When you know that just a few strategic improvements could significantly increase your land’s value—but you don’t have the time or resources to make it happen—this is your solution.
“By marketing my working land alongside other premier properties, Jon Kohler & Associates connected me with a broader national buyer pool, far beyond what any local broker could offer.”
Working Lands
Whether you farm cattle, timber, or row crops, how you market your land is just as important as how you manage it. Markets are constantly evolving, and those who understand them profit handsomely. Whether you plan to sell now or strategically prepare for the future, reach out to us today to discover how our Working Lands Initiative™ can help you harvest your land’s hidden intrinsic value—often well above what others might imagine.
Today, land brokerage is a specialized niche, and few decisions impact your financial outcome more than choosing the right representative.
Our proven model has consistently delivered superior results—achieving
27%, 33% & 25% more
in sales compared to other brokers, even when those brokers had the listing for at least a year before us. In each case, we sold immediately to buyers from our Rolodex.
I’m a third-generation forester from North Florida. Doing what’s best for landowners is in my DNA. I could work for any brokerage, but I choose to wear the Jon Kohler & Associates brand because our firm consistently demonstrates more value for working lands than anyone else.
We are renowned for selling high-quality recreational properties at a premium, capturing value that others simply can’t. Our ability to uncover the hidden intrinsic value of timberland and ranches—and convert that value into real returns for landowners—is unmatched.
Case Studies: The Difference We Make
Bar C Ranch
Florida agriculture doesn’t get any more personal than the late Commissioner of Agriculture Doyle Conner’s beloved Bar C Ranch – 489 acres of legacy land.
Another brokerage sold this property as a simple cattle ranch for $3,895 per acre. Respectable, but we saw much more. We shared our vision with the new owner and within no time, sold it to a buyer from our exclusive network – before it even hit the open market – for a record-breaking $7,873 per acre, with a backup offer in hand. Best of all, the ranch wasn’t flipped for residential development – it remained in agriculture, transitioning to a high-quality recreational property and high-fence deer operation. Commissioner Conner would have approved.
“Imagine how long it would have taken back then to make $1.95 million profit on 489 acres running cattle,” said Jon Kohler. “The owner didn’t have to lift a finger – just trusted our process and Working Lands Initiative™ to do the work.
Southlands
The upside conversion from timberland a higher asset class.
We know timberland. In fact, we closed the famed Rock Creek/Molpus sale for $142,000,000 across 10 southern states – which earned acclaimed as the largest timberland sale in the South for 8 years running. We “cherry picked” what is now Deep Creek Plantation out of a $1B timberland transaction. Many a timber man has been perplexed by the fact we can cut the timber, make some changes and immediately make the land worth more!
Southlands is just one of these examples. Southlands is America’s flagship timber property. From its roots as an experimental timber forest once owned by International Paper where it was the “crown jewel” of a $142M sale we made in 2010 for less than $1,200 per acre… to its rise as Georgia’s premier recreational flagship property commanding $6,800 per acre… Southlands is proof that investing in the recreational land market has gone mainstream. We just closed it to influencer/Boxer Jake Paul for a whopping $39M sale making it one of the largest sales in Georgia history.
“I’ve personally run 150 head of grass-fed Angus, and I know exactly how hard it is to make a $2 million profit raising cattle. Here, we created an immediate $4,100-per-acre gain simply by repositioning the asset from a ranch to recreational land. There is no way raising cattle can make those returns. Even on the former Commissioner of Agriculture’s flagship ranch. One can let us realize this gain and buy more pure ranchland somewhere else but you can’t profitably run cattle on $7,900 per acre land and that’s what was going on until we pointed it out.”
Terra Chula
Listed for over three years with two different brokers at $9.6M with no offers. Frustrated, the seller finally asked for our opinion. Our model clearly showed it was worth $12.25M. Skeptical at first, he was thrilled when we brought our full price on the very first day from a buyer in our Rolodex—earning him an additional $2.6M (27%) by trusting our advice.
Pinewoods
Under contract with two local brokers for $6.2M until the buyer withdrew. The landowner then sought our advice, and we demonstrated its value at $8M+. We showed the original buyer value others hadn’t to the extent he increased his offer by $1.2M! We then quickly brought in two more buyers who outbid him, ultimately selling for $8.34M without ever hitting the open market. The owner nearly missed out on $2M+ (33%) simply by not calling us first.
