Mike Browning

Tag: Land Reality Check

  • The Three People You Need

    The Three People You Need

    Finding the customer is only one of them.

    I was listening to something the other day that stuck with me, although I can’t remember who said it. To have a successful business, you only need three people:

    One to find the customers, one to take care of the customers, and one to keep the first two guys out of jail.

    Kind of said in jest, but pretty accurate if you think about it. It doesn’t actually have to be three different people, but there are three main functions. Sort of a three-legged stool.

    Sales/Marketing (find the customers), Management/Execution (take care of the customers), and Compliance (stay out of jail or court).

    They don’t have to be different people, and some of those jobs can be handled by outside professionals. But if you’re dealing with a company that overemphasizes one or ignores another, you’re asking for trouble.

    As a broker, I work on commission. Finding clients is the first step to that, but if I just tell people what I think they want to hear to get them in the door, I’ve got problems.

    If I tell you your property is worth $2M when it’s probably worth $700K just to get you to sign a listing, at the very least I’m going to have a hard time executing.

    And I’ve started the relationship by telling you something I didn’t believe myself.

    But people do similar things every day. It matters who you do business with.

    I can tell you how I try to operate, but you’re probably better off hearing it from people who’ve actually done business with me.

    “I’ve worked with Mike for over 20 years on land and lot deals. He’s a stand-up, trustworthy guy who is very knowledgeable about his market. He has strong relationships with landowners and a deep network in land development.

    He’s always willing to help with anything we need during due diligence, and he does a great job working with sellers, building relationships, and helping them understand what to expect throughout the process.”

    — Jack L., EVP Acquisitions, national homebuilder (publicly traded)

    “Mike Browning is a credit to the North Texas commercial real estate industry. His market knowledge, diligence, competency and attention to detail have been an asset to our family office for over two decades.

    We had owned the property for more than ten years and decided to sell after closing a partnership. Our main concern was maximizing market value. The transaction was handled with good stewardship from LOI through contract, due diligence and closing.

    If you are serious about selling, let Mike handle it.”

    — Amin B., Repeat Land Client (20+ years)

    Of course, none of that means you need a broker today.

    Even if you’re not considering selling, things change. Sometimes quickly.

    It’s better to have information and not need it rather than scrambling at the last minute. The MBR Land Reality Check gives you a clear-headed look at what’s happening around your property and what it might sell for today.

    No pressure to list, no obligation, and it’s free.

    Is it a bad idea to know where you stand?

    Check it out here.

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  • The Wall That Keeps Out Disappointment

    The Wall That Keeps Out Disappointment

    It keeps other things out too.

    Most of us spend a lot of time and go to a lot of effort to prevent bad things from happening to us.

    Some of it is smart. Like wearing your seatbelt. Looking both ways before crossing the street. Requiring your bank to call and verify with you verbally before wiring money to or from your account.

    Common sense, in other words. Low-effort things that can prevent major problems.

    But we tend to overdo it. And overestimate our ability to stop anything bad from ever happening.

    Some people try to build a wall around their lives that will keep problems or disappointment from affecting them.

    And the wall can be surprisingly effective. Most of the time anyway. Today we won’t get into all the things people thought would protect them that turned out not to.

    But the thing to remember is that the wall you build against problems keeps other things out too.

    Like opportunity.

    A lot of people want total certainty before making a move on anything. But you can never have it.

    Or they act like the worst thing that can happen is making a mistake or failing at something. But the only way to never make mistakes is to never do anything. And failing is one of the best ways to learn.

    The idea isn’t to be reckless. It’s to lower the wall enough that some of the good can get in.

    Will that result in more problems than you otherwise would have had?

    Possibly. Probably, even.

    But you’ll probably have more successes too.

    And have more fun.

    P.S. If you own land, you know it’s smart to know where you stand with it. Even if you’re not planning to sell, things change, and sometimes they change fast.

    Better to know ahead of time and not need the information than to be scrambling when you suddenly do.

    It’s also important to remember that deciding to look isn’t the same as deciding to act.

    Not selling is the right move for most people most of the time. But you don’t know what’s right for you if you don’t look.

    So give yourself permission.

    The MBR Land Reality Check gives you a clear-eyed view of what’s going on around your property and helps you understand what it might be worth today. You get real comps, real analysis, and insight from people who handle land for a living.

    And it’s free.

    Check it out here.

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  • What Do You Expect For Nothing?

    What Do You Expect For Nothing?

    Sometimes quite a bit.

    Free has a reputation.

    Usually it means automated. Generic. A teaser designed to get your phone number so somebody can call you and start selling.

