Down in the Boondocks

ing to the celebration in “the middle of nowhere.”

There was a popular 1960s song, “Down in the Boondocks,” about a young man who loves a girl but knows he doesn’t fit in her social circle.

Years ago, on a hot summer day, several of us neighbours were helping a friend build a dance floor under a large tent on their acreage for an upcoming wedding.

The parents had spent years establishing the beautifully landscaped site from a grain field, and while getting the yard ready for the occasion, there wasn’t a blade of grass out of place.

The new bride, in her remarks at the banquet the next night, thanked her family from the eastern U.S. for com -

If she had only known how much work and love had gone into the property.

When I started in real estate 20 years ago, my brokers encouraged me to establish a ruralbased practice as there was significant competition in the city.

At the time, no Realtors were living outside of Lloydminster, and little attention was being paid to housing or commercial buildings in smaller communities of the mid west on both sides of the border.

So, I did, putting on thousands of miles travelling across a 6,000-square-mile region and beyond.

Many times, in the early days, I had to explain how organized real estate and the Multiple Listing Service worked as it wasn’t a well-understood concept outside of the large urban centers.

Almost every Friday, winter and summer, I would start the day at Loon Lake and work my way south to Brightsand and Turtle Lake servicing those resort communities as well.

Oh, I represented my share of property in the city, from condos to some of the largest houses, but it wasn’t where you would find me most days.

Acreage and farm owners also started to call, and consequently, 4,000 plus property listings later, there are few corners of the mid west I haven’t seen.

One day the owner of a competing brokerage laughingly called me the “King of Boondocks;” a title I wore proudly, as we both knew rural folk deserved professional real estate consulting and marketing services as much as their city cousins.

These days, of course, I am concentrating more on agricultural and commercial consulting, leaving the residential side to my business partner and other colleagues.

Whether assisting landowners with their estate planning, advising farmers on land sales and acquisition, or consulting on agribusiness development; it requires travel on those same country roads while looking closely at over 50,000 acres every year on behalf of our team’s clients.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Boondocks indeed.

Vern McClelland is an associate broker with RE/MAX of Lloydminster and an active partner in his family’s livestock operation. Comments on this article are welcome either by emailing vernmcclelland@remax.net or calling 306-821-0611.