Brittany Hurdle, a land broker at Hurdle Land & Realty, based in Nashville, Tennessee shares 5 things she does to stay on top of her game as a land broker.
Brittany Hurdle, a land broker at Hurdle Land & Realty, based in Nashville, Tennessee, has already made a strong name for herself in the development world after only five years. With a focus on serving national home builder land acquisition managers, as well as national trucking companies with remote truck yards, Brittany’s analytical and creative sides unite helping her to put together great deals between buyers and sellers. She's a very active member of the REALTORS® Land Institute, having received the 2020 Chapter Administrator of the Year Award, and is also a member of CREW Network. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, Brittany was named the 2018 Woman of the Year by The Wilson Post. When she is not busy geeking out over land or working on her new horizontal business ideas, she is obsessing over her labradoodle, Shug, and spending time with friends and family.
Throughout today’s episode of She’s Wild the podcast, Brittany shares her inspiring journey in becoming a land broker which began at a very early age. She provides insights on the latest trends within Tennessee land development and discusses 5 things she does to stay on top of her land brokerage business.
Memorable Moments:
22:04 I never imagined how much I knew about land. It’s second nature to me, because that is the conversations that I would hear my dad on the phone in the truck, or we would sit down at dinner and ask about his day, and he would tell us what was going on. And so it resonated with me and I caught on a lot faster than I ever did trying to sell a house.
26:21 I've read planning commission notes and city council notes. Even when I'm not actually at the meetings for my own clients. Sometimes I just go and sit in because you do have to know what's going on for your clients. If you're good, they expect you to know what's going on.
37:67- I did a lot of digging on Google when I very first started, learning who the local developers were and making those contacts. You just got to reach out to people. It really makes a difference.
40:01- So especially us as perfectionists, and wanting to have all of our ducks in a row and checks in our boxes, like sometimes you can overdo that and sabotage yourself and make yourself think no, like, I don't know everything about this, and sometimes you're not going to and that's okay.
Follow Nancy Surak on Social Media:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nancysurak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/
Website: www.nancysurak.com
Follow Brittany Hurdle on Social Media:
Website: brittanyhurdle.com
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhurdle/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brittanykhurdle/
Brittany’s Book Recommendation:
The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery, Brianna Wiest via Amazon https://amzn.to/3MM7HWs
REALTORS® LAND INSTITUTE (RLI): https://www.rliland.com/
She's WILD Sound Production by:
Luke Surak, Surak Productions: surakproductions@gmail.com
Nancy Surak 0:00
Welcome to She's Wild the podcast for women and land in development. I'm your host, Nancy Surak. I created this podcast as a way to collect conversations of women in the land and development industry. I've been a land broker on the west coast of Florida for nearly 20 years, and I love to empower other women and to tell them about this amazing industry. But I find often that there just aren't enough women being featured on big stages, whether that's at local conferences, or nationally. So I set out to find these women myself, that are killing it in my business across North America that are changing the communities that they live in every single day, whether they're building condos, multifamily, single family, office, or industrial projects. I hope that you will find this space to be inspirational, motivating, and educational. From time to time, I will feature women who are not only in my business, but also career coaches, and motivational speakers. Today's guest is Brittany Hurdle, a fourth generation land broker who's born and raised, and Lebanon, Tennessee. She's a broker with Hurdle Land and Realty. And she's just a pleasure to introduce to you guys, I hope that you enjoy our conversation as we get to know Brittany a little bit better. Hey, Brittany, I'm so excited to see you today. And I'm so glad that you agreed to do this interview with me for She's Wild the podcast all about women in development. We're gonna dive right in, I'm gonna let you go ahead and introduce yourself, tell us where you're from, and what do you do and a little bit about your background?
Brittany Hurdle 1:45
Awesome. Well, thank you for having me. So my name is Brittany hurdle. And I'm a land broker here, outside of Nashville, Tennessee, in a not so small town anymore. I mainly focus on development trucks. I have been a realtor for five years now. But specifically the land industry about two and a half and I would not have it any other way.
Nancy Surak 2:08
Awesome. So throwing it back, tell me how did you first get involved in real estate as an industry, I know you have a little bit of an interesting story. And I want to hear all the way back when you were like a young girl, like, I know you had a great story there. So I want you to share it.
