Roger and LaVonne Aberle
Kansas Top Agents
Roger and LaVonne Aberle
By Janice Kneisley
For 39 years Roger Aberle and his wife and real estate partner LaVonne busily maintained a farm in the Morrill , Kansas area that included raising livestock , planting crops on their land along with raising three children . When they sold the livestock portion of their farm 15 years ago in 1998 , Aberle continued to farm by himself , letting go of the hired help . But after the first two years Aberle discovered he was at loose ends with additional time on his hands . “ I had extra time on my hands and started looking for some other type of enterprise to do part time , especially during the winter months , I wanted to do something more productive than the coffee shop .” “ We explored a number of things and through several events we were led to the real estate business .” As luck would have it , Barnes Realty was just establishing a new satellite office in Hiawatha , Kansas , expanding from their current location in Mound City , Missouri . After several meetings with Jamie Barnes , Aberle decided to attend a weeklong real estate class in Kansas City , but he wasn ’ t going alone , LaVonne would also take the class .
TEAM WORK “ They had an opening that June and my wife said ‘ If you ’ re going , I am going too . We have worked together all these years and we are not going to quit now .’
So after a one-week class and taking the real estate exam , both husband and wife became license real estate agents in 2000 . In 2002 they went to full time agents for Barnes Realty , licensed in Kansas , Missouri and Nebraska . Aberle ’ s successful transition from one career to another has much to do with his agriculture background . “ For example , I was showing a piece of property to a couple from Florida and they were asking me about the different species of grasses and weeds in the field as we were walking across the pasture and towards the pond . Luckily with my farming background I could identify them .”
He also stays in tune with current market changes and interest rates , subscribing to several internet list serves as well as face to face time with the farming community .
That hands on agriculture background gives Aberle an edge when it comes to selling land .
LAND EXPERT “ I lived thru the ag depression of the 1980 ’ s and it is similar to the depressed housing market that started in 2008 . As far as residential , we are just now beginning to make a recovery five years later . We have had historically low interest rates . In recent months the rates have tweaked a bit according to a lender I track , the rates
have raised a quarter of 1 % from May to June , and that will fluctuate on a daily basis but we are still very competitive . I think there ’ s a danger if we see a rapid escalation of interest rates but most farm buyers have locked in their rates for at least five years . The other thing that we are finding is that most land buyers are not heavily leveraged into the purchase of farmland , they buy with cash and not borrowed money . Commodity prices and good yields and the higher guarantee of revenue have all helped to drive land prices up .”
I CAN DO THIS Aberle ‘ s enthusiasm can be traced back to his first year in real estate sales 13 years ago .
“ We had listed a 1,000 acre ranch in SE Kansas and I was given the opportunity to work that sale . The broker , Rick Barnes and his son Jamie and myself went down to tour the ranch and I came away from that initial exposure thinking , ‘ I can do this .’ I understood why he had developed the ranch the way he did and thought I can represent this property and do it honestly and do so with accurate information . I had generated five different prospects over several months and Rick went with me for one of the first showings . Afterward Rick said , “ You ’ re on your own , you can do this .’ We ended up selling that piece of property for over $ 900,000 and that was a very nice way to get my feet wet in the real estate business . And it really excited me about the possibilities that were presented to me by Barnes Realty and giving me the opportunity and the tools they had developed in their 25 years of real estate business and share with me their knowledge and expertise .”
ADVICE TO LIVE BY “ I think I have been successful in making people understand that I am for real and we want to do everything right . I was told when I first came into the business from our broker , Rick Barnes that ‘ we make enough mistakes by accident , I don ’ t want you to make any on purpose .’ That has kind of stuck in my mind over the years . I think integrity and honestly is the main thing . We have built a team of people who work well together , and real estate is what we do . We sell property . And we try to devise ways to sell it to generate the highest return for our clients , that who ’ s we work for .”
Thirteen years later , Aberle is still specializing in selling land
( See Aberle , Page 3 )