Wyoming’s ranch market is shifting – and opportunity is following close behind.
This week, Haley is joined by Jared Souza, Mirr Broker and Wyoming expert, for a boots-on-the-ground look at what’s happening across the state. From drought pressure to limited land and a demand for legacy ranches, they break down who’s buying, what’s moving, and what you need to do to get ahead of the curve in 2026.
Want to watch this episode? Check it out on our YouTube Channel!
Links
About Jared
Thieves' Den
Big Red Creek Ranch
Muddy Mountain Ranch
Wild Horse Basin
Haley Mirr (00:06):
Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast, where every other week we bring you experts in the field to impart their knowledge when it comes to the ranch and sporting property market, buying and selling advice, the latest best stewardship practices, as well as topics that impact landowners every day. I'm your host, Haley Mirr. Let's jump in.
Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast. I'm Haley Mirr, and today we're going to be doing a snapshot of the market and really focusing on Wyoming. We'll be looking at the trends, buyer activity we've been seeing, pricing, and how the market is changing from this year to last. Helping me out today is the managing broker of Wyoming, Jared. Jared, welcome to the show.
Jared Souza (00:46):
Hey, Haley. Thanks for the invite again. I'm glad to be on here and talk a little bit about Wyoming today.
Haley Mirr (00:53):
Well, you're the one who knows it best, so wouldn't think of having anyone else on here to look at the market with me today. Before we get into maybe some recent sales inventory, we're seeing things like that. How would you overarchingly describe the Wyoming market right now?
Jared Souza (01:10):
I think the Wyoming market continues to be pretty resilient. I would say it's definitely cooling in certain areas. There's a couple of different factors kind of influencing that. Commodity prices are low, so the cultivated farm type market I think is probably the coolest portion that we deal with anyways. And then you got kind of a droughtier year as well. So there's a lot of buyers that are kind of hitting the pause button if they're looking at cultivated ground, pivot irrigated ground, just because they don't know. There's a water shortage. A lot of districts don't have enough water to go around this year, this potential summer if the snow pack doesn't improve. So I would say that's probably the one sector of the market that's probably the coolest. And then you got the ranch and recreational type market that seems like it's still fairly robust. In fact, there's some incredibly large sales that are getting taken down.
(02:19):
And a lot of that's probably spillover from 2025, but some of them places have been put under contract in 26. And so there's obviously a huge appetite out there for these large expansive landscapes, which is interesting.
Haley Mirr (02:36):
Yeah. I would love to know, you talked about maybe the agricultural cultivated ground buyers are taking a pause. What type of buyers are you seeing in the market space right now?
Jared Souza (02:47):
It's kind of interesting that most of the deals that I've had come across my desk in late 2025 and early 2026 is they're not even 1031 buyers. These are straight cash to land acquisitions. They're not 1031 and out of anything else. And it seems like some of these buyers are kind of new to the ranch scene, which we started seeing that kind of early in the COVID years. And it seems like it just continues that there's a lot of guys that are a lot of people that have made a good amount of money. And now they're looking for a different type of asset to stash a lot of cash in. And that's what I guess we're kind of seeing, which is kind of atypical for us. I mean, we typically do a lot of 1031 exchange and I just haven't seen as many as previously in my career.
Haley Mirr (03:50):
You said it perfectly. Even at our 20th anniversary, we were talking to a friend and she was wondering how the ranch real estate market will do when the markets are shifting and things are a little uncertain. And you said it perfectly that it'll always continue to grow and we'll see that even more so as a way to diversify cash because it's a safe place to put it. So we're seeing, it seems like a lot more of those cash buyers versus those buyers that are looking to kind of go from one operational thing to another with those 1031s. Are you seeing at all, because those different types of buyers that are in the market, any significant pricing or inventory change from 2025 to 2026?
Jared Souza (04:33):
Yeah. Wyoming's still lacking inventory across most of the space. We're seeing an uptick of inventory, but it's still not a lot of inventory by any stretch of imagination. The good quality inventory, it's selling fast and selling at a premium, so there's still a heavy demand for that. If it's kind of marginals, marginal quality has got some title issues or something like that. Some of them properties are sitting stagnant, and then some of them are taking price reductions. I think this market's, it's still robust, but it's not the kind of market that you need to do a lot of price discovery on. Pricing needs to be very accurate if you expect to sell in the foreseeable future.
