WORKING LANDS INITIATIVE™
A Value-Creation Program for Farms, Timberland & Ranches
Sell not for what your land produces today — but for what it can become.
You’ve worked your whole life to care for your land. It’s more than an investment. It’s a legacy. Today, land value is shifting.
The most profitable properties aren’t measured by crops, cattle, or timber anymore. They’re measured by recreation, privacy, and experience.
Our Working Lands Initiative™ helps farm, timberland, and ranch owners capture that transformation. Selling not just for what your land produces today, but for what it can become.
OUR TRACK RECORD
We Aren’t Typical Land Brokers
We Don’t Just List Land —We Show What It Can Become.
For 35 years, we represented investors converting timberland and farms into premier recreational properties — for enormous profits. We didn’t stumble into this niche. We created it. Now we offer that same knowledge and buyer network to sellers of working lands.
Our proprietary model shows how your land can transition to high-value recreational use — clearly outlining costs, risks, and upside so buyers see its true potential. On some properties, our approach has documented 27% to 102% more value on the exact same land.
Results We Delivered Last Year Alone
“If someone owns working lands and wants to sell for a premium, what they need to do is show its unique intrinsic value. That’s worth a lot more today than the land’s annual income. The problem is most working landowners don’t understand how to do it — and they are missing the market of a lifetime.”
— Jon Kohler
The Decision
For Landowners Considering Selling,
There Are Two Options.
One captures what your land is truly worth. The other leaves that value on the table — for the next buyer to monetize while you watch.
Talk to Us First
Let us show you your land’s true intrinsic value before you commit to anything. One call. No obligation. We’ll be direct about whether our model fits and what it could mean financially for your family.
- ✓ Free property evaluation zero obligation
- ✓ We convert your land’s value on paper you do not lift a finger
- ✓ 27% to 102% more value documented and proven
- ✓ Immediate access to 61% of buyers already in our Rolodex
- ✓ National buyer pool not just local production market interest
- ✓ Cash buyers who do not need appraisals or financing
Status Quo
List “As Is” With a Regular Broker
Ignore the intrinsic value and never explore the difference we could make. This is the path most landowners take and the reason so many properties resell shortly after for far more than the original seller received.
- → Limited to local production market buyer pool
- → Valued solely on current crop, cattle, or timber output
- → Misses the recreational market premium entirely
- → Hidden value donated to the next buyer to monetize
- → Exposed to lender dependent buyers in a high rate environment
- → No conversion expertise no national reach no vision
How Vision Changes Value
These are real stories and real families who chose this model and saw the difference firsthand.
The Working Lands Initiative gives landowners a path to sell based on what their land can become, not only what it produces today.
Timber → Recreational · Georgia · 6,000 Acres
Southlands
Former International Paper industrial timberland repositioned as Georgia’s premier recreational property. Sold to boxer Jake Paul — the highest-priced recreational land sale in Georgia history. The land didn’t change. The vision did.
2× Its Timber Value
Cattle Ranch Resale · 489 Acres
Bar-C Ranch
Another broker sold it. We resold the same 489 acres by documenting its recreational — not just ranch — potential. Same land. Same fence lines. Completely different result because we showed buyers what it could become.
+102% Over Prior Sale
Previously Unsold · National Brokerage Failed
Ox Lake Tree Farm
A national brokerage couldn’t move it. We repositioned the property’s intrinsic recreational identity — reframing what it was and who it was for — and closed at a regional record price. The model is everything.
Regional Record Sale
“This sale perfectly illustrates why we consistently sell above appraisal. You could say we set record prices — or simply that we sell for the land’s true market value, one that remains hidden to most. The result is the same. Others just don’t know this niche the way we do.”
— JON KOHLER
Single Property · MULTIPLE OfferS
Pettis Springs
We represented this multigenerational legacy property with a $3.1M appraised value. Two immediate offers came in at full appraisal. We advised holding and relied on our model. The property sold for 20% above appraisal with a backup offer in place.
SOLD FOR 20% ABOVE APPRAISAL
value revealed → PREMIUM CAPTURED
Lone Pine
We repositioned this property from an abandoned farm into Legacy Sporting Lands™. It was previously listed at $6,000 per acre with another broker and sat for over a year with no offers. We revalued and brought it to market at $8,000 per acre. The property sold quickly at a 26% premium over the prior listing price.
26% PREMIUM OVER PRIOR LISTING
Timber → Grass-Fed Ranch · Corporate Client
Madison Oaks Ranch
For Bubba Burgers, we converted a timber tract into one of the top grass-fed ranches in the Southeast — transforming a production asset into a premium operational property that matched a national brand’s specific vision.
Full Vision Conversion
“This result underscores what we believe: when land is marketed with intention and respect for its legacy, its true value is realized.”
— lori bembry weldon
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.