Brittany Hurdle 2:23
So as a little girl, while we were playing house, and everybody wanted to be Mommy, I wanted to be the REALTOR selling everybody in the house. I saw the women on the billboards and the magazines at Kroger, I would always take them on our way out, and I just thought that they were awesome. I grew up with very little and was born to a teen mom. So seeing these women who were in business and so successful is just very encouraging for me, and my mom was actively working, like working really hard to build her career and has got us to where we are today. So that was kind of like the first step. And I was like, I'm going to be a realtor when I grow up. And I was very, very young, like, people can vouch for how long that went on. So then fast forward to when I was in college, I decided not to go away for college, and I did not have a good reason for it. Looking back, I definitely think it was a God thing. I had quit my job, and I was just taking a break. Focusing on school just needed a breather from working. And I had two of my parents best friends approached me and they were like, Hey, we need an assistant. And we know you're interested in real estate, why don't you come work for us. So I started working for them as an unlicensed assistant. And that winter break, I got my license and it took a lot longer than I expected. The night before I actually tried to cancel my test. And I was like, I can't do it, I'm gonna fail, which is not like me at all. But it was just when that's your whole entire life dream, that's a lot to put on a college aged kid. And so I took my test became a licensed Realtor. I was no longer their assistant, really, I was helping out. Tried to sell some houses and my dad was like Brittany, you're gonna hate selling houses. I was like, No, daddy, whatever. So I sold about three houses. I cried writing the last contract on a house. And I was like, “Yeah, I guess real estate just not for me. Like, how did this happen”? Well, so as you know, my dad is in the land industry. And it just never really dawned on me that I knew a lot more about land than I did houses. I just thought houses would be easy. And I guess it's not that it was hard, it just was not appealing to me whatsoever. So I took a year off. I worked for really bad boss and my mom was like you have to come home. You should work for your dad. And I was like uhhh, I had hesitated working for my dad, I wanted to build my own reputation, I didn't want people to think it was just handed to me. And so I finally caved in, we sat down and talked about what that would look like. And it's been full steam ahead ever since.
Nancy Surak 5:19
That's awesome. You know, I didn't grow up thinking I would be a realtor.
Brittany Hurdle 5:23
I don't think most people do
Nancy Surak 5:25
And I had very, very clear memories of playing in the dirt in the backyard, like building things with like the Tonka Trucks, like I used to steal my guy, boyfriend, you know, young friends who had Tonka Trucks, and I had had like Barbie would be like, covered in mud, bricks and sticks. And I tell people a lot, I tell the story a lot, but it makes sense that I'm on in the land side of the business. But what doesn't make sense to me is why I never went into either construction or development. So I keep saying, you know, I'm still young ish.
Brittany Hurdle 5:57
I was gonna say it's not too late.
Nancy Surak 6:03
But that could be something I do in the far future, not right now. Being a broker is enough risk for me. I don't, I don't. My hat's off to any hats off to anyone who gets in the development side of this world, I'ts a lot of fun, but significant risk. So tell me as a land broker, you know, I know this answer. But what are some of the things that you do day to day or week to week in your career? Like, tell me a little bit about if somebody's not familiar, what what do you do exactly?
Brittany Hurdle 6:30
So it's definitely a lot of educating, especially here in Nashville, because we're just now experiencing that kind of boom. And while it's been here a few years, people still really just don't understand how development works. So I find myself like having a lot of conversations with other realtors, I've actually had realtors start reaching out to me, and looking to me for advice, which I'm more than happy to give because they're usually residential realtors, they don't know anything about land. And I just I commend them for you know, saying, “Hey, I don't know about this”. But there's also the flip side, that I deal with a lot of realtors who just think they know it all. And you just kind of have to try to steer them and remind them like, No, you really don't know what you're talking about. Landowners are usually pretty like, I have not come across any landowners who have been too difficult, not at least not that I represent maybe somebody else is landowner because they don't know what they're doing. I don't know how to explain it to the landowner. And I'm always like, Well, I'm happy to explain it to both of y'all. So, lots of educating in this world, I really want to get better about posting educational stuff on like social media. But that's just a whole nother thing. Right now I'm actually getting really into cold calling. A lot of people stopped doing that, and like I'm I'm reverting back to all the things that people stopped doing. People don't send mailers anymore. People don't pick up the phone and calling more and I'm just like, I don't mind to, I connect with landowners, usually pretty well, like I've knock on wood. I mean, I know my time is coming, but none of them have been mean to me yet. But I just approach and I'm like, Hey, if you don't want to talk, that's fine. I'm not going to bother you again. And I'm a local person, because I know they get a lot of out of town phone calls. And so far, you know, they're really nice, they want to talk to you. They want to at least hear what you have to say. And then they're like, No, not really. We actually got a listing like that. We called a lady and she's like, maybe one day but not right now. I'm doing good. But I might need that money in the future, and I have thought about it. Well fast forward about a year and she like, got sick or she fell. She was an older lady. She lived alone, and she had to go into assisted living. And now she wanted to sell her land. So we close that deal for and made her a lot of money. So she doesn’t have to worry anymore.