Haley Mirr (05:32):
Well, it seems like too, when we look at the buyer profile we're seeing right now, they're definitely savvier. They know what they're looking for and they understand if things have a little bit of hair or they're not priced accurately, that they have the time to kind of wait and negotiate on some of those things, it seems like.
Jared Souza (05:50):
Yeah. No, I mean, I've seen it in my career. The buyer changes on a yearly basis and they're becoming more and more sophisticated. There's more and more data available at their fingertips. And now you bring the AI into the fold and you could do a quick search across every ranch available in the entire US and get you a pretty dang accurate price per acre. And obviously some of that stuff needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but at the same point, there's so much data available that they're using it to their advantage for obvious reasons.
Haley Mirr (06:31):
Yeah. It's a part of their negotiating tactic, even though we sometimes have to educate them on what those pricings actually mean and how we do certain things. But I would love to know, we get a lot of calls and interested leads come through the company and Colorado to Montana to Wyoming, all the buyers are different. What are some of the questions that buyers who are looking ranches in Wyoming are asking you at the very beginning of the searching process?
Jared Souza (07:02):
Yeah. And that's kind of the interesting thing is it seems like the conversation is from ground zero because a lot of the buyers that I'm bumping into more recently are all new to the ranch scene. So they got a lot of concerns with BLM permits, forest service leases, state land leases, that kind of stuff, which historically we had a lot of buyers kind of floating around that had been ranch buyers previously and were just adding to their portfolio. And now I'm bumping into a lot of new folks to the scene in areas that typically aren't highly demanded by folks that are out of state that are wanting to buy ranches for the first time. Obviously you get closer to them kind of luxury markets and them folks that probably might be the first property they bought out of their state wherever they made their money, but now we're, and some of the less appealing parts of Wyoming are usually not that big of attraction to like a first time ranch buyer.
(08:14):
And now they're kind of interested in them areas for whatever reason, which is good. I mean, good news.
Haley Mirr (08:21):
Yeah. I mean, it was interesting, Jared, and we haven't talked about this yet, but we were meeting with our digital marketing team and we saw where demographics were coming from when searching for certain ranch types on our page. And the majority of the searches came from people in Wyoming. So it's like people who know Wyoming are buying in Wyoming. They understand why it's an important state to invest in. But I thought that was just an interesting data point to see that a lot of people who are buying in Wyoming are from Wyoming or have a connection to Wyoming. I don't know if you've seen that in the past.
Jared Souza (08:57):
Well, I think Wyoming's just got a great buzz right now. You put all the political stuff aside and don't consider any of that. I mean, we're kind of setting ourself up to be really successful as a state with these data centers and oil and gas and coal and trona and uranium and kind of everything the entire nation's going to need for the next 25 years. Wyoming takes some really big steps to kind of put ourself at the leading edge of the nation. And I think that's obviously attracting some new interest and obviously some big money following it as well.
Haley Mirr (09:37):
I would agree. I feel like you're seeing bigger and bigger numbers in Wyoming and that kind of leads into my next thing. Talking about big numbers, big landscapes, big buyers, what are some of the numbers that you've seen recently just in 2026? I know you've had some successful sales recently. How is the outlook for this new year in terms of just the types of properties that we have listed or have sold?
Jared Souza (10:05):
Yeah. I mean, it seems like Merr Ranch Group in general has had a really strong start to 2026. I mean, we've closed a significant number of deals in January, which is unique. I mean, typically we're not putting a lot of properties under contract in January and February just because of the weather kind of dictates real estate availability. So if it's any indication of kind of what the rest of the year's going to be, I'm super excited and I think it's going to be a pretty solid year.
Haley Mirr (10:44):
Yeah, it's pretty impressive already. I think we're almost at a hundred million in January of 2026, which is awesome. So we'll just keep it going. Tell me a little bit about the inventory that we have internally at Mirr Ranch Group when it comes to Wyoming.
