F3 Podcast - Faith, Family, and Finance
A Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors Podcast.
Content here is for illustrative purposes and general information only. It is not legal, tax, or individualized financial advice; nor is it a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any specific security, or engage in anyspecific trading strategy. Results will vary. Past performance is no indication of future results or success. Market conditions change continuously. This commentary reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, andanalyses of the speakers. It does not necessarily represent those of Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors, Private Client Services, their clients, or their employees. This commentary should not be regarded as a descriptionof advisory services provided by or Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors, or performance returns of any client. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice. Securities offeredby Registered Representatives through Private Client Services. Member FINRA / SIPC. Advisory services offered by Investment Advisory Representatives of Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors, a registered investmentadvisor. Private Client Services and Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors are unaffiliated entities. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors and itsrepresentatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advisory services may be rendered by Gaddis Premier Wealth Advisors unless a client agreement is in place.
F3 Podcast - Faith, Family, and Finance
Brent Lyday | Episode 8 | Blazing Trails in Real Estate - Balance, Integrity & the Adventure of Life
Imagine stumbling upon a cave once used by the infamous outlaws Jesse and Frank James, a perfect segue into our latest episode filled with thrilling tales and heartfelt moments. We are joined by Brent Lyday of Legacy Land Group, who passionately shares the highs and lows of managing a dynamic real estate team. Brent offers an inside look at the challenges of recruiting and training new agents while emphasizing the importance of integrity and creating a positive team culture. He reveals the essential skills necessary for new agents to thrive, from mastering marketing to navigating complex contracts.
Brent and I also explore the personal side of our journeys, recounting life-changing experiences and the power of faith and friendship. We reminisce about the profound impact of a life group at Victory Church and how it inspired Brent to pursue his dream of founding Legacy Land Group. Our conversation highlights the balance between professional ambitions and personal life, with stories of horseback adventures across Colorado and Wyoming, the joys of raising a family, and the serendipitous moments that shaped our paths.
Listeners will be captivated by tales of remarkable properties, like Gene Autry's historic home and a former Chickasaw girls' residence with ties to Jesse James. We dive into the thrill of mountain horseback riding, recounting the adventures and mishaps that come with exploring rugged terrains. From the camaraderie built on the trail to the benefits of teamwork in business and life, this episode is packed with inspiring stories and valuable insights. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear firsthand from a dedicated real estate professional who's seamlessly blending his passion for land with his commitment to ethical practices and strong relationships.
there was a cave that was on there also that had, um, some carvings in it. It had double J, uh, j's backwards and it's what? Jesse James, yeah. And so back in the 18th it was like one J, but it had both turned backwards. Yeah, one loop left, one loop right, Yep. And so they had found some old muskets and some old guns and gold and silver pieces in that cave or whatever, and so they claimed that that was one of Jesse and Frank James' hideouts.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Derek Hines. I'm the managing partner here at Gattis Premier Wealth Advisors. Welcome to our podcast. Today I've got a good friend of mine on the podcast, brent Leidy with Legacy Land Group. Brent, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1:Man, thank you so much. I've really looked forward whenever we spoke about doing this. I've really been excited to do this. I'm a little bit nervous, as my maiden voyage is my first one, but I'm excited.
Speaker 3:We'll have to get like a sticker or a pin for all the people that we have on the podcast. It's like their first time.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, no, I'm excited. Same to fame, appreciate it. Yeah Well, it's good having you. So tell me a little bit about just kind of what you do. We'll seven agents total, counting my wife and I, so we have five other agents and we've got a great team. And primarily I've got some agents that just do primarily land and then some agents that kind of lean more toward the residential stuff, yeah and um, but it's uh, we have a uh family land that we raise cattle and things on for you know, business and um. So it's been, it's been a good trip.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so uh, how do you find agents?
Speaker 1:Um, I do not recruit agents. I normally, um, you know, I just try to be myself and be who I am. There's people come up talking to me about getting their license and things like that all the time, and so I, you know, tell them if they ever are interested. You know, come talk to me. And, um, I've only had, as of right now, we've only had one agent, uh, that's ever had their license prior to come to us. So that's been a little bit of a challenge for us because, uh, all the agents that we've had been brand new, yeah, so we've had to train them and, you know, try to get them started and things like that. I, I don't know that I would recommend that avenue, cause it is challenging, but we do have some. We have some great people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Do you. Do you find it challenging training individuals?
Speaker 1:Uh, yes, yeah, At times, you know, I mean, uh, you have to set a part time to put in and and to train them and and Michelle and I, my wife and I, have been, um, really busy, super blessed to be busy, yeah, and you know, with business, our family life and taking care of the ranch and different things that you know that's just an added thing that we've kind of put on our plate to you know, that which we, we've been really blessed with the agents that we've got. We, um, we don't necessarily want to just take everybody that comes to us Sure, uh, cause we want to be able, uh, we want to have a certain um look and have a certain culture in our business and and so we don't want to necessarily just take anybody that wants to to come to us either.
Speaker 1:You know, we want to be a little bit picky, so yeah, so what, um?
Speaker 3:what's what's the hardest thing, or what's what's the most difficult thing you found to train on?
