Family, Land, and Legacy: A Generational Transition in Real Estate

What happens when a successful land broker starts preparing the next generation to take over?

In this episode, Koby Rickertsen sits down with Jeff and Cody Switzer of Rocky Mountain Ranch & Land to discuss one of the most important and least talked about topics in rural real estate: succession.

Jeff shares lessons learned from decades in land development and brokerage, while Cody offers the perspective of a younger broker stepping into a leadership role.

The conversation covers family business dynamics, mentoring the next generation, the evolution of land marketing, Sports Afield's role in their business, and why so many landowners fail to prepare for transition until it's too late.

If you're a broker, landowner, rancher, farmer, or business owner thinking about legacy and long-term planning, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

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Transcript

Welcome And The Succession Problem

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Today on the American Land Seller, we're headed back west to Colorado to talk about something that many landowners, brokers, and even business owners will face at some point in their careers. Generational transition. Joining us are Jeff and Cody Switzer of Rocky Mountain Ranch and Land. Jeff has spent more than three decades building a reputation in the ranch, recreation, and land business, working on everything from acquisitions and development to complex ranch transactions involving water rights, conservation issues, and land management. Cody grew up around the industry and has developed its own expertise, helping buyers and sellers navigate ranches, farms, recreational properties, and Colorado's unique outdoor real estate market. But today's conversation isn't just about buying and selling. It's about building a business that left. We're going to talk about what it takes to transfer leadership from one generation to the next, how family dynamics impact business decisions, what each generation can learn from each other, and where the future of land brokerage business may be headed. Whether you're a broker thinking about succession, a landowner planning for the future, or someone working alongside family and business, I think you're going to take a ton away from the succession.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Welcome to the American Landseller Podcast. With your hosts, Kobe Rickardson and Britney Murphy. Kobe is an accredited land capture and a CTO, managing broker of Iron Forced Land Cut, a multi-state land brokerage specializing in farm, rants, recreation, and development across the park. Britt is the chief marketing officer of Iron Forest, bringing top-level marketing strategies, brand development, and creative executions built specifically for the land tests. Each week, we bring you real-world insight and expert conversations on land sales, marketing, regulations, economics, and the trends shaping the land market across America. Okay, Kobe, and our special guests, let's get started.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Hey everybody, welcome back to the American Land Seller Podcast. Um we are back in Colorado today with some great guys from Rocky Mountain. Is it Rocky Mountain Ranch and Lancaster? As soon as I hit record, I was like, this is you know, the promise I make you is that I will know the name Inside Now by the third time.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Wanted to cover it all.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

People say all sorts of stuff like land and ranch.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

As long as they say I want to buy it, we'll do it. As long as they got the phone number and the email right and they want to buy or sell something, you guys are all in.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

But we're there, we're there.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

We're here with Jeff and Cody Sweitzer. That's correct, right? Switzer. Jeff and Cody Switzer. And guys, thanks for being on the podcast today. Super excited to learn more about you guys' company, what you're doing out there in Colorado, and uh and especially sports afield is something that I don't have a whole lot of knowledge

Building Reach With Sports Afield

SPEAKER_03 3:21

about. And your connection with those guys, you know, let's just start off right there. Seems to be a really powerful tool for your guys' business and uh and maybe a partnership. Other people may be looking for something to to partner with. Um just talk just a little bit about that, how'd that get started, and what exactly is the sports afield connection that you guys have.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Oh, I I think I've been with Sports A Field now. And first of all, Kobe, seeing your other podcasts, you do a great job. You bring a lot of different ideas to the table. And I know we've talked at uh some of the R live meetings, and uh you know, I I we're just glad to be here. So I'll I'll kind of get into that relationship which started uh um we're obviously an independent broker, but uh we hooked up as an affiliate, uh exclusive affiliate with Sports A Field probably I think it was end of 2013. So we've been we've been with them for quite some time. It uh used to be Cabela's Trophy Properties. They sold out to Sports A Field about that time, and then we joined them just after. And it depends. I got you know some differences on their affiliations, whether it's a franchise setup, whether it's just a sort of a main affiliation. This happens to be sort of a participant type of situation where we were looking for something to build our brand, give us more national exposure, you know, just generally our marketing would go to the next level. And especially because of their background in sort of hunting and outdoor properties, it's been a great relationship for us. Um Sports of Field is a major sponsor of the Dallas Safari Club show, also a major sponsor of the SCI show in Nashville. Um so we participate in in some of those booths and uh for our higher end uh hunting clients, recreational land clients, it's been great, great for listings um you know over the years.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah, it's a it's a definitely a a big organization. I did a little bit of research on it before we came on, and it kind of blew me away. And and I know a lot of people that have that Cabela's trophy properties connection, you know, that out of, I mean, just from Nebraska alone, we have Mike Lashley was one of the originals, I think, in that. Aaron Graham, I think was a part of that. I was with American Legacy and uh Chris uh I can't think of his last name right now, but there was a guy out of there that was a part of that. And so it's a it was a pretty big deal. And I actually think, Jeff, that this I mean Cabela's really did come up with kind of the recreational land type of like model of sales, right? I don't think anybody else was considering a piece of land on the river as recreational until the Cabela's brothers and you guys kind of really started that, correct?

