was a periodthere in January where I had
three different landownerscontact us about property that
it wasn't.
None of them had to sell, butthey felt like that the market
had probably crested.
But they felt like that themarket had probably crest and
they wanted to make sure thatthey stayed at that, got in on
that crest instead of headingdown toward a trough.
(34:35):
Now I don't know how much of atrough we're going to see, but
it that was a mentality we wereseeing from sellers there,
especially in January.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, well, and that's I mean, that's kind of
one of those things too.
Those things too, that that'ssmart, right, because you don't
know what's going to happen.
And we, we went throughsomething similar.
My wife and I built, you know,three remax franchises up, you
know, and got to the point wherewe were in a footprint where
several big companies wanted,you know, and so we had the
opportunity to sell.
(35:07):
I told her I was like weprobably ought to do it, because
when I want to sell it,nobody's going to want it.
It's not like.
And so again, it's, you know,if you, if you're under that
mindset of you know you got tosell it when you can, not when
you need to, is is probably thesmart play.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Well, and you know, from a real estate investment
standpoint, an older gentlemantold me one day he said, son,
you don't ever go broke making aprofit.
That's true, and so, and he hadbeen developing since after
World War II.
And he said you, just if you'vegot a good deal and offered a
(35:50):
good deal and you can make aprofit, it's probably time to go
on to the next deal.
Yeah, so yeah, it was well.
You know, interest rates weremessing around with the.
You know, nobody knew what washappening after, you know, the
election just taking place, sothere was even more uncertainty
at the end.
And so people were like youknow, we probably ought to do.
If we're going to do something,we probably ought to do it now.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah, People were like you know we probably ought
to do.
If we're going to do something,we probably ought to do it now.
Yeah, yeah, no, it's a crazyworld.
So what's next for you, Sam?
Like you've been the president,Are you going to take a break
and just sell real estate for awhile?
Are you going to be the NARpresident someday?
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Or what's the future?
All for you.
Well, I don't know.
Congressman from Georgia,what's the future?
Congressman from Georgia?
No, no, no, no.
I have no interest in politicswhatsoever.
I can go ahead and put a hardno on that.
My wife asked me the samequestion.
I said, I told her, I said,well, I can sell real estate for
a while, but you know, I thinkit's very important for us to
(36:49):
give back to the organizationsthat mean a lot to us.
You know I probably will skiptown for a year or so after I
get wound up this year, but I'llbe back because you know I
think it's important to giveback.
And you know, serving oncommittees and again, I still
serve on the board for our statechapter.
(37:10):
I'm the treasurer for Georgia,and you know when it's been
exciting to watch our chaptersgrow and nationally and you know
even the Southeast we're nowdoing a big land conference
every year.
This year it'll be inChattanooga, and so you know,
basically the chapters of theSoutheast get together and put
(37:31):
these things on.
And so you know, I want to sellsome real estate and you know,
stay involved in RLI and we'llsee what comes after that.
But the politics thing I can goahead and put a hard.
You're more of a heckler than a.
Yeah, my filter doesn't worktoo well when it comes to
certain things.
So you're more of a hecklerthan a.
Filter Doesn't work too wellwhen it comes to certain things.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Might be the perfect time for that kind of campaign.
How do folks get ahold of you,sam?
We'll put your website, yourwhatever you want us to, and the
notes down below on all thepodcast information, but how do
they get ahold of you?
Speaker 4 (38:09):
Well, Bowersandburnscom is our website
.
You can email me at sbowers atBowersandBurnscom.
I'm still old school.
I like talking on the telephone.
You're welcome to call me, butemail me Any way I can help.
I'll be glad to One quick pitchon this website.
(38:31):
That's one thing with RLI beingable to talk to guys like you.
You know we're looking toreevaluate our website and make
changes and updates because itgoes back to you know you're
talking about all the new peoplegetting in the land sale
business.
You've got to stay competitive,and so that's part of us
(38:51):
working through our websites nowand looking how to change them,
how to make them better and so,uh, but yeah, they can get in
touch with me in any of thosespots and I'll be glad to help
any way we can.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
yeah it's just it's fun, like you know, like going
around the rli conferences andstuff.
It's you like that's where youkind of see what's out there I
mean integrations of maps andvideos and being able to, you
know, like with land ID and someof these other sponsors that we
have for uh, for RLI, to beable to even do the, you know,
(39:23):
like the bird's eye view type ofphoto photography and things
like that.
It's just unreal.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Yeah, when I started our photos from aerial photos, I
would go.
I could go to the local airportand I could get a Piper cub for
an hour and a half for 150bucks, and so me, that pilot and
a 35 millimeter camera would gofly property.