Speaker 1:Honestly finding time to put in enough time, cause I feel obligated um to um. You know, if, if they're going to come on with us, I feel obligated that we need to spend the time and the effort and I need to be present with them, yeah, when they're there, so that I'm not wasting their time either. Yeah, so I think that's been the most difficult part for us. The most difficult part for us, I said we've had some. All of our agents that's come to us have been. Really, they want to learn, they want to figure it out.
Speaker 1:And so it makes my job easier to teach them the ropes and what they need to do. But once they get started and once they start going and kind of get a little bit of a taste of it, kind of what's you know, it's much easier. You know there's just trying to get everything started is the biggest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, is there any certain skill or skill set that is harder to teach, like? What are the things that they need help with the most? Is it paperwork? Talking to you know, to people that are looking to buy or sell?
Speaker 1:So yeah, going through real estate school, they don't teach you how to sell real estate at all. Yeah, they teach you laws. They teach you what Teach you how to pass a test, right, you just have to pass a test, yeah, what you can and can't do, yeah, and so, coming in, we have to teach them how to market themselves, how to learn all their contracts and and you have a different contracts for land versus commercial, versus residential, and so, uh, just being able to teach them all it takes time. Yeah, it takes a lot of time. You know how to associate with people, what you can say, what you can't say, uh-huh. Now that you have a license, there are certain things you know. We have a fiduciary role to take care of those clients, yeah, so that's a little bit of a depends on their background, but that takes a little bit of time to figure out what they can and can't say. Even. Yeah, you know, yeah, what are some examples.
Speaker 3:Well, what are the things? They can't say so Because this is big in our industry too, Right? So there are certain things I can't. I can't use certain words because it communicates something. We have a fiduciary Right.
Speaker 1:Responsibility as well, and a lot of people don't understand what that entails, like what that means. So on a listing, say a listing. You know Joe Smith has land out here and he tells me that we want to list it for a million dollars, but he tells me also that he would actually take probably $700,000 for that property. Yeah Well, I can't go tell a potential buyer or even another agent. That's what he told me. I have a fiduciary role to protect him, to get him the most amount of money that he can possibly get for that property, Regardless of what he'll take for it. You know it's my job. If we're going to elicit a million dollars, it's my job to find a buyer that will pay a million bucks. A million bucks, yeah.
Speaker 3:Interesting. So is that why it's always good to have representation on both sides, or what happens in the situation that one agent is representing both parties?
Speaker 1:We do that all the time. Now we do have several clients that come to us and a lot of states. They require you from what I understand, they require you to have separate agents, and so in Oklahoma we can have both sides of the property, both sides of the listing and the selling. But we have a fiduciary role and we have to make sure we keep everything split up and we have to be real careful what we say, what we do, what we share to both sides. We have to protect the buyer as much as we do the seller. A lot of people aren't real comfortable with that. Some of it has been because they've had a bad experience with other companies or whatever people and so, but that's something that we do pride ourself on. I guess you could say that we're going to do it. It doesn't matter what the cost and sometimes it costs, I mean, I it. It would be easier to tell everybody what you know. But we're not going to. We are, we are not going to. Yeah, that's good, yeah that's important.
Speaker 3:You mentioned culture. Do you want to maintain the culture of what you're building, the age that you're bringing on? What are some of the things you're looking for from a cultural perspective?
Speaker 1:Integrity is the biggest thing that I look for. I want somebody that, if they're going to be on our team, if they tell you they're going to do something, they're going to do everything that they can to get that done. If it takes money out of their pocket, I expect them, just as I would myself, to do the right thing, even if it takes money out of your pocket and I know that's hard for maybe some, hard for some people, but that's something that I just expect. I'm going to do what's best for my, our clients, and that's that's what. That's why I'm going to present myself and do yeah, yeah, that's good. I think integrity is the number one thing that we need.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what's been. So can you think of a situation where, not that your integrity was brought into question, but that there was an opportunity to make more money or not take the hit?
Speaker 1:but you stood on integrity. Yeah, that's a good question. You know, that comes up all the time because we do work with both sides a lot, and so I would say probably half or maybe even well, I would say probably maybe 60 to 70% of our business. We're working on both sides, um, and so I don't know that I can think of anything right now, because it it happens a lot.
Speaker 3:I mean, we're we're still dealing with what people are telling us nearly every transaction, you know, and so yeah, what's been, uh, what's been one of the most, uh, unique or unusual transactions you've either been approached with or completed, so I'm actually get some pretty crazy things thrown at you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I've had some really neat places um that I've I've listed and or that I've gotten to show. Um, one of the coolest places I think that I've gone to was, uh, gene autry's old home place, uh, which is in gene autry outside of ardmore, there a little ways, but it had the. If you watch some of his shows, at the end of the show it's got the long rock white rock barn and, yeah, it's got the post out there and they tie the horses. So I got to show that place. It was 400 and I think 465, 475 acres has been several years ago now but it was for sale, um, and just being able to, the barn was dilapidated for the most part now, uh, but some of the post outside where they tied the horses it still had the horses names on them and the rings hanging on them where they they tied the horses up.
