Ranch Investor Podcast

Estate and Tax Planning Specialist Joel Silverman of Silverman Law and MTBIZVLOG joins us to talk about the do's and don'ts of Opportunity Zone investing for Farm and Ranch.Joel Silverman, CEO and Attorney of Silverman Law Office, PLLC was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He moved to Missoula in 1992, and received his B.A. in Mathematics and B.S. in Forestry from the University of Montana in 1997.   He received his law degree from Lewis and Clark College in 2003 and an LL.M. (master’s degree) in Taxation from the University of Washington in 2004. Joel is a published author with several published books on business, taxes and estate planning. Joel’s business career began in high school, when he started his own fly tying company and taught fly tying and fly-fishing classes.  Silverman Law Office, PLLC was opened in May of 2012, when Joel recognized that there was a large need for a business and estate planning law office, that did more than just repeat the law to the client.  Joel realized individuals and businesses need lawyers that focus on the client’s goals and needs, rather than just the clients’ legal issues.Joel’s practice focuses on assisting individuals and businesses with business law, tax, succession planning, employment issues, mergers and acquisitions, wills, trusts, property transactions, liquor and gambling law, and oil and natural gas law. Additionally, Joel has been coaching and consulting various businesses to deal with the new world of marketing and business practices.

Free government money in farming and ranching!? Ranch investing must be a "can't lose" proposition!!! Melissa "Missy" Wacker introduces us to government-subsidized insurance programs, as well as government-subsidized improvements that have proven to benefit landowners. Can you bank on this income and capital improvements? Find out now.Farmers Union Insurance  has been in business in Hardin, MT since 1968. The agency began with the hard work of Missy's dad, the late Dennis Wacker, and her mom, Debbie Wacker, who still works in the office. Missy was born and raised in Big Horn County and loves it! Agriculture is in her blood and sometimes under her fingernails. She is determined to provide the same level of service to her clients in the culture that her father created for their agency. 

How do you prepare your ranch for the worst while planning for the best? Property rights, water rights, and legislation covered herein... Be prepared to drink through a fire-hose as we introduce another legendary Lund, the ever charismatic and animated Hertha Lund as she schools us on the state of water rights in Montana and what to do in a property rights dispute.Hertha is a Montana native, growing up on ranches around Browning and Lewistown. Hertha played basketball and was a member of the rodeo team at Montana State University before transferring to Temple University where she graduated with a degree in journalism. She then covered policy issues in Washington, D.C. for the American Farm Bureau Federation before coming back to Montana for law school. While in law school, Hertha was the co-Editor in Chief of the Montana Law Review. After law school, Hertha clerked for the Honorable Loren Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She is a frequent lecturer on property rights, water rights, and teaches eminent domain continuing legal education courses to other Montana attorneys.Hertha has now been defending landowners’ property rights in the West for nearly twenty five years. Hertha is the only attorney member in Montana of the Owner’s Counsel of America. Hertha practices in the areas of property rights litigation, eminent domain, water rights, and other general litigation. She can be reached at http://lund-law.com/

Are there benefits to using cover crops in a livestock operation? How about a hunting and fishing ranch, or is this another "foo-foo" program that will not stand the test of time? Find out in this episode from expert soils and crop agronomist Kate Vogel who has years of background with crops from Colorado to Canada.Kate studied dryland no-till systems at Colorado State University before coming to Montana.  Over the last ten plus years, she has assisted the regions farmers and ranchers to implement cover crops, no-till practices, crop rotations and other soil health practices. In 2014 Kate and her husband, Marcus, started North 40 Ag to increase the availability of seed for his family farm and to provide an educational outlet for others to improve their operations. From consulting, scouting fields, soil sampling and more, Vogel continues to be a voracious promoter of regenerative agriculture to the community, and state around her. In addition to the rewarding career at North 40 Ag, Marcus and Kate have a daughter, Collins, born in 2019 and she is busy checking fields, riding in the tractor, or mixing seed with them.

Why are ranches SO DAMN Expensive? Or are they?? In this episode the hosts discuss their frustrations on pricing ranches, observations in the market, and why this is a very imperfect process. Learn what a good value is here, a good deal, and how not to be unrealistic in your expectations as a buyer and seller.Join hosts Colter DeVries, 5th generation Montana Rancher and Land Broker with Clark & Associates and Andy Rahn, Founder of Montana Land Source, Montana's only source of ALL  large-acreage Montana land listings and sales... including farm, ranch and recreational properties in one map, for this informative episode!