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Yeah, I mean I think I think for a while Wovis had uh had a sort of real estate on to it, but really Cabela's started out for many years. I think they did very well, and a lot of companies did. I think when there was a transition of sports afield I think a lot of the original people left. There are still few few people uh they're still with uh that same connected, you know, transition from to sports afield trophy properties, you know, same level of marketing, same situation where you're really trying to get a connection to uh uh the marketing platform that that they have. And Sportsfield was believe the oldest magazine, outdoor magazine in the country. It goes all the way back to late 1800s. So you know, we're gonna like as I said, about everybody, everybody's looking for something different when it comes to those relationships, but it's worked really seamlessly with with our company.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Well, I think Cody, like to the point you're talking about, is like we we talk about in our our company all the time, it's a tool, right? So it's a it's a tool for your business, and it depends on what leverage can you get out of that tool, right? In order to make it work for you guys, and you guys are knocking it out of the park with what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

So yeah, I think I think at first I I maybe didn't see the benefit in the sports field, and also, you know, RLI, and as I've as I've grown the past couple of years in the business, I mean they're immensely important, you know, those relationships that you build those connections, just being able to uh, you know, call somebody, they answer right away, they know you, they know your name, um, they know where you where you do business, where you work, and to touch on on the sports of field thing, you know, it's a small they're a small company uh that they run the magazine, the trophy uh property thing is separate, but still uh part of it. And it's it kind of feels like a family. You know, we get together every year and um kind of talk about you know all the different brokerages come together in one place like the beginning every year. And we did that in Dallas a couple months ago. And it was it was great just to meet everyone and connect with everyone and also talk about what's working in the business, what's not working in the business. You know, what are you guys doing differently? Uh what could we be doing differently? And it just kind of feels like a small family. And even other brokerages in other states, uh they're great connections, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Yeah, probably really I mean, at least right now, uh more western states, I don't know, Montana, Idaho, Washington. You know, when people come to their website and they're looking for a piece of property, but they don't exactly know what state they want to be in, because they have a separate one website that we are on as well as our company website. But if someone's looking in Montana and says, okay, well, what do they got in Colorado? It's kind of a way for people to get uh connected to your business, even if they're not right then and there looking at Colorado.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Yeah, I mean it's superior marketing, it's that I think that's interesting that you talk about that, that connection to those other brokerages, right? Because you're not just, you know, like you're not you're not a business partner with these guys, you're more of a marketing collaborator. But you also but you also have that wisdom that they may you may you may be able to to help them out with a problem, or you've got that, you know, you're an independent brokerage, but you have that tool that you can go to in those in those friendships and partnerships that really can help you out if you're stuck on something or if you've never seen anything before, you know, or something before. So that's that's really, really interesting. I

Development Lessons That Save Deals

SPEAKER_03 9:25

want to kind of go into a little bit about like you guys really do a really good job, and you're you've been in that niche of development for quite a bit of your career, correct, Jeff? Like uh, you know, and so I I don't get to talk to people about that very often. We sell farms, we don't call them ranches, you know, pasture ground, things like that. We have very few ranch style stuff where I'm at, but that development has always been really fascinating to me and all the moving parts that go along with it. So if you get if you could just talk a little bit about what you guys are up to with the development and your your history with that.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

It's helped me a great deal push into push in when you are the brokerage business, which is about the time I hooked up with sports of field. I really started over 35 years ago in the land development business in the Northeast and came to Colorado in the mid-90s and primarily I was a land developer, worked for several big companies uh in many, many different roles, including some executive roles, and uh traveled quite a bit. Uh and uh basically in Colorado we did bought large ranches and and subdivided, did the 35 to 40 acre parcels, roads, putting power, and had a whole marketing team within the company. It wasn't really done with outside properties, and uh that's how we marketed our properties. I learned a lot about marketing from really early parts of my career, continued, and tried to sort of flip three with that. But what it gives what what it gave me was a little bit more background and insight into how land works, everything from easements to the mineral rights to water rights to things we had to research as part of our developments. And uh eventually it was getting broke, which development became more difficult to make money in. Um honestly in Colorado, people would pay more for a big ranch from outside out of state, let's say as one big ranch that they didn't want to develop, and they pay more than the develop developer would pay. So in the end, I had ranchers and farmers come to you that wanted to list their properties. At the time I couldn't was too busy to do it. And so basically what I did is kind of referred them out to other people. Eventually I said, hey, I need to get into the brokerage out of this business. That's kind of where I I think I've been doing that since about 2000, purely brokerage, 2012, 2013. Occasionally we'll buy some small parcels and subdivide them, but generally speaking, it's it's brokerage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

And you said two things I think were very interesting there. I think, you know, like I kind of gleaned that your experience in that development stuff really did help you with the dotting the i's and crossing the t's that I think a lot of people miss in our business, right? In the sense of it's pretty, you know, they look at a vacant piece of land without a house on it and think that's gotta be easy to sell, except for there's so many hidden things in that that there's a lot of problems that happen with that. And then you're talking about the marketing side, like you're learning about the marketing and the fact that, you know, like we are known in the land world, especially when you're talking recreational stuff, about the high-end, high-level videos, the you know, the cool, uh, sexy marketing that we have out there. You know, I think that uh that coming from that from that background w really has you know it shows in you guys' business.