Speaker 1:And yeah, um, there was another place that that in bromide I think it was back in the late 1800s, there used to be the Chickasaws, used to have a large girls' home there and it was three stories tall with big rock building and they housed like 400 Indian girls and they would bring them in and they would teach them in and they would, um, teach them pottery, teach them how to cook, teach them how to sew, teach them how to dry, you know, hide, tan, hides and things like that.
Speaker 1:Um, on this place and and it the corners of the building, was still there, but there were some two sisters out of Tulsa that owned it there. But there were some two sisters out of tulsa that owned it. Yeah, but there was a. There was a cave that was on there also that had, um, some carvings in it. It had double j, uh, j's backwards and it's what, jesse james, yeah, and so back in the 18th it was like one j, but it had both turned backwards, yeah, one loop left, yeah, and so they had found some old muskets and some, uh no, guns and and uh, gold and silver pieces in that cave or whatever, and so they claimed that that was one of Jesse and Frank James' hideouts.
Speaker 3:And where's Bromide from here?
Speaker 1:So Bromide is 35 miles, probably straight north of Durant. It's just north of Coleman or Wapunucka it's right outside of kind of north west of Wapunucka there a little ways, okay, probably 10 miles.
Speaker 3:Yes, go to Wapampanoag and go back west. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's neat, yeah, and where? So do you know much about jesse james and I don't know a whole lot.
Speaker 1:My dad could tell you uh, supposedly I mean and I know maybe a lot of people say this we're relate just somewhere. We're related from way back. Yeah, the youngers I was. I think I had a maybe a great great and a great great great aunt that was a younger or something like that. But it's, it's pretty good ways back, yeah, but their mother was a younger, from what I understand okay and so, and so, anyway, interesting.
Speaker 3:Well, where there, uh, where? Where was their main hideout at?
Speaker 1:I couldn't tell, wasn't it? I don't know a whole lot of details of where that was at.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I think I thought it was somewhere.
Speaker 1:I thought it was somewhere around here, but yeah, yeah, I couldn't tell you where that would be, yeah, that's interesting, yeah.
Speaker 3:Um. So what? What got you into the real estate business?
Speaker 1:So before I was a realtor, I trained horses for a living, and so I had, back in 2000, and it might have been 1999, I worked for a gentleman down in Pilot Point, texas. His name was Rick Versace. He's a rope horse trainer, one of the owners that we trained horses for. He had some really, really nice horses. He was one of the. From what I understand and I haven't done a lot of research on this, but he was one of the eight or nine guys that started Century 21 years and years ago, and so he would come in.
Speaker 1:He lived in scottsdale, arizona primarily. He had a place in jackson, wyoming, and you know different places, but, um, he would come in and and ride with, he would stay, uh, several weeks with us and we'd talk stuff. I'd go with him and he would just, he, he was always kind of talking about real estate stuff, and so that was the first seed that was planted in my, you know, planted about real estate, never really thought about it, cause all I ever wanted to be was a cowboy growing up. Horse trainer, you know, um thought I was going to get rich training horses, and you know that that doesn't happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so yeah, she got the quickest way to make a million bucks in the horse business right for becoming a millionaire. The quickest way to become a millionaire in the horse business start out with two right so, uh, that was the first seed that was planted.
Speaker 1:So skip forward several years. I worked for some other trainers In the meantime. I actually went out on my own, and a friend of mine, which I think you know him, jimmy Ward yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. So Jimmy and I were helping move some cattle down on Blue River and I roped a cow and and we roped a cow and drug her in the trailer. Well, I excuse me, I had to jump off the horse to get the gate shut, yeah, and one of the back gates was hung on a tuba for. So I stuck my foot in the side of the trailer to try to push it. Well, I popped a disc out. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I went along there probably six months, seven months, I got where I couldn't even hardly walk and this meantime I mean I had, you know, 10, I averaged 10, 12, 13 hundred horses that I was trying to ride daily. That's a lot. Yeah, it was a lot. I had a lady that was working for me at the time and I just I started dragging my right leg. I couldn't hardly get around.
Speaker 1:So, michelle, my wife, she has an aunt that's in real estate down in Florida, south of Orlando there, and she told me she's like Brent, we had a great relationship. She says, brent, you really should try to figure out how to work smarter and not harder. She said, you know tons of people that you know have land and trainers and things like that said, what about getting your real estate license? And so I ended up having back surgery at the end of 2007. And my son, brendan he's my oldest, he was roughly six months old.
Speaker 1:It got to be a scary time for me, um, cause, michelle, uh, she was working, um, but you know me being one, I I felt like I needed to be the provider and I was at a point in my life where I could not provide, I couldn't do anything. So I got to thinking more about the real estate stuff and said you know what, while I'm down, can't work, ride horses. I'm going to start studying to get my real estate license and I can do both. You know, maybe try to. You know, ride some horses and do real estate on the side kind of deal, real estate on the side kind of deal, and um. So I ended up getting my license in 2009, right after, kind of partially in the middle of the you know real estate crisis and I I hadn't.
