Buying your first forested property can quickly turn into a nightmare. You can make the process much easier if you develop a plan. Here are tips with links that can help. May I also remind you to use available legal and technical professionals as your budget will allow. Foresters, lawyers and accountants will help you insure that the property is what you really want and that you are legally protected after all transactions are nailed down.
All you really have to do is find out what the property is worth and how much you are willing to spend to acquire the property. Alas, the devil in these details! Finding a fair market value for land and timber and knowing what you have to pay for the property isn't always easy - and they may not necessarily be the same.
Initially, you need to brush up on tree measuring and selling. The timber value in many cases will be as much or more than the land value. A forestry novice will be quite lost without putting in some minimum study time. I would suggest you take the time to review Measure and Sell Your Trees and it would not hurt to take my Basic Forestry eCourse.
The next step is to put a value on the property and determine the amount you are willing to spend. You first start by verifying that the seller has what he or she says. This means performing a timber analysis to determine volumes and values. Also, you need to explore what costs and revenues you will incur as you manage the property. This includes taxes, timber sales/management expenses and hazard risks. A forester should be consulted.
The biggest question when buying property is what you can afford to spend on land and trees. There are many formulas that can assist you, but the main questions are these: What is the competition for your particular property? Competition can influence you final offer. What is the current price for property in the area? You must know what others are paying for property. Why is the seller selling? According to expert Mark Bice, RMS Inc., knowing why a seller sells can be beneficial. Various reasons including divorce, estates, taxes and death will encourage a quick and reasonable sale. Here is more:
Comments
what do you do if you want to buy the land to preserve it.
I’m happy Marlene to know that people like you exists! It is my plan to buy forests to preserve it, pls write to me dimontereale@iol.it I hope it will possible to do something Francesca di Montereale
what if i was to buy and protect land so i could integrate (but making sure not to disturb any wild ecosystems) my own personal residence?
You have to think of procuring forest land as an “investment”. An economic investment insists on making a monetary return on that investment. An ecological investment might be important to those that can afford future loss of income for that preservation. The wealthy and the government tend to do this well.
A forest is no different that a cow or pig……… what are you going to do with it , if you don’t ” consume it ?”
A forest grows , matures , and then dies, if it isn’t used to
build houses , funiture , or heat your house , WHAT GOOD HAS IT BEEN ?”
A forest doesn’t have to be consumed by humans to be worth something.
Forests provide habitats to many residents besides humans, and I personally like to walk in the woods, to see, smell, hear, feel, and even taste all there is to experience. I don’t have to cut down what is there. Why do people have flower gardens? Why do they have pets?
Trees are a renewable natural resource and the timber produced is an important natural product. If one wants to buy a forest and just preserve it, that is an admirable goal. However, many land-owners in the south have implemented dual-use strategies on their forests, leaving strips of land untouched along creeks and streams, while harvesting the rest of the land for timber. These strips protect the beauty of the stream, fight erosion, and preserve hard-woods for wildlife. Cut-over timber areas make excellent forage and cover for deer. These dual-use forests are an excellent blend of ecology and economy.
No problem with tree farming, you grow it you manage it you harvest it, cut all the pines you want. When you cut down the hardwoods you kill the forest and when the forest are gone what’s the point. We as a free people might explore the idea of preserving hardwoods by legislation, it is against moral law to clear cut.
However, when making such an investment it is important to understand the factors which will ensure the venture you are embarking upon will enable a realisation of your economic and environmental goals. This article focuses on five aspects to consider when making an investment in forestry and addresses some of the pitfalls you should try to avoid.
Fortunately most people in the world aren’t like you: they don’t want to buy a beautiful forest in order to destroy it for a quick profit.
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read through a lot more of the articles..