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Interview by Courtney Donnell<br />
What is the title on your business card?<br />
The front is Broker. The back is Mineral Sales. We do ranch, farm and oil and<br />
gas sales.<br />
Which do you like better?<br />
You know, they are both interconnected and the same to me. I love the<br />
farm and ranch side, because I think, for most people, their dream is to have<br />
their own place. If you go back in time, the old western days, everybody<br />
wanted a ranch or a farm. That has always been my dream, since I was a kid.<br />
My dad, my uncles and my grandfathers, they all had ranches when I was a<br />
kid. So, you love the ranch, but with the ranch, most of the time, comes the<br />
minerals. So, what we have found, businesswise, is that they tie in real well<br />
with each other. It is tough for me to distinguish one from the other.<br />
You grew up working on your grandfather’s cattle ranch, is your entire<br />
family a ranch family?<br />
Ranch based and military. My grandfather had a ranch and farms in<br />
Hempstead. When we lived in Texas, we were always there helping or playing<br />
on it. My uncle had a big cattle lease by Freer and a ranch down by Alice.<br />
My dad got his Ag degree from San Marcos. As kids, we lived oversees, but<br />
when we came back into the States, we lived in Texas, Colorado and other<br />
places. We always had horses, cows, sheep, chickens and land. So, yes, we<br />
have always been involved in it, one way or another.<br />
Do you live on a ranch now?<br />
We have a small property and a cattle lease that we run cattle on. The kids<br />
are all getting riding lessons.<br />
When and how did you get started selling ranches?<br />
I always kind of wondered what I would do when I grew up, after the<br />
military. It just took me a while. But, I was in D.C., at the Pentagon. I was<br />
getting ready to go back to Afghanistan again or be a Four Stars Exec, we had<br />
newborn boys and I was asking myself, “Am I going to do this again, or am I<br />
going to do something else?” I called a buddy who had just retired. He said, “If<br />
you are serious about retiring, I want to hook you up with a guy who wants<br />
to open up a real estate office in Texas. He’s got one up in Oklahoma.” I called<br />
him and we met out here in Boerne. We always had a saying, “Courage is one<br />
step ahead of fear,” in military and civilian life. I put in my paperwork to retire,<br />
got harassed by a bunch of generals who wanted me to stay in, took my real<br />
estate license exam as the family was moving out here, got a sponsor broker<br />
and set up the office. Two years later, I took the broker’s exam and started<br />
doing it on my own.<br />
What is the strangest experience you’ve had showing a ranch?<br />
I had a listing in South Texas that we should have titled “Rattlesnake<br />
Ranch.” No matter where we walked, we kicked up rattlesnakes; and I mean<br />
everywhere. I had a client that wanted to go out and take a look at it. So I<br />
informed him to wear jeans and boots when he came in. But, he showed<br />
up in shorts and sandals to look at that ranch. Then, he wanted to walk the<br />
fence line. I warned him, but he insisted on walking the line. After the second<br />
rattlesnake encounter, that man walked so close behind me, that every time<br />
I stopped he bumped into me. I almost had to carry him on my back to get<br />
him back to the truck.<br />
What have you learned is the most important aspect of selling ranches?<br />
Being truthful. Being truthful, honest and having an ethical side to you<br />
really is the most important thing. People put their trust in you. They can<br />
usually see right through you if you are deceitful or a liar. That is what I really<br />
like about the Texas Alliance of Land Brokers. The entire group is filled with<br />
like-minded individuals, ranch brokers, financial institutions, and the satellite<br />
members that stand for honesty and integrity. We police our own. We are<br />
very up front about everything. We really work to support the industry and<br />
Military Service<br />
U.S. Army Colonel for 24 Years<br />
Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot<br />
Flight School, Airborne, Air Assault, Arctic Survival<br />
Command General Staff, US Military Operations<br />
Infantry Brigade Commander- 23 Deployments<br />
U.S. Commander Afghanistan<br />
Post 9-11 Counter Terrorism Task Force<br />
NATO Deputy Commander of Southern Afghanistan<br />
Commander of Kandahar Military Base<br />
Pentagon Chief of Staff for the Joint Staff- NGB<br />
provide the knowledge base necessary to keep our members fully informed<br />
of the current changes and challenges in today’s market.<br />
You are currently president of the Texas Alliance of Land Brokers. What<br />
are your responsibilities?<br />
You kind of provide the yearly focus for the organization. You try to inform<br />
members on legislative issues and upcoming market issues and direct the<br />
organization’s voice if there is a legislative issue, such as the Oil and Gas<br />
Addendum. We, as an organization had an issue with the old Oil and Gas<br />
Addendum that the Texas Real Estate Commission had promulgated. We<br />
have a large group of members that are very knowledgeable with the oil<br />
and gas industry and they provided a lot of input to TREC concerning the<br />
addendum. Judon Fambrough, who is an oil and gas attorney and a member<br />
of TALB, provided our key input to TREC on the problems with the addendum<br />
and what needed to be changed. That was our big push this year, trying<br />
to get our input included for changes to be made to the Texas Oil and Gas<br />
Addendum for the TREC contracts.<br />
How do you become President?<br />
You have to be involved. You have to attend meetings and have input with<br />
the organization. You usually have to have an elected position before you<br />
become president. Most of the time, you are the vice-president and then you<br />
are elected to become the president. That is how it normally works. We have<br />
a board that meets quarterly to go over by-laws, or organizational changes<br />
or legislative focus for the organization. You just really have to be involved<br />
and really understand the organization. All positions and board members are<br />
voted in; it’s not like an automatic selection.<br />
What does Alliance do for members?<br />
There is the educational side of it, with the monthly classes. This year<br />
we developed a program committee that was very involved in getting<br />
great speakers every month. If there is anything that comes up, such as<br />
LandsofTexasMagazine.com<br />
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