SPEAKER_04 12:45

So I can think that I can small you know, one inch uh ad in the back of websites, even have emails, you just had the phone. So you had a certain amount of time when you had to build trust with people on the phone, which that's one of the things I tried to pass on to Cody is and and I said this before and said it you know to many people where the one segment of the real estate business I think is still about shaking a person's hand, building a relationship, row very you know, grow animated, and uh it's it's still that well. I mean, you eventually gotta talk to somebody, eventually you gotta meet with somebody in the field, and it is foreign to our field.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

If you don't, someone else will. And that's uh that's what I think I've learned very quickly is you gotta call people back and as quickly as you can and call people back because if you're the first person they talk to, most likely they're gonna work with you and you built that relationship early on that you were responsive, but typically pays off.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Yeah, and it's amazing because call me up, not brokers, just and so anyways it that part of it was learned then from sales training and learning a very early part of my career. You you have got to be doom doom boom working on it.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Uh I think to develop the you know profit margin has maybe changed with those 35, 40 acre developments, especially here in Colorado. But you know, I have so many memories, and I just wanted to touch on this just because I was laughing, just hearing him talk about it. Just so many memories as a kid because they used to just, you know, develop these properties, whether it was in Florida when I was in middle school or you know, here in Colorado, you know, they would they would advertise it, you know, in the newspaper or whatever it means, and then they'd bring everyone out and they'd have a big tent and they they'd have catering, you know, they'd have food, and they'd have a big board with you know the lot numbers, and then they would just kind of line everybody up and it'd be like the Louisiana purchase. Everybody would just get in their cars and they'd be saying go, everybody's you know, driving out to different lots, and then they'd just be up be on the radio, you know, lot lot one, so lot two, so they'd just be marking them off on the board. But yeah, things have changed significantly from that.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

They still they still do some of that. I don't think um it you know, we did a lot of event selling, so it if that was part of the land business a lot. But marketing is there's probably more marketers than everything you learned marketing on. You had to be because you spent a lot of money on marketing. So that that kind of is ingrained in me. And but the most important thing Cody said was someone gives you a call, come back as quickly as possible. They're not they're not gonna wait. They're gonna take their listing down the road, they're gonna they're gonna take their you know interest down the road to buy something. You gotta you have to. It's a one thing I would teach a young, you know, person in the business is is that there's plenty of other people out there, and if you don't follow that, that could be still helpful.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Yeah. I I think I've said it like numerous times on here before, but like it blows me away. The real estate industry, like it's the largest purchase that anybody's ever gonna make in their life on a lot of the you know, a lot of scales. But you can you can have somebody that was watching the Chiefs Broncos game and gets a rocket mortgage commercial during the game and just for fun sees what they're pre-qualified for and has to see 10 houses before they go to bed that night, you know. And so, like in the residential world, if you're not ready to go, you know, saddle up and go show houses or make arrangements to show them pretty quick, you know, you could you could lose quite a bit of commission if you're not watching it. So I mean it's it's not that much different in our world either. Once once you know, somebody may have been kicking around the idea of buying that wreck property or something like that, but once that pencil finally figures out for them that they can do it, they really don't want to screw around anymore, they don't want to wait, you know. And so that was a great point that you made with that. Cody,

From Teaching To Land Brokerage

SPEAKER_03 16:32

I'm gonna pick on you just for a second because you kind of came to this a little later in life, kind of like me. You what what exactly two parts to my question, I guess, is what exactly made you decide, hey, I want to go, you know, work with my dad, join the family business and stuff like that. And then what before this, what were you doing? Because I know you had a previous life uh before you before you joined joined the business.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

So after high school, I took a couple college classes. I didn't know what I wanted to do, didn't know you know where I wanted to go. That's probably a lot of a lot of young people, you know, are so I you know the light and traveled and saw the world a little bit. I ended up in South America actually, learning Spanish. And then after that, I came back and uh decided to go to school, get get my degree. Uh I actually study Spanish. So I I'm bilingual and uh yeah, believe it or not, and Dust Ken and Handy was just staying here. After that, you know, I I'd already been working on my real estate license kind of on and off, you know, didn't know what I wanted to do. And then when I had finished college, got a job offer right away. I knew a principal at school, so I ended up teaching a full-time fancy teacher job. So that's what I did. And then I as I was doing that, I finished my real estate license kind of on the side. You know, it's it's a tough life for the teacher, especially how to make heavy living and trying to raise a family. I hate to say it, but uh, so I decided to jump on, you know, about four and some change years ago. I think um, you know, I haven't really looked back, you know. Teaching right was really preferring. It's just there wasn't much money in it. That's the truth of it. But I think it was always appealing to me, you know, growing up in the business and uh uh just kind of riding along in the car with my dad or unless the buttons get me in with some weed killer as Freya, and he used to have me rock up and down the roads to kill the weeds on the side of the road. And that's been, you know, just uh I was always kinda there, you know, in the car with him, and I saw how he operates, calling people back as soon as he could, and talking to people on the phone and building those relationships. I think I was always good at that, you know, talking to people, building relationships and uh kind of creating su something out of nothing, or I always had that drive to to work with people. Uh that was kind of why I why I wanted to get involved. And he's just an independent brokerage that just worked by himself. And so I think I've been able to um kind of, you know, he he maybe gives me leads and such, but he also, you know, wants me to start, like he kind of wanted me to start from the bottom, you know, and and and you know, not start with nothing, but a lot of the stuff that he maybe wouldn't take anymore, like 40 acre tracks or vacant land. He said, you know, you're gonna you're gonna work this, you're gonna work this. I'm not just gonna put your name on on big listings that you know you're gonna learn the hard way. And that's and that's what I did.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