Lone Pine
Listed with a local broker for a year at $6,000 per acre with no offers. After a referral from her accountant, the owner listed with us, and we priced it at $8,000 per acre. We sold it immediately for $7,540 per acre—a 25%+ increase—bringing the seller significantly more profit.
These are just a few examples of our proven results on the same property. We employ various differentiation strategies that set us apart from traditional brokers. In some cases, the difference between choosing us and another broker can be as much as $10,000,000 on a single property. That’s why we consistently earn the APEX award, the highest honor in the land industry. We are experts in the high-quality land niche—let us put our expertise to work for you.
Madison Oaks
In 2014, we helped Hickory Foods, maker of Bubba Burgers, find and convert a timber tract into one of the top grass-fed ranches in the Southeast – Madison Oaks, now nearly 6,000 acres. We didn’t just find the land; we brought in experts and modeled it off our own ranch, Lick Skillet, to unlock immediate equity and long-term success.
If you believe your property has untapped potential, I highly recommend calling Jon Kohler & Associates. They’ll show you exactly how to maximize its value.
How it Works?
Many of the high-quality recreational and high-end properties we have represented in the past were at one-time working lands. Once, arguably unpolished, these lands were sold to folks who improved them and by doing so, made a lot of money. The famed Deep Creek Plantation (sold three times by JKA), Walker Springs (sold five times by JKA), Magnolia Hall (sold two times by JKA), Honey Lake (sold three times by JKA) are all now renowned as a one-of-a-kind asset class.
Our specialty is identifying how a property can be improved with just a little infusion of capital and then taking it to the next level. We have closed over $300M for investors who we showed where and how the land could be worth more, that did just that. With our new “Working Lands Program” you can profit from this knowledge yourself.
Why
What do you have to do? Simply trust us to do our job like over
361,867 acres of other landowners have. If we don’t perform, we not only don’t get paid, but we lose a lot… much, much more than a typical broker. We have major “skin in the game” on the listings we accept, from the short films we make, to our full-time marketing staff, and LandLeader infrastructure. The reason we can do this is because of our “Rolodex” of buyers and our proven marketing machine.
Who Will You Meet?
Dedicated servant leaders, and landowners making their living by helping similar landowners:
Jon Kohler
Walter Hatchett
Cole Schwab
Lori Weldon
Tim James
Brett Bryan
Scott Sumner
Jason Hewett
Chip Byrd
Knox Daniels
What Type of Property Works Best?
Land that has historically been balanced between good stewardship and income through timber, farming, or cattle works best. What we do is use our experience and weigh the costs and time of improving your property to the next higher asset class. We then advise you of your ability to capture some of this added value – which may mean you do nothing but rely 100% on our marketing – or may mean a balance of implemented improvements combined with our value add. Either way, it costs you nothing to see if our program would benefit you.
What’s the Next Step?
Simply Contact One of Our Agents for a Complimentary “Working Lands” Opinion
What You Get
An opportunity to capitalize on our knowledge and ability to market these lands, to take advantage of our Social Storm™ Properties asset class and achieve prices and sales that outperform even what we saw during “irrational exuberance,” but this time, to other like-minded folks who most often share a love for the land and the legacy of it.