Nancy Surak 8:56
Yeah, that's great. I'm a huge proponent of like grassroots marketing. I think when somebody goes left, you should be going right. So I'm right with you, I'm here to cheer you on. I definitely think there's something there. And, you know, I tell a lot of folks who do what we do, but in other markets, right? That you know, the return that comes to you when you do a little bit of that work is so is so enormous. So the return on investment is great.
Brittany Hurdle 9:22
It really is. Because the market is so hot right now, most realtors are just like, Oh, it'll come to me. And yeah, that it will. But you can get so much more if you'll just put in the work and pick up the phone and, you know, make those connections.
Nancy Surak 9:36
Yeah, so talking about picking up the phone. That's how we originally met. Yes, thank you. I don't know if it was I think it was a cold call email or cold call. I can't remember.
Brittany Hurdle 9:49
I was like she's too busy for me to call her. Oh, yeah. Maybe I'll get lucky that she will answer
Nancy Surak 9:54
Yeah. So about a year ago, Britney saw me win a national award and literally reached out to me completely cold, I want you to just tell me the story about not to stroke my ego, but just sort of, for the benefit of like younger people who are people who are really like, just need to be reminded of the power of getting kind of like outside of their own comfort zone. Tell me, what made you do it? And then like, take me through what you did, like I lived it with you. So I know. But right now, I feel like we really connected on a personal level since but I just would like to have you share that story.
Brittany Hurdle 10:28
Absolutely. So through the pandemic, obviously, our conferences got cancelled, cancelled, and they were online, which was not, you know, the most exciting thing for anybody and, but it was the best option at the time. So I'm sitting there, you know, kind of barely paying attention, because they're just reading off long list of names. And they're like, in our first female to break into the top 20 land brokers in the nation is Nancy Surak. And I was like, what I was like, I need to know this woman, like, I want to be the next female that breaks into the top 20, so I need to figure out, just talk to her get, you know, little advice. And I never imagined the relationship that we would form from that. I just wanted, you know, your top hit of advice, like that would have been good enough for me and I would have been so happy. So I emailed you, and I was like, you know, maybe I'll hear from her. Maybe I won't. I didn't know anything about you. I had never heard of you before. And you're like, hey, let's set up a call. And I think we talked for an hour, the very first call. And I was like, this woman is awesome. And I'll tell everybody, I'm like, I know the best female land agent in the country.
Nancy Surak 11:43
Love that. No, I wanted you to share that really? Not again, not for me. But yeah, I tell so many young people I have, you know, a 22 year old and a 20 year old daughter. And I tell them all the time, like “Do not be afraid to reach out to somebody who either you admire or you want to learn from” like, either they will have time for you, they will make time for you or that you will never hear from them. Yeah, but the only thing you have to lose is them not getting back to you. You have everything to gain. I'll just be respectful of time, you know, like somebody's what they're willing to give. But, you know, I also tell folks, I'm very quick to call women back in the business. I not that I have a thing against men, but I just feel like we come from just such a different population base, that we really need to help each other out and get those lessons of advice.
Brittany Hurdle 12:34
Yeah, actually, in that same conference, when I reached out to you, I had another younger land agent reach out to me basically saying the same thing. And I was like, what, not me, and then I told her about you, I think she reached out to you too. And we've kept in touch. And it's just, you know, it is a male driven world. And it's, I'd say about 97% are amazing. They're more than willing to help me I've called, obviously, way more men, and they've always answered my call giving me direction, given me help, keep me in mind. But it's just a different connection. Because there's not as many of us in the industry, and we do have different struggles. And we do just have a different way of looking at things. And so we can share our experiences with each other and build each other up. And I love that.
Nancy Surak 13:20
Yeah, I totally agree. And I'm really glad that you did that. And I'm really glad that you are comfortable sharing and telling that story to other people because I think we live in such a a celebrity oriented society where we think you know that people don't want to be bothered. And I'm sure from a celebrity standpoint, you really don't. Right, yeah. But I think most people are here. If you're a good person, you know, you're willing to help someone else. So and look at us now. Yeah, so so getting back to doing deals I want to just find out, do you have a particular deal that you when you look back at your career, and even now and you say, I'm really proud of that? I'm really happy that it happened the way it did and what I learned from it, if you have one I'd like for you just to share the story.
