Land Investor

Matt and Ryan sit down with Theo Beaumont, Head of Partnerships at Halter, to talk about how virtual fencing is changing the way ranchers manage cattle. Theo explains how solar-powered GPS collars use sound and vibration to contain and move a herd, and how ranchers draw grazing boundaries from their phones. The conversation covers grazing management, carrying capacity, gathering on public land, wildfire response, and cost-share programs like NRCS EQIP. They also ask what this technology could mean for land values and for the next generation of ranchers. Don't miss out on the latest news in the land sphere! Subscribe now at https://landinvestor.com/subscribe Check out what we are doing over at Fay Ranches, https://fayranches.com/ Learn more about Halter at https://www.halterhq.com/en-us

Matt and Ryan revisit the session they led for a room full of land professionals at a recent seminar in Billings, Montana, and dig into what makes a ranch price defensible. They walk through why there's no such thing as a perfect comparable and how to handle the hard adjustments: conservation easements, scale, and time between sales. They also cover how turnkey improvements and scarcity earn a premium, and a five-step framework for testing a price against the seller, the buyer, cooperating brokers, and appraisers. They close with a familiar dilemma: what to do when a seller insists on a ranch value more than what the evidence supports, and why good marketing can't fix bad positioning.   Don't miss out on the latest news in the land sphere! Subscribe now at https://landinvestor.com/subscribe Check out what we are doing over at Fay Ranches, https://fayranches.com/

In Part 2, appraisers Mike McDonnell and Tom Kingsbury of NC Wheeler & Associates shift from the report to the mechanics of ranch appraisal: how improvements and conservation easements affect value, where the corner crossing debate could change access, and how water rights and the income approach factor into what a Montana ranch is really worth.     Subscribe now at https://landinvestor.com/subscribe Check out what we are doing over at Fay Ranches,  https://fayranches.com/ Learn more about Mike McDonnell and Tom Kingsbury at https://ncwheeler.com/

Matt and Ryan sit down with appraisers Mike McDonnell and Tom Kingsbury of NC Wheeler & Associates to unpack their new report, The Quiet Land Rush, which maps 35 years of Montana land sales data and value trends using AI-assisted heat maps. In Part 1, they trace how amenity-driven demand, elk migration, and water access have reshaped values from Eastern to Southwest Montana, and why today's market is splitting into distinct quality tiers. Subscribe now at https://landinvestor.com/subscribe Check out what we are doing over at Fay Ranches,  https://fayranches.com/ Learn more about Mike McDonnell and Tom Kingsbury at https://ncwheeler.com/

In Part 2, attorney Jim Bradbury shifts the lens to the buyer's side of conservation easements, from purchasing land that's already encumbered to buying land specifically to place one. Ryan and Matt dig into what a real relationship with a land trust looks like, why amendments are nearly impossible to get, and a real-world deal that nearly unraveled over an access easement. Jim closes with an honest look at where the biggest threats to conservation easements are coming from today, including a warning about the syndicated easement schemes landing people in jail. Subscribe now at https://landinvestor.com/subscribe Check out what we are doing over at Fay Ranches,  https://fayranches.com/ Learn more about Jim Bradbury at https://www.bradburycounsel.com/jim-bradbury/