Mike Browning

Author: MB

  • Exploding Growth, Prime Location

    Exploding Growth, Prime Location

    Follow the growth, find the value.

    On Wednesday I highlighted a +/-40 acre tract southeast of Sherman. That property had unique terrain and privacy, but I made it clear it wasn’t for everyone.

    Truth is, no property is for everyone. But here’s one that checks the boxes for investors and developers alike.

    Just east of Howe, this 57.14 acres offers long road frontage, easy access, and the kind of location that makes serious buyers take notice. Priced at $50,000 per acre, it’s rare to find a tract this size in the direct path of such rapid growth.

    The draw here isn’t just the land — it’s the momentum:

    • Minutes from the new TI and Globitech plants
    • Tom Bean ISD
    • Surrounded by an area seeing record growth and investment

    With strong demographics in every direction and easy subdivision potential, this property works whether you’re looking for near-term development or a smart long-term hold.

    Opportunities like this don’t wait.

    Get the brochure here

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    49 lot conceptDownload

  • NFL Superagents Can Skip This Post

    NFL Superagents Can Skip This Post

    The rest of us could stand a little self-improvement

    Yesterday I posted about the ±40 acres in Grayson County I have listed (and am part owner of).

    It’s a great tract for a rural showplace, although it’s not for everyone. Super private, so I shared it with a number of sports agents. It could be perfect for someone who wants to be away, but within an hour or so of the airport.

    Beat them to it — check it out here.

    That’s not what I want to talk about today, though. If you follow sports, you know that a lot of what you read isn’t about the game itself. It’s about contracts, money, and the drama surrounding them.

    The agents I spoke with are on the frontlines of that, negotiating high-dollar deals with billion-dollar owners. It sounds intense, but for them it’s just the job. Players may get nervous, but the agents and teams do this all the time.

    Most of us will never negotiate at that level. But negotiation is everywhere.

    Your salary.

    Working conditions.

    What you pay for a car.

    Which vaccines you take (or don’t).

    Even where to eat dinner or when your kid goes to bed.

    Improve your skills here, and you improve just about everything in your life.

    The problem is, most people see negotiation as either intimidation (bad) or “win-win” compromise that gets you run over by the pros (worse).

    This is why people run from negotiation, sales, and salespeople. Even though it’s where most of the money is.

    If there were a better way, would you still run from it?

    I first read Start With No by Jim Camp almost 10 years ago. It changed everything for me, and I still reread it at least once a year.

    In just a few hours you’ll learn:

    • The most important thing to control in a negotiation (hint: it’s not your opponent).
    • How to make it harder for you to be manipulated.
    • The real factors that actually drive a negotiation.
    • Why “yes” is to be feared and avoided, and “no” is your friend — especially at the beginning.

    Many of the concepts apply to life generally, not just negotiation. Outside of the Bible, I can’t think of another book that has helped me more.

    And the Kindle version is less than twenty bucks right now.

    You can get it here.

    (Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you buy something — anything — after clicking that link, I may receive a small commission. It doesn’t change your price.)

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  • Extreme Privacy, Unrivaled beauty

    Extreme Privacy, Unrivaled beauty

    With the right vision, this is a true country showplace

    Get the Brochure Here

    Some places sell themselves with convenience.

    This one sells itself with what it isn’t.

    And it’s not for everybody.

    It’s not a subdivision lot.

    It’s not a ranchette with neighbors looking in.

    It’s nearly 40 acres north of Dallas — with a creek at the back, deep wet -weather creekbeds crossing the land, and natural buffers that create exceptional privacy.

    For most people, that makes it a challenge. For the right person, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a true showplace estate.

    It’s an easy drive to Sherman and about an hour to DFW Airport. Close enough for convenience, but far enough out that you won’t be smothered by new development any time soon.

    If you’re moving here, it’s because you want the rural feel and real privacy. This tract should stay that way for a while.

    Asking $1.2M (+/-$30K/acre)

    Drone aerials/videos upon request

    Brochure available here

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  • Sticks and Stones

    Sticks and Stones

    They can’t make you accept, but they are giving you insight.

    Selling land can get emotional.

    You’ve owned it, maybe cared for it, maybe just paid the taxes every year (hopefully ag taxes).

    When you decide to sell, you’ve got a number in mind—probably based at least partly on what a broker (hopefully me) has told you about comparable sales and nearby activity.

    Then the first offer comes in, and it feels like a slap in the face.

    Most sellers take it personal. I get it. But an offer isn’t a judgment.

    It’s just the number that works for that buyer.

    Every buyer looks at the same piece of ground through a different lens. On one extreme are the people who send obvious form letters saying they want to buy your land. They’re playing a numbers game and don’t need many hits to make money.

    I don’t recommend dealing with those folks, but don’t let them ruin your day either.

