Clint Flowers has done hundreds of land deals across Alabama. He has never seen anything like what happened in Baldwin County.

The transaction was straightforward on paper: 4,500 acres of former paper company land, largely un-zoned, sold to a buyer who planned to develop it for solar energy supporting a data center. The deal had been public for years, had gone through every established approval process, and was well into contract when a sudden political push attempted to retroactively rezone the property to kill it. Clint, one of the top land agents in the country and an owner at National Land Realty, wrote a widely circulated public piece about it. Not to defend solar. Not to advocate for data centers. To defend the right of a landowner to sell to a willing, legal buyer without having the rules changed underneath him after the fact.

This conversation covers what actually happened, why retroactive zoning is a threat to every landowner regardless of what they plan to do with their property, and how the same precedent could be used against a family farm, a conservation easement, a commercial rezoning, or any other use someone decides to oppose loudly enough. Clint also tells the story of a neighboring landowner who lost millions because residents decided they liked looking at his farmland from their windows.

If you own land anywhere in the country, this episode is about something that could happen to you.

Talk to Clint Flowers

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/clint-flowers

Visit National Land Realty to see our Listings! 

https://nationalland.com 

Ryan Schroeter has been selling land in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota for nearly 30 years. He estimates that 90 percent of the sellers he talks to are dealing with some version of the same situation: land that is jointly owned, inherited, or headed toward a forced sale because life got in the way. In this conversation, he breaks down everything that can go sideways when multiple people own the same piece of ground, and more importantly, how to keep it from happening.

Ryan covers the difference between joint tenancy and tenants in common, why the latter can quietly multiply your ownership partners over generations without anyone realizing it, and why inherited land is essentially a forced partnership that families never agreed to. He explains why getting a power of attorney before you list is one of the most important things a multi-owner group can do, walks through a real transaction that required 16 signatures at every decision point, and lays out the tax tools available when a sale finally happens, including step-up in basis, 1031 exchanges, and Delaware Statutory Trusts.

His closing advice is short: get a plan, get it in writing, and remember that it is always easier to divide up money than it is to divide up acres.

Talk to Ryan Schroeter! 

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/ryan-schroeter

Visit National Land Realty to see our Listings! 

https://www.nationalland.com 

If you own land, chances are you have gotten the letter. Someone you have never heard of wants to buy your property, close fast, pay cash, and make it easy. Pat Snyder, managing broker for National Land Realty in western North Carolina, gets about one call a week from landowners trying to figure out whether that letter is legitimate, a lowball, or something to ignore entirely.

In this conversation, Pat breaks down exactly who is sending these letters, how the wholesaler business model works, and why the offers almost always come in 30 to 50 percent below what a property would actually sell for on the open market. He covers the difference between a licensed broker reaching out on behalf of a buyer and a shell company running a mass letter campaign, how to look up who sent the letter and what red flags to watch for, why expiration dates on offers are a pressure tactic and not a real deadline, and what to do before you respond to anything. He also walks through a real example where a woman in his area nearly accepted a wholesaler offer that was $80,000 below what she ultimately netted by listing the property instead.

If you have ever gotten one of these letters, or own land you might eventually sell, this is the conversation to have before you make any decisions.

Talk with Pat Snyder! 

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/pat-snyder

Visit National Land Realty to see our Listings! 

https://nationalland.com 

Matthew Symonds grew up on a ranch in western Nebraska, started training barrel horses right out of high school, and recently added a real estate license to the list. He is new to land sales and not pretending otherwise. What he brings instead is a lifetime of working with horses, reading animals, and figuring out when to push and when to walk away, instincts that translate to land work in ways that are hard to manufacture.

This conversation covers what it actually takes to train a barrel horse from scratch, why mental drive matters more than raw athletic ability, how the first horse you train teaches you things you carry for the rest of your career, and why putting a bigger bit on a hurting horse is the worst advice in the business. It also goes somewhere more serious. Western Nebraska is deep in drought right now. Hay hit $300 a ton. Farmers are being limited to 15 to 20 days of irrigation water. People who have never considered selling are being forced to make decisions about land that has been in their families for a hundred years. Matthew knows these people. He grew up with them. And he is watching it happen in real time.

For anyone in western Nebraska navigating a drought-driven land decision, or anyone who just wants to hear a young horse trainer talk honestly about mastering a craft, this one is worth your time.

Talk with Matthew Symonds

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/matthew-symonds

Visit National Land Realty and View Our Listings

https://www.nationalland.com

The Delmarva Peninsula sits between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, two hours from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC, and it is one of the last relatively undeveloped stretches of the entire eastern megalopolis. It is also the third most vulnerable spot in the country to sea level rise. That combination makes it one of the most interesting places in America to talk about land conservation.

National Land Realty agent Sue Hudson and Matthew Heim of the Lower Shore Land Trust join this episode to break down how conservation easements actually work, what they do and do not restrict, and why the reputation they have for locking land away and killing its value is mostly wrong. Matthew explains how his organization has protected 25,000 acres across three Maryland counties, how payments to landowners can run several thousand dollars per acre, and why many easement holders immediately reinvest that capital back into their farming operations.

The conversation also goes deep on what is actually happening to this landscape, saltwater intrusion drawing visible lines through crop fields, ghost forests appearing where coastal marshes are advancing inland, and a sinking tectonic plate compounding everything. For landowners on the Eastern Shore and anywhere else facing development pressure, water impact or generational transition questions, this episode is a ground-level look at what conservation tools are actually available and how to find them.

