Jon Kohler, JD
Jon Kohler’s professional career is dedicated to the specialty 
brokerage, advising, and marketing of quail plantations, ranches and recreational land. Named "The Plantation Broker" by Garden & Gun Magazine, his passion for conservation has led him to develop a unique market niche representing landowners who practice good land stewardship and marketing these properties world-wide.
Jon is a member of both the Florida and Montana Bar and has a Juris Doctorate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan and a Bachelor’s Degree in both Real Estate and Small Business Management from Florida State University. He first obtained his salesman’s license 27 years ago after discovering his passion for unique, environmentally sensitive land and sporting properties. He founded Jon Kohler & Associates in 1991. He went on to earn his law degree to be able to provide the highest level of representation to landowners and investors. In 2001, he was retained to represent Rock Creek Capital on a semi-exclusive basis and helped them create one of the finest portfolios of investment grade high quality land and plantations in the southeast.
In 2008, when he couldn’t find a marketing firm that understood the nuances of marketing unique properties to high net worth individuals he co-founded Plantation Marketing Group. It is the only company of its kind to focus on this specialty niche. In 2014, Jon co- founded LandLeader ® which in the first three years as a start-up closed more than $3.4B in land across 35 states. Jon personally was the #1 salesman (top sales by individual) in 2015 and the #2 salesman in 2016 & 2017. LandLeader is now the largest land marketing company in America. Today, Jon serves on the Board of Directors and with Kohler and Associates has a combined annual marketing budget of over $1.6M.
Jon Kohler and Associates expanded in 2015 to South Carolina and now represents landowners & buyers in all seven quail "plantation belts" across the Southeast. Jon and his partner, Erica, have personally closed over 268,000 acres and $896,000,000 in sales since 2010 alone. Today, Jon is regarded as one of the most experienced high quality land brokers and marketers in the Florida, Georgia, and Alabama markets, and is now offering the same commitment to landowners and buyers in South Carolina. He is contacted by almost all plantation sellers and is a source of due diligence for almost all buyers in this specialty niche.
Notable sales made by Jon include Greenwood Plantation (4,000 acres for $22M to a conservation buyer), Southern Heritage In Albany (7,000 acres), Disston Plantation 4,200 acres (closed twice), Rock Creek/Molpus (124,000 acres that at $142,000,000 held title as the largest land sale in the southeast for 8 years), Longpine Plantation (6,000 acres/Ford family’s Thomasville quail plantation), and A-Cross Ranch (Saratoga, Wyoming/Regarded as one of the top three fly fishing ranches in the Lower 48), to name a few. Jon also has an agricultural passion and was instrumental in Hickory Foods “Bubba Burger” finding a headquarters ranch for their grass fed beef and helped Bill Gates and others convert old farms into irrigated farmland. Today, high quality agriculture, ranches and timberland continue to be a large part of their practice.
Jon also developed Centerville Conservation Community, the first conservation community in North Florida/South Georgia that preserved over 70% of the 975 acres in open space, lakes, trails, etc. Today, the 200 lot conservation neighborhood is respected nationwide and regarded as one of the finest developments in Tallahassee and a win-win between development and conservation. It’s the only development of its kind with controlled fire being a part of HOA dues.
Jon and his wife and business partner, Erica, have two young sons, Greyson and Ashton. They own Lick Skillet which is managed for wildlife, timber, grass-fed beef, and hunting and is located south of Thomasville and just east of Tallahassee which the main portion of the property is protected by a conservation easement with Tall Timbers and portions under easement with the SRWMD. The property has over 1.5 miles on the pristine Aucilla River, the site of one of the first two ranches in Spanish Florida and is one of the largest privately held tracts on the Middle Aucilla. Along with his two sisters, Jon also owns the Blue Creek Coastal Preserve that his parents first founded almost 50 years ago and where his passion developed for land stewardship.
Jon serves on the national board of Pheasants/Quail Forever which is the nation's largest non-profit organization dedicated to upland habitat conservation having more than 140,000 members and spent more than $702M on habitat since its conception. Jon and Erica are both life members of the NRA and Jon is also one of the original Tall Timbers' "100 Stewards of the Red Hills".
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.