And I think it's yeah, I think uh it's interesting you say that. I we just had Jake Hubble on last week, and he talked about having that hunger attitude of knowing his dad well enough to know that we weren't gonna be given a whole lot of gifts. And so he came at it from the standpoint of dad's got a lot of stuff on the table. I'm gonna run around the table as fast as I can and get all the scraps that fall off, and I'm gonna try and make you know, make my name with the scraps. And I thought that was a pretty good, you know, analogy of you know, when you're starting out in this business, I think the misconception is is that it's pretty easy. All you do is throw the stuff on the MLS, and people just, you know, because they have to have a property, they call you, and we all know that that is far from the truth, especially, you know, and so it's it's good to hear that uh that he's making you earn it and learn it at the same time. Uh you guys, I'm I'm gonna take a quick break uh and then uh we'll come back and we'll continue this conversation after that. We will be right back.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

The Land Report, the American Land Seller Podcast, is proud to be sponsored by the Land Report. For landowners, investors, and land professionals who want more than headlines, the land report goes deeper. Market trends, data-driven insight, and long-form storytelling focused entirely on land. This is not residential real estate news. This is land, big land, working land, legacy land. Visit thelandreport.com and see why it remains the most trusted publication in the land industry.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

And we're back with Jeff and Cody. Hey

Making Family Work Like Professionals

SPEAKER_03 21:07

guys, you know, we were talking during the break, and I've talked to Jeff, I've talked to you several times about this, that it's kind of you're one of the rare ones out there. There's a few of them, but you're one of the rare ones out there that successfully run a business with your family, with your son. Let's get into like I can't imagine that's the easiest thing to do for both of you always. Talk about how that works. I know I know there's gotta be ups and downs and and uh and some great stuff in there.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

Yeah, modern starting relationship. I think probably the biggest thing I would say is your your child doesn't have to come in for the business with you. I mean, I think there's everybody kind of thinks in terms of it would be nice, but I don't think it's something that has to be forced. If they want to take a different direction in life and and they're happy with that directly and successful, that's that that would make me very happy with with any of my children. So, you know, coding. Actually didn't he didn't start in his early 20s in the business, which I think was a good thing. He didn't join for probably his late 20s, early 30s. And I think that was probably the best thing that ever could have happened because he was able to go out in the world and experience other businesses, other teaching as well, and you know, doing things where it didn't have anything to do with anything to do with dad's business. So I I think though he he we've mentioned it, he grew up kind of in the business and he sat in my truck for many years when I was out in the land development business. And you know, it's that old saying, you know, your dad used to say to you, why don't you, when my mom and I are talking in up front of the car, why don't you just show up and listen in the back and maybe learn something? And so that that's you know, I think he'd look for last policy, he probably learned a lot. And I said, Well, then maybe this is a business I want to get into. Not not in easy as you know, Kobe. This is not for young for your first couple years, this business can be pretty dry. I mean, you have to build a pipeline, you have to build, you know, kind of the contacts, maybe other brokers you have contacts, title companies, banks, you know, all kinds of different things you have to do. And it's a little overwhelming, you know, because we work in a commission compensation business. We're only as good as you're next people, right? You have to be able to be uh creative and independent and think on your feet and you know, make sales. So I mean, obviously in the end. So I I I I didn't know I was gonna go. He, you know, I I think it's I said, hey, if we want to be in the business, go get your real estate license and we'll we'll talk. And he did. I think he was working on it while I was working some other other jobs. But you know, then he came into it and I look I think you have to look at it as if they're they're not as much your son as they're just another person that works with you for you. If you start, you know, thinking then, you know, a lot of times I think uh these these relationships you start doing things for them or making concessions for them that you probably ought not doing because it doesn't help them. They've got to grow, they've got to learn, make their own mistakes, seek out their own knowledge as a professional. And that's what I try to encourage Cody to do in you know in the last four years. I was a little lucky, you know, because you never know when you get into it, you say, Is my son gonna get this business? Is he gonna get what it's all about? And he did, and he has. He's been successful. I mean, you know, personality is a lot. I mean, we're in a per personality business, you know, if you're personal with customers, they'll come back to you time and time again, you know, sell it, buyers, and uh he's been suc probably more successful in some of those names than I am. I think he's probably more personable with people sometimes than I am, but that or patient man. Oh, patient. Yeah, well, you know, he's now more independently. We do some listings together, some more larger listings, but uh he has his own listings. I have my own listings generally speaking, but some of the larger ones we do we do work together. So it's been good. But I didn't know I really didn't know that until a year or two in. I said, is it gonna work? And uh, you know, it it has.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