    So I understand if that’s what you expect when I tell you the MBR Land Reality Check is free.

    It’s not.

    Each one is prepared manually. I look at the property, recent comparable sales, what’s currently happening in the surrounding market, and the things that could affect what a reasonable buyer might actually pay today.

    Then I put it together as a Broker Opinion of Value so you can see the information behind my opinion, not just the number itself.

    Could I charge for that? Probably.

    I’ve had people tell me I’m crazy not to.

    Maybe I will eventually.

    But I don’t today.

    You’re probably not ready to sell. And that’s great.

    But if you look at most of the land on the market, many of those sellers were saying the same thing not long ago.

    Things change. Sometimes quickly.

    Getting a handle on where you stand doesn’t mean you’re going to sell. It’s just being ahead of the game.

    And you’ll get no pressure from me. I only want to work with people who are ready. If I have to talk you into it, it’s not a fit. For either of us.

    Is it a bad idea to have current information?

    It’s still free. For now, anyway.

    Check it out here.

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  • The First Step Is Usually the Hardest

    The First Step Is Usually the Hardest

    Once you get started, it’s not hard to keep going.

    I remember being told growing up that it takes less gas for a car to idle for a few minutes than to shut it off and restart it. Something about wear on the starter too. I heard the same thing about lights. About computers. If the goal was saving energy, you were often better off leaving things running than flipping them on and off.

    Might not have been true. I’m not an electrician or a mechanic, and it was a long time ago. So even if it was true then maybe it isn’t now.

    Beside the point anyway.

    I read something recently noting that the hardest part of most tasks isn’t the task itself. It’s going from not moving to moving. Once you’re in motion, momentum does most of the work. The whole fight is getting off the couch.

    Once you see that, you can use it against yourself, in a good way. Can’t get motivated for the gym? Make a deal. You’ll get dressed, drive there, walk in. If you still don’t feel like it once you’re inside, you can turn around and go home.

    Do this enough times and you’ll find you almost never leave.

    Just getting started was the whole battle.

    I use this at the office too. There are some projects I have that I don’t look at every day, but are large and have lots of moving parts. When it’s time to pick them back up, they’re overwhelming enough that putting them off a little longer feels reasonable. Which would just make it worse.

    If I commit to ten minutes, just one small task like sending an email or reviewing what’s left to do, I almost never stop at ten minutes.

    If anything I end up with the opposite problem. I get moving and don’t stop. An hour turns into four, and something else I meant to get to that day doesn’t happen. I’ve started setting alarms just to make myself quit.

    The same thing happens with bigger decisions too.

    If you own non-residential real estate, it’s probably a real chunk of your financial picture. Worth knowing what it’s worth, and what’s happening around it that affects that. Not because you’re looking to sell. Usually the smart move is waiting, unless you’ve got somewhere better to put the money or a reason that forces your hand.

    But it’s better to have the information and not need it than to need it and not have it.

    Most people never get the information. Getting started feels like a bigger thing than it is.

    And there’s the barber problem. Ask a barber if you need a haircut and you already know the answer.

    Call about your land looking for information and you end up on the phone with a salesperson telling you all the things you need to do that happen to be very good for them. So people put it off.

    It doesn’t have to go that way.

    That’s the whole idea behind the MBR Land Reality Check. You request it, and that’s it. No one shows up trying to list your property. You get recent sales with real numbers, what’s moving in the market, and any development nearby worth knowing about.

    It takes about two minutes to request, and it shows up in your inbox a few days later.

    No pressure, because there isn’t a pitch waiting on the other end.

    You don’t have to be ready to sell.

    You just have to be willing to know where things stand.

    Get Yours Here

    PS – If you’re not ready for a Land Reality Check but enjoyed this post, you can sign up below and get future articles delivered to your inbox.

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  • Ambushed By A Salesman In Real Time

    Ambushed By A Salesman In Real Time

    We both know why you should do certain things. And why you don’t.

    I keep coming back to this one: people put off stuff they already know they should deal with. Not because they’re lazy. Because they’re avoiding a hassle they’re pretty sure is coming.

    Take your land. You’re not looking to sell it today. But knowing what it’s worth, and what’s happening around it, can’t hurt you. You’d have the information sitting there if anything changes. If a neighboring tract comes up for sale, you’re not finding out last. And if it’s a good deal, you might be ready to move on it first.

    So why do most people pass when someone offers them free information?

    Mostly because they’ve been burned before.

    Mention you’re the slightest bit curious what your property’s worth and your mind jumps straight to a timeshare pitch. Numbers too good to be true. A guy who won’t take no for an answer.