Speaker 1:I had no idea um what we were even going through. I was, I was, didn't really I had. I hadn't even bought my own piece of property at this point in my life. So I was green green, but I was. I've always been the type of person, like you know what, I'm going to give it a try and I'm going to do the best I can and see what happens, and so I got my real estate license 2009. Michelle was working in Ardmore.
Speaker 3:We were living in Coleman at the time. Yeah, that's, that's a pretty good yeah she was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so she was driving to ardmore, uh, working for a, a doctor over there, and, um, I got my license in 2009 and I it just kind of started going. Um, my 2010,. I was got where I couldn't ride very many horses because I was really busy with the real estate stuff, yeah. So, uh, she was doing a lot of stuff for me. We were working on a lot of broker price opinions. Um, I told her, I said, I really would love for you to get your real estate license, and so, 2011,. Uh, she ended up getting her real estate license two years after I did. And, uh, we've been going full board ever since she quit her job over in Ardmore and and, uh, it's been. The ride's been up and down, but it's it's. It's been a huge, huge blessing to to me and my family.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I didn't realize. I didn't realize that you'd been a real estate agent that long yeah.
Speaker 1:In 2009. Yeah, yeah, it's been, it's been fun. Yeah, made a lot of interesting people.
Speaker 3:I could imagine yeah, made a lot of interesting people. I could imagine yeah, that's a good story, you know it's. I don't know. You know it sounds like it was a tough time in your life.
Speaker 1:You know, in transition I tell you what it was. I didn't grow up necessarily in a church family. My mom and dad didn't go church. Um, my grandmother did, and when we would go visit with her she would, you know, every summer she would, and she lived here in Durant. Yeah.
Speaker 1:She would take us to church early and try to find her a vacation, bible school or something to go to. But Michelle and I, when we got married, we were like, if we're going to do this and I was kind of a wild child, you know, for a little while After I moved out and stuff, I was drinking and going and doing stuff that I shouldn't have been doing and you know, I was showing rope horses and we were going to shows. You know, we would leave out on Thursday and come back Sunday night, yeah. And then we, you know, so we're running with guys all the time. And so when Michelle and I I started dating, we're like, all right, so if we're going to get serious about this, we need to start trying to find a church, yeah, and so we did, and I was at that time, uh, we'd got married, uh, we moved to marietta and was working for some folks over there bill mich and Michelle Cowan over there and riding reiners and cowhorses Well, they were primarily cowhorses and cutters, yeah. And so I started all their colts for them at the time and doing all the repro work for them, and we found a little church over there and we started going and I just started kind of getting into helping with the youth. I love kids and just kind of helped with the youth a little bit there and I had an opportunity to move to Coleman, to kind of start my own deal, and so I accepted it and we moved to and we had some family that lived there and so we started going to church up there and it wasn't real long Michelle and I took over the youth.
Speaker 1:Well, there wasn't a youth group there at Coleman at the time in that church, so we went from. There was a couple of kids that went to church there. Their mom and dad went to church there and I think there was maybe three, sometimes four, and we grew the that youth group to about 30, roughly 30 kids or so and we take them falls creek and um, so kind of got going that direction and and but you know it was a rough time in my life whenever that and I can remember um, we were struggling, we were, we couldn't make bills, we couldn't I mean I wasn't working, yeah, and so there was bills still coming in, Um, and I can remember one specific time, um time, um, I made tear up talking about it, but we owed, like you know, wasn't a big bill, it's like 230, 40 dollars on something. And there was a lady, I'm that come to our, that was in our church, um, she was a family member actually and she, she come to us. I think it was like two hundred and forty eight dollars from one, yeah, remember. And she said she come to us and or was come to the house.
Speaker 1:We were gone and there was an envelope on the door and I had, and there was a check in there and we, michelle and I'm racking our brains like how are we going to pay this? Yeah, of course, $250 at the time for us was a lot of money still, you know, and um, or $248. And there was a check in there for $250. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I, I figured out who had done it. Yeah, and I, I asked her, I thanked her and everything she said. I was just driving home from Dren. I've been at the grocery store. I was driving home and I said, uh, you know what? I think God's telling me to drop that check off. Yeah, and it was exactly what we needed, you know. Yeah, and so it was. We had to lean on Christ. We didn't have anything else to lean on. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a good story. Yeah, you know, it's interesting how I mean you know, I mean God didn't necessarily cause those things to happen, but how he can work good even through those situations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I, I yeah, for sure, and I know he doesn't cause those things to happen. But um, man, it it's. If you're just halfway looking, he's going to be there to help you through those those situations, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm kind of smiling and laughing. I told you, I told you, when I I dropped those horses off the other day, I told you a horse story and Jimmy Ward was definitely part of that story and I've never met yeah, I've never met Jimmy. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Uh, I don't think I've ever met jimmy uh in person, uh, but his brother, earl, oh yeah, and I worked together at the co-op in perry. Yeah, that's right for I think we probably worked together, for we worked together for that long yeah but you know, it's just. It's funny how you run into people. Yeah, from the past yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm trying to remember, because I because when you asked me this, I was trying to remember where exactly you and I met. I know we had, because I had talked to Earl and we had mutual friends, but I'm trying to remember exactly when we met.