That's why we used to do aerial.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Now I have like five different drones.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I know, yeah, I've got drones.
The quality of aerial photos wehave now is just off the chart.
But you know this technologystuff and I encourage people if
you're in the real estatebusiness I don't care how long
you've been in it keep learningbecause it's always changing.
I mean, I even I'm in a 10-weekprogram now.
I went back to college with a10-week program for digital
(40:14):
marketing because I had allthese people talking about SEOs
and all that stuff about digitalmarketing and I'm like what are
y'all talking about?
And so just don't ever stoplearning, because it is always
changing.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Nope, that's for sure .
That's for sure, that's forsure.
Well, sam, thank you so muchfor taking the time today.
Pretty cool stuff that we hadto talk about.
So I'm always looking forwardto seeing you when we get a
chance to in the future.
But thanks so much.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
You bet.
Thank you for the opportunity,yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
All right, everybody.
That's it for today.
We will see you all down theroad.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
As we wrap 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,
please like, subscribe, rate,follow and review us on whatever
app you are listening orwatching on.
(41:13):
Connect with us on social mediafor updates until next week.
Kobe wishes you success in yourland endeavors.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
God bless you and have a great week the american
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High Point Land Company a trueleader in land sales.
Today on the American Land Seller, we're joined by
Sam Bowers, a highly respectedland expert, accredited land
consultant and dedicatedcommunity leader from Noonan,
georgia.
With over 35 years in realestate and a lifetime rooted in
agriculture, sam has built animpressive career helping
landowners navigate theever-changing market.
(00:20):
Sam's journey started with abackground in agriculture
economics from Abraham BaldwinAgriculture College and the
University of Georgia.
He launched his real estatecareer in 1988, earned his
broker's license in 1991, andwent on to found Bowers and
Burns Real Estate Company in2003.
His leadership in the industryis undeniable.
(00:43):
He is the immediate pastpresident of the Realtors Land
Institute, a past president ofthe Georgia chapter of RLI and a
lifetime million-dollar clubmember.
Sam's also been an Apex Awardwinner every single year since
2021 and was named Georgia LandRealtor of the Year in 2003.
(01:06):
Beyond real estate, sam isdeeply involved in his community
, having served as president ofthe Coweta County Farm Bureau,
the Coweta Paddlemen'sAssociation and on the Coweta
County Board of Zoning Appeals.
His extensive leadership andmarket experience make him a
wealth of knowledge forlandowners, buyers and investors
alike.
Today we'll discuss Sam'sjourney, his insights on
(01:30):
Georgia's land market and whatbuyers and sellers need to know
in today's environment.
Stay tuned for a greatconversation with Sam Bowers
right here on the American LandSeller Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Welcome to the American Land Seller Podcast.
Welcome to the American LandSeller Podcast with your host,
coby Rickardson.
Coby is an accredited landconsultant and multi-state land
broker with High Point LandCompany.
Join us each week as we exploreall things land.
We bring you fresh insights andexpert guests on sales,
marketing, regulations,economics and so much more.
(02:04):
Visit wwwamericanlandsellercomand find us on one of your
favorite podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Okay, Kobe and our special guests, let's get
started.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
All right, welcome back to the Landseller Podcast
Today.
I'm excited to have Sam Bowersfrom Georgia on here today.
Immediate past president.
Sam, how are you doing inGeorgia today?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'm doing great.
I hope you are?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Oh yeah, we are, we're doing great.
Just finished up the landconference last week so I got to
ask you, man, let's just startout Like, I have been involved
in RLI for, uh, probably sixyears now, six, seven years.
Um, it's been a really great umasset to my business.
(02:56):
Um, but man, you were thepresident last year.
What's that like?
Was that pretty, pretty, prettygood work for you?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
That was pretty cool.
Yeah, I really enjoyed thatexperience.
We've got some of the bestpeople as members of our
organization that you could askfor from anyone.
Our people will bend overbackwards to help you in any way
, and they bend over backwardsto help each other, and that's
(03:26):
the big thing.
That's something that's veryimportant about RLI it's you
know Dan Murphy mentioned this acouple years ago that a rising
tide lifts all ships, and Ithink that's very much.
The motto of RLI is yes, we'recompetitors, but if you're doing
better, I'm doing better.
So it was an honor to serve asa president for this
(03:51):
organization and I look forwardto still being involved.
I've been involved in RLI since1998, 97, something like that
1998, 97, something like thatand so I'm still looking forward
to being very involved in it,especially in our state chapter
(04:13):
here in Georgia.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, it's kind of fun once you've done that.