    You ask one question. The phone starts ringing. And doesn’t stop.

    So you let it go. Not worth the hassle.

    That happened to me last week. My truck’s had a couple of recalls sitting open for a while (nothing major), and I’d been putting it off because I didn’t want to spend an afternoon at a dealership. A card came in the mail with a QR code, said I could schedule online. Figured I’d try it. The site barely worked, so I gave up after a few minutes.

    Except it worked fine, for what it was actually built to do.

    Within minutes my phone rang. Sales manager at the dealership. I let it go to voicemail. He wanted to know what car I was interested in and when I could come in for a test drive.

    A few minutes later, an email. Somehow he’d copied my wife on it too, asking what we were “working a deal” on.

    I asked for service. They tried to close me on a car I never mentioned.

    That’s the move. That’s why people stop raising their hand.

    When you raise yours with me, that’s not what happens. I’ll reach out, sure. Lightly. No pressure, no script.

    You can decide for yourself what that’s worth.

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

    But things change. The ones who already understand the market tend to handle that better when it does.

    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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  • The Gas Price People

    The Gas Price People

    It doesn’t pay to worry about the price of something you have to buy no matter what.

    Since I’m out looking at land all over DFW, I drive more miles than most people do in a month. And I don’t drive a Prius, I drive a pickup. Not one of the giant, jacked-up models, but I’m still not winning any awards for conservation.

    So if anyone should be paying attention to gas prices it should be me. But I don’t. But that doesn’t prevent others from telling me about the latest moves.

    You know the type. They watch the price board every time they pass a station. They’ll drive ten miles out of their way to save three cents a gallon. Burn more gas than the savings they get. They text their spouse: “Buc-ee’s in Melissa is at $3.09 right now.” The gas price conversation comes up at dinner like they’re tracking a stock.

    But think about it. Say prices jump twenty cents a gallon. My truck takes about 26 gallons. That’s five dollars more per fill up. Five bucks. The mental energy some people spend tracking that number, recalculating, stressing, and comparing costs more than five dollars. Probably a lot more.

    As a wise man once said: he who knows the price of everything knows the value of nothing.

    And that’s the real problem. When you’re focused on what something costs, you stop thinking about what it’s worth.

    Landowners do this too.

    Not with gas prices. With phone calls.

    They’ve been sitting on a piece of land, could be a hundred acres, could be forty, and every so often they wonder what it’s worth. What’s been selling nearby. Whether the market shifted. Whether now’s the time or not.

    But they don’t do anything about it.

    They’ve decided that the cost of checking is too high. Not in money. Something worse: the pressure. The pitch. The agent who’s going to spend forty-five minutes making it real estate conversation instead of land conversation, then follow up every two weeks until they finally block the number.

    So they wait. And while they’re waiting, they’re not getting the information they’d need to make a good decision when the time comes.

    That’s the real cost. And it’s not five dollars.

    Here’s what I’d ask you to think about.

    What if you knew ahead of time that the pressure thing wasn’t going to happen? If I promised you the conversation was just going to be information, that I wasn’t going to push, that you reach out and end up with a clearer picture and nothing more, would it still make sense to wait?

    Of course anyone can promise no pressure. But don’t take my word for it, hear it from people who actually got a Land Reality Check:

    “The information was helpful by providing market information. I did not and do not feel pressured to take any action. The information provided serves as a baseline for the market value of the property.”

    — Mary G., Frisco

    “How quickly I received a response that was so full of detailed information that I never would have known to even think about.”

    — Lisa H., McKinney

    “I was amazed at all the info I received. For free.”

    — Barbara K., Denison

    The value of knowing what your land is worth doesn’t go away because you’re not planning to sell today. If anything it goes up, because the people who make good decisions on land almost always understood the market before they needed to.

    The cost you’re worried about? It doesn’t exist here.

    PS- You’re probably not looking to sell today. And that’s great.

    But is it a bad idea to know where things stand?

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. Sales data, competing listings, development pressure, the factors that affect value that you can’t see from the road.

    No pressure. No drama. Just valuable info to use when you’re ready. If ever.

    Get Yours Here

    PPS-Not ready for that yet? You can sign up below and just read. Land, markets, negotiation. No pitch.

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  • You Mean I Get All This For Free?

    You Mean I Get All This For Free?

    One of the easiest ways to stand out is to do more than people expect.

    Most people are skeptical of anything advertised as “free.”

    And we all know why. Usually “free” means one of three things:

    Either the information is so shallow it’s basically useless…

    Or it’s really just bait to get you on the phone…

    Or it’s the beginning of a process designed to slowly wear you down until saying yes feels easier than saying no.

