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Texas Land L E A D I N G TO R A P I D
T EC H N O LO GY C H A N G E S STORY BY BLAKE FARRAR
Technology’s Impact on Rural Real Estate
T
en years ago, I was taking a ranch tour with a ranch buyer client of ours on a 1,000± acre ranch in Central Texas and will never forget my experience. Anyone who has been in the business for any length of time will always have great stories to share, but this one particularly stuck with me. The listing broker was one of the nicest, downto-earth brokers I had met up to that point, and he naturally had a knack for a ranch tour full of good stories. While we were touring the ranch in his UTV on a hot, dusty day in August, I brought up a question about a boundary line and asked if he had an aerial map handy that may be different than the one I had brought. His next move is what stuck with me. . . . He proceeded to stop the mule and to draw the approximate boundaries of the ranch with his finger in the dust that had settled on the seat between he and the client. While effective to get his point across, we all had a good laugh as I took a picture of the high-quality aerial map with my cell phone!
For anyone that has bought or sold land more than a couple of years ago, it’s humorous to reflect on the lack of resources and access to information that we all had then compared to what we can get quickly today. Gone are the days of limited information related to a specific property or the land markets in general. All aspects of the industry have seen technological impacts including researching land rights and records, land values, mapping, photography, social media, drones. . . . The list is continually growing and new companies are being formed regularly to change the way we have access to this information. Interactive aerial mapping technology with seemingly endless data layers, aerial drone photos/video, and many robust websites dedicated to rural land values have all fundamentally
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changed the way we view, evaluate, and make decisions regarding rural land. What used to require a property tour and hours of research, now can take place in an instant from the comfort of the home office. The meteoric rise of technology has certainly reached rural real estate markets in a big way and has become even more relevant in the last two years. Alex Gyllstrom, Whitetail Properties’ marketing director, noted that the rural land industry is seeing a massive influx of buyer interest over the last two-plus years. “The digital traffic to these listing websites, as well as our own, has increased greatly with no signs of slowing down anytime soon,” he said. The Texas rural land market continues to show strength, driven in large part by buyers seeking a weekend getaway in the countryside and those who see land as an attractive investment. That’s the consensus from land experts with Whitetail Properties Real Estate, which specializes in recreational, ranch and farm properties. Whitetail Properties Land Specialist Aaron Ablondi, who serves northeast Texas, says many of his clients from the Dallas area are buying a rural tract of land for family recreation, such as hunting and ATV riding, or for hobby farming. “We’re starting to see more sellers because prices have gotten so high,” Ablondi said. “Inventory is starting to build because people are hearing about the premiums being paid for land and are willing to offer their property for sale. Right now is an incredible time for land owners to get a great financial return on their property. It’s worth more now than it’s ever been.” Ablondi said many of
