An Outdoorsman Finds His Life’s Calling – Mark Lewis of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Owner of Mississippi Land Company

Editor’s Note: Mississippi Land Company (MLC) represents buyers and sellers of property in Mississippi. The company also advises buyers before, during and after the sale and offers information and assistance on any issue or problem relating to land. MLC coordinates timber sales, plants trees, oversees lake construction, sets up wildlife management plans and implements those plans. Too, MLC can conduct wildlife surveys and timber appraisals and make recommendations about where to plant green feilds on a piece of property and tell you why the green fields need to be planted there to increase the wildlife value of the property.  MLC can have roads built on your property and can developand implement long-term forestry plans on their customers’ lands. This week, we’ll learn what knowledge and experience the people of Mississippi Land Company offer buyers and sellers of land. Today we’ll look at Mark Lewis.

Mark Lewis, the owner of MLC, explains, “Mississippi Land Company is a complete service real estate and land-management company. We take care of our customers by helping them find property to purchase, managing that land, developing an income stream from that property and then selling that property, depending on their time horizon.

Another big advantage is that we can work with an investor on several different levels. For instance, some people buy property because they want to participate in developing and managing the land themselves. In those situations, a landowner may meet with some of our staff to learn how to manage and improve his or her land, such as using a controlled burn to better the land’s wildlife and timber potential. Once the landowner learns what’s required to do a controlled burn or develop a green field, he may want to do that himself. We help our investors to learn how to better manage their lands, or we manage the lands for them, according to their guidelines. If they want advice over the telephone, we don’t send them a bill.”

Mark Lewis has discovered one of the real keys to having a happy life. He’s found a job that he loves working with the best people in his profession in an area of the country he enjoys.  Lewis also has learned how to help people realize their dreams of owning property, primarily forest and timberlands, farms and recreational properties.

Lewis’s accomplishments and activities include the following:

• 1998 Mississippi Land Realtor of the Year
• 1996 received Accredited Land Consultant Designation
• 1997 Vice-President MS Chapter Realtor Land Institute
• 1998 President MS Chapter Realtor Land Institute
• 1998 Chosen for Leadership MRA (Mississippi Association of Realtors) Program
• 1999 Region 5 Realtor Land Institute RVP
• Member MS Forestry Association
• Feature Broker “Western Livestock Journal”
• Appointed in 2000 to serve as private-property-rights liaison to NAR (National Association of Realtors)
• Closed sales in 46 Mississippi counties
• Qualified CE Instructor - Sealed Bid Sales
• Over $200 million Sales Volume

As part of his continued commitment to professionalism, Mark has completed courses in:

• MRI I, II, III
• Timberland Valuation
• Forest Valuation and Economic Analysis
• Land Appraisal
• Effective Marketing
• Investment Analysis
• Agri-Land with Property Packaging
• Tax Ideas and Strategies for Selling Real Estate
• Transitional Land with Property Packaging
• Land Planning and Design
• Wetlands Determination
• Tax Ideas and Exchanging
• Boundary Law

Lewis is one of a few Mississippi realtors and in 1995 was the youngest nationwide ever to receive the Accredited Land Consultant designation. An employment background in forest and farm management, along with an extensive professional education, forms Lewis’s foundation of expertise in land-use practices.

Question: Mark, so what you’ve done is put together a land management company with a really-deep knowledge base of many different areas and various types of land, property and wildlife-management skills. Is that right?
Lewis: That’s exactly right. Plus, our people have deep roots in the State of Mississippi.

Question: Mark, when did you start your business?
Lewis: We started Mississippi Land Company in 1991, and we sell land all over the State of Mississippi. We’ve also done work in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama,  and Louisiana. Our home office is in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Question: What do you think separates Mississippi Land Company from other real-estate companies in the State of Mississippi?
Lewis: The people in our company not only love the land, they have a history of working on the land and with the land and trying to improve the land. We have some of the most knowledgeable, most well-respected sales agents in the business.

Question: Why did you decide to start a real estate company? Let’s talk about you and your people, because the people behind the company are what make a company strong, knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Lewis: I was born into the real estate business. My mother, DeLois Smith, is the top residential sales agent in the State of Mississippi, and all my life she wanted me to be a realtor. But my heart just wasn’t in selling houses. I liked to hunt and fish, and I loved the land, the timber and the rural lifestyle. So, when I got out of school, I started managing catfish farms in the Arkansas Delta and in Alabama. I was also in the forest inventory business. I inventoried the timber on specific pieces of property, working primarily in Mississippi and Alabama and a little in Louisiana.  When I wanted to find a career that would capitalize on all of my experience, real estate was familiar & an exciting option.

Question: How did you move from managing catfish farms and inventorying timber into the real-estate business?
Lewis: As I mentioned earlier, my mother really pushed me to become realtor, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t what I would be. But finally, one day, she said, “Okay, you don’t have to sell houses – you can just sell land – forest-recreation lands, farmlands and timberlands, because that’s the type of property you already know.” That idea really clicked with me. I could see myself doing that. Mom and I did some projections and looked at what we’d have to do to develop that kind of real estate company.

Now you’ve got to remember, back then there were very few people, if any, who devoted their businesses exclusively to forest lands and farmland real estate. But after my mother and I talked, I rented an office from her and started Mississippi Land Company.

Question: Why should people use Mississippi Land Company?
Lewis: Experience.  Integrity.  Expertise.

If you’d like to discuss your land needs with Mark Lewis or with any of the  Mississippi Land Company’s other agents, email mark@msland.com, visit www.msland.com, or call 1 (888) 777-LAND or (662) 418-4422.