M4 Ranch Group—The Knowledge Specialists

M4 RANCH GROUP

The Knowledge Specialists

STORY BY LORIE A. WOODWARD PHOTOS BY M 4 RANCH GROUP

In his previous career as the owner-operator of an outfitting business that spanned four western states, Dan Murphy got involved in wildlife policy issues. The experience prompted an epiphany.

At the time, the industry was managing wildlife for money instead of biology, so I realized we were part of the problem not part of the solution,” Dan said. “If wildlife was going to be sustainable and herds were going to be balanced, I recognized we had to focus on the foundations of what created healthy, robust herds and manage in a way that allowed them to thrive.”

Because the same understanding of broad ecological principles is essential to healthy, vigorous ranches, Dan’s epiphany has proven to be a foundational tenet for the M4 Ranch Group, and the team of professionals who work with and for M4 Ranch Group.

“The dynamics of a successful ranch lie in the nuanced interrelationship between land use, water use habitat management, wildlife management and energy,” Dan said. “When we created M4, part of our mission was to understand these fundamentals from the ground up instead of the sky down, so we could be in the best position to help our clients, whether they were legacy landowners or first-time buyers.”

From the beginning, the M4 team has pushed to be the best informed, most responsive brokerage in the Mountain West, not the biggest. In fact, the sales force numbers just four, Dan, Seth Craft, Jake Murphy, and Dominic Serna. They are backed up by a team of eight professionals who ensure that everything from graphic arts, video editing, research analysis, mapping and marketing to document preparation and closing flows seamlessly.

“We’re a group of land professionals that specializes in knowledge,” said Dan, noting that every one of the sales team has either obtained or are in the process of obtaining the ALC designation from the Realtors Land Institute (RLI), the industry’s highest accreditation.

While lifelong learning and its attendant application take time and dedication, the effort pays dividends. Over the past two years, the M4 team, with four agents working in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming, has closed north of 200 mountain properties totaling more than $400 million in sales, proving knowledge and a lot of hard work provide a competitive advantage.

On any given transaction, brokers and their clients will likely be contending with some combination of 1031 exchanges, conservation easements, zoning requirements, water rights, mineral rights, wildlife regulations ranging from hunting units and allowable harvests to the Endangered Species Act. In recent years, renewable energy has begun to merit serious consideration and the development of ecosystem services markets may soon add another level of complexity.

“It’s impossible to know everything,” Dan said. “That’s why we make it point to know the people who know.”

A Network of Expertise

Ariel Steele, who works with the Tax Credit Connection, specializes in marketing the state income tax credits that Colorado landowners earn for enrolling their land in conservation easements.

Steele, who met Dan through RLI in 2015, works with the M4 team to educate the firm’s clients who are interested in conservation easements prior to a purchase. Then, if they choose to enroll their new property in a conservation easement, she markets the resulting tax credits.

“I’m probably one of at least 30 people affiliated with M4 who has a specific area of expertise,” said Steele, noting the network includes everyone from appraisers and water attorneys to wildlife biologists, construction specialists and land reclamation practitioners. “I’m honored to be someone M4 trusts with their clients because from the team’s perspective their clients are the most important piece of any transaction.”

According to Steele, M4 has an almost unprecedented commitment to conservation and keeping ranches, open and working. Landowners who don’t want to develop their properties can get somewhere between one-third to one-half of the cost back through tax benefits, she said.

Another way M4 increases its knowledge of properties and opportunities is by assessing and adopting new technology such as Landgate.

Craig Kaiser, Landgate’s Co-Founder and President introduced Dan and the M4 team to his company’s technology about a year ago. According to Kaiser, Dan immediately saw how the system could help grow M4 and signed up on the spot.

“Our system gave them data, they didn’t have before,” Kaiser said. “Previously, the team was considering land through two or three lenses, with our tool they can consider it through five or six. It allows them to be the best educated on either the buying or selling side of the equation.”

“They simply want to stay at the tip of the spear and be industry leaders in all facets of their business,” Kaiser continued. “If they determine something like our system makes sense for them and their clients, they adopt it early and use it to their competitive advantage.”

The M4 team is also always on the lookout for potential solutions for client’s problems. For instance, in many long-time ranching families, the current generation of owners is reaching retirement age and their children have no interest in actively managing the land. If the family chooses to sell and have not planned for that moment, they face a huge tax bill because of capital gains.

Two years ago, the M4 team found a workable solution through Brad Watt and his team at Petra Capital Properties. For the past 35 years, Watt and his team have specialized in structuring tax efficient real estate investment programs, including 1031 exchange programs known as Delaware Statutory Trusts (DST).

DSTs are turn-key 1031 replacement property interests that allow individual owners to sell highly appreciated land or other rental property and reinvest sales proceeds into a portfolio of passive income and growth properties. Passive DST replacement property interests can be combined into highly customized and diversified real estate portfolios and tailored to meet each investor’s risk tolerance, cash flow requirements, and overall investment and estate planning goals. DSTs are offered as real estate securities and represent all major asset classes and diverse investment strategies.

