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It all started in 1970. Pat Bates met with Hod Sanders — founder of the Clover Club Potato Chip Company — who commissioned him to sell two ranches in Wyoming.
Pat's big break came in 1974 when he sold the Deseret Livestock Ranch. It was the largest block of deeded land in the Rocky Mountains, containing 202,000 acres. Selling it catapulted Patrick Bates Land Company into the challenging real estate world where it has been going strong ever since.
Patrick later teamed up with Sam Sanders and Michael Swan and re-named the company as Bates Sanders Swan Land Company. It markets high-caliber ranches and farms as well as recreational and commercial land. From 1970 through 2009 the company has closed more than 500 transactions on upwards of 1.5 million deeded acres of Western land. Offerings are carefully selected, and the firm sells 96 percent of the properties it represents.
The company is fashioned after a small investment banking firm, providing focused, personal service for each client by seeking to understand their interests in selling or acquiring land. Its tradition of such personalized service is unmatched in land brokerage. The company is headquartered in Salt Lake City but has a branch in Bozeman, Mont. It offers properties in six Western states and has four licensed brokers.
Bates Sanders Swan Land Company is currently offering the largest cattle ranch available in the United States, the renowned 290,000-acre Bell Ranch in New Mexico. Pat says the firm competed on a national level before being chosen to sell this enormous 5,000-head operation. He feels now isn't the time to expand but rather to continue to be the land broker of choice for select clients and expend every effort in satisfying buyers and sellers throughout the Rocky Mountains.
