Bruce & Donna Ratliff
Bruce and Donna joined Jon Kohler & Associates in 2022. In 2020, Bruce recently retired as the Taylor County, Fla. Property Appraiser. While serving three terms in office, he was responsible for property tax-roll submittal on more than one billion dollars annually in property value. He has served in many capacities in the Florida Association of Property Appraisers including President, Vice-President, Secretary, and member of the Board of Directors. He was also appointed to the Legislative and Agricultural Committees of the association for 12 years. His experience in property tax evaluations adds an additional expertise to Jon Kohler & Associates that will assist all our clients. Prior to being elected, Bruce was General Manager of his father’s land surveying business, M.H. Ratliff Land Surveying, for 10 years. This gave him first-hand experience in determining property boundaries, operating GPS equipment, interpreting land descriptions, preparing topography maps, flood zone determination, wetland delineations, subdivision planning and a host of other duties. Bruce was born in Taylor County and now resides in Ocala, Fla. with his wife and real estate partner, Donna.
Donna was born in Lexington, Ky. then moved to Ocala at age 20. Donna owned and operated a trucking company. She was responsible for all banking, insurance, billing, payroll and contracts. She was an active owner for 29 years. She purchased a 377-acre parcel of land in 2000 and developed 237 acres of it into a gated equine community with 19 tracts. She retained 140 acres for her private use and developing a thoroughbred horse farm. For the 21 years that she owned the farm, she bred and boarded thoroughbred brood mares and pinhooked thoroughbred weanlings to yearlings. Bruce and Donna have also raised Registered Black Angus Cattle.
Donna enjoys riding and competed in Western Pleasure, a type of western riding where the horse appears to be a “pleasure” to ride. During which time she won National Championship and Reserve World Championship titles with the Appaloosa Horse Club.
Bruce and Donna also enjoy quail hunting, golf, skeet shooting, redfish and trout fishing along the Florida coast. They love spending time with their dogs, Madison (miniature Australian Sheppard), Bella (Labrador) and Grace (English cocker). Bruce and Donna are partners in a Thoroughbred Racing Partnership Medallion Racing. They enjoy visiting the partnership horses at the training centers and at the racetrack.
Combined Bruce and Donna have four adult children (three boys and one girl) along with three beautiful grandchildren.
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.
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
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.
Prior to joining Jon Kohler & Associates, Walter Hatchett served for 30 years as a land manager to several of the south’s most esteemed properties, including Rock Creek. As a former property manager himself, and a consistently ranked “Top Sales Producer” nationwide and achieved “APEX Top 20 Land Broker” multiple times, Walter has a keen eye for the best in habitat management.
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.
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.
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.