Brittany Hurdle 14:16
I'm proud of all my deals. But I'm still so new, at least I consider myself new that they just mean a lot to me. But actually my very first deal. I mean, it helped because we already had the parcel beside it. But my dad had worked that deal, and then I just went in cold called the next landowner and it was seamless, like I couldn't have asked for a better first deal. They were super kind, super nice. They were representing themselves. They did not have a realtor. They didn't care to have a realtor. Luckily they weren't not ignorant. They weren't you know, they had a little bit of experience behind them. And you know, it goes back to that just picking up the phone and cold calling. I was I don't know, 20, what am I?I'm 26 this year. So I think I was like 23 at the time, like, I don't know, many 23 year olds that just go and call a land owner and like, Hey, do you want to sell and then explain it to them. And my dad really allowed me to just walk that through, of course, he was there for any questions that I had, but I handled all of it. I handled all the paperwork and meeting with the right people and making sure that the communication was there. And that really, you know, put me in headfirst and helped me figure things out. And once that deal closed, I was like, Okay, I know what I'm doing.
Nancy Surak 15:35
That's awesome. And you'll have that experience on every single deal. You'll be like, Okay, I never saw that before. I know what I'm doing now.
Yeah, for sure.
I've been almost heading into 20 years of this. I'm like, Oh, I've never seen that before. Yeah. Okay, now I know how to handle that. So So now you've told me about a favorite deal? Can you tell me about something that either and no pun on your last name hurdle have had to overcome or a failure in a deal or a major disappointment, a deal that occurred or that you struggled with, like, tell me about kind of the grit side of an experience that you went through.
Brittany Hurdle 16:15
So before the market just went crazy. My dad was like, There's no sense in sending MLS deals because they are looking at those, they get those like, we don't need to waste their time with those. Well, one came through. And what I figured out is actually most my landac, people don't have the time to even look at the MLS now, and so they love it when I shoot them in text. And I'm like, hey, this just hit the market. Because a lot of agents just don't understand who to call. So they just throw it on the open market instead of just working it. So I found one on the MLS. It's been almost a year and a half ago. And it has been a total dumpster fire. It was originally supposed to close in three months, and we still haven't closed now. I think we're going to close by the end of the month. And there has just been challenge after challenge. But really what it all boiled down to is communication. So at first I was really caught off guard, I was super bended just by the sellers and their agent, but it's taught me how to handle people and get them to think what you want to thank with my while making them think it's their idea, which I've always been pretty decent at, but this one was just particularly challenging. Even up until this week, there was another miscommunication. And I finally like had to learn to sit back. I remember he called me one day, the agent was like, You're right, they were totally bluffing. And I'm like, Yeah, dude. So as I'm going to assume that's going to be one of my top three worst deals of my life. But it has taught me a lot about communication, being careful what you say, making sure your butt's covered, and you know, directing people in the right direction when they're very stubborn.
Nancy Surak 18:04
Yeah, good. Great, thank you for sharing that. It's hard, I think, for us to admit about challenges that we've had to overcome or failures, you know, and what I say to people is, you know, that's where you learn.
Absolutely
Great, flawless deals are awesome. They're like the best, because you don't lose sleep over them, but the ones that make you work your tail off is that's where you learn.
Brittany Hurdle 18:27
Yeah. So add to that I, there were a lot of questions that I could have asked on the front end, like if you would have probably asked all the right questions in the front end, because you have a lot more experience than I do. So now, like when it was marketed in one way. And that was not at all where the deal is at, and so that's been the issues, we're still working on approvals that we thought we already had going into the deal. So now I know exactly what kind of questions to ask and kind of have like a bullet point list of like, is this really done? Or where are we actually in the process?
Nancy Surak 19:05
I think I read on your social media that you have a 12 point question, or bullets that you go through. And I was like, Ooh, okay, I've been doing this for a long time. But I Oh, I need that. You know.
Brittany Hurdle 19:17
It was actually, my dad created it and gave it to me like on that first day. And he's like, before you send anything out, you need to check this and I was like, okay, and I stuck with it. And I have shared it with a lot of land agents more than happy to It's not rocket science, but a lot of agents. All agents, not even land agents have a problem with like, putting written systems in place, like you have a system of how you do it, and a process, but you don't actually have it written down. And for me, like I'm a perfectionist, so I can go back and read that list three times and be like, Yep, I got all of it.