I served as like a regionalgovernance, you know, like a
governor for Rotary years ago,and so it's kind of nice to be
able to go back to your localboard.
You know like a governor forreal rotary a years ago, and so
it's kind of nice to be able togo back to your local board at.
You know, um and uh, bring someof that knowledge back and and
maybe um, uh, get back andplugged into your local, local
and state boards.
You know, once you're done withthat national deal, but, um, so
(04:40):
when you started, you know likewhat was your mission when you
first decided, hey, I want tobecome the Realtors Land
Institute president?
Like what did you think thatyou were going to be able to
change or improve upon when you?
Speaker 4 (04:55):
started Well.
I was following some prettystrong presidents.
We got Renee Harvey, deanSaunders, luke Worrell, dean
Saunders, luke Worrell, and youknow it was a lot of great
things and there's a lot ofgreat things going on with RLI
and I'm a very unseen person.
I wanted to look at more ofoperations and making sure we
(05:20):
had everything in place movingforward in the future, because I
think RLI is at a crossroads ofgrowth that is coming.
We grew a lot during COVID butI think that growth is going to
continue.
Sure that we had policies andprocedures and not the real
(05:49):
glamorous stuff, but more of thebookkeeping stuff in place, and
that we reviewed all that andmake sure that it was ready for
Dan and Jeff to step in and takeoff of this thing and grow us
even more.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, that's I think that we've seen it over the last
probably six, seven years ofjust the kind of behind the
scenes reorganization and Ithink that kind of cumulated
with you with some like bigsteps on, like taking those
steps to redo the education andstuff like that.
Uh, that kind of just started.
(06:23):
I don't know the year before orright around, but you're in
that leadership chain, you knowwhen that started.
So, yeah, it's just it's.
There was a lot going on whenyou were president and
president-elect and stuff likethat.
You know, with the redoing ofthe website and all that kind of
stuff, what kind of hours didyou have to put into this?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I mean, you're running a business too on, you
know um well, I'm fortunate I'vegot a partner, that he and I've
been partners, um, since 2003when we started our company, and
so that that was a big help.
But, uh, you know the hours.
Uh, I had a phone call everywednesday morning.
It was a set thing that everyWednesday morning through the
(07:05):
year I was president, we called,went over what was going on,
basically keeping each other inthe loop.
Then, of course, then we hadour executive board meetings and
our regular board meetingsmonthly.
So, to be honest with you, Ididn't really keep up with the
timeline of how much time ittook.
(07:26):
It was, um, it was a commitment, uh, but it was, um, it was not
the time consuming thing thatpeople would think it is because
of the way you know.
We had a phone call everywednesday morning at nine
o'clock, so I knew for an hour Iwas going to be tied up on
Wednesday morning, then I knewwhen the board meeting were, and
(07:47):
then we travel, some going tospeak to groups, so, um, but
with my partner here to holddown the fort.
You know it worked out, workedout well.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
What's really cool, though, that you guys work
together like that.
He lets you have that um timeto go invest into the real
estate world.
You know, like when we startedour venture eight years ago, I
kind of came into real estate alittle bit different.
I was an investor and propertyowner and really had a hard time
(08:19):
finding that solution for whenI was buying and selling stuff,
that, and so I kind of came intoit with the idea that I was
going to change the industry.
You know, in my area, you knowat least and so, um, the
investment that you made goinginto, you know, rl, uh, rli, and
investing into thatorganization as a leader, is
(08:41):
much appreciated, I know, bythose of us that, and again, it
did make an impact on the, youknow, on the industry, because
it just seems to me like landreal estate is just getting
better and better and better,you know, and more people are
joining RLI, and it's kind ofbeen a fun thing to watch.
You know, I was talking to afriend of mine the other day, a
(09:04):
guy that we're doing evaluationon his properties, and he said,
man, there's an awful lot ofland professionals anymore.
It seemed like when he wasfirst getting into the business.
There was like one guy andeverybody kind of went to him.
He's like now you throw a stickand you can find a land
professional.
What kind of comment would yousay?
(09:24):
Are you weary?
Are you weary, are you excitedto see more and more people
picking that?
You know, it kind of seems likethat's nationwide, that there's
more and more folks that arekind of educating themselves and
getting themselves into theland world.
Is that kind of exciting orkind of weary for you?
What's your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Well, I'm pretty excited about it.
I think that it's a good thingto get people involved in a
business and get them educatedand have them knowledgeable,
because the ones that are goodat it are knowledgeable at it
will have stay in power.
The ones that don't, the marketwill roll them out.
