At Beacon Mountain Farm & Ranch, we strive to provide our clients with professional representation by utilizing state of the art technology, our extensive network, years of experience, market expertise and a great deal of hard work. Our livelihood and the long term success of our company is based on your ultimate satisfaction. When we find the property you and your family members have dreamed of, clearly it’s a rewarding day for each of us.

To successfully complete an assignment, we often spend hundreds of hours with each client finding the right property, researching and analyzing it, touring it and of course negotiating many of the business terms in the contract. We take great pride in our work and endeavor to bring a level of service to our client’s that exceeds their expectations.  Unlike most consultants and business professionals, we are not paid on an hourly or project basis. We receive our compensation at the end of the transaction when the sale closes. Due to the fact that we commit a great deal of our time and resources to represent you as a Buyer, we require that each client signs an Exclusive Right to Buy Listing Contract with us prior to our engagement.

We wish to stress the fact that we do much, much more than just locate properties on the market. With the growing functionality of the internet, many available Ranches are on public websites. You may find some of them on your own. To provide added value to our exclusive clients, we will provide you with a continually updated list of over 100 “Farm & Ranch” websites you can independently peruse to help us find your ideal property.  Recently, one of our clients selected a hunting property off of a website we provided him. We too had looked at the property but felt it didn’t meet his expectations. Our client however knew it was just what he wanted and after several visits and much due diligence, we negotiated favorable terms for our Buyer, went under contract and closed the transaction.

You are hiring us to be your Real Estate professional. We will research comparable sales, personally visit the property, meticulously analyze it if it makes your short list, help direct critical due diligence and carefully negotiate the contract so that you end up with a strong market purchase. Our expertise translates into professionalism, effective time management and value to you.

Your loyalty is greatly appreciated. If you put yourselves in our shoes, I’m sure you can understand that we simply can’t spend hundreds of hours working on a transaction for free without the Buyers assurance they will work with us pursuant to an Exclusive Right to Buy Listing Contract.

We specialize in  Land and Ranch Real Estate.   We are fortunate to be able to help our clients negotiate and close a wide range of Colorado Ranches for Sale.   Our assignments range from Cattle Ranches to Off Grid Properties, Hunting Properties to Fishing Properties and Horse Property to Hay Ranches.   We look forward to hearing from you.

At BMFR we’ve noticed an interesting trend occurring in our Real Estate practice. Over the course of the last year we’ve received an increased level of interest from buyers regarding off the grid properties. This trend is apparent at all price ranges from $300,000 to $5,000,000+ properties.

In these assignments, our clients ask for properties that are somewhat secluded and out of the line of sight from their neighbors rooftops. We frequently hear these investments would serve as a place to take families for outdoor recreation and also as a place to retire to in case thing get “a bit crazy” in the city. Alternative energy is often a key component on an off grid buyers checklist. Energy generated from a wind turbine, solar panel, diesel generator or gas generator is desirable. Many of these properties have buried propane tanks, independent water supply such as a well and if possible a lake to fish and areas to hunt wild game. Ideally, the retreat is a public land in – holding or at a minimum, adjacent to the BLM, State Land or National Forest.

We’re not sure why this concept has taken off recently but we find it to be a compelling buying trend. Now that we’re actively looking for this type of product, we’re surprised at the number of terrific properties we’ve found that meet the criteria our self sufficient, survivalist buyers are looking for. The purchase of Rural real estate has even been mentioned as a growing market by the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ has coined the term “Ruralpolitan” to describe the individual seeking rural land.

Whether it’s a 40 acre in-holding or a 400 acre sanctuary adjacent to National Forest with exceptional hunting and fishing, we can find it for you. Looking for off the grid property is a real adventure. At Beacon Mountain Farm & Ranch, it would be a pleasure to find your Colorado Ranch for sale that also provides you and your family with the peace of mind and security inherent in an off grid property.

Please  contact us for further information regarding this rapidly expanding market segment.

As the economy has entered what some call the “Great Recession,” we’ve found that certain clients have changed their investment criteria. A significant percentage of our Buyers are now looking for Agricultural land that can produce crops such as hay, wheat, corn, etc. Currently, there are outstanding buying opportunities available on the market.   We are constantly searching the market for well priced, high quality, investment property that is listed by land brokers and also for sale by discreet owners.