Want to know how to do it right? We hear from Shaelyn Bauer and her new baby, Diehl, on all things regenerative grazing, holistic management, sustainable ranching operations, and natural resource management. This is where you make your money in ranch ownership and Shaelyn is here to tell you how.Born and raised on a ranch in Eastern Montana, Shaelyn is now the founder of H Open A Ranch Consulting, where she provides grazing management and monitoring support to livestock producers. Focusing on Holistic Grazing Management, she has a background in natural resources, ecological health assessment and managed intensive grazing systems and a degree in Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems - Emphasis in Livestock Production from Montana State University-Bozeman. 

What is your exit plan and how do you avoid paying the piper on all that taxable-gain you've just incurred from the sale of your ranch? Don't have a ranch but want one? Here's how you can use the tax code to your benefit the exchange into a ranch. Be prepared to drink through a fire-hose on this episode, their is an abundance of information for those who invest in real estate and would like to move assets or portfolio allocation to farms and ranches.Max A. Hansen, a Montana native, joined Accruit after 27 years as President and CEO of American Equity Exchange, one of the first Section 1031 qualified intermediary companies in the Rocky Mountain Region. For over 40 years, Max has helped taxpayers and real estate professionals successfully complete property exchanges.As an attorney and Certified Exchange Specialist™, Max has been assisting clients in real estate transactions involving exchanges for over 42 years. Max is licensed to practice and an active member of the State Bars of Montana, Idaho, Utah and California. He is a Past President of the State Bar of Montana and was State Bar Delegate and ABA delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates for over 20 years He served on various ABA committees including the Nominating Committee and the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and remains a member of the Committee on Sales, Exchanges and Basis of the ABA Section of Taxation.

One of the most experienced appraisers in Montana joins us for this episode in which Colter gets down to business, even challenging Jim on some of his past work. This episode will help ranch investors understand the valuation methods and how professional appraisers and veterans of the industry come up with their opinion; the good, the bad, and the ugly of taking a hardline and objective position on something so vaguely ambiguous and subjective as ranch real estate.Jim French specializes in... Access/Flowage Easements, Agricultural Appraisals, Agricultural Mortgage Loans, Agricultural Land: Appraisal, Auctions/Farmland, Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, Commercial Appraisal, Estates/Planning, Expert Witness, Farm/Ranch Appraisals, Acquisitions/Analysis, Farmsteads (Rural Residences), Government Appraisal Work, Government Leases/Permits, Insurance/Insurance Company Loans, Land Appraisals/Division/Exchanges, Lease Fee/Leaseheld/Leases, Livestock Appraisals, Livestock General, Cow/Calf, Loan Originator, Mortgage Banking/Financing, Personal Property, Cattle, Real Estate Auction/Sales/Broker/Financing/Loans/Investments Residential Appraising, Rural Property Appraisals, Rural Land Appraising, Single Family Residences and is based in the Billings, MT area. 

What the heck is going on with the ranch land markets!?? Without having a glass-ball to forecast the future, is now the time buy? In this episode, long-time ranch appraisal veteran Harlan Lund gives us his thoughts on just that, but maybe it's a seller's market right now?! Hear what the experts think is going to happen.Harlan Lund comes from one of the first ranch families in Montana. Over 32 years in the appraisal industry, Harlan now works for Northwest Farm Credit, supervising the appraisal staff here in Montana and reviews appraisals throughout MT, ID, OR, WA. He's got experience working with dairies, timber and farm and ranch properties. 

Do landowners even know what they have these days? What are all the rights associated with owning a ranch? Joining us in this episode is Trent Johnson. We hear about several areas of concern when buying or selling a ranch and what investors need to watch out for, the blindsides and potentially high-risk grey areas of ownership.Trent Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wyoming and his master’s degree in financial planning from Montana State University in May. Trent's responsibilities include specializing in rural farm and ranch appraisals in eastern Montana and northern Wyoming for estate planning, estate settlement and mortgage lending purposes.