Problem Solving, Ranching, and Bike Riding

(Disclaimer...if brevity is the sole of wit, this post isn't very humorous. I hereby promise to keep future postings more concise than what follows. Read on...)

There are several names for it: second career, encore career, life reboot, but I see it as a way to stay young, engaged, and challenged. I’m talking here about my transition from many years as a professional educator and coach into the world of real estate. Consider this my declaration (Traci will add hers later) explaining my choice of real estate as a stage from which to play out my encore career.

Passion

Growing up in the Texas hill country, I was blessed to grow up spending time on the family ranch. It was there that my father taught me the value of a great work ethic. We cleared brush, built fence, repaired water gaps after the downpours, worked the cattle, hunted, and we soaked up the serenity and beauty of the rolling hills surrounding the Colorado River valley.  While we wanted to keep our ranch in the family, it quickly became obvious that equally dividing the pristine live water portion of the property 3 ways would irreparably impair the beauty and value of the ranch. This realization in 2004 led me to first consider becoming a licensed real estate professional. My local knowledge, understanding of value, and potential to position my family to conduct a series of Section 1031 Exchanges when the property sold convinced me to obtain the license and assist my family in marketing this property.

Stewardship

Overseeing the sale of my family’s multigenerational ranch property took me on a roller coaster of feelings: guilt, elation, grief, and loss…bitter and sweet (I’m having to stop and dry tears as I write this post those feelings are so near and seemingly recent). Several offers came our way, some of which were offers from developers whose designs would have ruined the pristine beauty of the property. We hedged. Finally, a buyer came. A young family. Within the first half hour of showing the property to them I was certain of 3 things: this family had the same appreciation for the immeasurable value of the land that my family had, I wanted them to buy it, and they would be making an offer on it. They did. Within one week the closing was set and I was off to the time-constrained races of several Section 1031 Exchanges.

Experience

During the lead up to the sale of the family ranch, I took the occasional residential listing from friends and helped others buy improved properties and properties for investment purposes…which is to say experience goes well beyond farm and ranch properties, and I am passionate about helping clients buy and sell homes to this day. That said, the experience of participating in four separate Section 1031 Exchanges precipitated by the sale of my family ranch provided me with a tremendous amount of experience networking with agents throughout the Texas hill country, showing ranch properties to my family members, and guiding them through to closing. I am blessed to have taken a part in converting a small family ranch on the banks of Double Horn Creek in Burnet County into family holdings in Comanche, Mills, Kendall, and Gillespie counties and look forward to future generations of my own family coming to understand the unequalled value of land ownership. Additionally, my 25+ years as a high school counselor have provided me with vast and varied people, problem solving, and negotiating skills.

Local Knowledge

The Section 1031 Exchanges took me to a lot of properties in Blanco, Burnet, Kimble, and Bandera counties, but nothing has given me a better feel for the Texas hill country than one of my other passions: playing weekend warrior as an amateur road bicycle racer. So yes, I grew up in a ranching family and the love for the outdoors never left. During my college years I took up bike riding, which quickly translated into bike racing and this is something that I do to this day. Well, to train for races, I have to spend hours and miles in the saddle. These hours and miles are spent on the scenic back roads of Kerr, Kendall, Bandera, Real, Medina, and Gillespie county. All over the place. I’ve been everywhere through these areas with teammates, coaching clients, and on meditative solo rides. I have a deep and intimate understanding of and appreciation for the topography of the Texas hill country: ridge lines, drainages, tributaries, tree cover, soil types, distances between points and the sounds and sights of a given area. When I’m on my bike, I’m not just training to race, I am studying to help me farm and ranch clients.

Integrity

This is the easy part. I am accountable to the same divine authority that created the beautiful place I call home. Not just at the end of the day, but throughout the day, I seek to submit myself to the leading of His spirit and often those convictions run counter to my self-interest. Which is okay, because this is not about me. It’s about honoring the best interests of others: my clients. As a professional cycling coach licensed by the United States Olympic Committee, I have the pleasure of working with master’s aged athletes. Athletes who have extensive work commitments as business owners and corporate officers; and abiding family commitments. Each one of my coaching clients will tell you that I continually emphasize the value of their families and careers over this pass time called bike racing. If I see my actions as a coach endanger family relationships or work security, I will not hesitate to recuse myself from the relationship. It might hurt me financially to do this, but like I said, it’s not about me.

Now, how can I help you?