The "Heartbeat" of America by Jason Walter

To me landowners are the "Heartbeat of America." I always jokingly say that land owners love their property more than their children. The American land owner is typically a person who was born on the property and has worked with that land their entire life. The attachment they have with their property is very emotional. This is why you can't be successful in the rural land business without having lots of patience and understanding of these owners.My team spends the majority of everyday meeting with landowners and it is never in a boardroom. We have ridden on bobcats, tractors, boats, trucks, planes, horses, golf carts, mules, and even one time a landowner toured us on his property in the shovel part of a track hoe. It seems that I have had more dinners and lunches at land owners houses than my own. I have met with women whose husbands had passed as recently as the day before. I have met with landowners who lived in shacks with no plumbing and took joy in their expressions when I told them their land was worth millions. This is why I tell people I really don't have a job. It is too much fun to be considered work! The bottom line with being successful in the land business is you have to understand the American Land owner and you have to develop relationships with as many as you can. To me this is a dream business and it amazes me at how few people are in it. I guess I am just one of the lucky ones.