(10:06):
I had an old real estate mantell me many years ago, many,
many years ago, he had beenselling real estate for a long
time and whenever anybody toldhim said, what do you think
about me getting in real estatebusiness, he'd say, boy, you
just jump right on in, you'llfind out real fast if it's for
you.
But yeah, there are a lot moreagents involved that are
(10:27):
specializing in land sales and Imean that's just the nature of
the beef.
When I early on in my careerthere was very few people.
It was mostly foresters thatdid forestry and land sales that
were primarily doing that.
(10:50):
Now I started with a realestate company in the 80s that
we did a lot of land back then.
We did a lot of farmland.
We did well for us farmland andtransitional land.
But it's good to see a youngergeneration that are stepping up
and getting involved in the landbusiness and you know it's
(11:13):
keeping old guys like me havingto keep our game up, so I see it
as a good thing.
It's.
I think it's good for themarket and I think it's good for
the business.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, I tend to agree with you.
I think it is good for thebusiness and I know myself, if
it wasn't for people competingagainst me, I might get
complacent and a little bit lazy.
So it's fun to wake up everyday wondering you know what new
thing we're going to, you knowlike we're going to come up with
to improve our clients'experience.
(11:45):
And so, but yeah, no, if youdon't mind, let's just take a
quick break and we'll be rightback.
If you don't mind, let's justtake a quick break and we'll be
right back.
The American Land SellerPodcast is brought to you in
part by LandHubcom.
Join us today and experiencethe expertise of LandHub's land
(12:05):
marketing professionals, whetheryou're buying or selling.
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.
(12:26):
All right, we're back, and we'reback with Sam Bowers from
Georgia.
Sam, we're talking just alittle bit during the break kind
of about like how you gotstarted in real estate.
I think people would befascinated to know like at a
certain point you had to make adecision to stick with the land
(12:48):
stuff or kind of keep going withthe company that you're with to
a real residential focus.
Talk just a little bit aboutyour origin story and how you
kind of got into this industry.
And you know you were a farmer.
You come from a farm ranchbackground kind of similar to me
.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So I think it's always fun to see how do you get
from from farm ranch to to realestate and, specifically, land.
Well, you know, basically we Igrew up on cattle ranch, um
registered charlotte cattle andthen we transitioned to
commercial cattle.
I've even dairy.
We grow crop uh, corn, soybeansand wheat.
And before I went off tocollege, um, my dad told me, son
, you're gonna have to findsomething else to do besides
farming.
Uh, it was in the downspin ofuh in our area and so, um, I
(13:42):
went to abraham baldwinagricultural college and then to
university of georgia.
I majored in ag economics, uh,and took some real estate
courses while I was at theUniversity of Georgia and my dad
it's funny, my dad got his realestate license in 1972 as a
hobby and as a sign of thefarming.
(14:03):
He then had to start sellingreal estate part-time to support
his farming habit, and beforeit was over with, he had to sell
real estate full-time tosupport his farming habit.
So I basically followed him.
After school, I put a littlesmall desk in his office in the
corner and I worked in hisoffice for three or four years
(14:24):
at the same company before Imoved it to my own little office
, and so that was how I gotstarted in real estate business
back in the 80s.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
It's always great to have a good mentor in this
business.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I have a friend of mine that is considering getting
into real estate and I've beenreally trying to get him to
understand like this is not.
You know it's not just like youcan show up Monday at 10 and be
done at noon and make a milliondollars a month.
You know you got to.
It's a lot of work that goesinto it.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
So uh well, my wife refers to the real estate
business as my mistress.
Uh it, uh.
She feels like that I've got.
She's my wife, but I also havea mistress, and that's real
estate because, especially earlyon it, I mean it consumed a lot
of time.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, and I think you'd agree, the good ones are
the ones that are always like Imean, it's, it's, there's really
no schedule.
I finally, um, I learned from,uh, from a real estate agent
couple of years ago that, orwhen I first got started that
everything goes on your calendar.
That way, everything's anappointment, you know.
And so if the kids got soccer,then that's an appointment.
(15:36):
If the, if the, if your wifewants to go, you know, out for
dinner, then she puts it on yourcalendar.
That's an appointment.
And the calendar is sacred, youknow.
And so that's kind of the rulewhen we first started with my
wife was that okay, that if youwant to put something on there
and it's open, you know, thenput it on there and then that's
the sacred time, you know, aslong as you don't abuse that.
But right but uh, no, it wearsout pretty good.
(15:59):
So you come from, uh, farming,like you always specialized in,
in like land, like farm ranch,you know that kind of.
Or did you go through a timeLike when I first started?
I started residential because Istarted as my own, you know,
like broker myself and startedmy own office.