Nancy Surak 19:50
Yeah, it makes a huge difference when you're talking to somebody in the development world, right? Like, if you can clear off all those questions with certainty, or at least a, some level of certainty, right? Because I don't know about in Tennessee, but certainly in Florida, it depends on who you ask for the question the answer, you're gonna get to the question. But if you can at least say, okay, yes. Utilities are there check? Yes. Here's what the zoning is check. Yes. Here's what the future land use is check. It just makes getting through the folks that you were pitching the deal to so much easier, because they don't have to go there to go dig that information. Yeah. So. So that's really good that your dad taught you that. So just for the benefit of of our audience, you know, you talked about you coming and working with your dad, but I don't think you gave kind of like the historical perspective of the family business and the history there. You know, I know you said I wanted to make it on my own. And but you do come at it from a little bit about you kind of grew up with it. So why don't you just share that?
Brittany Hurdle 20:56
Yeah, so I did grow up with it. My dad adopted me when I was it's been 10 years this year. So I wasn't 15, I would have been 14, I guess. So when him and my mom met, I was like, sold. We like this guy. He's a realtor. At the time he is with Keller Williams, but he comes from he is the third generation of his family. So since he adopted me, I'm the fourth generation. And the way that it started out is that my great grandfather, my grandfather would go and buy tracts of land and chop it off, chop it up and sell them, and owner finance them. And they call them baby farms, because they'd be like 10 acre tracts or so. So my dad took over that business several years ago when my grandfather passed away. And my dad has been in the industry 30 years now. So he's been doing this for a long time. He did it on his own for a little while. So he understood how I felt about you know, being hesitant to come into the family business, because he'd been there done that. And he's kind of always been in the development side, because he did understand it from growing up around it and watching his own family develop. And so he does exactly what we did back when Atlanta was the place that was on fire. So he did have that knowledge. And he was already kind of ahead of the game once Nashville became the hotspot. So yeah, we have I mean, like I said before, I never imagined how much I knew about land like, it is second nature to me, because that is the conversations that I would hear my dad on the phone in the truck, or we would sit down at dinner and ask about his day, and he would tell us what was going on. And so it did, it resonated with me. And I caught on a lot faster than I ever did trying to sell a house. Yeah,
Nancy Surak 22:50
I just think there's something special about this business, too. I mean, I don't know about you, but one of my most favorite things, is getting out and meeting with a landowner and walking their property, whether that's a five acre piece of property or 5000 acres like that is the highlight of my career. My week, my the month, you know, like when I get out, especially if it's a nice day. There just really isn't anything better. And then knowing that piece of property either may stay what it is. Border in our cases often are turning into masterplan communities or apartment complexes. And, you know, when I drive down the road, I tell people, yeah, I did that deal. Well, I didn't build it. I didn't design it. But I still take ownership that it was mine.
Brittany Hurdle 23:40
Yes because it would have happened if you I mean, obviously, eventually they happen. But if you hadn't been the starting force of it?
Nancy Surak 23:48
Well, you know, you say that, but I've actually been thinking about this recently to the significant impact we have as the land broker on something we list is to the direction it goes.
Brittany Hurdle 24:00
Ultimately. exactly Yes, absolutely. Because so you're right about that
Nancy Surak 24:04
You guys have zoning up there. And Tennessee?
Brittany Hurdle 24:06
Yes.
Nancy Surak 24:07
So zoning depending on where you're located, depending on the town and the municipality that governs that can mean a lot of different things. But it's really just kind of a framework of what's allowed on the property. But when I look at a new assignment, and I'm setting in and I'm like, okay, who's the most likely buyer who needs to be here? What's missing from the community? What can this be? It's the creative side of the business, right? Like I think you mentioned once you're very numbers oriented, me too, but it's the creative side where I go, okay, who am I pitching this to? What does this what does this community A. need and what could make this like a better place? And when I study that and I go, I'm pitching certain types of buyers, how do you do so I know like that is the influence im leaving behind now. Now sometimes it doesn't work, and I can get those people there. But quite often I'm like, I knew that was gonna work. I knew it.
Brittany Hurdle 25:07
That's a huge deal in our industry from the development standpoint is knowing, I keep his full spreadsheet of where my clients want to be and what kind of product they want there. So I know when I look at a piece of property, I'm like, Oh, it doesn't fit for them, but it does fit for them. And this is what they can do, and how many units they can probably get. And these are the hurdles that they're going to deal with when they go in front of planning commission and city council. So yeah, that is super creative. And you do have to kind of work through all the ins and outs of that.