I th I think I feel really blessed, you know, to already kind of have a platform and I didn't start out in residential, I was able to start out in land, which you know is obviously more fun to me. And not that I haven't now kind of segued into some residential, I've probably done more residential deals this year than I than I ever did. But you know, to kind of segue segue off that, you know, he told me you're gonna learn what it might take a broker seven years and in two, three years, you know, and so I just tried to, you know, just absorb all that information that I could, you know. I'm sure some of it went one ear right out the other, but uh, you know, I I've learned so much from him, so it's it's it's been beneficial and it's been a good start to him in the business.

SPEAKER_04 25:45

And you know, the biggest thing you not the biggest thing you can teach, and I think not just because it's your son, but this is an integrity business. You know, it's I think you have to learn sometimes when to walk away from things that you don't feel comfortable with or situations, you know, that you don't feel comfortable with, you know, and and integrity, honesty, you'll be in the business a long time. You know, that's what people are gonna respect you for, that's what they're gonna come back to you for. And that's I I would not just teach that to my son, any anybody that worked has worked for me. You know, that's the way it is. But they also have to be accountable. You know, you can't do different things for that than we can do for any other employee you might have. They have to be accountable for everything that they do, and maybe sometimes that relationship gets a little murky. And so I I think people have to be careful that in a in a in a family type of situation.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

Yeah, I would completely agree with that. Well, and I think I've talked about this a little bit before that my family was a different transition, but we went through with you know, it was in the trucking industry. My my mom and dad started and built a trucking company, and my brother and I, geez, what was it 20 years ago now, took that over, bought my parents out and took that over. And I can remember like thinking some of the stuff that my dad had me do, you know, or look at, or you know, like, go, we need you to take care of this. Well, none of the other employees were having to do that extra stuff, you know. And so it was like very, you know, it was frustrating at the time, but then when we got to the point where we were in charge, we were a lot more comfortable, you know, because we had done everything in the company. We knew how it worked, why why it was done, you know, and and so it was it was one of those things where I know it's tough sometimes, Jeff, to be like, why is he making me do this? You know, but sometimes he's thinking in the future of when I'm not, you know, when I'm on the beach somewhere with my cocktail or whatever, and you're doing this all by yourself, you know, you kind of gotta know these things. So that's interesting. What uh Cody, I'm gonna go to you on this one. Uh how is it like working with your dad? Like, is it I mean, he's obviously he's uh obviously he's a tough, tough one to impress because you're I think you guys are just you guys work together and and don't have like 50 agents in your office like some people do. Yeah, some some good things going for you if he was willing to take you on.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Yeah, yeah. I think I, you know, like said, you know, I I kind of picked up the scraps and kind of where I fit in, which is what you get what you have to do in the beginning of the business. So well, but it's it's honestly it's probably better than you know, he's got a stone exterior on the outside, but um not too far thought. Um I think we maybe have some different opinions on ways to approach things, and obviously he's a little more old school and you know, sort of kind of getting around that, but I think it over time it's kind of become, you know, well, what do you think about this? Or we kind of you know, we we kind of pick each other's brains on things. What do you think about that? What do you think about this? And and we kind of come together to figure it out. So in in a in a way, it's it's it's not too hard. Somebody that was just working by himself, now he's working with somebody else. I think that was probably a lot for him. When I first started on the business, I'm calling and you know, every other day, you know, he's sick of hearing from me now about how he had to eat pay now. But uh, it's it's honestly been pretty good. Uh I'm that's what we're trying to figure out right now, and what's the next steps? And but just learning, learning from you know, we did not have a transaction coordinator, you know, we're small independent brokerage. You know, he he's he said you're gonna learn how to do this stuff without a transaction transaction coordinator, and you're gonna learn how to do it the hard way, which is the way that you learn.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

So that's yeah it's an op uh yeah, I I can make some good points. Obviously the learning part's important, but you're kind of you're kind of growing you're growing with this person. I have in my land environment days, I have sales tours of counting 15 people. I managed, you know, you know, a lot more people. So when I went in sort of independent on my own, I I did that for a while just myself. But I think that that you know, basically when you're working, especially with younger brokers, they may know more about technology than you do. It's it it's kind of ingrained in their their social systems, you know, and the way they've learned. And I've kept up with it as much as I can, probably better than most, but still uh it's moving fast. Everything from social media to AI to you know all kinds of different stuff that you have to have as part of your business to be kind of on the forefront of it. And Cody's made suggestions. Sometimes I'm mentioning resistant, but I I come up. I mean, there were you know, platforms and things we've talked about, things he's I can't say now that he's been enough long enough in the business, which I think have become helpful and will even become more helpful as we go on.