(16:19):
I didn't have anybody to mentorme or anything, which I would
not recommend anybody I hadfriends with, but um but um, so
you, you kind of, is thatsomething you just started out
in that specialty or did you no?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
In the beginning it was I'd sell anything, it didn't
matter, because it was.
I was stalking, trying to makea living Right, and over time it
evolved into more of aspecialty the company I was with
the first real estate well, theonly real estate company
outside of mine that I've everbeen with I was with for 15
(16:54):
years and our focus there becamea lot of rural land development
.
We did a lot of mini farms, wedid a state lot and that really
honed me more into land sales,honed me more into land sales.
And then in the early 2000s iswhen we started Bowers and Burns
(17:17):
and that was because of thecompany.
That company had grown in size.
Parks and Motley had grown tothe size that for them to
survive they had to go moreresidential based.
And so the two guys that ownedit went and talked to them.
(17:39):
They completely understood andwere very supportive.
And so my partner and I left in03, october of 03, and have
been primarily focused on landand homes and acreage.
In our area we don't really haveag land anymore because most of
the ag land in Georgia is inSouth Georgia, in the coastal
plain area.
We're in the Piedmont region ofGeorgia.
(17:59):
Most of our land is either recland, rec slash timberland or
transitional land and this yearwe track to people that are
looking to build a home.
It's what we call end users.
So we've seen the end usermarket get a lot stronger.
(18:20):
It started during COVID andpeople looking to buy to move
out of the city, so that's a lotof our business.
Now is either rec land,transitional or people buying
land to build a home on.
That's what primarily it is.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, so this is always fascinating to me too,
because like farms, you know,like farms, ranches,
recreational property, you saythose things and then every
different region or everydifferent actually state kind of
has a different idea of whatthat is.
So, a recreational property,are you like?
Are you talking more of, uh,acreage for, for hunting, or
(19:01):
like for?
When you say recreationalproperty, what, what?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
do you mean for that?
Yeah, it's primarily forhunting sure, what is a?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
what size of a property do you guys consider
kind of average for that?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Most of ours are going to be 100 acres and up.
A large parcel here would be400 or 500 acres.
A good-sized parcel here wouldbe 1,000 acres, but most of our
sales are probably going to bebetween 100 and 200 acres yeah,
(19:36):
it's it's.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And recreational property.
I mean realistically that hasbecome like a really interesting
um niche in the land marketbecause that's everything from
campgrounds to, you know, trailsfor s or the utvs to hunting to
you know like there's all kindsof different stuff going on
inside that particular box whichis a fairly new.
(20:00):
You know it's a fairly new kindof property type.
I think you know it was back inthe late 90s, early 2000s when
that kind of first startedpopping up.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, what we look at is, if you wanted to paint a
picture of our typical buyer, um, they're going to live within
60 to 80 mile radius of theproperty they're going.
This is going to instead ofthem going to the panhandle and
buying a beach house, they'rebuying 100 200 acres of land.
They're probably probably havepre-teen to very early teen kids
(20:34):
and they know those kids aregoing to be headed off to
college here soon.
So they want somewhere they canspend their weekends on or
evenings with their kids.
Hunting, riding four-wheelers,fishing to spend time with them
before they go off to school iswhat our typical buyer is.
They're most likely coming outof Atlanta, Georgia or Columbus,
(20:56):
Georgia and they want it wherethey can drive to it in an hour
to an hour and a half.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Sure, and so you didn't have like.
We had a certain like duringCOVID in our area.
We had California and Coloradofolks that were kind of moving
in.
Did you have any of that?
I call them jokingly politicalrefugees or whatever, but did
you have any of that kind ofmigration in your area?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Ours was more out of the city of Atlanta, sure, a lot
of people looking for familycompounds.
They want a place that theycould build a house and then
their kids could build homes onSure, and so that's backed off a
little bit now, but that wasthe strongest demand.
The latter part of COVID washey, I need property I can build
(21:50):
three houses on or four houseson, I want to build my house and
my kids are going to build, andthey're basically looking for
family compact.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Sure, no, that makes sense.
I mean, that's, a lot of peoplewere looking for acreages
during COVID because they, youknow, especially in the cities,
because you know they was kindof sucked to be in an apartment.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, oh, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So no, um, so zoning down where you're at when you're
taking, are you kind of justselling track by track, or are
there people still that havekind of some larger parcels that
you're able to kind of dividedown and and uh, or is it kind
of just, you know, whatevercomes up you sell it as a big
track?
Speaker 4 (22:35):
No, we always evaluate stuff from what we call
HBU higher and better use Sure,and we'll offer taking
something all the way topreliminary plat for an owner,
because our company is primarilyan owner representation.
