What Is an Accredited Land Consultant? What Land Sellers Should Know

Most landowners do not sell land very often.

In many cases, the property has been owned for years, leased to a tenant, passed down through a family, or held as part of an estate or trust. When it comes time to consider a sale, there are several decisions to work through before the land ever goes to market.

How should the property be valued? What sale method makes sense? Who is the buyer pool? Are there leases, easements, drainage issues, or tax questions that need to be addressed first?

These are land-specific questions, and they are the reason experience in land sales is important.

One way landowners may identify that experience is through the ALC designation, which stands for Accredited Land Consultant.

What the ALC Designation Means

The Accredited Land Consultant designation is awarded through the REALTORS^® Land Institute. RLI states that the ALC designation is the only land-specific designation backed by the National Association of REALTORS^®.

An Accredited Land Consultant is a real estate professional who focuses on land. That may include farmland, ranch land, recreational land, timberland, transitional land, development land, subdivision land, and other land-based properties.
For a land seller, the designation is a sign that the broker or agent has spent time studying land, completing land-focused education, and working through actual land transactions.

How Does Someone Become an ALC?

RLI requires applicants to complete six LANDU courses. The required core courses are:

• Land 101: Fundamentals of Land Brokerage
• Land Investment Analysis
• Transitional Land Real Estate

Applicants also complete specialty and elective coursework in areas such as agricultural land brokerage and marketing, recreational land real estate, subdivision land development, 1031 exchanges, site selection, mapping, timberland, and energy or environmental assets.

In addition, they must document either at least five closed land transactions totaling $15 million, or 25 separate land transactions. They must also pass the ALC comprehensive final exam, attend a National Land Conference within five years of submitting their portfolio, submit a comprehensive portfolio, provide recommendation letters, and receive approval from RLI.

An ALC has completed land-focused education, documented land sales experience, and gone through review by other land professionals.

Why Should a Land Seller Care?

Most landowners are not involved in the land market every day.

They may know their land well. They may know the tenant, the family history, and how the property has been used. But selling land requires looking at the property through the eyes of buyers.

Before a property is brought to market, several questions should be discussed:

• Should the land be sold by public auction, sealed bid, public listing, or private negotiation?
• Should it be offered as one tract or split into multiple tracts?
• Is there a lease in place?
• Are there tile maps, drainage agreements, easements, or assessments that buyers need to understand?
• Who is the likely buyer pool?
• What information should be gathered before buyers start evaluating the property?

The answers to those questions can affect how the property is presented, who is most likely to be interested, and how buyers evaluate the land.

An ALC can help landowners navigate these questions with confidence.

Where Does the RLI Network Fit In?

The ALC designation also connects a broker to the REALTORS® Land Institute network.

Land professionals who stay connected to other brokers, auctioneers, managers, appraisers, investors, and advisors are often better positioned to understand what is happening in the land market beyond their own office.

Land is local, but good information often comes from a broader network.

What Should Sellers Ask Before Hiring a Land Broker?

The ALC designation is a good sign that a broker has committed to land as a specialty. Still, sellers should ask good questions before choosing who to hire.

Some helpful questions include:

• How much land have you sold in this area?
• What types of land do you usually handle?
• How would you evaluate my property?
• Who do you think the likely buyers are?
• Would you recommend an auction, listing, sealed bid, or private negotiation?
• What information should we gather before going to market?
• How will you communicate with us during the sale?
• How will the land be marketed?

A designation is helpful, but it should be paired with local knowledge, recent experience, and a clear plan.

Accredited Land Consultants at Wingert Land Services

At Wingert Land Services, both Geoff Mead and Chuck Wingert have earned the Accredited Land Consultant designation through the REALTORS® Land Institute.

Their experience includes farmland sales, land auctions, private sales, estate and trust situations, recreational land, and other rural property throughout Minnesota.

Why Work With an Accredited Land Consultant?

Selling land is a major decision. It often involves family history, taxes, leases, estate planning, investment decisions, and questions about timing.

An Accredited Land Consultant has taken additional steps to focus on land. Their education and experience can help a seller better understand the property, the market, the buyer pool, and the options available before making a decision.

Selling land is different, and it helps to work with someone who has made land their specialty.