Speed, certainty of close, and an ability to navigate complexity. We operate with our own private capital, allowing us to move quickly, while working through your needs in a patient manner. We may be the only call you ever need to make.
We don’t believe that there are enough tools in existence to address the challenges facing Western landscapes and landowners. We created Beartooth to bring more tools to the fight. To invent creative financial tools for the restoration and protection of important landscapes, and to offer landowners more options in their efforts to do the ‘right thing’ on the land.
No, brokers are some of our best partners. We refer landowners to brokers all the time. In fact, if your property is in perfect condition, and you are willing to wait a few years for the sale to occur, you probably should go directly to a broker. However, if your property has legal or physical challenges, or if you are looking for creative solutions to ranch ownership transitions, succession, or financing, we offer solutions that do not exist elsewhere.
No, rather we focus on meeting landowner needs. We specialize in working with landowners facing complicated challenges. We have a whole toolbox full of ideas and investment capital geared toward keeping local Western ranchers on their ranches. Of course, some ranchers do want to exit all, or some, of their properties in order to retire, to take some chips off the table, to get out of a complicated partnership, and more. We work with these folks too.
Tough one. We worked with a family in which the two grown children were partial owners of the ranch and wanted to own it in the long-term. However, the parents wanted to put some money in the bank and retire somewhere warm. We worked through an agreement in which we would buy the parents out of their interest in a manner that maximized their after-tax returns. The kids would have an option to acquire the ranch from us in the future. If they chose not to acquire our ownership, we would resell the ranch and everyone (parents and kids) would participate in the returns associated with a river restoration project and other value-creating work we undertook on the ranch.
We have never gone through the subdivision process. On occasion we have sold off pieces of large ranch properties in a manner that makes more natural sense (an agriculturally-oriented parcel, a more recreationally-oriented parcel, etc.). More commonly, we have aggregated smaller ranches into larger ranch properties that make more logical sense for agriculture, conservation, and land management purposes.
Well, it depends on how complex the situation is. We’ve bought entire properties in under 45 days. We’ve also taken up to seven months, but that situation required a massive amount of legal work with two different neighbors.
No. We are big supporters of local farmers and ranchers. We run our own small beef herd. We partner with neighbors, former owners, and all manner of local, agricultural producers on our projects. But, we also recognize that maximizing output (i.e., farming marginal cropland with conventional methods) isn't always what's best for the land, the people, and the animals that call it home. We often plant marginal ground to perennial grass/legume species that provide forage for livestock, while also acting as a source of food/cover/habitat for upland birds and big game animals. From our perspective, this isn't taking ag land out of production, it is maximizing the long-term value of that land.
Sometimes, yes. We have sold ranches to rich out-of-state buyers. We have also sold to ranchers that make a living from their agricultural operations. We’ve sold to federal, state, and county agencies that have created publicly-accessible wildlife management areas and campgrounds. We’ve sold to conservation groups to protect key lands and provide linkages to adjacent public lands. For each and every buyer type, we do everything we can to find a buyer who loves the West as much as we do, and who will be a positive addition to the agricultural community.
No, we are enabling more public access. We have completed a whole suite of transactions working with landowners, government agencies, and conservation groups to create new publicly accessible areas.