We are more of a listingcompany than we are so
representing buyers, and sowe'll what's the best return for
(22:59):
our seller here and um?
So you know we've got onetimber investment fund that we
do division of property for, andthen the other ones that you
know they'll only sell as wholetracts.
So it all depends on what oursellers are wanting, because
(23:20):
we'll lay everything out on thetable and then you know it's
their property and we let thempick which avenue they want to
go down.
So we do some zoning, someworking with engineers, land
planners, but again it dependson how far the sellers want to
go with.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Perfect.
Yeah, that's pretty fascinating.
I just love learning about likedifferent people and what
they're doing in different partsof the country.
That's one of the great thingsabout the Realtors Land
Institute is getting to befriends with a bunch of people
from all over that kind of doweird, totally different things
than what I do.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well, you know what I found was really cool?
Because a couple of timesduring the year last year, I was
asked to speak to groups andtalk more from an economic
standpoint, and so what I woulddo is I would call around the
country.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I think I called you.
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I called you.
Yeah, yeah, one of them.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
And I had.
I would ask every member theexact same question and it was a
great way to realize that howdifferent our business is, but
how similar our business is, uh,all across the country, cause
there are some very uniqueniches in, uh, in the land
business and uh, but it is, um,even as big as this country, is
(24:40):
it all boils down to, it seemslike the same basis of land
sales.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
No, it's definitely.
It's definitely an interestingbusiness, but, um, we're going
to take a quick break and, uh,if you got some time, man, we're
going to do one more segment,but we will be right back.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Land isn't just dirt.
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.
Comes time to sell or buy, theweight of the decision is heavy.
Where do you even start?
(25:17):
Who can you trust to guide you?
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
(25:41):
its worth.
You are not just another deal.
You are the steward ofsomething bigger.
You are the steward ofsomething bigger and we're here
to help you navigate every stepof the way, when it's time to
sell, when it's time to buy.
(26:03):
We're here Because land is morethan just land.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
It's your legacy.
All right, we're back with SamBowers from Bowers and Burns
Real Estate.
Sam, we're talking just alittle bit during the break
about I kind of asked you tomaybe put your crystal ball
together after I don't know howmany times I've thrown mine up
(26:48):
against the wall.
But I just kind of want to getyour feeling on what you're,
what you guys are seeing downthere as far as where the
market's going this year.
We just had the land conferenceso we kind of had a feel from
them.
But are you bullish, are youbearish?
What are you kind of thinking?
I'm thinking.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I don't know.
And that's coming from somebodywith an economics background,
All right.
Well, here's my whenever I lookat something.
If you ever studied economics,you know what the bell curve is.
Bell curve is supply and demandand you know I would have
(27:24):
thought last year that interestrates would have had a big
impact on land sales.
They had none.
We didn't see any impact onland sales from interest rates
going up.
One thing that has reallysurprised me is the amount of
(27:45):
cash that's out there.
Most of the larger transactionsthat we were doing last year
there was no leverage used,there was no borrowed money, so
I'm not sure where to go withthat.
So coming out of the gate thisyear right now I can tell you
that supply of land on market islower now than it was this time
(28:06):
last year and if you look atsupply and demand and how that's
going to impact price, it'sgoing to take a big adjustment
in the market, I think, to hitprices right now because of the
low supply.
Now other parts of the country.
(28:27):
There's outside influences Ag,land, commodity prices, input
costs.
I mean you know I know lastyear they were seeing some
shifts in downturn, but justlooking at Georgia, in our area
supply is so tight the demand isstill there.
We're doing more 1031 taxexchanges last year than we've
(28:53):
done in a good while.
You know I don't know if allthis cash is coming from people
liquidating equities, becausehistorically land has been used
as a hedge on inflation.
So I'm going to just qualifythat my crystal ball has a crack
in it.
I've tried to put a bandaid onit but it's foggy too.
(29:15):
So it's.
You know, there's a lot ofuncertainty right now in the
world, there's a lot ofuncertainty in the country, and
so I'm a little concerned aboutthe latter part of this year,
the last quarter, and I guessthat's more from an inflation
standpoint.
Inflation, I think, has tickedup a little bit here recently.
(29:39):
You know where?
Where does that go?
I don't know.
Hopefully, politically theycould maybe do something to get
gas and oil prices down.
A direct shot in the arm forthe economy if we could drive
down the cost of gasoline anddiesel fuel.
(30:04):
So all we're seeing right now isthe price in our area is that
we think prices are going to uhhold where they're at.
