Mike Browning

Tag: estate planning

  • Not Ready to Sell?

    Not Ready to Sell?

    Good. Look Anyway.

    Most landowners aren’t thinking about selling. If anything, they’re thinking they never will.

    They’re at a 1 or a 2 on a 10-point scale. If that.

    But life comes at you fast. Kids going to college. Estate planning conversations you weren’t expecting. Something happening nearby that changes how you feel about owning land there. We’re seeing that a lot right now, data centers, crypto mining operations moving into rural areas. Things that weren’t on anyone’s radar two years ago.

    You can go from “I’m never selling” to “I wish I’d sold last year” faster than you’d think.

    So it’s worth having a baseline. Most people agree with that in theory. Most people still won’t do it.

    Because the last time they asked a question like this, they ended up in a conversation moving faster than they wanted to move. Some agent walking the property, running numbers, and applying list-now pressure that would make a timeshare salesman blush.

    It’s uncomfortable.

    So they wait. Market shifts. They finally get serious two years later with worse information than they would have had if they’d just asked the question when they first had it.

    That’s an expensive way to stay comfortable.

    The landowners who make good decisions are almost never the ones who acted fast. They’re the ones who started paying attention early. Understood the market before they needed to. Weren’t scrambling when the time came.

    That takes time. And it starts before you’re ready.

    Looking doesn’t mean selling. Getting a clear picture of what your land is worth, what’s selling nearby, where development pressure is headed, none of that commits you to anything. It just means you’re not guessing when it matters.

    The only thing that makes early conversations uncomfortable is working with someone who treats them like a sales call.

    That’s not how I operate. If you’re at a 3, I’d rather you know where things stand than stay in the dark because you were worried I’d push you somewhere you weren’t ready to go.

    You control the timeline. That part is on you.

    My job is simply to make sure you have the information when you’re ready to use it.

    PS – Most landowners aren’t planning to sell today.

    But things can change quickly. When the time comes, the people who already understand the market tend to make better decisions.

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. It looks at nearby sales, current listings, development pressure, and the details affecting value that aren’t obvious from the road.

    Is it a bad idea to know where things stand?

    Get Yours Here

    PPS– If you’re not ready for a Reality Check but enjoy reading about land, markets, and negotiation, you can sign up below and get these posts in your inbox.

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  • Don’t Let Regret (or Fear of it) Run the Show

    Don’t Let Regret (or Fear of it) Run the Show

    Overthinking rarely leads to better outcomes—just longer delays

    This would be a good time to remind everyone I’m not a CPA, a financial professional, or an attorney. I’m a real estate broker. This isn’t financial or legal advice. Talk to a professional before making any big decisions.

    Back when I got into real estate, there was a broker who used to say, “Any deal is a good deal if you give it enough time.”

    Half joke, half truth. I watched him put people in deals that eventually worked out—but took a lot longer than he probably sold them as.

    Even if you overpay around here, odds are you’ll be “proven right” if you wait long enough. I’ve seen people make good money off properties I thought were overpriced 20 years ago. All of them are worth more now.

    A smart aleck might say my only mistake was doing due diligence.

    But here’s the thing: annual return matters more than gross return.

    Sure, land held for 20 years might look good on paper. But what could that money have been doing for you in the meantime?

    By buying and selling when prices were good relative to the market, my clients often made better returns than if they had just held.

    That doesn’t mean you should sell just because. But it also doesn’t mean you should hold forever out of fear you’ll regret it.

    Here are a few good reasons to sell:

    • You need the money. (I’ve got kids in college—enough said.)
    • You’ve got a better opportunity. Favorable tax treatment might make it smart to sell one and buy another.
    • Estate planning. Sometimes selling is simpler and keeps peace in the family.
    • You want more land and less traffic. Sell in the growth area, move a little further out, and repeat. Plenty of people have built wealth this way.

    The point is: no matter what you do, you might feel like you made the wrong call later. That’s normal. But it’s also not helpful.

    Do the best you can with the info you have, for the right reasons at the time. Then look forward—not back.

    No pressure. But if you’re ready to talk it through, you know where to find me.

    Got a lot you might want to sell?
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