    That’s why a lot of landowners hesitate to even ask questions about value. Because they assume there’s going to be a catch.

    With a lot of people, there is.

    A lot of “free property evaluations” are little more than a quick guess, a couple nearby sales pulled from MLS, and a setup for a listing presentation.

    That’s not what I want the MBR Land Reality Check to be.

    If I’m going to put my name on something, I want it to actually be useful.

    Even if the person requesting it never lists property with me.

    So when somebody requests one, I generally try to approach it the same way I would if I were preparing to seriously advise somebody on bringing the property to market.

    That usually means looking at comparable sales, competing inventory, utility availability, development patterns, access, floodplain, topography, buyer profile, and all the little things that quietly affect value but rarely get discussed.

    And those things can be different for every property.

    Sometimes the conclusion is positive, sometimes not. But either way, I try to explain why.

    Honestly, this seems to surprise people more than I expected.

    Here’s some reaction from people who have had a Reality Check done:

    “I was amazed at all the info I received. For free.”
    — Barbara K., Denison

    “How quickly I received a response that was so full of detailed information that I never would have known to even think about.”
    — Lisa H., McKinney

    “The report was very informative and helpful.”
    — Daphne J., Allen

    “It included everything I needed.”
    — Barbara K., Denison

    I’m not claiming the reports are perfect.

    And they’re not appraisals.

    But they are useful.

    Even if you’re not planning to sell today, it’s still valuable to understand what you own, what affects value, and how the market is likely to respond if circumstances ever change.

    Because circumstances do change.

    Sometimes slowly.
    Sometimes all at once.

    PS – Most landowners are not planning to sell right now.

    But situations change, markets change, family situations change, and opportunities sometimes appear unexpectedly.

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for.

    It’s simply a way to get a realistic baseline built around actual sales, current competition, utility considerations, and the things affecting value that most people never think about until it matters.

    You don’t have to do anything with the information.

    But is it a bad idea to know where things stand?

    Get it here.

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

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    By submitting, I understand I will receive marketing emails and blog posts from Mike Browning Realty and/or associated companies. Unsubscribe at any time.

  • Anyone Can Promise “No Pressure”

    Anyone Can Promise “No Pressure”

    The question is whether they actually mean it.

    Every real estate agent says there’s “no pressure.”

    Every car salesman says it too.

    So does the timeshare guy.

    Which is probably why most people don’t believe it.

    The reality is a lot of people avoid even asking questions about property values because they know what often comes next.

    The follow-up calls.
    The texts.
    The emails.
    The “just checking in.”
    The slow transition from “free information” into feeling like you accidentally entered a sales funnel you can’t get out of.

    So people avoid the process altogether.

    Even when they know that having a handle on what they own and what it’s worth is in their interests.

    Honestly, I understand that completely.

    My industry has absolutely earned that skepticism.

    That’s part of why I structured the MBR Land Reality Check differently.

    Not because I’m morally superior to everybody else.
    And not because I somehow don’t want listings.

    Of course I do.

    But I also understand something important:

    Most landowners aren’t looking to sell right now.

    They just know information is good to have.

    Sometimes they inherited property.
    Sometimes they’re thinking ahead.
    Sometimes they’re dealing with probate, partnerships, taxes, changing plans, or just plain curiosity about what something might realistically bring today.

    A lot of them simply want a clearer picture without feeling like they’re about to get dragged into a process they didn’t ask for.

    And apparently that difference stands out more than I realized.

    Recently I started asking people what surprised them most after receiving a Land Reality Check.

    Here are a few of the responses regarding how much pressure they felt:

    “Absolutely none.”
    — Barbara K., Denison

    “No pressure to do anything at all.”
    — Daphne J., Allen

    “None whatsoever.”
    — Lisa H., McKinney

    “I did not and do not feel pressured to take any action.”
    — Mary G., Frisco

    Honestly, that may say more than anything I could write myself.

    You don’t have to sell. You don’t have to decide anything.

    But it’s just smart business to allow yourself to get a qualified opinion.

    Because things change. Sometimes slowly, sometimes fast.

    PS – Most landowners are not planning to sell today.

    But situations change. Sometimes gradually, sometimes all at once.

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for.

    It’s simply a way to get a realistic baseline built around actual sales, current competition, utility considerations, and the things that quietly affect value one way or the other.

    You don’t have to do anything with the information.

    But is it a bad idea to know where things stand?

    Check it out here.

    PPS- If you’re not ready for the Reality Check but like reading these, enter your info below to get these in your inbox.

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