Pandemic. Unpredictable. Subversion. Compliance. Chaos.
These are the words trending in 2020, a year most certainly proven to be unpredictable. With News and Tabloid headlines constantly promoting doom and gloom, stories of corrupt Government, cities being ransacked “for a cause,” many of us are left with strong feelings of uncertainty, fear for our families and fear for what the future holds. Navigating through life and its milestones are hard enough and for many people, trepidatious. What these feelings should NOT be created from is buying a home or land to hunt, farm or just enjoy with your family.
SUBURBIA BOOM
Since the 1950s, the “American Dream” was perceived to follow a standard set of goals, following a common timeline. You grew up, got married, had a family, secured a job and bought the perfect house with the little white fence in the suburbs. Fast forward to pre-Covid times and a different sort of picture is what we see to be most common. As the population grew, technology grew. First, we deemed to make things as large as we could, then we regressed and compact became the goal for things like cell phones, cars, computers, even leading us now to the tiny home movement. Cities grew with the population, creating jobs, housing and all essential needs, in a downtown sort of convenience. Commutes shrank, allowing less time in the car and more time in the office to aid in the hustle and grind of the present-day American worker. With utilities, internet and cellphone services catering to this model, it makes sense that rural America has been left behind in a sense of timelessness.
A SEASON FOR CHANGE
As a society, we have grown accustomed to the years blowing by and the changes that have come along with them. Many people, myself included, often ask the question, “How do we slow down?” Since the market crash in 2008, we have witnessed a paradigm shift. People have started to depend on themselves, seeking healthy alternatives to foods, medications and the current way of life in general. The desire to spend more time with family and less time at work has resurfaced; potentially from increased unemployment forcing parents to improvise, finding other ways to generate income outside of the standard nine-to-five blue collar job field. Coined terms such as organic, eco-friendly, green living have become more and more common household practices. In more recent years we have seen a shift to working remotely, creating more freelancers and independent contractors as a worker status than ever before, amplified by COVID-driven policies, inadvertently creating less dependence and need for proximity to a city or metro area. With these changes, a naturally occurring trend and a new wave of desires have begun: Leave the city. Get outdoors. Become self-sufficient. Break the mold.
LIVING OFF THE LAND
Imagine sitting on your front porch having exchanged asphalt, cinder blocks or a wood plank fence for tall pines, green rolling hills and the occasional wildlife sighting that you read about in books. The ability to let your children play in the yard, to let their imaginations grow and their senses evolve in the three-dimensional world versus a two-dimensional screen. Putting food on your table, grown and gathered from your own land, no GMOs, no pesticides, no cancer-causing preservatives. A place to get away, recreate, with ease of access to lakes and rivers, camping, hiking or cruising through the trees on a family mountain bike ride. A hilltop where the sunrise and sunset are never impeded by a concrete building and the colors never tarnished by harmful city pollution. These places exist and the single goal of Land Leader is to get you there.
LEADERS OF THE LAND INDUSTRY
Land Leader is set apart in the real estate industry, not because of our name, but by our passion, our values and our experience, channeled through our brokers across the United States. Jeans, boots and a belt buckle are common attire, as a Land Leader broker hops out of a 4×4 truck to welcome you. Finding the right home is a burdening task; the paperwork, the legal verbiage, finding a lender, all can be very daunting and having someone to help guide you along the way can make or break a deal. When you venture out into the countryside, you want someone who knows that area and knows that land. They can tell you if you can drill a well and what it will produce. They can tell you if that 80 acres on the mountain is a good candidate for timber production. A Land Leader broker has decades and generations worth of knowledge at his or her fingertips, thanks to our tightly woven national network of brokerages that correspond with each other on a daily basis. You will often find that our brokers are very involved in their communities, from helping the local 4H club, to promoting a land conservation group. Being a member of Land Leader sets certain expectations for a broker. Simply having a license in real estate does not substitute for being an Accredited Land Consultant or holding certificates from a niche organization such as the Realtors Land Institute. If you are looking into, or considering rural living, or even investing in bare land, using a Land Leader affiliated broker would be most advantageous to the success of finding and purchasing your dream home or prime piece of land. Knowledge is something that is so valuable, especially in such a monumental decision affecting your’s and your family’s lives.
THE COUNTRY IS CALLING
As we continue through these uncertain times, homeowners, business owners, families and retirees are looking to leave behind the conveniences of the city in exchange for a lifestyle of peace and quiet, a sense of security, or even to pursue a whole new adventure. The COVID Pandemic has turned life the way we knew it upside down. What we DO know is that the people of America still need, want and desire something you can’t find on a city block, something that isn’t tangible. It’s breathing the fresh mountain air. The sound of a creek at the edge of your property. An amber glow on your front porch as the sunrise breaks over the treetops. With hundreds of Agents across the nation, Land Leader is the gateway to rural living. Our Agents are farmers, hunters, timber fallers, mothers, fathers, grandparents; They are the lifeblood of our industry and every day, Land Leader brokers live the lifestyle they sell. Rural properties are being listed and sold on a daily basis throughout the United States, at a faster rate than ever before. Whether a cabin on a lake in Maine or a Southern Plantation in Florida is your idea of what country living looks like; if a working farm along the foothills of California, or a recreational hunting guide business in Alaska is what your dream is, living in rural America presents endless combinations of opportunity, scenery and lifestyle that only YOU can define. Chase the dream, make the choice, take a chance and change your lives.
Land Leader welcomes you to rural America.