Speaker 3:But I'm trying to remember exactly when we met. I don't think we met until going to church Going to church at Victory, right? Yeah, I think that's that's what I was thinking too. I think that's it. We had that life group, right. You were in Pastor Lee's life group. He had that business life group, right? I think that's where we finally met.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so too. That business life group. Right, I think that's where we finally met. Yeah, I think so too, that life group. That life group changed the directory of my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I mean the people that I met in there and for me to watch what you've done, what Jeremiah, what Kevin Keener, what Eric Huffman and Drew Jackson and Willie Henderson and those guys I just stand back because I felt out of place in that life group. I really did I think we all did but I was so honored to even be asked to be in in there, whatever, to join it and to get to know what yeah, you know, get to know you guys and and to be able to be a part of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I know it was. It was a good life group and I remember when it started I felt I felt pretty out of place too. It's like what and what am I doing here? But I remember you talking in that. I mean in that, in that life group. That was probably four years ago yeah and that's you.
Speaker 3:You first had the dream of, of the land group that you started. You can call it legacy and yeah, and you were thinking about lead, just you know, and it was all amicable, but you know the leaving the broker you were with and starting your own land group.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's probably been six years ago, because I've been out of my own five years now. Okay, yeah, that's a long time ago, six or seven years ago maybe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so that's funny, yeah. So I just thought of when you said Jimmy Ward, I was like man, I'm going to have to meet this guy Because I mean, from what little I know about him, he's pretty, he's got quite the character.
Speaker 1:Oh, he does. Yeah, he's a great guy. Great guy. Yeah, love him to death. He was just over at the house the other day. Yeah, and but yeah, so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's awesome. So, after transitioning, so after transitioning to real estate, how have you, you know, cause you your thought was to do both. Right, you could do real estate, ride some horses, but then you got kind of busy with real estate. So how have you, I mean, I know, your family's, you know, really involved in rodeo and ranching and horses? So how, how have you maintained, maintained that while still doing, still doing real estate?
Speaker 1:Well, I don't, uh, yeah, so I don't train for the public anymore. Uh, my son, brendan, actually has kind of taken over that role a little bit, and so, um, he's, he aspires to be, uh, a cowboy, and so he, um, I, basically I'm the driver now going to rodeos you know, uh, you know, I try to balance.
Speaker 1:I definitely want to be home for my kids, um, to be able to. I want to be present for my, for my kids, Um, and so that's something that that's one reason that kind of led me to make the decision to get into real estate, as well.
Speaker 1:Cause I do have some flexibility of my time and what I can do, um, I love being with my kids. Yeah, um, my, my kids, my girls, are getting out, um, today, out of school for the summer, and so I'm, I'm ecstatic, I again, uh, michelle and I both, we love to have our kids around and so, um, I try every chance. And the only avenue that I really knew, um, that I didn't play a whole lot of sports. I played baseball some and basketball, but I've always been the small guy, the little guy. That wasn't very good, you know.
Speaker 1:And so, um, rodeos, what I knew, or, or riding, you know, training horses, you know ranching and things, and so I, they all three grew up on horseback with me, you know, and since they were a little bitty, I remember I've got pictures of Brendan whenever I was training. Still in Coleman, I had some beers Holstein Jersey Cross Kevs and I would rope them and they get, you know, after a little while they get pretty gentle, and so I'd put his little saddle on one of those calves. And he had a little pony, but I'd put his, uh, saddle on one of those calves and of course they're herd animals, they're going to follow each other around. So I would just turn him loose in the arena and he would go and rope off of another calf. He would rope off the calf and rope the other calves, and so he was like four years old when he roped his first cow or animal.
Speaker 3:Yeah off another cow.
Speaker 1:Off of another cow and off of his pony, coco, and so I've got pictures of that, you know, and, and so that's funny, yeah, so I've. You know, I want to come home and spend time with my kids, and, um, so they've, but I don't ride outside horses anymore, so real estate has allowed me to be able to do that and to spend time with my kids and so their family.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so tell me a little bit about your, about your kids. So what? What are their names and ages?
Speaker 1:Okay, so I got, uh, my oldest is Brendan, he is 17. He's about to be 18 in July, so, um, and then, uh, he's, he's still in high school. He'll be, uh, a senior next year. Um, I've got two girls. My oldest is Brinley. Uh, she's 13 right now. Um, and she's, she's a spitting image of me, she, her attitude, you know her. Her personality is a lot like mine, um, she's 13. Personality is a lot like mine, she's 13. She'll be in ninth grade. She'll be a freshman this next year.
Speaker 1:Mckinley is nine, and so it's funny because Brendan, growing up, he's all about cows and ranching and things like that. Brinley likes that stuff, um, but she's, she's good to kind of get dolled up and kind of, you know, be a girl too, um, but mckinley, she's, she, she loves to play, like when she was little. She loves to play with cows and stuff. Yeah, but then she would be doing it in a skirt, like. So she's a balance between the two of them. You know, it's really funny that to watch them grow up, because they're they're all different, you know, and and uh, but yeah, I just um, it's been a fun ride, yeah, having kids. I wish I wouldn't have waited so long. We didn't wait super late, but um, but I wish I would have done it sooner.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. How old were you when you had Brendan?