“Our clients have worked a lifetime to accumulate wealth,” Watt said. “Now, they are in a season of life where they want to compound wealth through 1031 tax deferral and convert highly appreciated property into diversified streams of projected passive income.”

Additionally, if the land is sold prior to the parents’ passing, the children can inherit an income-producing portfolio. As real estate securities, DSTs may be easier to transfer than a ranch or a business.

Recently, Seth and Petra teamed up to help an 80-year-old widow in Colorado. She had been running the family farm since her husband’s passing 20 years ago and was ready to retire. Her children did not want to continue its active management, so she trusted M4 to sell a portion of the property.

Upon closing, Petra’s team reinvested the sales proceeds into a portfolio of diversified DST properties, customized to match her risk tolerance and income needs. Because the properties are already identified and structured, the client’s money was reinvested within 10 days with projected cash distributions starting the following month.

Today, she continues to live in the house she shared with her husband and children. Once a month, she anticipates receiving a monthly check from her diversified DST property investments.

“Good deals are easy if you know what you’re doing, but good partnerships are rare,” Watt said. “Petra and M4 are good partners because we’re mission-focused and client-centered. Our core values align, so we’re equally yoked and pull in tandem for the benefit of our clients.”

RIO RIVER RANCH, SITTING ALONG 2 , 600 ± FEET OF GOLD MEDAL TROPHY TROUT WATERS OF THE RIO GRANDE RIVER

Real Knowledge, Real People

Having access to the best knowledge, tools and technology, means nothing if they can’t be applied. At M4, the team puts their resources on the ground with the same commitment they put their boots on the ground. It works. The following samples are just a few from the vast collection of success stories they’ve amassed in recent years.

A Penchant for Fixer-Uppers

For Marv Peachey, an Iowa-based building materials entrepreneur, a disappointing elk hunt turned into an unanticipated opportunity.

In September 2021, Peachey, an avid hunter, was pursuing elk in Colorado. While the hunting was poor, his guide was stellar. Knowing that Peachey was interested in acquiring a hunting lease on private land for himself and his company’s team, the guide suggested he meet Seth. When the hunting hadn’t improved after several days, Peachey agreed to leave the field and the guide arranged a lunch with Seth.

While Seth didn’t know of any lease opportunities that would meet Peachey’s needs, he did have a suitable 3,400-acre ranch in Guffey, Colorado that was for sale. Although Peachey wasn’t in the market to purchase a ranch, he ran the proposal past his CFO and his banker but told Seth it was a long shot at best.

If they recommend someone from their network of contractors and service providers to do a job, I can proceed with confidence because they only deal with the best.

—BRYAN MICK

Much to his surprise, his banker and CFO both gave the proposal a thumbs up in short order. Within a few days, they had a contract.

“The number one core value for our manufacturing company is positive energy and I sensed that from Seth and Dan,” Peachey said. “They are always upbeat and maintain the mindset that the next deal will be a good one. It’s a pleasure to do business with people who work hard because they are driven by a passion for what they’re doing instead of a feeling of obligation.”

He continued, “After all these years in business, my hypocrisy alarms are fine-tuned, but when I encountered M4 the alarms didn’t go off because folks were honest, sincere and transparent. If there were ever a mistake made, I honestly believe that they would lose money on a deal just to make it right instead of passing it on to me.”

WHETSTONE MOUNTAIN RANCH, ELK HUNTING AT ITS BEST IN THE COLORADO ROCKIES

Hunting a Remote Opportunity

Chris DeBow, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a senior-level investment manager, has traveled to all 50 states. He’s hunted and fished in 28 states, so when he chose Colorado as the location for his hunting property it was an informed choice.

In 2019, M4 had listed a remote 923-acre seasonal ranch that was accessible only by snowmobile during the winter. When DeBow’s wife saw a nearby shared ranch property listed by M4, she was smitten. She wanted a “civilized place” in Colorado that she and their four children could enjoy before they acquired the hunting ranch.

The DeBows purchased the shared ranch estate. Once the family was settled, they purchased the hunting property. The transaction was completed pre-COVID and the ensuing market rise. Then, after the market had begun heating up, M4 helped attain some key missing pieces and the DeBows purchased an additional 350 adjoining acres.

With his eyes on the rising market and lack of supply, Dan suggested DeBow consider selling the property. DeBow wasn’t interested until last spring, when M4 brought an opportunity—a buyer in need of a 1031 exchange who offered DeBow about double what he had paid for the properties. DeBow refused but agreed to list it at $1 million over the offer just to test the market. The property sold for $100,000 less than listing and DeBow secured exceptional revenues while maintaining exclusive hunting rights for five years.