Jared Souza (11:01):
Yeah. So we got a decent amount of inventory. Kind of our newest opportunity is kind of a collective of ranches. We got the thieves den, and then just up the road, we got the Big Red Creek Ranch, and then collectively it's the Muddy Mountain Ranch. And then just a little further to the north, we got a Wild Horse Basin, which is two different types of kind of real estate opportunities. Wild Horse Basin is just a big expansive landscape, 32,000 deeded acres, 90,000 all in. So it's just a big, low overhead cattle grazing operation with a significant amount of return. I mean, that ranch has poised well for a good tenant structure. We got some oil and gas development ongoing on that property. It's just kind of a unique deal. And then you back it up into Thieves Den and the Muddy Mountain Collective, the Big Red Creek deal, that's just kind of a really good proximity ranch to a growing city in Wyoming.
(12:17):
It's got spectacular scenery and new improvements, live water, good hunting. So they're two totally different types of real estate, but the great thing is, is they're the two most demandable pieces of real estate as far as what the buyer's after in the state of Wyoming right now. So we got the market cornered with two different offerings, I guess.
Haley Mirr (12:45):
That's perfect. You're in a good spot leading into the year. What are some of the buyers you're working with? What are they kind of looking for in terms of properties in Wyoming?
Jared Souza (12:54):
Yeah. I mean, it seems like right now there's two different types of buyers, which obviously evident of some of the stuff that's going on in the state of Wyoming. I mean, you got these ultra wealthy guys that are looking for these big, big volume deals. They might be, we're not probably setting records on a price per acre scale, but we're setting records on a total dollar figure in the state of Wyoming. And you've seen there's another record set in Nebraska recently on another sale. So there's them big volume type buyers, but then there's also kind of our more typical ranch buyer that is just looking for quality. They're looking for that kind of private space. It's got some scenery associated with it that's close to a nice community, so they can still go and grab a nice dinner and then head back to the ranch and chase an elk on it.
(13:53):
Yeah.
Haley Mirr (13:54):
Well, it's good to have a different grouping. And it seems like, are there certain markets? We know the Jackson Hole, we know what that gets, the gravitas, but are there other kind of specific markets in Wyoming that you've seen a surgeons in maybe the beginning of this year?
Jared Souza (14:15):
Yeah. I mean, it seems like the entire area has a lot of demand. I mean, all of Wyoming, even that kind of checkerboarded region like West Central Wyoming, it seems quite a bit of demand, but the biggest areas where we lack the most inventory is kind of that eastern corridor from Cheyenne all the way to Sheridan, but that's also probably as the most demand as well. So
(14:47):
A lot of them ranches aren't lasting very long just because everyone kind of wants to be in that space. That pocket.
Haley Mirr (14:54):
What factors do you anticipate will influence the market in 2026 and Wyoming for the next six to 12 months?
Jared Souza (15:04):
Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, we got some persistent drought in certain areas, and I think that can hamper probably a few sales of some ranches. I mean, it's pretty hard to sell a fishing ranch if the river's not running. So I suspect that probably starts influencing a few buyers just because if you're not from the area and you've never owned a ranch before, it's kind of hard to look through that. So that might cause a little bit of pause. And then beyond that, I mean, the cattle market continues to be good. It's going to be strong through 2026. The commodity market, I suspect it'll probably start improving. And some of them, some of your more cultivated oriented farm deals will probably start getting absorbed as well eventually once the volatility kind of starts leaving them spaces.
Haley Mirr (16:03):
And you said it perfectly too about Wyoming, just kind of taking advantage of all the different things at their disposal from different energy sources to data centers and all these different things. I'm sure some of that will start to impact values in certain areas.
Jared Souza (16:20):
Yeah. No, I mean, if all this data centers ends up coming in that everyone's talking about, we need a significant amount of energy and transmission lines and you name it. I mean, I think it's going to cause a lot of different markets to really change overnight. And you're seeing that. And like Cheyenne, everyone's talking about all the data centers there. And I mean, I think there's probably was some wind and solar deals down there that were probably marginally, they're going to be marginally successful. And then overnight with the data center, they probably all of a sudden the numbers look really good, really lucrative for some of them folks.
Haley Mirr (17:05):
Yeah. Well, it's figuring out and talking to you and knowing these things that are happening locally, I think is important when you're considering purchasing a property because then you can understand all the tools at your disposal, all these other kind of like income generator potentials with some of these things. So it's good to just kind of chat with you and have people call you about what you're seeing.
