United Country Real Estate has been an innovator in marketing lifestyle real estate since 1925. Check out our latest video!

There is no doubt about it … rural real estate is hot.  According to United Country Real Estate, the nation’s largest broker and auctioneer of non-urban real estate, sales experienced a dramatic rise in 2012, resulting in a 27.6-percent increase in annual sales volumes versus 2011.

“While we are pleased by a solid performance for the 2012 calendar year, we are especially excited about our December performance,” said Dan Duffy, chief executive officer of United Country Real Estate. “United Country’s December sales grew an amazing 169 percent over the prior year December sales in part due to record growth in closed sales of ‘investment grade’ farm, ranch, sporting and timberland properties with sale values ranging from $10 million to $50 million and a resurgence in sales of residential homes in the markets we serve.”

According to Jason Cole, chief financial officer of United Country Real Estate, farmland showed the most substantial growth in the land category.

“We achieved a roughly 100-percent increase in both volume and farm acres sold system-wide year-over-year,” Cole said. “We also saw large gains in residential auction sales, which were 41 percent better than 2011. United Country also delivered record farm sale prices for their selling clients in their auction services division throughout Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.”

The rise in land sales and prices is great news for many sellers, who have taken advantage of the high demand for prime land by bringing their properties to the market using both conventional and auction sales. Through United Country’s website, www.unitedcountry.com, buyers are able to search tens of thousands of listings for both traditional land for sale and land auctions across the nation based on specific property details as well as desired location and price.

Many people predicted that farmland values would finally begin to decline in 2012, after nearly 20 years of growth. But, according to the USDA, the historic increase in farmland values continued in 2013. United Country sales volumes in the farm category increased 660 percent for December and 52 percent overall for the year.

Amazing Achievements!

It’s official and the final 2012 United Country office achievement rankings are in. It was a record-breaking year on many fronts, with amazing accomplishments by offices, auctioneers and agents.

The highest GCI (gross commission income) for an office in United Country’s 90-year history leads the pack. The largest single sale in United Country history supported that success. Congratulations to Kurt and the entire team in Columbia, Mo.

Incredible strategies, engagement with the Home Office support team and execution across the board achieved an average 103% growth for this elite group. Double! Amazing. The top 10 offices, many of whom had record years in 2011, grew an average 66%! These offices all have a vision, they plan, they work as partners with the Home Office support team to leverage UC tools, they work really hard, are disciplined and, in the end, achieve great things. A drive for providing better service, professionalism, focus, hard work and team work were the foundation of much of this success. These aren’t just words, they are truths.

Please join us all in congratulating these top United Country offices.

Top 10 United Country Top Offices for 2012!

One of the unique traits of United Country Real Estate as a business organization is the family environment we all experience everyday and speak so passionately about. To honor this tradition and to spread the word about our wonderful company, I’ve started a social media campaign to share the United Country Pride! Please visit one or all of the social media outlets below and share the new, beautifully branded United Country Pride graphic. Let’s paint the Internet blue and green with United Country Pride!

Direct link to the new graphic on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150886181826333&set=a.46074296332.68190.45917616332&type=1&theater

Direct link to the new graphic on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UCRealEstate/status/217983210821394433

Direct link to the new graphic on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/151363237446780275/

Links to our National Brand social media pages:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unitedcountry

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ucrealestate

Google+: http://GPlus.to/unitedcountry

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ucrealestate

Growing up among the Missouri countryside as a child, I was given amazing opportunities to explore the landscape and let my imagination run wild. To my young eyes, the nearby woods were full of magic and provided a unique adventure each and every day. I recall crossing the flat rocks of Fishing River in hopes of finding Jesse James’ long lost treasure. My friends and I would build massive forts out of fallen tree limbs to prepare for an attack from that day’s marauding, make-believe enemies. Our days were filled imagining we were knights, cowboys, explorers and anything else our hearts desired, and the world around us seemed to present unlimited space to discover something new on an almost daily basis.