Lower Shore Land Trust

https://www.lowershorelandtrust.org/

Talk with Sue Hudson

https://nationalland.com/real-estate-agent/sue-hudson 

Visit National Land Realty to see our Listings! 

https://nationalland.com/ 

There are roughly 1.6 million licensed real estate agents in the United States. Only 749 of them hold the Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation. That gap is the whole conversation.

RLI CEO Aubrie Kobernus and two-time past president Jeramy Stephens join Mac Christian for a full breakdown of what the REALTORS® Land Institute is, what it is not, and why it matters to anyone buying, selling or brokering land. They cover the 80-year history of the organization, the difference between holding a real estate license and being a Realtor, and why land transactions are complex enough that the wrong agent can cost a client tens of thousands of dollars before anyone realizes it.

On the agent side, they walk through the full path from RLI membership to the ALC designation, what the courses actually cover, and why RLI members averaged $36 million in annual sales compared to $16 million for non-members in 2025. On the consumer side, they explain exactly how to find a land specialist in any state in the country and why AI is already sending people directly to the ALC search tool when they ask what to do with inherited land.

Whether you are a land agent wondering if the designation is worth it or a landowner trying to figure out who to trust with your most valuable asset, this episode answers both questions.

Check out RLI

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Forty percent of the land in this country is expected to change hands by 2035. Most of the people holding it have no idea how much of that wealth they are about to hand to the IRS.

Joe Michaletz and Mike O'Toole, CEO and principal at Discipline Advisors, have spent decades helping farmers, ranchers and land owners exit their real estate in the most tax-efficient way possible. In this conversation they break down the full toolkit, starting with 1031 exchanges and the most common mistakes people make going into them, including the debt replacement test that catches landowners off guard more than almost anything else. They walk through Delaware Statutory Trusts in real depth, how they differ from REITs, why diversification inside a DST portfolio matters as much as it does anywhere else, and what the 721 UPREIT path actually means and when it is and is not a good idea.

The conversation also covers charitable remainder unitrusts, a tax elimination strategy for farm equipment, livestock and grain that most landowners have never heard of, and how one dairy farmer moved 6.5 million dollars of cattle and equipment into a CRUT, sold it with zero tax, and funded a lifetime income stream in the process.

For anyone aging out of land ownership, planning a farm transition, or sitting on decades of appreciation with no exit plan, this episode is the conversation to have before you sign anything.

Visit Discipline Advisors!

https://www.disciplineadvisors.com/

Visit National Land Realty to see our listings! 

https://www.nationalland.com 

Every quarter, Jackson Takach sees what most people in agriculture do not. As Chief Economist and Vice President of Farm and Ranch at Farmer Mac, the secondary market that quietly powers ag lending across the country, he watches credit demand, land transactions, farm bankruptcies, and commodity market signals from a vantage point very few people have access to. This conversation is his Q2 2026 read on all of it.

Jackson covers why the number one buyer of farmland is still the farmer next door, why all-cash land purchases have given way to more mortgage activity, and what the transition from Powell to Worsh at the Fed could mean for long-term borrowing costs. He breaks down the Strait of Hormuz situation and how a single blocked shipping lane sends diesel prices, nitrogen fertilizer costs and grocery bills climbing in slow motion across the entire US economy. He also addresses the rise in farm bankruptcies, where the stress is concentrated and why the headline numbers are less alarming than they appear, and gives his honest outlook on whether 2026 shapes up as a break-even year or something worse for row crop producers.

For anyone with money in land, a loan tied to agriculture, or a farm operation to run through the rest of this year, this is the overhead view you need.

Read The Feed

https://www.farmermac.com/news-events/the-feed/ 

Visit National Land Realty to see our listings! 

https://www.nationalland.com 

National Land Realty just restructured the way agents and brokers earn with 80%, 70%, and 60% plans, but the headline is not just about the splits. Starting April 2026, NLR introduced these commission plans. Agents have the ability to choose the structure that fits where they are in their career, whether that is a new agent finding their footing or a seasoned producer ready to cap out at 100%.

In this conversation, EVP of Sales Logan Eaton walks through how all three plans work, how to honestly evaluate which one is right for you, and why the split is only part of the story. Other brokerages offer 80%. What they do not offer is what NLR wraps around it. A full in-house marketing team, compliance and fraud protection on every transaction, cybersecurity coverage, bulk-negotiated access to platforms like Acres Enterprise and Land.com, proprietary tools like Land Tour 360, direct mail data and design, social media support, and back-office infrastructure that would cost a solo agent tens of thousands of dollars a year to replicate on their own.

The plan gives you options. The support gives those options real weight.

Talk to National Land Realty about new commission plans (all conversations are confidential). 

https://nationalland.com/careers-form?cta=hero

Find out more about National Land Realty careers. 

https://nationalland.com/careers 

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Most private forest land owners have no idea what tools are available to them, and that gap is costing them money while their forests quietly degrade. Andy Tait, co-founder of EcoForesters, a nonprofit professional forestry organization based in western North Carolina, breaks down a practical framework for private land owners who want to manage their forests well without having to choose between conservation and financial sustainability.

The centerpiece of this conversation is the Present Use Value program, a tax incentive that can reduce property tax assessments by as much as 96% for land owners who commit to keeping their forest in active management. Andy covers who qualifies, how the program transfers when land sells, and why it can actually make a property easier to market to buyers. He also walks through the EQIP federal cost share program, carbon sequestration markets as an income stream for land owners who never want to harvest timber, and why doing nothing with your forest is often the worst management decision you can make.

For land owners in the southern Appalachians and across the eastern US, this episode is a practical starting point for understanding what your forest is worth, what threats it faces, and what it could become with the right management behind it.

Contact EcoForesters! 

https://www.ecoforesters.org/

Visit National Land Realty

https://www.nationalland.com