Nancy Surak 25:39
Right, I also tell people and I'd love to know if you agree with this statement or not as a land agent or specialist or broker, you have to know so much about what's happening in residential and commercial real estate. I tell people all the time. I'm a general, I'm a general, I'm a land specialist. And in my case, a land advisor like I know land. I have to know everything that's going on in the market.
Brittany Hurdle 26:06
So on Saturday mornings, I wake up, and I go take a drive, because there's always something new, something different. It's gotten very hard to keep a handle on. I've read Planning Commission notes and city council notes. Even when I'm not actually at the meetings for my own clients. Sometimes I just go and sit in because you do have to know what's going on in your clients. If you're good, like, er, they expect you to know what's going on. And I actually just had that exact conversation with one of my clients the other day.
Nancy Surak 26:36
Yeah, it's, I'm glad that you said I get in my car. Because when I came up doing this forever ago, we did. Google Earth was just beginning. And it is not the robust tool that it is today. Even though I use a proprietary mapping system, I still am in that application a lot. But there was no such thing. We had paper maps, and you would have to drive communities. So you are areas and you'd say, Okay, well, you know, I share this a lot too, like you, I still drive every single opportunity and listings, if I'm going to pitch it, I drive it, if I'm going to pitch a listing, or give a proposal on a listing, I drive it. If if I'm going one place to the next and there's a piece of property in the middle that I want to go after, for whatever reason I drive it. And it's because you just can't see so many things on a computer screen. I had a listing once that I was about to hit the send button on a proposal. And I decided I was like, Oh, I didn't get to drive this. I jumped in my car and I drove it and literally like I got to the property and I almost had a heart attack. Because I drive up to the property and there's this enormous power line, like right smack through the middle of it that I couldn't see on Google Earth. It just you couldn't see it because when the picture the satellite pictures were taken, the sun was like directly over the property. And so there was no shadow. You could not see it, and I was like, Oh, that's pretty impactful. And I'm when I'm talking about massive, I'm talking about the really, really bad ones that are 12 feet wide
Brittany Hurdle 28:17
The major power lines.
Nancy Surak 28:21
wide, the base are 20 feet wide at the base and I was like, yeah, that's going to be a problem. It completely changed my entire proposal, epsilon and desire to work on it. I was like, I'm never gonna sell that. So, so taking a step back, and he talked about the red hot market up in Tennessee, and right outside of Nashville, Tell me what are some of the trends that you're seeing right now in your market as it relates to land or even general like commercial real estate?
Brittany Hurdle 28:52
Trends? As in, like, what landowners are thinking what's happening?
Nancy Surak 28:57
Yeah, whatever comes to mind.
Brittany Hurdle 28:59
So a big issue is land owners having unrealistic thoughts on how much their land is worth, because they're like, Oh, these big guys will pay or whatever. And it's like, wrong, they have a model and it has to fit in the model. And if they don't have these margins, then no the deal doesn't work. Also unrealistic expectations of closing time. They were like, No, I want to close tomorrow. And it's like, well, actually, we need 12 months to make this deal work and to know if it works. And if it doesn't like you get the knowledge and you know how to move forward with the land, but we can't just close on it without actually knowing what it can do and yield. We have an idea of what it can do, but we have to confirm that. I'm definitely seeing a lot of pushback from cities. They're putting in more design standards, higher impact fees, just making it harder and harder because again, they're like, Oh, if they want to be here, they'll pay and it's like, well, no, they'll just go to the next community where they're not being attacked as much and they're more welcome. A lot of people don't understand that you really do have to get it while the getting's good, like, it's not going to be this way forever. And the other thing is I'm definitely seeing my builders are giving huge incentives to the city. They're like, Hey, we're gonna come in and donate acreage for park and pay $10,000 per house so that you can do whatever the hell you want to do with those $10,000 for each house. They're getting really creative in ways to cities. I'm trying to think what else? I’m definitely seeing a lot of pushback for anything multifamily, they're wanting single family.
Nancy Surak 30:42
It's just, it's what do you think think is driving the fear of multifamily.