From murky farm ponds to pristine glacier-cut lakes and everything in between, Knox Daniels’ expertise stems from a lifelong fascination of water and the creatures that live in and around it. He recognizes and helps clients appreciate the value water features bring to a property. “My goal is to help buyers realize and sellers maximize the value different water bodies bring to a property, not only in a recreational sense, but also for social storm reasons.” After extensively traveling the country for collegiate BASS fishing tournaments, Knox graduated and worked for the Southeast’s finest fisheries and wildlife biologist, Greg Grimes. With Grimes’ company, AES, Knox managed many of the southeast’s finest private lake estate/impoundment properties, and learned the intricacies of upscale property management. Learning from Greg and other biologists, Knox honed in on the specific conditions and habitat needed for optimal gamefish growth in private lakes. He has also worked as a property manager on several thousand acres and for a commercial developer, facilitating the dirt work and builds of several apartment complexes, but his true passion has always been in the outdoors. “I’ve always had an insatiable fascination with ponds/lakes and am grateful to be able to help to place clients on the properties of their dreams and make their personal fisheries/wildlife goals reality with JKA.” – Knox Daniels
Jason has been assisting landowners for the last 28 years in Georgia and South Carolina obtain achievements the owners did not realize were possible. His degree in Biology from Georgia Southern stemmed from the desire to know how things in nature work. His plantation roots began at just 16 years old outside of Albany, GA and the last 20 years were spent in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. His entire career has been spent developing a global approach to plantation management. That plan included sales. Sales is in Jason’s blood- his mom had a 45-year career as a real estate broker. After college, he chose to pursue his passion of making properties great. In 2011, Jason sold his first plantation. Since then, he has assisted buyers and sellers with over $20 million in sales while most of that time working as a full-time General Manager of a large Lowcountry plantation. Today, he is committed to using his unique skill set and experience to guide landowners through the many challenges of plantation ownership.
Bruce Ratliff is a retired elected official (Property Appraiser Taylor County). Bruce brings years of experience in ad valorem tax knowledge. His property tax background gives JKA Associates & clients a unique insight into the complicated tax process. Bruce held several positions in the Florida Association of Property Appraisers, including member of the Board of Directors, President, Vice-President and Secretary, and served on the Agricultural & Legislative Committees for the Association. The real estate business has been part of Bruce’s life since childhood. His mother, Shirley Ratliff owned Professional Realty of Perry, Florida and his father, Buster owned Ratliff Land Surveying which Bruce was General Manager of before his political career.
Hailing from a long line of outdoorsmen, Tim learned a great deal from his father and grandfather. He saw first-hand what it means to be a good land steward. He believes land is so much more than a place to hunt, fish, and grow timber or crops. “It’s an identity, a resting place, a safe haven and a way of life, said Tim.” Tim’s family ties to Alabama run deep. During his grandfather’s first term, Governor James was responsible for signing into law Alabama’s first state duck stamp which helped to ensure funding for the procurement, development, and preservation of wetlands for migratory waterfowl habitat. He also established Alabama’s lifetime hunting license, so it is no surprise that Tim is an avid outdoorsman with a keen eye as to how best to improve habitat for the greater good of its wildlife.
With Madison County roots, Lori grew up on her family farm at Pettis Springs along the historic Aucilla River. A love of the land was instilled in Lori very early on by her father who was a local farmer. Lori understands the importance of good land stewardship and has witnessed first-hand how her own father, a former 2-term member of the Florida House of Representatives whose district encompassed many rural counties of the Red Hills Plantation Region, with a little bit of sweat equity, so lovingly worked their own family land. These are core values she carries with her today, and nothing gives her more personal satisfaction than to represent some of the south’s best land stewards.
Cole’s dedication to land management lies in his family roots. As a fourth-generation timber expert, Cole’s earliest memories were spent with his father managing timber investments. With a degree in Food Resource Economics from the University of Florida, Cole is the epitome of an up-and-coming leader. He grew up with a hands-on approach to learning land management and conservation and has spent the last 15 years learning every angle of the real estate and forest industry. Cole is a member of the Florida Forestry Association, Red Hills Quail Forever, Southeastern Wood Producers Association and he uses this platform as an advocate for landowners and their land investments. His family has dedicated the past 60 years to providing landowners in North Florida and South Georgia with professional land management services focused on improving and protecting one’s forestland and wildlife investment. In fact, their family business, M.A. Rigoni, Inc., was one of the first to introduce whole tree chipping to the Red Hills Region.
As a landowner of his own family farm, Lick Skillet, along with family land that has been passed down and enjoyed together at Keaton Beach for 40 years, Jon knows what it means to be a steward of the last best places. As a third-generation land broker with more than 30 years of experience in advising landowners in this niche, Jon is known for his innate ability to harvest a land’s unique intrinsic value. Touting several notable sales under his belt, Jon personally closed Rock Creek/Molpus – 124,000 acres of premium timberland at $142,000,000 – which was known as the largest timberland land sale in the Southeast for eight years running. He is a co-founding member of LandLeader and achieved the real estate industry’s highest honor, “2022 National Broker of the Year – Recreational Land Sales,” by the Realtors® Land Institute.