    A homebuilder runs numbers on what they can sell houses for. A rancher may only be thinking about grazing capacity. An investor is looking five years down the road and trying to pencil out a return.

    They’re all looking at the same dirt, but with different requirements, timing, and risk tolerances. That’s why offers can be all over the place.

    Another thing that throws people is timing. Some buyers can close in 30 days because they already know what they’re doing. Others need 90 or 120 days (or more) because they’ve got to get financing or city approvals.

    Asking for extra time doesn’t always mean they’re flaky.

    Sometimes it does, but other times it just means they’re being realistic. Sorting out which is which is part of the process.

    This is where having someone on your side who’s plugged in helps. Word gets around pretty quick in my circles if someone isn’t worth messing with.

    The first number a buyer throws out is rarely the final one. It’s a starting point. They’re showing you what they see, and you have the chance to respond.

    That’s what negotiation is.

    Sometimes you find middle ground, sometimes you don’t. But if you shut it down just because the number feels insulting, you might miss the one buyer who could actually stretch to meet your price.

    I’ve seen it happen more than once. A seller laughs off an early offer, only to come back to something similar months later after realizing the market isn’t lining up with their expectations. That doesn’t mean the land is “worth less.” It means the pool of buyers who can make it work at the higher number is smaller, and it takes longer to find them.

    The goal isn’t to win the first round—it’s to get the right deal closed.

    Land deals usually aren’t about fast punches and fireworks. They’re about patience, persistence, and finding the match between what you’ve got and what a buyer can realistically do with it.

    So when that first offer comes in and your instinct is to get mad, don’t. It’s just part of the process.

    Offers give us information, even when they aren’t acceptable.

    Real estate deals require trust on both sides, and if the buyer sees you as a flake it can make them reluctant.

    Remember—you’re in control until you sign a contract.

    The best clients stay level headed, but that doesn’t mean giving in immediately. It means being deliberate and trying to take the emotion out of it. Easier said than done sometimes, but you have to try.

    Is it a bad idea to want to work with someone like minded?

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  • Does it Make Sense to Wait Forever?

    Does it Make Sense to Wait Forever?

    If lower rates come, you’re not missing the upside

    One of my long-time clients has spent years buying, selling, and developing small retail centers. You’ve seen the type—five or six tenants in a strip center, maybe a Domino’s, a nail salon, a tax office.

    I’ve sold him several sites for these projects, plus at least one that was already developed. From my side, the developed project was better—since my commission is a percentage of the sales price. So I always made sure to send him anything that looked promising.

    On one of the first deals I showed him, the rental income looked strong. Even better, every lease had automatic renewals with scheduled rent increases. I told him it looked good now, and even better in the future.

    That’s when he gave me advice that was so obvious, I didn’t see it until he said it:

    Those future numbers in the lease? They aren’t guaranteed. They’re the ceiling, not the floor.

    If a tenant isn’t doing well, when renewal comes around, they’ll ask for a cut. If things are going great, they’ll still ask for a cut. Your choices: reduce the rent or watch them leave. And then your “future income” goes to zero.

    That lesson carries over to where we are in land sales today.

    (Cue the standard disclaimer: I’m not a CPA or an attorney, I’m a real estate broker. None of this is financial or legal advice—it’s for informational and illustrative purposes only. If you have questions in those areas, talk to the right professional.)

    (Got it? Ok.)

    A lot of buyers are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for interest rates to drop further. Yes, there’s been some movement lately, but not as much as people hoped. More cuts may come later—or not.

    Here’s the key: real estate loans can usually be refinanced without penalty. Your interest rate won’t go higher than whatever your loan agreement says. But if rates go lower, you can refinance and take advantage of it.

    In other words, locking something in now gives you the upper limit on your loan cost. If rates fall, you can adjust later. If they don’t, at least you own the property and beat the folks still waiting.

    Is there risk? Of course. But sitting still has its own risks too.

    Is it ever a bad time to look at something from all the angles?

    When you’re ready, click below

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  • Just Do What God Puts In Front of You

    Just Do What God Puts In Front of You

    You don’t need to save mankind — that’s already been done.

    Naaman was a Syrian general who had leprosy. He went to Elisha’s house expecting a grand miracle, but Elisha didn’t even come outside. He just sent a messenger telling Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River.

    Naaman was insulted. The Jordan was muddy, and he thought the command was beneath him. But his servants reasoned with him: “If the prophet had asked you to do something hard, you would have done it. Why not this simple thing?”

    Naaman humbled himself, did as he was told, and was healed.

    His pride almost kept him from it.

    There’s a bit of Naaman in all of us.

    We want to do good, solve problems, make an impact. But instead of doing the small things God puts in our path, we chase something big — something that might get us recognition.

    See a hungry family on the street? You could hand them a meal.