We may see a little bit moredays on market, but I don't
think it'll be much because thedemand is there and, um, when
we're we're bringing mark landto the market, uh, every week,
(30:26):
and it's drawing a lot ofinterest.
So so you know, when you getoutside of the southeast and you
get more up in your area andinto the Midwest and ag land,
you know, especially in theMidwest, goodness, what some of
that land, ag land, was bringing.
It.
Was that sustainable?
You know, when I talked topeople at the end of last year
(30:48):
it was backing off because thecommodities and input costs it
wasn't balancing out.
But, man, people are stillmoving from transitional land
standpoint the southeast.
They're still building houses.
We have a housing shortage inthe US that I don't know how
(31:09):
we're going to catch up.
And so, with that being said, Ithink I don't see a big
disruptor right now, unlessinflation just gets completely
out of control.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, I think I tend to agree with you on that.
I think the disruptor in myarea is going to be how much
land is going to be availablecoming up, just because the
owners of the property that youknow, most of the farms and
stuff in Nebraska, kansas, areowned by, you know, 70 plus year
olds, and so I think there's aninevitability on the fact that
(31:44):
that's going to change hands.
And so if we get a large supplyon the market all at the same
time, um, and then again it'sthey're still aggressively
pricing stuff, right, you know,and we're just not seeing that
fight for it.
Um, if it's priced right, it'sselling, um.
But I just last week on mypodcast had a big producer from
(32:04):
my area talking about he's onthe sidelines as a producer,
producers are sitting it outuntil land prices come down a
little bit and his estimation isis we're talking two to twenty
five hundred dollars over whathe can pencil out, you know, as
a producer and and make it makesense.
So he says he's renting rightnow and happy to do so and, you
(32:25):
know, hopes to be able to, youknow, because his family's
growing hopes to be able to getback in it soon.
But yeah, that that to me isgoing to be able to, because his
family's growing hopes to beable to get back in it soon.
But yeah, that to me is goingto be.
The big thing is how muchproperty is going to come on the
market or change hands in thenext probably five years or so.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
And that's interesting.
I remember you bringing that upwhen I called you last year and
that's very interesting thatyou're going to that.
Y'all know within a time periodperiod there's going to be a
large influx, most likely aninflux of property coming on the
market, and it would beinteresting to see how that
(33:00):
plays out over time.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Well, what really fascinated me recently I've had
several calls from people that I, honestly, sam never thought
would ever want to sell it'slongtime family land.
They've been able to maintainit up until this far, and then
all of a sudden, you know,nebraska's property taxes are a
real big problem, because oureducation is tied to property
taxes and so our taxes areextremely high, and so a lot of
(33:27):
people are just they're callingand they're saying you know what
we feel like the market'sprobably going to go another way
someday and we want to get outwhile it's at least pretty good,
you know, and so that's beenpretty shocking to me, is just
how many families that have beendedicated to keeping the family
farm, you know, are looking toliquidate it and do something
(33:48):
else with the money.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
But you know the land prices we're seeing.
That doesn't surprise me, andwe did see that for a bit,
probably the first part of thisyear.
It was very noticeable.
It was almost like people hadbeen sitting on this property
and they felt like the train wasleaving the station on these
higher prices and they wanted tohop on that train before it got
(34:13):
out of the station.
Because there was a periodthere in January where I had
three different landownerscontact us about property that
it wasn't.
None of them had to sell, butthey felt like that the market
had probably crested.
But they felt like that themarket had probably crest and
they wanted to make sure thatthey stayed at that, got in on
that crest instead of headingdown toward a trough.
(34:35):
Now I don't know how much of atrough we're going to see, but
it that was a mentality we wereseeing from sellers there,
especially in January.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, well, and that's I mean, that's kind of
one of those things too.
Those things too, that that'ssmart, right, because you don't
know what's going to happen.
And we, we went throughsomething similar.
My wife and I built, you know,three remax franchises up, you
know, and got to the point wherewe were in a footprint where
several big companies wanted,you know, and so we had the
opportunity to sell.
(35:07):
I told her I was like weprobably ought to do it, because
when I want to sell it,nobody's going to want it.
It's not like.
And so again, it's, you know,if you, if you're under that
mindset of you know you got tosell it when you can, not when
you need to, is is probably thesmart play.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Well, and you know, from a real estate investment
standpoint, an older gentlemantold me one day he said, son,
you don't ever go broke making aprofit.
That's true, and so, and he hadbeen developing since after
World War II.
And he said you, just if you'vegot a good deal and offered a
(35:50):
good deal and you can make aprofit, it's probably time to go
on to the next deal.
Yeah, so yeah, it was well.
You know, interest rates weremessing around with the.