An investor in Crop Land understands that today’s discounted land prices have a high probability of appreciating over time. This theory is supported by a clear body of evidence that shows our world food supply faces challenges in the future. At the recent U.N. food summit in Rome, it was determined that 1 billion people go to bed hungry across the globe each night. That summit also disclosed that “between now and 2050 , the world’s population will rise by a third, but demand for agricultural goods will rise by 70% and demand for meat will double.”

Many wealthy countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and South Korea are food importers due to their limited land resources. These countries have decided to buy land abroad and grow food rather than relying on imports from international markets. In recent years, government entities have either leased or purchased over 20 million acres of the best farmland in poor counties such as Africa and South America. In our opinion, it seems like a massive land grab is underway.

According to a recent article in The Economist, “food demand is rising because of changing appetites and rising incomes in emerging markets; biofuels are still competing with food crops for available land; yield growth in cereals is declining.” As information like this continues to surface, it’s logical that Jim Rogers, creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index, and adviser to AgCapita recently commented, “I’m convinced that farmland is going to be one of the best investments of our time.”

We specialize in Ranch Marketing. If you’re interested in Agricultural Land or Colorado Ranches for Sale, we’ll find the right property that meets your criteria and then carefully analyze each property that makes you’re short list with our extensive spreadsheet analysis. After our analysis, you’ll get a sense of the type of return each property is capable of producing. We can help you find Colorado land that meets your investment criteria. Rely on our expertise. Please send us an email or give us a call at 720-279-2548.

Lone Tree REALTOR® Named Land REALTOR® of the Year!

Englewood, CO - November, 2009– Dave Banzhaf, the Broker for Beacon Mountain Farm & Ranch of Lone Tree was awarded the Colorado Land REALTOR® of the Year at the 2009 Colorado Association of REALTORS® annual State convention held on October 20 in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Chapter of REALTORS® Land Institute (RLI) presents the annual award to the individual who has demonstrated competency, production and excellence in the area of land brokerage and who has made important contributions to the RLI organization.

Dave is actively involved in the Ranch and Land business in the State of Colorado and currently serves as President-elect of the REALTORS® Land Institute Colorado Chapter. The award was presented by Kirk Goble, ALC, President of the Colorado Chapter.

“I’m honored to receive this award from my peers. I would like to thank my clients and friends across the State, both Buyers and Sellers. Whatever the economy may be like today, we all know that Land has lasting value for tomorrow. Under all lies the Land…and we’re not making it any more” says Banzhaf.

The Colorado Association of REALTORS® is the state’s largest real estate trade association that represents more than 23,500 members statewide. The association supports private property rights, equal housing opportunities and is the “Voice for Real Estate” in Colorado. For more information visit www.ColoradoREALTORS.com.

Agricultural Land Investment

In these uncertain times, many of us are wondering where to put our money.  It used to be that we looked for a reasonable growth opportunity by way of financial instruments such as stocks and mutual funds. 

Today many investors are looking to various forms of real estate as an alternative investment. 

While rental properties and foreclosures represent potentially good investments with good returns, there are a lot of elements to consider with these types of investments.  The process involved in securing a successful property, finding a renter or buyer is time consuming and complex.  The expected rate of return on this type of investment should be in the 8-9% range.  Further, the competition for these properties is becoming intense and, as a result, will begin to drive the margins down. 

Finally, most investors don’t have the time to manage the operation of rental properties and the need for a property manager will further erode the margins.

Another alternative is agricultural income property. 

Agricultural property has historically been fairly stable with respect to prices, seeing some recent increases due to the past rise of commodity prices.  The commodity prices have recently had a reversal, however, and subsequently, there is expected be some downward trend in the in agricultural land prices.  These downward trends have not been extreme in the past and are not expected to drop with any significance.

A standard rule of thumb for these AG properties is to expect it to generate a 3-6% return.

Considerations when buying agricultural property:

• What crops can be grown on the property?
• What crops should be grown on the property for the best return?
• What are the water rights, and are they enough to support a successful AG property?
• What is the condition of the soil, pivot sprinklers, other equipment?
• Who can I get to operate this property?
• Do I want to just rent the property?

These are all important questions, the answers to which will determine your success or failure in an AG investment.

We at Beacon Mountain Farm & Ranch have the resources to assist you in securing a successful AG property.  We can provide you with a “turnkey” investment complete with the management component in place to insure that the property’s AG value is maximized.

Please contact us for consultation to determine if this type of investment meets your requirements.