Speaker 1:Uh, we were 26. Okay, you know. Uh, we were married for three years, um, you know, and so I was trying to get I never I was trying to get, uh, you know, a business started and I didn't feel like I was ready to have kids and didn't have them. I felt like I didn't have the money, you know we were broke back then. He never had the money on the world we're going to afford this kind of deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you never have the money, you're never ready, yeah, it's funny because, uh, that's kind of what took me so long really, to ask Michelle to marry me. Um, I knew for a long time that I was this is a girl that I wanted to be with and I wanted to marry. And I was talking to a veterinarian when I lived down in pilot point. Uh, dr McCarroll down there, he's like Brent. He said have you asked that girl to marry you? Yet I said no, man, I haven't. I said I don't feel like I can afford to do it because I was working for a rope horse trainer. It's not like I was a rope horse trainer at the time, I was working for somebody else Sloping horses around A little money. And he's like I'm going to tell you something. He said if you wait until you feel like you're going to, or that you're ready, or that you're financially ready to get married, you'll never get married. Yeah, he said if you love her, you need to go marry her. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it probably wasn't. A month later, you know, I asked her to marry me. I got to thinking about that. I need to, I need to do it. Yeah, how'd you guys meet?
Speaker 1:So we met through college. She and I both went to, so she's from Florida, well, she kind of moved around, but she was primarily she was born in Florida. She moved out to Oklahoma for a little while. Then family things happened and she actually graduated high school in Utah. You're telling me that, yeah, and so she wanted to be a vet technician and so I went to Murray State College around Tishomingo and I think it was my second year I met her. We were just friends. We never dated or anything like that through college. I think it was my second year I met her. We were just friends. We had never dated or anything like that through college.
Speaker 1:Earl Ward was going to school over there also, and so we've known each other for a couple of years. After she got out of vet tech school, she ended up going to Kentucky and working for um a vet, uh, equine associates up there. Um at for a vet, yeah and um. So she was up there for several months. I guess wasn't really what she was wanting to do um in Kentucky. So she ended up moving back to Sherman and was working for a vet in McKinney and I at that time I, after I got out of Murray and Tishomingo, I ended up going to a two-year college in Gainesville, north Central Texas, and went through their equine science program.
Speaker 1:When I was doing that I ended up getting a job over in Salina, texas, riding reigning horses. I was riding all their colts and doing their repro work. I went to Colorado State University to go through, went through some of their repro stuff, their uh schooling, and and so I was living in salina. Earl calls me one night, said hey, what are you doing? So he come down his visit and he's like man, we need to go see michelle schroyer. It's like who? And I hadn't I mean we, you know this is two years later maybe. Yeah, yeah, it's like you know, michelle, we went to school with her and I was like all right.
Speaker 1:So we went to Sherman where she was at, and we all just kind of hung out and watched movies and from that night on we just started dating. And you know, we were together three years before I asked her to marry me, and so the rest is history. Uh, she's been um, uh, I can't, um, I can't express how much uh that she, she, means to me and how much she's changed my life. You know, in the, the, the directory of the, where I was going, you know um and um, she's been such a, such a blessing. You know, yeah, well, you've got a great family. I do Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3:So any uh, any big plans for the summer?
Speaker 1:Uh, no, we don't have a whole lot of plans. Well, we're going to go to um Alabama. Uh, we'll probably go to the beach and stuff down there, michelle, uh, we've got to take you to the beach. I'm too much sand for a short period of time. I don't mind going and hanging out a couple of days or something, but um, I yeah, it looks the same every day you go back.
Speaker 3:It's like the beach is like well, it's what it was yesterday, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so um, I would. I would much rather go do something else, but the kids love it. Michelle loves the beach and so, yeah, my wife likes the beach too.
Speaker 3:So I like, uh, I like seeing new country. Yeah, so mountains or I mean really anything.
Speaker 1:I just kind of like seeing, seeing something new yeah and it's, and it's michelle's that way also, or what I am too. But we both we love I mean she loves tennessee, she loves bounce tennessee, we both do. And uh, I've I've been arizona and and kind of I love that landscape out there. Yeah, you know, and yeah, in colorado and um, so yeah, it's I like a little bit of all. You know, I like to go snow skiing. You know I love snow, love snow skiing and so um, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So what's, uh, what's? What's the favorite place you've been? What's the best place you've been?
Speaker 1:Hmm, that's a good question, um, I mean landscape wise, um, I really, I really like the Southwest, like Arizona, the way it looks, one of the coolest places that I've gone to. That I feel like, um, and we've you and I have talked a little bit about it before, but last year I was, uh, got the opportunity to go to Colorado and ride and we rode from, uh, uh, we rode 100 miles across the continental divide. We rode, uh, horseback through, you know, primarily two ranches and part of national forest, um, but we, uh, there was 150 guys or roughly 150 guys that that went on this ride and, uh, we went from Walden, colorado, up into encampment Wyoming area. Yeah, um, and so that, man, that was some gorgeous landscape, yeah, beautiful. I'm not a big trail rider, um, but to be able to go riding God's creation like that is is a little bit different than you know than just going and riding around yeah, anything unexpected happen no, the some of the group.