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Yeah, I think I probably in this situation can empathize with Cody a little bit more than maybe you, but I do like I do remember going through the phases of like when we first started there, it was like do what you're told and don't deviate too much to sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission to try and sneak some of my ideas in there and get you know to show show my dad how like it it um it isn't gonna be totally horrible if we change a few things to like having the respect of somebody that's earned that respect by doing the work and learning the all the the knowledge that needed to be learned. So, you guys, uh I'm gonna take another break here, and you got another segment in you. Yeah, all right, all right. I'm excited to uh to learn some more here. We will be right back.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

The American Land Seller Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Iron Horse Land Company. At Iron Horse, land is not a side business, it's all we do. From farm to branches, directly on the ground experience. Every listing, whether you own land today or are planning for the future, Ironhorse Land Company helps landowners make confident, informed decisions. Visit Ironhorse Land Company.com to learn more.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

All right, we are back here with Jeff and Cody Switzer from Colorado. They are a Rocky Mountain Ranch and Land. And uh it's been a really fun conversation. We were just kind of laughing about the first segment, went over 20 minutes, so so it's uh and I wasn't paying attention. So obviously, this has been a really good conversation. Um,

Designing A Real Handoff Timeline

SPEAKER_03 32:37

but let's get in, you know, like one of the things that Jeff, you and I talked about when we first talked about doing this podcast was this generational transitioning from one generation to the other and doing it in a way where it is like, you know, nobody's feelings are hurt or everybody lives through it, you know, and and so that's the I think that's the goal here. Talk to us, Jeff, about what is how do you set a timeline up? Like what is what is your goal planning look like? You know, this is not just uh, okay, well, I had it, you got it, Cody, you know, type of a thing. This is this is first learn how to be a land broker. Now we got to kind of transition into being a business owner and and what's important to look at and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

One of the things, and different businesses run differently. Real estate, um, you may you may have more employees as part of your real estate business. We don't. Uh we operate fairly closely, obviously very few people. So Cody could decide to change that road. You know, he he could say, hey, you know, we we need to bring on, you know, maybe a few more brokers, we need to expand a little bit. That maybe would be his decision, not mine. I had had all that in the land development business. I wasn't looking to have manage a managed situation with many people. That's sort of what I moved away from. But I can see the value of it. Uh it's just probably not where I was going with the business. And when I think when Cody joined me, it was it's talking more about with your and this is I hear this a lot in in in family situations, is that, you know, the the person, the the son, the daughter, whoever's taking over the business really has to decide what they want, where they see their vision, which may not be your vision. And with the company for about four years now. Probably we learn in four years more than most brokerers learn in ten, just because of the background that I have and what we've what we've done. And you know, his ability, also our ability to work together. And so it's it's not just mentoring, it's actually working together. Kind of the next thing is it's sort of a transition in the business aspects, which he's already kind of started to do with our affiliation with sports of field, attending meetings, uh, going to trade shows. Uh that's a business relationship that I started, you know, back in 2013. And basically, you know, kind of got uh meeting lots of people getting into that part of the business, uh advertising, opening at the board, say what how do we do our advertising? Not how do we do it? He knows where we're at, but how much are we spending? You know, what what that's increasing. That's a huge part of the business when it comes to how you're gonna brand your company, how how you're gonna expose your properties. And as you know, Kobe It is always changing. You know, there's the the advertising is probably the the hardest thing in this business to keep ahead of. Number one, it's six on platforms, so you have to be uh pretty aware of okay, I'm doing this contract and it's at this level, but that contract's gonna take me out of doing this other contract, you know, I'm gonna have to let them vote because I gotta pay for these guys. You know, you're analyzing leads, you're doing a lot of this in the land development business as well, and that's expensive. So the expenses of the business, and the thing I say, uh if putting aside is now I'm gonna be in the business for a while, but if Cody decides at some point, if I'm sort of taking a back seat and he's taking over and he wants to do something different, maybe he wants to take a partner, maybe he wants to hook up with another company. That's okay. You know, I I'm okay with that. You know, it it's gonna be his decision where he wants to go with the business ultimately. Uh I see us working together, probably working more on deals together in the next segment of his career. Um, that way he can flip right into his own deals, probably larger deals in some cases. And uh it's not something I'm gonna, I mean, you you you kind of decide you want to spend a little bit more time in other other aspects, recreating, having fun retirement, whatever it is. Yeah, this business is a business, and I probably I'm there because he knows I might have retired early and gotten out of the business, but because he's here now, I can do a lot more. I have more flexibility to do a lot more than I did four years ago.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

So I think what we don't, you know, uh and I I'm not a buyer, you know, so I don't have a perspective of in the in the rent that ranch market, but you know, I don't think people just want to like feel like well he's just the son, he's just you know, he's just giving in the listing, you know, he's always he's always gonna be in the background, you know, helping me when I need it, or just having that expertise, you know, to to rely on. And I think buyers do appreciate that. You know, they they what they wouldn't appreciate is or or sorry, not buyers, sellers, sellers would wouldn't want just want, you know, you know, it's just the son taking over and he's inexperienced, sort of a thing. So I and I think you can relate to that too, probably in the trucking business. You know, they they they at least want to know that like the the boss man's in the background and uh he can give you some advice.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