    Or you could decide to start a food pantry.

    One looks “bigger,” but which one do you think God cares about in that moment?

    We can’t see the whole picture or connect all of God’s dots. The one simple thing we dismiss may matter more than the results of our big plans.

    A kind word, given at just the right time, might keep someone from a disastrous choice. You may never know all the future effects as they extend past your life here.

    But we don’t need to see the future to do the right thing now.

    The short-term results might not look like much, and if something happens far in the future it won’t be tied back to what you did today.

    So nobody celebrates.

    Maybe that’s the real problem — we want the pat on the back more than we want to obey God.

    But God celebrates when we obey.

    Remember the widow who put two pennies in the Temple box?

    Jesus said she gave more than all the people giving large amounts for show.

    The big job — saving the world — is finished. What God asks is smaller: just do what He puts in front of you. If we all did that, the world would look very different.

    Naaman found healing in obedience. We might also.

    PS – Last week I talked about how it might be a good idea to get a physical copy (or copies) of the Bible if you don’t already have one. Reading electronically is great, but there’s no guarantee it will always be available. It can be turned off with the flick of a switch.

    Is it likely? Who knows. Is it possible? Certainly.

    Is there any downside to having a hard copy of the most important book ever written?

    You can buy one here on Amazon.

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you buy something — anything — after clicking that link, I may receive a small commission. It doesn’t change your price.

  • Why Do They Do It That Way?

    Why Do They Do It That Way?

    Decisions show what business someone is really in, even if they don’t realize it themselves

    Yesterday I was talking about how newspapers like the Dallas Morning News aren’t really in the news business.

    They’re in the click/engagement business. The news content is just bait to draw you in.

    Clickbait, in other words.

    Truth is, papers were never really in the news business. Before the internet, they were in the business of selling obituaries and advertising. That revenue dwarfed what they got from subscriptions or single-copy sales.

    Instead of calling it clickbait (since the term hadn’t been invented), you might have called it a loss leader back then.

    Although don’t tell that to the journalists who were saving the world.

    (Fine job they did too.)

    Their main product has always been the audience whose attention they could sell. It’s just become a non-viable business in the internet age.

    But what about a successful business like the NFL? What business are they in?

    Staging football games, sure. They sell lots of tickets — about $4.1 billion worth in 2024.

    But that’s not their main product. Broadcasters pay about $12 billion (three times ticket sales) each year for the right to show the games.

    So their real product is the audience. Same as newspapers, just a better model. And rest assured the NFL knows what business it’s in, even if the news business doesn’t.

    And you can always tell what business someone is in by the decisions they make.

    Papers sacrifice accuracy and clarity in search of clicks.

    The NFL changes its on-field product to suit TV — kickoff times, short weeks, odd schedules. That’s not always fair to the players or ticket buyers, but the people at home love it.

    In brokerage you see the same thing. Some people say they’re in the “you” business, but their decisions show they’re in the “them” business.

    That works short term, but not long term.

    The only way to succeed long term in brokerage is to be in the trust business.

    (Hello.)

    Yeah I talk a big game. How do you know I mean it? Only one way to find out.

    Is there ever a bad time to try a better way? (You can always go back to the old way.)

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  • Watch Their Hands, Not Their Lips

    Watch Their Hands, Not Their Lips

    When speaking publicly, people will usually tell you what (they think) you want to hear

    When someone publicly says it’s not about the money, what’s the safest bet?

    It’s about the money.

    That’s not cynicism, that’s just pattern recognition. Public statements are usually crafted for effect. They’re meant to play well with fans, reporters, or shareholders.

    Which means they’re often more about signaling virtue than revealing truth.

    Take the recent Micah Parsons contract saga. More than once, he said it wasn’t really about getting the most money. He tried to keep the focus on fairness, team, legacy. All fine words.

    But the outcome? He landed the highest average salary in NFL history for a non-quarterback.

    Record deal. Short enough term that, if he stays healthy, he could cash another monster contract in a few years.

    So yes, it was at least a little about the money.

    And good for him—he’s got a limited window to earn, and he’s maximizing it. That’s smart.

    The same thing shows up outside of sports.

    The Dallas Morning News insists it’s in the journalism business. On the surface, sure. But scratch it and you see a company really in the advertising and engagement business.

    And lately? It’s been in the business of selling itself.

    Shares were trading in the $4s. Hearst swooped in with a $16.50 offer—quadruple the price. Then another buyer stepped up with $20. Even better, right? Except the board recommended sticking with Hearst’s lower number.

    Don’t know why, could be good business reasons for that, I don’t have time to look.

    Cue the noble public statement from Robert Decherd:

    “I have long since ceased to view my holdings…as a financial asset. My sole objective is sustaining the journalistic quality and civic responsibility of the News.”