“A rural land deal is a complicated undertaking, and you need people who know what to expect, how to spot the pitfalls and where to find the answers and solutions,” DeBow said. “Dan and the M4 team know the region where they work like the back of their hands because they live it.”

While experience on the ground is invaluable, experience at the negotiating table can’t be overlooked. According to DeBow, the M4 team’s track record with transactions that regularly exceed $30 million benefited him.

“When negotiating big deals temperament is a factor,” DeBow said. “People who don’t have experience working with deals of that magnitude can lose their perspective and get flustered. Dan and his team are cool as cucumbers.”

Divide and Conquer

Bryan Mick, an attorney living in Cody, Wyoming whose Omaha, Nebraska-based firm specializes in due diligence on investments in real estate and other assets, has a couple side hustles.

“One strategy is buying large tracts and dividing them,” said Mick. Mick also manages three LLCs which originate sale/leaseback and “hard money” transactions. His entities have used Seth and the M4 team to liquidate assets, find undervalued buy -and-hold recreational ground, and complete IRS Code Section 1031 exchanges, in one case into an industrial flex condominium unit.

In his primary job, Mick represents brokerdealers and registered investment advisors from across the nation, analyzing syndicated real estate offerings involving development, Section 1031 DST programs, REITs and real estate debt funds. When it comes to his personal business, however, he relies exclusively on the M4 team for Colorado and New Mexico farm and ranch transactions.

In his estimation, the M4 team excels at assessing the embedded value of any property’s features, whether it’s the hunting opportunities or water rights. They have a collective, creative vision for different land configurations and improvements that allow the owner to achieve its highest and best use. According to him, the team also finds value where others miss it.

As a seller, Mick also appreciates M4’s realistic, unvarnished view of a property’s value in the marketplace. In his experience, some brokerages acquiesce to their clients’ pie-in-the-sky view of their property’s value, setting their expectations too high from the outset.

“They have the highest ethics I’ve encountered in the marketplace and they’re careful about who they associate with internally,” Mick said. “If they recommend someone from their network of contractors and service providers to do a job, I can proceed with confidence because they only deal with the best.”

A rural land deal is a complicated undertaking, and you need people who know what to expect, how to spot the pitfalls and where to find the answers and solutions.

—CHRIS DEBOW

Wild Open Spaces

Entrepreneur and avid bowhunter Andrew Richardson, who is based in Utah, wanted a ranch to diversify his multi-state pest control company’s holdings. He searched in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. During his search, he worked with different brokers and then he met Dan.

“Everybody else was nice, but Dan is a charismatic, captivating individual,” Richardson said. “His superpower was that he read my mind and knew exactly what I wanted. He took me to two and I bought one.”

Before he made his final decision, Dan talked him through the advantages and disadvantages of both properties. In the end, Dan recommended the property that cost less, but delivered the bigger bang for wildlife habitat and hunting.

“He knew how to present the property, so it connected the dots for me,” Richardson said. “For him, it was all about getting the right fit for me. Finding this property was like finding a needle in a haystack—and he found my needle.”

According to Richardson, Dan’s approach to helping him manage the land after the transaction concluded is not pushy, but thoughtful.

“He’s driven by a passion for conservation and wants to help me be the best land steward I can be.”

Along the way, Richardson has become close friends with Dan, Jake and Seth. From his perspective, it’s the team’s dedication to building lasting relationships that has elevated the entire experience.

“From the moment I first walked in, nothing has felt like customer service, instead it’s felt like friendship,” Richardson said. “From a business perspective, that’s the highest compliment I can give anyone.”

Excellence in Everything

Bradford “Brad” Griffith operates his Lubbock, Texas-based construction and residential waste business from Dallas, but he relaxes in Colorado. He met Dan in 2004.

As the decades passed, they had multiple buy-and-holds. Each sale and new acquisition led Griffith closer to his western ranch dream. In 2021, he acquired his pinnacle property, Rough Hollow Ranch, nestled under three 13,000-foot peaks with a world-class trout stream, fields dotted with big game, a lake teeming with trout, waterfowl and birds of prey, and access to one of the west’s best little mountain towns, Lake City, Colorado.

BLACK CANYON OVERLOOK, A HIGH MOUNTAIN RECREATIONAL PROPERTY WITH THE BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK AND BLUE MESA RESERVOIR CLOSE BY

And to make it even better, what began as business transformed into deep, lasting friendships. The M4 team, like me, appreciates excellence in everything.

—BRADFORD “BRAD” GRIFFITH

“The M4 team listened and knew what I wanted,” Griffith said. “They know I like apex opportunities and, throughout the years, didn’t present me with anything that was not the absolute definition of that. Each transaction led to a favorable outcome for me and others.

“And to make it even better, what began as business transformed into deep, lasting friendships. The M4 team, like me, appreciates excellence in everything.” °

Read More

Go to network.land.com/lifestyle/on-the-cover-m4-ranch-group-knowlege/