Brittany Hurdle 30:48
More people, they don't want the community to change. It's been a small town, they don't want more people. They don't want out of towners, and it's like, it can't stay little forever. And another trend that I'm seeing, I saw somebody, they posted that more houses were coming to my town, and people were commenting. I was like, oh, that's just awful. I came here from Nashville to get away from this. And I'm like, okay, so you just admitted like, then move another 15 minutes out like, and half the time? Yeah, they came from Nashville. But then when you go to their Facebook profile, it's like, from Ohio, from Missouri. And I'm like, you're not even from here. It's one thing when you're born and raised here, your family has a long legacy and owns farms and stuff. That I can understand that when you're an out of town or yourself like, you can't say that.
Nancy Surak 31:42
I just have to share this story. I once had a neighbor this is probably 15 years ago, I came up to me and he said, Hey, we lived in a community, you know, traditional regular residential community came up to me, I was getting mail out of my mailbox, and he goes, Hey, we're buying a 10 acre piece of property in Dade city, which is a more rural town north of Tampa. And he said, we love it. We're so excited. We're moving to the country. And I'm like, congratulations, that's great one, why don't you use me? Right? They get like, oh, okay, that would have been a nice deal. And I said, that's great. You know, congratulations. And he said, Yeah, I have a question for you. And I was like, okay, he said, there's 1000 acres like that we look out on across like, right, the property backs up to him, because he makes sure that that never gets developed by it. It's like waving. I said, you buy it. And he goes, Wait, why? And I go, you buy you buy it, if that's where you can control the property next door is you buy it. And I think you know, at least for me, like I get wanting to have pub, good communities and public communities. But I'm just a staunch just believer in property rights. And I'm like, listen, like that 1000 acre property has rights, your 10 acre owner, you can't tell them what they can do with your land because you move there to take advantage of their view. Like they should have a right to do what might ultimately get done with that property. So yeah, let me thank you for letting me go on that little ant. So So speaking, we talked about some hurdles and challenges. Have you ever dealt with anything like super strange on a deal? Or like really creepy or weird?
Brittany Hurdle 33:35
Let me think through. Not yet. The strangest thing I would say is a property we're under contract on and I think is getting ready to close. They can't build during certain parts of the year because of a rare Salamander.
Nancy Surak 33:56
That happened to me in Florida. Yeah, it's like a blue sink.
Brittany Hurdle 34:01
I don't even know what this one is. I'll have to look at the documents. And it was disclosed to us before we went under contract, but like we literally cannot build during certain months of the year, because that's their gestational period. And they have to be left alone. I don't know anything about salamanders. So if anything, anybody knows anything about salamanders please explain to me why we're trying to protect them.
Nancy Surak 34:22
So So mine wasn't really a salamander. It was like a sink, which is basically a fancy word for like a lizard. Right? And it's like a blue or kind of silver color. And they only live at certain altitudes. So it was a it was a property that was high. It was like 70 feet above the the sea level is a sea level. So it was like a really high and dry property. And they're like yeah, you have to do a biology or biological like resource investigation. I was like for what? And then they learned I was like blown away actually did a whole article on it, like what the whole process was I went out to the property because I wanted to learn Yeah, When they were doing there, they laid down these two by two like plywood boards, every two feet on this was like 40 acres, I think it was on believable the amount of they had whole team. And they laid these boards all over the property. And then went back two weeks later and lifted each board and like documented what they saw under it to determine whether or not there was like live sink activity. And I'd never encountered it was protected species. And I was like, Oh, well, this is a new one. You know, but it was really interesting, because it gets the way the Florida law, the way the law is written it really only it's so specific that this species only lives in certain counties too, Yeah, so because it needs a certain type of soil, certain type of elevation and some other things, but I guess they're considered protected, because they're part of this ecosystem that was in danger. So it was like, you know, they are the food for something else. And I was like, Oh, are they the food that they consumed was a problem, you know, so, like a good removal, you know, if you remove them from the ecosystem moves can be problematic. So I think,
Brittany Hurdle 36:12
Biology was not my favorite, so I would never even think that far into it.
Nancy Surak 36:17
Yeah, we either. But it was very interesting nonetheless. So I know that the audience knows that you originally contacted me for advice, I'd like to turn the table, if somebody contacted you, that was either just getting started out or that was going into the development field, young woman. And she said, Hey, Brittany, I want to do this. What's some advice? What would you tell them?