    Sounds lofty. But it also raises the obvious question: if it’s not about the money, why sell at all?

    Because it’s not really about journalism.

    That doesn’t make them villains. It just means you have to be clear-eyed about what game people are actually playing.

    I’ve said before, I’m not really in the brokerage business. I’m in the trust business. The difference is, I know what business I’m in. And maybe it’s self serving to play that up, but I think it’s important to know.

    Is it crazy to align with people who know who they are and where they are going?

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  • If You’re Not In The Trust Business, You Won’t Be In Business For Long

    If You’re Not In The Trust Business, You Won’t Be In Business For Long

    Grammar slips and typos aren’t the end of the world, if people trust you

    Awhile back I saw a Dallas Morning News headline on the so-called bathroom bill.

    Technically correct, but framed so narrowly it made the issue sound like it only applied to a sliver of people. In reality, it applies to everyone.

    Why write it that way? I can’t say for sure.

    My guess: to agitate certain readers and boost clicks.

    That’s the business they’re in.

    Not the news business so much as the engagement business.

    I even messaged the public editor about it. Pointed out the headline was misleading. His reply? Evasive. Acted like he didn’t understand my question. I explained again. Still nothing.

    Maybe he was right that I wasn’t clear. I mean, I don’t write for my business every day.

    (wait, yes I do).

    Fast-forward to this week. Same public editor writes a whole piece about… typos in headlines. “Went” instead of “gone.” “Polices” instead of “policies.” Important, sure — but is that really worth a full column and public apology?

    It reminded me of Jesus taking the Pharisees to task for tithing on their mint and cumin while neglecting the weightier matters. Grammar matters, but it’s not the real issue.

    Then came the real eye-opener: a line about improvements. Now, 98% of stories are reviewed by an editor before posting. Good, right? Except the number used to be… 28%.

    Come again? A major metro paper, calling itself the “paper of record,” admitting it didn’t bother to review over two-thirds of its stories just 6-7 months ago.

    And we’re supposed to see that as progress.

    Their explanation was cost. I’m sure it was.

    But if you’re really in the news business, accuracy isn’t optional.

    And if you’re really in the trust business, you don’t brag about fixing a gap that should never have existed.

    That got me thinking about my own work.

    Most folks would say I’m in the brokerage business.

    And that’s true. But more than that, I’m in the trust business.

    You can get news anywhere. You can get a broker anywhere. Both are commodities.

    The only reason someone picks me is because they believe I’ll shoot straight and protect their interests.

    That’s what I actually sell. Trust.

    And if that sounds crazy in today’s world — maybe it shouldn’t.

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  • If Rates Drop, Lots Could Pop

    If Rates Drop, Lots Could Pop

    Just because you don’t control rates doesn’t mean don’t prepare

    A little after lunch Wednesday (about 1:00 p.m. Central), the Fed will announce what they’re doing with rates.

    Most folks expect a cut. We’ll see.

    Most of us aren’t economists, even if we like to think we understand what’s “best” for everyone. Funny how what’s “best for everyone” often looks a lot like what happens to be best for us at the moment.

    If you follow real estate at all (and you’re here, so I bet you do), you know a lot of people have been hoping for a rate cut. Buyers want lower payments so high prices feel tolerable. Sellers are hoping those “cheapskate buyers” finally quit asking for discounts and pay the number.

    I’m not big on discounts myself. Depends which side of the table I’m on tho (I guess).

    Big picture, none of this is in our control. Spending hours tracking every political angle, conspiracy theory, and tea-leaf reading is a waste.

    You have a life to live. Execute to the best of your ability, regardless.

    Also worth remembering: today’s rates are pretty normal in historical terms. Maybe even a bit low. It just doesn’t feel that way to folks who came of age after 9/11 and only saw ultra-low money.

    (yes I’m old).

    So how do you handle Fed Day?

    First, don’t obsess. Operate the same either way. If they don’t cut, carry on. We’ll be in more of the same, and the playbook doesn’t change.

    If they do cut, don’t be surprised if some people move quickly—especially in the custom home lot segment. Single lots can go from “thinking about it” to “go” much faster than a subdivision or a big rural tract.

    Development land and rural acreage usually lag a little. Not always. But usually.

    If you’re buying, assume you’re not the only game in town. The best lots go first. If a lot looks like a good deal to you, it probably looks like a good deal to someone else. Be first. Have your financing lined up, your questions ready, and your offer clean.

    If you’re selling a lot and sat on the sidelines during the slowdown, this could be your window. Get pricing dialed. Have the paperwork ready so a real buyer can say “yes” on the spot. Any pop could be short-lived—prepared sellers win the moment.

    None of this is pressure to take less than you want. It’s a reminder to act when the window opens.

    You can’t control the Fed. You can control whether you’re ready.

    You know what to do.

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