Shawn Smith, United Country’s new affiliate and partner, specializes in complex land planning and valuation assignments, services that are now available to you as a marketing tool.
Earth Asset offers a comprehensive array of specialized real estate advisory services, including planning and valuation analysis for complex asset issues such as conservation and historic preservation easements, family property held in trust and multi-ownership problem solving.
Whether you’re trying to secure a listing, quiet a buyer, or enlighten your clients about viable tax planning options such as conservation, Earth Asset is available to assist you. And, with United Country’s exclusive partnership agreement, you will have the competitive advantage of Earth Asset’s experience and skill set on your team.
Ms. Shawn M. Smith is the founder and manager of Earth Asset, as well as founder and co-owner of United Country’s newest Vermont office, The Legacy Collection, located in historic Woodstock. Her law background is complemented by more than nine years of land planning, appraising and transactional experience.
Shawn’s work is tailored to meet each client’s individual needs, and she often creates work- products intended for intra-family decision-making, internal asset management, pre-acquisition market-edification, conservation opportunity and offer-price substantiation, pre-disposition planning and valuation analysis, and appraisals for IRS estate settlement and charitable gifting purposes. In addition to her advisory services, Shawn has participated in marketing and sales projects totaling more than $45 million.
Shawn has been awarded assignments ranging from 1 to 445,000 acres, routinely valuing properties in the $1,000,000 – $20,000,000 range, and she has more than $450,000,000 of real estate asset evaluation experience. This breadth of work has enhanced her ability to analyze a variety of asset types, especially properties with complicated legal and/or ownership issues, and those considered to be super-luxury. As a result, Shawn has the skill set necessary to provide clients with in-depth analysis of the value-consequences of conserving, holding, developing, selling and buying real estate.
If you have a “must get” listing opportunity, a seller with unrealistic expectations, a property that has been sitting with no activity or clients interested in exploring conservation options, Earth Asset may be able to help. In general, Shawn’s consulting practice is fee-based. However, she has a number of options available that may suit your and your client’s goals and needs. Contact her today to learn more!
Ms. Shawn Smith, Founder and Manager
Earth Asset Partnership and United Country – The Legacy Collection
(802) 457-4818;
Email: shawn@earthasset.com
www.earthasset.com
CASE STUDY: Sawyer Bay Farm
Over the course of Shawn’s career, she has analyzed and valued a wide range of real estate asset types, including coastal and mountainous estates, family compounds, equestrian complexes, inns, gentlemen farms and timberland. Shawn has undertaken assignments all over the country, including a project for Boise Cascade relative to its 200,000-acre holding in Idaho, a luxury equestrian estate in Florida and a premier coastal estate on the eastern shore of Maryland.
One project Shawn successfully completed is the Sawyer Bay Farm, a 287-acre gentleman’s farm located on Lake Champlain in northern Vermont. Through a connection with a former client, Shawn was contacted and asked to help the property owner and his family get a better handle on its value and determine what steps could make the property more appealing to buyers. In other words, Shawn was engaged to first develop an opinion of “highest and best use” and associated market value, and then to manage a market-preparation project.
Shawn was engaged for the Sawyer Bay Farm project in May 2007; the property had been for sale since 2006. Initially listed for $12.5 million, the property had been reduced over time to $6.495 million. According to the listing broker, the property had not received any offers during its time on the market.
In order to transition Sawyer Bay Farm into a property that would present better to the marketplace, as well as to convince the property owner to list it at a defendable, sound price, Shawn spent several days on-site inspecting the property and its improvements, land and shoreline. She also spent several days researching in the town hall, interviewing the state permitting officer via telephone and managing the creation of GIS plans. Finally, Shawn participated in land planning and valuation analysis, prepared a market value report documenting opinion of value and potential list prices with expected days on market, and managed landscape architects, a landscaper, an interior designer and contractors.
Following Shawn’s completion of this engagement, the Sawyer Bay Farm was listed again, this time at Shawn’s suggested price of $4.35 million. The listing broker used Shawn’s GIS plans for marketing and after just three months on the market, the property was put under agreement. Sawyer Bay Farm is a significant success for Earth Asset not only for the activity generated for the sellers, but also for the property’s extremely brief time on the market.
About United Country
United Country Real Estate is the largest integrated real estate and auction company in the U.S. Based in Kansas City, Mo., the company has been an innovator in real estate marketing since 1925. United Country is the only national franchise specializing in country properties. The company supports nearly 675 offices nationwide with a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes one of the largest portfolios of property marketing web sites (over 750 separate sites), publishes seven proprietary real estate catalogs with a cumulative distribution of 1.5 million, an extensive, current buyer database and national advertising of properties to more than 90 million potential buyer prospects a week. United Country has been recognized as a Top 25 Franchise by the Wall Street Journal and among Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500®.