But ultimately any cell start looking at that person as the boss, that person as the driver, that have are in second generation now where the family, whoever it is, has done a good job. May maybe have taken it in a little bit different direction. They're doing a little bit different branding. That's okay. That's fine. That doesn't have to be the same. It just has to even the last ten years, last five years, the business potential is being immensely. I'm talking just not just about the ruler, so I'm talking about low real estate how you know, you know, the National Realtors Association down. It is just you know, who knows what it's gonna be like five years from now if you're not if you're not changing with it. So it's the best service possible. That's that's what we're that's what we should be on.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

Yeah, and I I will I will say, no, and you guys, that's definitely probably not one of the the issues that you have, because I think exceptional service is kind of what comes from from your uh from you both.

Estate Sales And The Broker As Therapist

SPEAKER_03 38:39

What I think would be interesting though to just talk about for a minute is like I've sat down, you probably sat down with families that are going through this transition, and you've got a 78-year-old guy or an 82-year-old guy that has not one time opened the books up to his kids to figure out where things are at. And when you sit down with them, you're like, okay, so what does this transition look like for you guys? And the and the dad's the dad's 80, and you're like, you know, like if I if I let him take over, what am I supposed to do? You know, the kids are leaving the farm, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Because of the fact that you know, one thing that he's taught me is uh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but no, you're good. Uh one thing he's taught me is, you know, half of the business or when dealing with estates or pro-way situations or families, uh, whether you're the you know, whether they're still alive or not, you know, the the dad or the mom or the grandma, you know, whoever it be, is uh sometimes you count at a therapist and you have to get everybody to agree, which can be one of the hardest things. And it's that's well, I think that's probably one of the most grueling things about being in this industry is kind of being in the middle of everyone and getting everyone to get along. Because as you know, families don't always get along, especially when there's like six siblings involved or whatever it be, or or maybe they really don't get along with their parents. Uh so you know, we've had good ones, we've had bad ones, we've had ones that are a little easier, but typically it's it's fairly hard, you know, to get everyone to agree, to get everyone on a board, uh, whether it's what to list it at, you know, price, whether it's, you know, whatever whatever it be, there's tons of situations.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

But you need to plan. I think what you're talking about is we need to plan out and you need this, right? This is this is the time period. I mean, I look at it and everybody's different based on where they are in their process. But the next process, the next step in Cody's for Cody's uh being part of its business or taking over this business is that this you know the best part of it, which would probably take place up. The sooner the better, in terms of him having all the not you know, what you know, what we do behind the scenes, whether it's whether it's advertising, negotiating, advertising contracts, doing, you know, updating web all your web. He was involved. We recently, about maybe a year and a half ago, updated uh actually redesigned our whole website. The more I can do that, you know, those items that artery is gonna be, because I look at it as, you know, it's you know, I'm gonna be around for a long time, but you always have to be prepared for, you know, being on your own, being independent, and you know, all of a sudden you've got to know what to do. And we're right. If nobody knows what to do, and someone's 80 years old and all of a sudden they're not here anymore, you're left with a mess. I don't want that to happen. So I that would be a suggestion to anybody start early, get them involved with business decisions, get them involved with, you know, kind of the numbers, you know, what we're doing every year. We review our advertising every year, or I do, I have, and you know, get them involved with that. Is that a good decision, bad decision, you know, in terms of what we're spending, set your budget, have them involved with budgets, and uh then they know they know everything. There's no reason they they shouldn't know everything about the business.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

Well, I think Jeff, what's like what's smart with what you and Cody are doing is even if it's not your family member, you've realized that, you know, we're like my dad at one point when he had the trucking business, was like Ben and I weren't interested in coming to work for him. I was in the Navy, I was enjoying myself, had a family. We lived on the East Coast and we're nowhere around here. My brother was a farmer and he was doing well with that, you know. And and then so his attitude was, well, I guess I'm just gonna el liquidate everything and close the doors someday, and hopefully I got equity in my in my equipment so that I can, once we're done, I'll be able to go, you know, buy groceries and stuff. You know, that was his game plan. Yeah. And and so, you know, like even in my situation where I don't have my kids working with me, but I have identified the next one, you know, and I'm closely working with her in the sense of, you know, there's gonna be a day where she's, you know, like where she's gonna take over is our hope. Who knows what'll happen without her being, you know, blood family. She's family to us, but without being blood family, who knows what'll happen over the next 10 years or so. But we have that exit strategy. And so it's kudos to you guys for for getting that strategy together, for working on what does that transition look like. I I think just to close, we've got a few more minutes, you know, we kind of got into that on it doing this has got to give you a different perspective on your clients, you know, and going through, you know, helping them with that and and adding that like little nugget to your marketing, even um, in the sense of we're kind of generational experts because we are one.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

How do you deal with the last 10 years? I would say half up to up to half my business has been a state estate in in some level of transition. Some not good, some very good. You know, you you've experienced a company where the kids just inherited something and they don't know what they've inherited, it's a mess. It's got gotta go to pro gotta go through probate, gotta do this, that can happen. So, like I said, you you you kind of have to stop you have to do that in life too, but I mean you have to stop. starters but especially that business you you gotta show you gotta show them the books you gotta show them kind of what's what's going on with your business and how it works and you go do it early.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