Brittany Hurdle 36:42
So I actually usually point people to the ROI website, because when I very first got started, I was able to read a lot of materials on the blogs and listen to the podcast. And that gave me at least more footing in could hear from very well, well into their career individuals, like you're on the podcast. So I've definitely directed some women towards that. I would just say, you know, pick up the phone and call somebody, call me call, you just call somebody. And just pick their brain because honestly, having those connections, you know, I've reached out to you on multiple occasions of things going on in my business that are frustrating or hindering me and just being able to talk to you about it and get your input. And just your insight gives me more confidence to be like, Okay, it's not that big of a deal just or this is how I handle it. And now I feel more comfortable moving forward, like you're not alone, you don't have to be alone. And we do live in 2022. So Google is your friend. And he can find out a lot. I did a lot of digging on Google when I'm very first started, like, learning who the local developers were, like making those contacts, you just got to reach out to people. It really makes a difference.
Nancy Surak 38:02
And I'm glad you said that one thing just kind of popped in my into my mind. Cause you said Google is your friend. So as a broker, and I'm sure I know, we've talked about this as well. We at least I think you do, to really work hard to protect our clients, right? And I do a significant amount of research on buyers that I don't know, know, and individuals. So Google is your friend, because you can go in and really comb through like who that is, what are the projects? Have they done? Have they ever been sued? You know, if they have been, you know, a party to a litigation lawsuit like why? There's so much information available now that we never I never had back in the beginning. So I'm glad that you said Google is your friend, because it really is you can go down the Google rabbit hole though and waste a lot of time, but it is really beneficial to help us stay educated and on top of our game. So as we wrap up, and I always like to ask two questions really, for the benefit of the audience, really, for myself, I'm a big proponent of audiobooks because I walk my dog early in the morning, and that's when I listen to my audiobooks. I'm not a reader of rom com or romance novels, I'm very much into like self help and keeping my mind like really motivated. So I'd like to just ask you the question of Have you listened or read a book or have listened to a podcast recently that you have found incredibly inspiring? And if so, what what is that?
Brittany Hurdle 39:47
Yes, I had to look it up on my Kindle to figure out who is the author. So it's called the mountain as you move on. Let me I'm 25 years old Hold on, I'm still not that great at dealing with the mountain is you transforming self sabotage into self mastery. So especially us as perfectionist and wanting to have all of our ducks in a row and checks in our boxes, like sometimes you can overdo that and sabotage yourself and make yourself think no, like, I don't know everything about this, and sometimes you're not going to and that's okay. And so that is by Brianna wiced. And I have loved it, it applies to my business life and my personal life.
Nancy Surak 40:34
And that is not an audiobook, or is it just think you can get it
Brittany Hurdle 40:38
I think you can get it on audio. I'm old school I like to read but I read it on Kindle because I'm usually when I find a book, I want to start reading it like, right, that's a second and I'm not willing to wait on it or write it down.
Nancy Surak 40:47
Well, that's great. Well, we'll we'll put that in the I'll put that in the show notes. I was just curious. Because I was like, Oh, I have to download that. Now great. I also wanted to give you an opportunity if you'd like to share like how could the listeners follow you on social media? Where could they keep up with your adventures and or your career as it continues to unfold?
Brittany Hurdle 41:09
So my personal handle on Instagram is Brittany K is and Kate hurdle. And then we're on Facebook and Instagram @hurdlelandTN as in Tennessee. And I'm also on LinkedIn. I've kind of been slacking a post a lot on my stories of like day to day, I'm not so good about posting like in the feed. So
Nancy Surak 41:33
yeah, I I go back and forth. But I'm always just sort of like, well, two people care. And then here I am, you know, nine o'clock on a Tuesday night and I'm just like trying to unwind and I'm looking at everybody else's feed, or are the stories and I find it especially women, man, I'm like, I find some good stuff like good, like motivational things. So I appreciate that, that you're allowing our listeners to follow you. I want to thank you again for joining us. I can't wait to see where your career takes you. You know, I'm always a resource here for you down here in Florida. And I hope that we see you on that stage. You know, really soon. I know it's super competitive and can be really overwhelming. But it's just one deal at a time, Brittany and just you know, go be great. And if I can ever help you, you let me know.
Brittany Hurdle 42:24
Well, thank you so much, Nancy, for having me in being the best mentor ever.
Nancy Surak 42:28
Oh, thank you talk to you soon. Yes. Hi. Thank you for joining us for another episode of she's wild the podcast for women and land and development. If you enjoyed today's show, please go out and rate us so that we can be found by other women in our industry. And if you know women who are working in land and development, please share this podcast with them. And if you know a total rock star woman, badass chick who is killing it in land and development anywhere in North America. I want to know who she is. Please reach out to me so that I can feature her on an upcoming episode.