Brittany Murphy, ALC

I met Koby Rickertsen at the Realtors Land Institute's National Land Conference, over coffee. Or maybe it was bourbon, which at the NLC is usually just the better version of the same conversation. Either way, that is how it tends to go there. The real talking does not happen in the sessions. It happens out in the hallways and at the bar and over breakfast, lanyards still on from the day before, a few hundred land people who genuinely like each other all in one place. And that is the thing about the Realtors Land Institute. It gathers up the real land people and puts them in the same room, and land folks have a way of recognizing their own. Takes about thirty seconds. The ones who have actually walked the ground just sound different than the ones who sell a house on Tuesday and a back forty on Friday. Koby was one of the real ones. And I would like to think I was too. That conference is where this whole company started. Long before there was a sign out front, or a logo, or a single listing, there was the Institute and the people it brought together. So if you want to understand how we think about land, and about the families who own it, this is the place to start. What the Realtors Land Institute Actually Is The Realtors Land Institute, RLI for short, is the land division of the National Association of Realtors. It got its start in 1944, back when it still went by the Farm and Land Institute, and it has spent the better part of eighty years doing one stubborn thing. Taking land seriously as its own profession. And it really is its own thing. Land is not houses. A house has comparable sales right down the street and a roof you can lay your hand on. Land has water rights and mineral rights, access and easements, soil that either produces or it does not, and a whole rulebook about what you can and cannot do with every acre. None of that shows up in a pretty photo. All of it shows up at closing. RLI is built for the people who live in those details. Farm and ranch, timber, hunting and recreation ground, development tracts, raw dirt. Its members are land people through and through. The Room Most Agents Never Walk Into Here is something most folks never find out. Most of the agents out there selling land have never once set foot in that room. They sell houses for a living and handle a piece of ground every now and then, as a favor or a little side trip. To them, land is just a bigger lot. An RLI member made a different choice. Joining up is a way of saying, out loud, that land is the work and not the sideline. It means going through LANDU, the Institute's education program, which gets all the way down into the parts of a deal that catch unprepared people off guard. It means being part of a national network of land specialists who are trading buyers and sellers and hard-won market knowledge back and forth every single day. And it means answering to a real code of conduct under the National Association of Realtors. That is the thing I would look for if I were handing somebody my land. Not the letters after their name. The commitment sitting underneath them. An RLI member chose this work. They keep learning it. They run with the folks who know it best. Those are the kind of agents we are proud to stand next to. A Peak, Not a Gate There is a summit inside the Institute, and it is called the Accredited Land Consultant, the ALC. It takes years to earn. A hundred and four hours of coursework, a big exam, a documented track record of real transactions, peer review, all of it. Most land agents never even attempt it. The ones who carry it tend to move serious volume. The Institute's own 2025 survey put the average ALC at $24.9 million in transactions a year, next to $10.2 million for agents without it. Koby and I hold our ALC. We are proud of that, and we will happily tell you so. But I want to be real clear about this part, because it matters to me. The ALC is a peak, not a gate. The education and the gut instinct that make somebody good at land run through every member of the Institute, designation or not. A strong land agent is strong because of the work they have put in and the ground they have walked, and that does not start or stop with one set of initials. That is the standard our whole team is built on. What Grew Out of That Room Here is the part that still kind of gets me. Koby sells rural land in Nebraska. Quiet country, big sky, ground that has been in the same families for generations. I came up as a development broker in one of the fastest growing towns in America, where the dirt changes hands fast and there is a new rooftop every time you turn around. Two completely different worlds. About as different as land gets. And one organization put us in the same room anyway. That is the thing about the Realtors Land Institute I do not think I will ever get over. It does not matter if you are working a cattle ranch or a subdivision, hunting ground or a commercial corner. If land is your life, there is a seat for you, and sooner or later it sits you down next to somebody you were meant to know. For Koby and me, that turned into a way of thinking we both already had. The people come first. The land follows. Get that order right and most everything else sorts itself out. Get it backward, and it does not matter one bit how good the dirt is. That belief is the whole reason Ironhorse is here. We did not build a company and then go looking for a community to join. We came up through the community, and the company grew right out of it. But the business is not even the biggest thing this organization gave me. I met my husband at a conference too. Now we have got a baby, a few too many animals, and a life I would not trade for anything. Same hallways, same lanyards, same good people, and somehow it handed me my whole family. Koby and my husband are just two of the people I have met through RLI who changed my life. There is a long list behind them. And that is the thing I most want you to understand about this organization, and about us. It was never really about the land. It was always about the people standing on it. What It Means for You When you sell your land, or go to buy a piece, you are handing somebody the keys to one of the biggest things your family owns. The questions that decide whether that deal holds up are the ones you cannot see standing at the gate. You want a specialist on those questions. Not a generalist taking a turn at it. RLI is how you tell the difference. Membership tells you a person chose land, learned it, and put their name behind a national standard. That is the soil we grew out of, and it is the standard we hold ourselves to. Every fence-line walk, every listing, every closing. Same standard, every single time. Frequently Asked Questions What is the Realtors Land Institute? The Realtors Land Institute, or RLI, is the land division of the National Association of Realtors. Founded in 1944, it provides education, standards, and a national network for agents and brokers who specialize in land real estate. What does it mean if my agent is an RLI member? It means the agent specializes in land rather than treating it as a sideline. RLI members pursue land-specific education through LANDU, belong to a national network of land professionals, and hold to a code of conduct under the National Association of Realtors. Is being an RLI member the same as being an ALC? No. The Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) is the highest designation a member can earn within the Realtors Land Institute. A land professional can be a knowledgeable, fully qualified RLI member without holding the ALC. Both mean the person specializes in land. Do all land agents belong to RLI? No. Most agents who occasionally sell land are not members. That is what makes membership a meaningful signal of specialization. Why should I hire a land specialist who is part of RLI? Land carries issues a residential agent is not trained to handle, from water and mineral rights to access, soil, and use restrictions. An RLI member has chosen to specialize in exactly those issues and runs with the people and education that handle them well. Thinking about selling your land, or buying a piece? Come talk to us, y'all. We came up through RLI, we hold ourselves to its standard, and we would love to walk your ground with you. You can also see what we have listed right now.

