Spring 2018

P R O F I L E
LandLeader. Started in 2014, LandLeader serves as a
marketing company for select real estate brokerages in
35 states. Of the company’s 225 brokers nationwide, 75
of them are part of the Hayden Outdoors team.
“LandLeader helps us build our brand nationally, while
our own marketing efforts build our brand regionally and
locally,” Dax said. “Our marketing director Dan Brunk
has an innate talent for telling our story in the way that
captures who we are—and what we stand for—on paper
and in every medium.”
Creating videos, aerial photography, maps,
photographic portfolios, land descriptions can take a
lot of man hours, but with more than 90 percent of real
estate customers starting their search on the Internet
it’s worth the effort.
“A perfect phone call starts with, ‘I’ve been looking
at this property online—and I’m about ready to make an
offer,” Dax said.
Recreation as an added value is another force of
change, especially in areas that have been dedicated to
agricultural production.
“In some places, recreational use has taken areas
such as river and creek bottoms that once were
problems for my grandfather and raised the value of
those bottomlands higher than that of adjoining upland
cropland,” Dax said. “Of course, the best practice is
finding the highest and best use of each property—and
then adding value to that.”
The most profound change may be looming on the
proverbial horizon. With the population of agriculture
producers rapidly aging to an average of 58, the nation is
poised to see a transfer of landownership in the next 20
years that is unprecedented in our history.
“In earlier generations, parents often left their farms or
ranches to the oldest son—and the others were sent out
into the world to work in other fields,” Dax said. “In more
recent times, parents have left the land to all of their
children with one of them taking on the responsibility of
running it.”
At Hayden Outdoors, they are seeing an emerging
trend in which the other owners are wanting to cash in
their equity in the land and the operating sibling isn’t in
a position to purchase their interests, so the family is
liquidating the operation.
There is also rising interest in land investment from
investment groups, specialized agribusiness concerns
such as large-scale commercial organic production
companies and individuals, who are looking to a future
driven by a growing population and a rising demand for
the food and other staples. Investment groups have the
luxury of strengthening the bottomline in a 25 to 30
year window unlike individual producers who generally
have to become profitable in five years or less.
“If the ag industry changes as much as it appears it might,
then things will definitely be interesting,” Dax said. “Plus,
land has historically proven itself to be a good investment—
and people like things they can touch and improve.”
Of course, looking long-term is something that the
Hayden Outdoors team is intimately familiar with.
“Our friends and family are impressed with how far
we’ve come in a relatively short time,” Dax said. “While
we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, we’re not close
to done. We’ve earned our spot in the game and we’re in
it for the long haul.” °
Hayden Outdoors
team meetings
offer a chance
for training,
networking,
and consistent
messaging of their
dedication to
excellence in land
sales—top
54 LEGENDARY LIVING
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