Jared Souza (17:28):
Yeah. I mean, it's pretty hard to keep up. There's so many new tools and new opportunities for landowners that are kind of evolving at a rapid pace.That carbon credit market's kind of ramping up. You got these data centers, you got solar and wind, I mean, you kind of name it, and then there's some water leasing opportunities that are popping up with some of this Colorado River compact stuff. I mean, it's a full-time job just trying to keep up with all the opportunities that are available and tools that are available for a landowner.
Haley Mirr (18:04):
Yeah. And unlike a lot of states, Wyoming's open to a lot of different ideas and kind of bringing those things in. So it makes it, I think, a really incredible place to invest your energy and your time and your money. For Wyoming buyers, what advice would you give them for the current market?
Jared Souza (18:22):
Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. I think we get a lot of buyers that are like, “We're interested in buying something in the next three to four years.” And with the kind of lack of inventory that's out there, I tell them that they might need to expedite their timeline if we find something that makes sense because
(18:44):
Some of the money that's getting placed into these ranches is, fortunately and unfortunately, kind of depends on what side of the table you're on, on that is these things aren't going to be for sale again for a while, if ever, in my lifetime. So if you see something pop up and you're honestly a ranch buyer in the next three to four years and you see something that makes sense and checks the boxes, don't wait for the market to slow down anymore or speculate on that. You need to go and probably buy that ranch because it might not be available. You might not find one that's going to check all the boxes by the time you're actually ready. So that's kind of the conversation that we've been having with a lot of our buyers and certain sectors, obviously, certain portfolios that they're looking for. Now, if you got a guy that's just looking to place a million and a half, two million bucks in some kind of recreational property with public land adjacency, well, he can probably sit around and wait for the inventory to improve some and maybe to where we slip more into more of a buyer type market.
(19:56):
But these legacy type deals, you got to be ready to pounce when they're available.
Haley Mirr (20:03):
I would agree. And I know there's some sizable transactions about to exchange hands in the next kind of couple weeks, but it's true. Land is finite and some of these properties that have hit the market, including Wildhorse Basin, I mean, these are some legacy deals that won't come around again. So just being on top of it and having your research kind of ready to go and having all the tools that you need, financing all these things before even starting the search, just know what you're able to do, what your criteria are in working with a broker like you, Jared, to fine tune that. So I know 2025 was a huge year here at the firm and it was a great year because we celebrate our 20th anniversary and it's amazing just you've been here forever and seeing how things have changed. What is kind of where you see all of the market at large with Ranch Real Estate headed this year and then where do you see it in Wyoming?
(21:00):
What are you excited about?
Jared Souza (21:04):
The most exciting part of the real estate market for 2026 for me is this cooling trend. I get real excited. Obviously I like to sell real estate and the firm likes to sell real estate and we like to take care of all our clients and get all that stuff. But I personally like a little cooler real estate market because it feels like Mirr Ranch Group is really good at that. We're really good at getting real creative and thinking out of the box and really understanding our asset that's required to effectively market properties. So as you've seen, we've seen a huge uptick in volume of our inventory just because that's the market that we do the best in to where you're not just slapping something on a website with a few pictures and selling asset anymore. You got to really get down and dirty with it and really understand it.
(22:05):
And you're probably going to have to knock on a bunch of doors on your own and kind of articulate the message to the buyer and kind of sell the product. And that's what I like about the real estate market. And I think that's where we're heading. And ultimately, I think that's why we gained so much traction back in the space.
Haley Mirr (22:27):
I would agree. I think there was a moment there where it was the wild west and you could be a broker and throw a number on things and it would sell or you got lucky, but I think now is where the artistry comes into effect. So that slow down. I agree, Jerry. This is where we thrive.
Jared Souza (22:46):
It's the time for the journeymen to get back to work.
Haley Mirr (22:51):
Oh, I love that. That's a quote of the whole episode. Yeah, I would agree. Well, I'm excited for 2026. You're already off to a rear and start, so I can only imagine where we go from here, but thank you so much for giving your insight, talking to us a little bit about Wyoming. If people do have questions after listening to this about ranch real estate, but Wyoming in general, Jared's your guy. He knows everything about the state. He's born and bred there, so he's the guy for the job. But thank you so much, Jared, for being on the show and lending us all of your knowledge today.
Jared Souza (23:26):
Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks, Hailey.
Haley Mirr (23:29):
Thanks for joining us today. To learn more about the Ranch Real Estate Market or our ranch marketing process, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website at mirrranchgroup.com or give us a call at 303-623-4545. See you next time.