As I grew into a teenager, I lost my love for those woods. The kids who lived in the nearby suburb seemed to be having all the “cool” fun – hanging out at the pool instead of swimming in an oversized water trough, or skateboarding down endless streets rather than trying to find even the smallest piece of concrete to surf. But as I grow older, I look to my own three sons and can sense their thirst for adventure, making me long to return to the country.

The picture above is my eldest boy Paul. Looking at that picture I’m reminded of my favorite storybook characters when I was his age – Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I don’t think there is a Missouri boy who has not dreamed of following in their adventurous footsteps. As we walked down the sidewalks of our suburban neighborhood last night, he asked me if we were walking down a trail. “It’s a trail if you want it to be,” I said, remembering the real trails I forged in my youth.

Perhaps one day I will take Paul to my old stomping grounds out in the country. If the folks living there now don’t mind, maybe I will show him how to build a proper fort in the woods and we will defend it from unceasing pirate attacks. Then after a successful battle, we could climb a mulberry tree and eat the fruit until our faces are purple and our stomachs ache. And maybe, just maybe, he can help me finally find that lost treasure that Jesse and his gang buried so long ago.

Owning property is a large part of fulfilling the American dream, but how about owning an entire town? Pray, Mont., founded in 1909, was once a famous stopping point for travelers driving to Yellowstone National Park before the highway came to the area. Now you can own it!

The offices of United Country – Mason & Morse Ranch Company of Glenwood, Colo., and United Country – Shobe Auction & Realty of Lewistown, Mont., have entered into a joint marketing agreement to sell the entire town of Pray, Mont., at an auction event on-site on June 27 at 6:30 p.m.

Barbara Walker’s family has run the town since 1953, but when she lost her husband Johnny to cancer in 2006, she found that maintaining the town was too difficult to do alone. She made the decision that it was time to sell Pray and move on to new opportunities.

But Walker said being the owner of Pray doesn’t have to be a difficult job. “The town is pretty low-maintenance,” she said. “You collect the rent once a month and water and mow the lawn. I’m hoping somebody buys it because they want to do something with it.”

This five-acre property features a historic 1950s-style store with two commercial spaces within and space to expand into the remaining five rooms. The store is filled with several antique artifacts that are included in the sale. This build qualifies for historical designation with the State of Montana. The town also has a newer energy-efficient building with commercial space and an apartment. Pray also has established rental income with a U.S. Post Office land lease for their building, which provides the town with its own zip code.

“A zip code … that’s it, plain and simple,” Walker said. “It was the reason for Pray becoming Pray in 1909 and that’s the reason it’s called a town today.”

Pray is located in the heart of Paradise Valley and only 22 miles from Livingston, Mont., 30 miles from Gardiner, Mont., and 30 miles from Yellowstone National Park. It is also near Chico Hot Springs Resort and Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, which offers over 1,000,000 acres of forest land for the public to access year-round.

For more information or to view the property, email United Country – Mason Morse Ranch Company at sales@ranchland.com or visit www.ranchland.com. This auction is being presented in conjunction with United Country – Shobe Auction & Realty, who can be reached at www.UCShobeAuction.com and www.UCShobeRealty.com.

“Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.” Here is a Wordle for the United Country Blog!

Check out this joint-effort ad campaign from United Country Real Estate and our Glenwood Springs, Colo., affiliate Mason Morse Ranch Company. Another excellent way United Country works with its offices to achieve national recognition.

Welcome to 2012, everyone! A new year always brings new opportunities, and 2012 is no exception. As United Country President Mike Duffy recently posted on Facebook, “This year is going to be THE transition year!” Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “transition” as an “evolution from one form, stage, or style to another.”  Whether it is a United Country family member using a company program they hadn’t leveraged before to expand their business or a homeowner deciding it’s time to move out of the big city to greener pastures, people are always look to innovative and creative ways to transition into a better situation. How do you plan to evolve this year? Let us know!