Celebrating America 250... There is something I have always loved about late summer on American ground. The light turns golden toward evening, the fields go heavy and full, and the whole country seems to lean toward celebration. This year the celebration is a grand one. America is turning two hundred and fifty, and I can think of no lovelier place to mark the occasion than out on the land itself. We tend to remember the country's birthday with fireworks and flags, with picnics and parades, and those things are wonderful. But if you look a little closer at the story of this country, you will find that it has always been, at heart, a story about land. The ground we gather on. The ground we plant. The ground we are fortunate enough to call our own and, in time, to pass along. A Country Built on Beautiful Ground I find it remarkable that some of the oldest American traditions are quiet ones, written into the land long before they were written into history books. In 1785, only a few years past that first Independence Day, the young country sat down and decided how it would measure its ground. It laid the land out in tidy squares. Six miles to a township. Thirty-six sections to a township. A neat 640 acres to a section. That careful grid is still with us. When a land broker today describes a quarter section by its place on the map, they are reading from a plan the country drew before George Washington ever took office. I think there is something rather beautiful in that. The order beneath our fields is one of the oldest American things we have, and most of us walk right over it without a thought. An Inheritance Worth Tending The chapter I love most is the one that filled in the middle of the country. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, and the nation made an extraordinary offer. Settle on 160 acres. Build a home. Work the ground for five years, and it would be yours to keep. The families who answered that call came with very little and built something lasting. Some of the very first claims in the entire country were filed right in Nebraska. They arrived, many of them, by way of the railroad, the great iron horse that carried hopeful families west and set them down within reach of open country. The little towns that grew up along those lines became home, and have stayed home for generations. The name on our sign is a fond nod to all of it. What moves me is that so much of this ground is still in the same families. The great-grandchildren of those first homesteaders are out there today, tending land their people earned one season at a time. That is not just history. That is an inheritance, cared for and handed down, the way the very best things always are. Gathering on the Land If there is a single thing I believe in, it is the joy of gathering, and there is no finer table than the one set out of doors on a warm evening. The Fourth of July has always struck me as a holiday made for the land. We carry the food outside. We spread the quilts in the grass. We let the children run until the light goes soft, and we watch the sky together. This year, when the country celebrates America 250, our beautiful country's two hundred and fiftieth birthday, I hope you will celebrate where it all began, on the ground beneath your feet. Walk the fence line at golden hour. Bring the family out to the place that has held your name for generations. There is no grander setting for an American celebration than the American land. America 250 & Beyond: Keeping It for the Next Hundred Years The most gracious thing we can do with anything we love is to care for it well and pass it along better than we found it. Land asks the same of us. It outlasts every anniversary and every one of us, and it rewards the people who tend it with patience. America 250 is a happy reminder that this country was built on good ground, by people who understood the quiet pleasure of keeping a piece of it. We spend our days alongside the families behind that land, helping them buy it, sell it, and keep it close for the next generation. On the country's two hundred and fiftieth birthday, I cannot think of better work, and we are grateful to do it. If your family is thinking about what comes next for your land, we would be delighted to sit down with you. It is a conversation we always welcome.

Leadership is often discussed in real estate, but rarely in the context of culture, mentorship, and long-term relationships. In this episode of The American Land Seller, Brittany Murphy interviews Brian Reynolds of Ironhorse Land Company to explore what it takes to build a people-first land brokerage. From recruiting and agent development to accountability and company growth, Brian shares practical insights for anyone involved in land, agriculture, and rural real estate. Building a People-First Land Company What does it take to build a successful land company without losing sight of relationships, culture, and accountability? In this episode of The American Land Seller, Brittany Murphy sits down with Brian Reynolds of Ironhorse Land Company to discuss leadership, recruiting, mentorship, and the realities of growing a land brokerage in today's market. Brian shares lessons learned from years in the land business, including how strong company culture impacts agent success, why recruiting should focus on fit over volume, and what it takes to build a team capable of serving landowners at a high level. Recruiting the Right Agents One of the key topics discussed is recruiting within the land industry. Brian explains why experience alone is not enough and why attitude, work ethic, integrity, and cultural alignment often matter more than a resume. The conversation explores how Ironhorse Land Company approaches growth while maintaining the standards and values that define the organization. Leadership in Rural Real Estate Leadership is about more than managing transactions. Brian discusses the importance of mentorship, accountability, and creating opportunities for agents to grow professionally while serving clients at the highest level. Listeners will hear practical insights on building trust, developing talent, and creating long-term success in a competitive industry. The Future of Land Brokerage The land business continues to evolve as technology, marketing, and consumer expectations change. Brian shares his thoughts on where the industry is headed and why relationships remain the foundation of successful land transactions. Listen to the Full Episode Whether you're a landowner, investor, land professional, or someone interested in rural real estate, this episode offers valuable insight into leadership, recruiting, and building a company that puts people first. Listen to the full episode of The American Land Seller featuring Brian Reynolds and hosted by Brittany Murphy.