You know, nobody knew what washappening after, you know, the
election just taking place, sothere was even more uncertainty
at the end.
And so people were like youknow, we probably ought to do.
If we're going to do something,we probably ought to do it now.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah, People were like you know we probably ought
to do.
If we're going to do something,we probably ought to do it now.
Yeah, yeah, no, it's a crazyworld.
So what's next for you, Sam?
Like you've been the president,Are you going to take a break
and just sell real estate for awhile?
Are you going to be the NARpresident someday?
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Or what's the future?
All for you.
Well, I don't know.
Congressman from Georgia,what's the future?
Congressman from Georgia?
No, no, no, no.
I have no interest in politicswhatsoever.
I can go ahead and put a hardno on that.
My wife asked me the samequestion.
I said, I told her, I said,well, I can sell real estate for
a while, but you know, I thinkit's very important for us to
(36:49):
give back to the organizationsthat mean a lot to us.
You know I probably will skiptown for a year or so after I
get wound up this year, but I'llbe back because you know I
think it's important to giveback.
And you know, serving oncommittees and again, I still
serve on the board for our statechapter.
(37:10):
I'm the treasurer for Georgia,and you know when it's been
exciting to watch our chaptersgrow and nationally and you know
even the Southeast we're nowdoing a big land conference
every year.
This year it'll be inChattanooga, and so you know,
basically the chapters of theSoutheast get together and put
(37:31):
these things on.
And so you know, I want to sellsome real estate and you know,
stay involved in RLI and we'llsee what comes after that.
But the politics thing I can goahead and put a hard.
You're more of a heckler than a.
Yeah, my filter doesn't worktoo well when it comes to
certain things.
So you're more of a hecklerthan a.
Filter Doesn't work too wellwhen it comes to certain things.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Might be the perfect time for that kind of campaign.
How do folks get ahold of you,sam?
We'll put your website, yourwhatever you want us to, and the
notes down below on all thepodcast information, but how do
they get ahold of you?
Speaker 4 (38:09):
Well, Bowersandburnscom is our website
.
You can email me at sbowers atBowersandBurnscom.
I'm still old school.
I like talking on the telephone.
You're welcome to call me, butemail me Any way I can help.
I'll be glad to One quick pitchon this website.
(38:31):
That's one thing with RLI beingable to talk to guys like you.
You know we're looking toreevaluate our website and make
changes and updates because itgoes back to you know you're
talking about all the new peoplegetting in the land sale
business.
You've got to stay competitive,and so that's part of us
(38:51):
working through our websites nowand looking how to change them,
how to make them better and so,uh, but yeah, they can get in
touch with me in any of thosespots and I'll be glad to help
any way we can.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
yeah it's just it's fun, like you know, like going
around the rli conferences andstuff.
It's you like that's where youkind of see what's out there I
mean integrations of maps andvideos and being able to, you
know, like with land ID and someof these other sponsors that we
have for uh, for RLI, to beable to even do the, you know,
(39:23):
like the bird's eye view type ofphoto photography and things
like that.
It's just unreal.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Yeah, when I started our photos from aerial photos, I
would go.
I could go to the local airportand I could get a Piper cub for
an hour and a half for 150bucks, and so me, that pilot and
a 35 millimeter camera would gofly property.
That's why we used to do aerial.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Now I have like five different drones.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I know, yeah, I've got drones.
The quality of aerial photos wehave now is just off the chart.
But you know this technologystuff and I encourage people if
you're in the real estatebusiness I don't care how long
you've been in it keep learningbecause it's always changing.
I mean, I even I'm in a 10-weekprogram now.
I went back to college with a10-week program for digital
(40:14):
marketing because I had allthese people talking about SEOs
and all that stuff about digitalmarketing and I'm like what are
y'all talking about?
And so just don't ever stoplearning, because it is always
changing.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Nope, that's for sure .
That's for sure, that's forsure.
Well, sam, thank you so muchfor taking the time today.
Pretty cool stuff that we hadto talk about.
So I'm always looking forwardto seeing you when we get a
chance to in the future.
But thanks so much.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
You bet.
Thank you for the opportunity,yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
All right, everybody.
That's it for today.
We will see you all down theroad.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
As we wrap 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,
please like, subscribe, rate,follow and review us on whatever
app you are listening orwatching on.
(41:13):
Connect with us on social mediafor updates until next week.
Kobe wishes you success in yourland endeavors.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
God bless you and have a great week the american
land seller is brought to you inpart by landhubcom.
Are you in the market for theperfect piece of land?
Look no further than landhubcom.
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in the ever-evolving world ofland transactions.
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