It has to Yeah I think that we we have all seen it and I and again like I think because of what happened with the generation between the greatest generation and the baby boomers that transition and how big of a mess it was I think a lot of those the baby boomers when they're transitioning out and trying to like a lot of them really are stepping forward and saying let's just liquidate this entire farm. None of the kids came back to work on it you know I don't want my kids to hate each other like I hate my siblings you know after you know and so so let's just get rid of it and we'll put it all into like a 1031 it into like a Delaware statutory trust or something like that so they can have a payment every month or every year or whatever. And they don't have to worry about owning the land, you know, and and and carving it up. So so yeah definitely is is something that I give you guys so much credit for doing the work going through this it's always such a joy to see you guys in person at the different events around there.

Colorado Focus Areas And How To Reach Them

SPEAKER_03 45:08

Let everybody know if you don't mind like how do we get a hold of you guys and kind of what area of Colorado are we are we focused on or what what region do you in the world do you guys work?

SPEAKER_04 45:19

Cover the state of Colorado but uh you know generally speaking if it's if it's something that I don't feel I would be able to handle a Cody because of distance and because of the kind of what we know the area we know we might pour something out on the western slope of Colorado but we offices based in Caleb Springs we cover kind of south central southern southeastern Carol it covers about eight or nine counties and that that that seems to keep us busy. It's it's really everything from a farm ranch uh working or not could be a recreational type more of a hunting ranch uh mountain homes raw lands recreational cabins farms yeah anything anything that has to do with real real properties we'll we'll handle in those in those cabinets and we have our company web sorry is uh mlanchland.com and that's a company website we're also typically with sports a field it has a site which has other companies on it but that's how to reach us um you know in terms of kind of if if someone had something to list uh or wanted to buy something in those areas certainly reach out to us and we can help you out.

SPEAKER_03 46:27

Yeah that's awesome I will uh I'll put those uh websites and that information in the show notes along with your info at that gets to you guys too right the info at your website um email address and we'll put all that in there so if anybody wants to get a hold of you. But I do appreciate your time today. Uh you guys are are an awesome company great gr great uh two guys I'm I'm honored and blessed that I know you guys and uh I look forward to seeing you guys real soon. Well thanks Toby we appreciate and uh you know we'll we'll see you at the next event.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

Thanks Tony Yeah I love what you're doing here. I think it's a great platform to you know get yourself out there but uh number two to you know get some more information about brokerages and what they're doing in other states and within your own state.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Yeah one of my biggest goals when I got into uh real estate was is that I wanted to leave the industry better than it is and I think one of the best things well best ways to do that is to just celebrate the awesome people that are in our industry whether it's other brokerages or lenders or partners, you know, 1031 exchange people, you know like all that stuff. And this has been a great platform to just and I've learned tons.

SPEAKER_04 47:41

So but pretty much you're raising some votes.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

So you know tuning in so I think it's a it's a great source of knowledge just like all the organizations we're part of yeah I think if it the one thing I've always said is the worst if the worst thing that happens is I learn some stuff, I guess it was worth an hour of my time to go tape it and throw it all together and so uh but anyway guys thank you so much uh and if you're going to the ranch tour uh we we are I won't be able to make it gonna be there no I'm I'm we you were talking about expos I'm packing up the family truckster with a couple of my agents and we're heading to northeastern Nebraska for a big ranch expo up there so great time safe travels. I'm my plan is to try and make it out in uh in the fall for that meeting in Grand Junction.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

So we'll see you there.

SPEAKER_03 48:31

Yep love being a part of the Colorado chapter it's been a lot a lot more convenient for me than uh when I was with Iowa it's just a long ways for me for for that but anyway guys thanks so much and everybody else we will see you all down the road.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

As

Closing Thoughts And Listener Support

SPEAKER_00 48:47

we wrap up another episode of the American Landseller Podcast thank you for spending part of your week with us for more episodes resources and updates visit www.americanlandseller.com be sure to find us on your favorite podcast platform. If you found value in today's conversation please like subscribe follow rate and review the show on whatever app you are listening or watching it helps more landowners and land professionals find the podcast. You can also connect with us on social media for updates, new episodes and behind the scenes contact. Until next week, Kobe and Britney with two six tests in all your land endeavors. God bless you.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Have a great day the American Landseller podcast is brought to you in part by the Land Report. The Land Report is the premier publication covering land ownership land markets and the people shaping the future of land in America from farmland and ranches to timber, conservation and legacy properties, the Land Report delivers deep reporting, trusted insights and long-form storytelling focused entirely on land. Learn more at thelandreport. We are also proud to be sponsored by Ironhorse Land Company, a multi-state land brokerage specializing in farm, ranch, recreational and development land across the heartland. Built by land professionals, Iron Horse Land Company sets the iron standard through high quality marketing, real world land expertise, and a boots on the ground approach that puts landowners first. To learn more visit Ironhorse Landcompany dot com