LANDTHINK Summit 2011 Reviewed

If you have ever considered attending a seminar about the land industry, you need not think any further about which one to attend. LANDTHINK Summit 2011 was held in Atlanta, Georgia last week and the lineup of speakers was an excellent cross section of various backgrounds that culiminated in an overall global view of the industry.

In addition to land brokers and agents at the conference, ag lenders were also in attendance and provided a balanced prespective on issues affecting land transactions. A market trends survey book was a big bonus handout which will likely come in handy during listing presentations when making points about buyers and marketing. For example, over 80% of all land buyers start their search online now so as a group land buyers have caught up and may surpass traditional residential real estate buyers in their tech savvy.

The “Get Land Smart” tag line is not just marketing jargon. If you are truly serious about keeping a pulse on the land industry as a whole, then this an event not to be missed. Even if land is not your primary focus, but you have some business in that arena, it is valuable overall market information especially for timberland, commercial, building lots and recreational hunting land agents.

Taxes, the Economy, Stats…all sounds pretty boring right? No way! All of this information was there but you wouldn’t have known it. The speakers kicked out all the important numbers and facts but they made it revelant to your business. The observations were right to the point with no fluff and they could back it up with black and white historical facts. The speakers were absolutely resounding and really kept things moving. I don’t think the podium was used more than a few minutes tops during the whole day. Speakers were walking and talking and totally invigorated about the subjects and excited to share their information.

As well as presentations there was plenty of time to network during lunch and breaks and meet brokers from all over the United States. Learning about other types of markets (timberland, commercial, etc.) and land value prices in their areas was enlighenting and interesting.

And of course a seminar would not be complete without a few drawings but these were no ordinary drawings for trinkets. There were some fabulous gifts like a brand new iPad and cold hard cash. Additionally, some items including a hunt and a laptop were auctioned off to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The consensus was that the investment to come to the seminar was well worth the time and effort. A few comments I heard were…

“I’ve never heard such dismall market condition information presented so upbeat – it was really enjoyable!”

“It’s hard to keep conference seminars revelant and different each year but they have done a great job. I’ll be back again next year.”

Many thanks to all the folks at LANDTHINK that worked hard all year to put together an awesome, professional and on-time event.