Winter 2016

Bernard (L) and brother Paul (R)
stand next to a fallen Japanese
Zero Wing. (The rest of the plane
remained far above in the giant tree
canopy above the swamp)
Bernard stands next to a downed
Lightening Bomber cockpit on
his father’s ranch.
Brahman and Santa Gertrudis cows.
“First try out of the gate, I inseminated 300 cows,”
Uechtritz said. “Big mistake! It was overwhelmingly
exhausting and took months. Later, I learned that
most people take 10 or 20 cows at a time and develop
a program from there.”
About the time he turned 22, he decided to see the
world. America was his first stop. He arrived in Kentucky
with an AI certificate, a saddle, a Polocrosse racquet, a
thousand dollars and big dreams.
“I grew up watching John Wayne at the town movie
matinée on a Saturday once a month about 50 miles
from our station,” Uechtritz said. “He was a cowboy
in the morning and a Marine in the afternoon—a
hero in a nation of heroes. America loomed large
in my imagination. Further fueling my fascination
with America; our fondest family hobby as kids was
searching for World War II relics across mountains,
jungles and swamps of New Guinea. Among many
such finds, my father and brother once found air crew
remains in a B24 Bomber resulting in loved ones being
returned home 40 years later to Texas and Oklahoma.
Eleven families found solace in the closure to the
mystery of their boys who went to the South Pacific
and until then had never came home. Later, Dad and
Gordon were honored by the US Army for their role.
Plus, his sister and brother-in-law lived in Lexington,
Kentucky, where they worked in the thoroughbred industry.
Never one to shy from hard work, Uechtritz pumped gas, built
fences, rebuilt horse barns and even had a short stint as a rock
station radio DJ, doing “whatever it took” to stay in the states.
He also began promoting Polocrosse, an Australian equestrian
sport that combines polo and lacrosse and has been called “rugby
on horseback.” It took him across the country, as did his passion
for polo, which he began playing in 1991. Polo was big in Southern
California, especially in areas around Malibu and Santa Barbara.
Uechtritz’s American walkabout ended in sight of the Pacific
Ocean. He found himself surrounded by beauty, luxury residential
real estate and unexplored opportunities.
THE UNIVERSITY OF REAL ESTATE
Uechtritz obtained his real estate license in 1993.
“On its face, real estate was simplistic—very much like
buying and selling horses and cattle,” Uechtritz said. “As a
young man, I thought, ‘I can get my head around this.’ I barely
got out of the tenth grade, so for me to earn my real estate
credentials 10 years later was like being a Rhodes scholar. I’ve
been going to the university of real estate ever since.”
Real estate in Southern California was in the doldrums in 1994
when Uechtritz began to use his newly earned credentials. The
market downturn created the opportunity to purchase RE/MAX
franchises, which he did. He bundled the franchises, but only
an aussie’s take on texas land
“What makes Texas land different than land anywhere else is a mix of things. Here
there still exists a sense of romanticism, westernism, pioneerism and individualism.
It’s the fabled great state in the middle of the country, rich with the lore of iconic
ranches like the King, the Waggoner and the 6666.
Here the land shaped the people as surely as the people shaped the land. There is a
sense of freedom and a respect for land ownership that has almost disappeared in
places like California and Oregon.
Texas has open spaces, big sunsets and
handshakes that mean something. When
you’re out in the real country, there is a
value system that is based on honesty,
integrity, hard work and concern for the
community. It’s an ethos much like that of
the Australian agricultural community.
Again, it’s a mixture of things that are very
critical and disappearing rapidly, which
makes it very special and rare. These
intangibles add real value and a great
inducement to investment and ownership
for foreign buyers—those who live out of
state and those who live out of the country.
Everybody wants a little piece of the last of
the West. They find that in Texas.”
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Hybrid Coconut Nursery