Speaker 1:Well, the it's funny the first morning. So we leave here, it's in July and it's a hundred degrees here we leave and get up there. That first morning we woke up it's like 35 degrees, yeah, and there was so many horses get or so many people got bucked off that first morning just because the horses were fresh and they felt good and so yeah, it was. It was pretty comical that first morning.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, you know that's where. So Evan worked in Walden for a little while. Okay, up in there's a I forget the name of the ranch, but we were in New Mexico and we went to see him for Easter, which was. April and so you know, in New Mexico it's getting nice, it's spring weather, it's. You know, in New Mexico it's getting nice, it's spring weather. It's, you know, 70, 80 during the day.
Speaker 3:So, getting kind of cold at night, yeah, and it snowed on us every day. No, when we were up there for Easter, right, and it was just, it was disgusting, right. I mean the weather was horrible, yeah, and it was cold.
Speaker 1:And so, if I'm wrong, I might be thinking about the wrong place, but Walden's, right outside of Steamboat Springs. This is in the north.
Speaker 3:Walden's north. Yeah, it's, it's so I think you sorry Steamboat Springs and there's a big mountain pass. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. You're right, yeah, yeah, I think it's. Is that South Park or what's the name of that valley, maybe, or what's the name of that valley.
Speaker 1:Maybe that sounds right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's really high in elevation. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was neat man, just different landscape. We're supposed to go back this year to Tulia Where's that at?
Speaker 3:It's kind of south, southwest, yeah, but it's supposed to be really really over there, you know so, yeah, I'm not, I don't, I don't, actually, I don't think I'm gonna make the ride this year yeah, um, it's kind of those things like once you get invited, though, you can keep going, or yeah, you can that's all.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, you can so and it's, you know, going the first year, it's, um, it's a process. To be able to go, you have to be invited to go and you have to go through some training and stuff. We had to. That's part of after we went to New Mexico last year as well, and part of I had to go from New Mexico to deal with my son. Then I had to go into Denver to do some training or whatever to be able to even go where they wouldn't you know yeah, what kind of, I mean what kind of training?
Speaker 1:uh, basically, you had to go ride and show them that you can climb mountains and you can cross streams and you can basically show horsemanship. Yeah, you know, because it's uh, some of the terrain that we were going on was was really steep. Yeah, uh, we crossed the north platte river three or four different times, yeah, you know, and and uh, just um, just making sure you can, you can handle, you know, going straight up the hill or down a hill and, yeah, fall on your head yeah, yeah, yeah, anybody fall on their head on the trip.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah and there were some people that that did, but, uh, you know, some of that was alcohol related, but but, yes, there were some, uh, some some guys that would uh, um, that had some issues while we were there. Yeah, it was a crazy story. There was a Dr Beeman. He's 90. I think he's right around 90 years old, maybe plus or minus a couple years. He's been on this ride every year since it started in 1975, I think. Well, this last year was 75, right, 75th anniversary, okay, and so he'd made every ride. He's a fox hunter and so he rides all the time. Well, there was a gentleman, I guess he was. This has been several years, but he carries a. This Dr Beeman carries a big rope like a Riata, like a 60 foot rope. Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:So like actual like braided leather and it was a guy from Argentina had given it to me. And so a buddy of mine, casey Mock. He asked him says Doc, doc, why? Because he's not a rope or he's not a cowboy? Yeah, he asked if he could use it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's. He said, uh, he said is is, why do you carry that rope for? And he said, well, there was a few years back. He said we was on this ride and he said see that mountain over there. It's like, yeah, and he's like we were crossing that mountain and there was a gentleman on the ride is, his horse just took off. And he said this guy hit a limb and it just killed him. And he said, so, we're several miles up into these mountains and things. And he said so.
Speaker 1:So we were sitting there, we laid him on the ground, we tried to help him and he died right there on the ride. And he said we didn't think about it, but rigor mortis started setting in and he was stiff as a board, he was straight, and so we didn't think about throwing him over a log or something like that so that we could put. We had to pack him out of there and he's straight. You know this guy. We couldn't, you know, and we called the you know medical, whether it wasn't any I don't think there was any phone service up there at all. Yeah, and so we had to pack him out and so we didn't have any ropes to do it with. I mean, we wasn't prepared. And so he said next time what I'm going to do is throw the guy over a log and letting, and then that way we can throw, yeah, if something, if it happens again, we can, we can put him over the horse and I'll have my rope to to tie him onto the horse.
Speaker 1:But he said, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna come on this ride again without a rope oh my god, that's the reason why that he he carries a rope is because and the guy, I think, probably had a heart attack or something and his horse started, you know he hit a limb and killed him. But my gosh, yeah it would. I'd say it was pretty crazy. Yeah. Pretty crazy, trip man yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that BT story I've got. You know, spent a lot of time in the in the mountains on horseback and let me just, it never fails Something happens.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I've, I was, you know we there's. We had six mules that we packed a lot of stuff in and and, uh, you know they were telling me stories. Nothing happened this trip. But they were telling me you know, part of the mules they would slide down, a big you know rock slide and you might lose part of the mules, and then you have to go gather them back up and yeah, so it's. I mean it can, it gets a little hairy. I mean there's.
