Discover how Braun & Gresham’s Eric Gomez helped developer Mike Clinard create successful ranchette communities with experienced legal and conservation support.
Ranchettes with a View: Gomez a Trusted Real-Estate Resource for Developer
If you’re a developer, some people just think you’re a bad person,” observes Mike Clinard, Owner of Central Texas-based Clinard Properties and Ranches At Real Estate. “But we all live in a place that was developed. Even a ranch, someone cut up some big parcel of land years ago to create a tract of land. Some of us live in a high-density neighborhood, some of us live in an apartment building – wherever you live, a developer was involved.”
Clinard Properties began with developing premier retail centers, but over time, Clinard and his wife Kim’s vision evolved. Since 2021, through Ranches At Real Estate, they’ve worked to help develop low-density ranchette communities on large tracts of land in the Texas Hill Country. Clinard had real-estate attorneys he had worked with, but wanted to align with a legal team with a much more thorough understanding of the environment and conservation.
“I was introduced to Braun & Gresham, they helped us with some guidelines around wildlife management, and it was an excellent experience,” Clinard recalls. “There’s a huge benefit, especially out in the Hill Country, to having their sort of expertise on the wildlife and conservation side. Water, birds, it’s all essential, and we need to honor the environment and God’s creation. As a developer, you shouldn’t ignore that, you’ve got to pay attention and understand all of that.”
Our focus is on ranches where no lot is smaller than 12.5 acres and every lot has an epic view,” explains Mike Clinard. “Not everyone can afford a big rambling ranch, so we want to create these ranchette neighborhoods where everyone can have some land and a great view. I see all these hillsides that are just home after home after home, and we want to prevent that. You’re lucky if there’s a house on every one acre, and sure, we could make a lot of money if we did that, but that’s not what it’s about for us.”
Clinard and Braun & Gresham attorney Eric Gomez have been working together closely on Clinard’s properties since 2022. Ranches At Real Estate buys large tracts and plats them into 15-25-acre ranchette lots, clears the land, puts in access roads, and sells them to developers or homebuilders.
“I help Mike throughout this process on all of his properties to help create a foundation for these projects to succeed,” Gomez says. “I help decide how to subdivide the property, review the land survey, file the plans, do all the formation documentation, deeds and transfers, create the HOA or holding company entities, create the easements for the roads, and consider all the access, design, fencing, frontage, livestock, wildlife, and regulatory issues involved in preparing the property for sale.”
Gomez says his main goal with his work with Clinard is to protect Clinard in transactions, ensure he’s realizing the best-case scenarios, and make sure he makes money on the transactions and saves money by not having to deal with bad documents, bad decisions, or post-transaction problems.
“Just about anything that can go into planning a community, I believe I’ve done with Mike,” notes Gomez. “It can be very, very broad to extremely specific. It really varies project by project.”
“Mike is a real no-nonsense kind of guy, not a big ‘attaboy’ type,” Gomez attests. “But if he trusts you and likes your work, then he’ll keep requesting your help on things. We talk about every other day; when he calls, I answer the phone, and I know he appreciates that personal service.”
Mike could hire any law firm – famous, infamous, national, international – Mike could hire them and afford to pay them,” posits Eric Gomez. “He has worked with some of those big-name firms, and he keeps coming back to Braun & Gresham. We provide not only the same quality of work – if not better – than our competitors, but also the mom-and-pop sort of service those other places lack. At those large firms, if you’re not a billion-dollar company, then you can get ping-ponged around among the lower-level attorneys. You’re not going to get the best attention. That’s just not us.”
“I’ve worked with a lot of law firms and legal teams, and sometimes, you get passed around and lost among the staff,” confirms Mike Clinard. “With Braun & Gresham, I know Eric is doing the work himself, doing it exceptionally, and I appreciate that. And while I do still work with other real-estate attorneys, none of them have any conservation expertise at all. That approach is huge.”
Clinard says everyone he’s worked with at Braun & Gresham is happy to help, seems to understand his needs, grasps whatever the issue is at the moment, and gets things done. And not that he’s playing favorites, but there’s one number he tends to dial with a little more frequency than others.
“Calling Eric is just a no-brainer,” Clinard concludes. “He’s the go-to guy when you need something done with quick turnaround and high quality.”
Contact Braun & Gresham today to schedule a consultation—and take the next step with confidence for your Real Estate Transactions.