Speaker 1:There's times there was a couple of those places that I mean we wouldn't be on. You know two foot three foot ledges and you look down, you know six 800 feet. You know um, and and rock, slate, rock, you know yeah.
Speaker 3:We, uh, we had that happen to us one year. We uh, we borrowed this mule from a, from a friend, and wasn't shod nothing. He said, oh he'll, you know he'll, he'll be all right. And wasn't shod nothing. He said, oh he'll, you know he'll, he'll be all right. So we borrowed this mule and I was, I was, I was ponying him and we're just kind of walking down the trail and we were just just south of the rio grande reservoir, uh, outside of creed colorado, and yeah, it's just, it's, it's good, couple hundred feet and just slick shale rock. And you know, I'm just kind of going along, not really thinking about a whole lot. You know trails, you know no wider than this, and all of a sudden they kind of I feel a jerk. And that mule had gotten an aspen tree, a little juvenile aspen tree, stuck in between the pack saddle and him, yeah, but he doesn't know it's there yet, right, right.
Speaker 3:So this, this aspen tree starting to come down and I'm like, oh, my goodness, like this is about to be a rodeo this is not good and so you know, I'm trying to get the, I'm trying to get the rope off of my saddle horn as fast as I can, and that, finally, that that aspen tree comes down and that mule sees it, yeah, and he takes off and hits the back of my horse, which causes a chain reaction, yeah, and finally I got mine stopped and that mule passed us on the top side and went straight down to the rio grande, or as it were no kidding just losing everything on the way down, so is it one of the horses that I have at my house right now?
Speaker 3:no, no, that wasn't one of those.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just curious yeah the horse didn't make it. The horse didn't make it down, I I actually I had my horse stepped off and it was able to jump back on. But I grabbed a tree and I've got a like a scratch on my side where I pulled myself out of the saddle and yeah, oh man, we had two guys from oklahoma with us, yeah. And so I had to walk down to the bottom and pack this mule up by myself and try to drag him back up this, yeah, this cliff, yeah, yeah, that was like two miles in no kidding, wow that mule getting started he wouldn't get.
Speaker 3:He wouldn't get two feet away from my horse. After that they were buddied up yeah, yeah pretty funny. So well, I appreciate you coming on yeah, you bet any, uh, you know any. Final thoughts, or or final words ah man.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, I I could sit here and talk all day, but, um, I guess the the thoughts that I would probably have would be and it relates to business and partnerships but is and I've been thinking about this a lot here lately, actually but don't try to do stuff alone. Um, you know, if you're going to try to get into something or or whatever to, you know, uh, do your research, but find somebody that's already kind of been there to help get you started. There's a lot of things that I've tried to do in my life that I've tried to do on my own. I've always been one of those guys that, um, you know, um, um, I can do this kind of guy. You know, I've always been confident but, uh, I try to. I feel like I'm a humble guy. I try to be humble but, uh, you know, I want to.
Speaker 1:Um, there's a lot of times I step out there and I say I'm, I'm going to do this and and not seek any help, and it's it's kind of turned around and bit me, you know. And so, whether it be with your spouse or or partnership or or and I'm not necessarily saying that you have to have a partner, I'm just saying, find somebody to help, uh, look from the outside and get a different view of things than what you're looking at by yourself, to be able to navigate your business or or finances, like that you guys do. Or, um, cause there's a lot of times I get tunnel vision, you know, and Michelle's like my wife, she's she'd be like, eh, probably don't need to do that, you know, cause she and she'll, we'll finally talk about it and it'll be a she'll have a different perspective and I'm like, oh yeah, you're. After, after I argue with her, I'm like, oh yeah, you're probably right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's good. Yeah, there's a great quote that that came to mind. I don't know if you ever heard it. It's uh, if you want to go fast, go alone.
Speaker 1:If you want to go far, go together yeah, absolutely, and a good friend of mine, um, which I think I don't know, uh, his name's casey mock. He says that all the time but he's he, that's what gary keller, he's um, tells him. He, yeah, casey, he was a great friend of mine and um, like a brother and he he had started, you know, the land division for keller williams and so that's what gary always tells. Tells his guys, yeah, is that exact quote?
Speaker 3:yeah yeah see, I went to find out who said it. I know, uh, passionately told me one time, the third time you quote it, you can claim it as your own.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, I really appreciate you coming on. I mean you've just got a great growing business, wonderful family and I can attest. I mean you are a person of integrity. I know you've represented us on some land deals and I just I really appreciate your friendship and seeing how us on some land deals and I just I really appreciate your friendship and and seeing seeing how God's blessed your family and your business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you bet. Thank you, it's been an honor. Um, I've I've enjoyed this Um and uh, yeah, same here. You're uh just love your family to, to to death and and uh, I love the podcast. I've listened to every episode that you've done so far and had a lot of windshield time, and so that's what I do when I'm in the truck, and so I appreciate you and honored that you've asked me to be on here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that was quite the compliment. That really honored me. When you said you'd already watched them. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Yeah you bet Awesome. Well, we really appreciate you guys joining us today. If you like this podcast, please click like and subscribe and share with all your friends.
