Very curious in learning about land investing for timber.

Buying & Selling Real Estate
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Very curious in learning about land investing for timber.

James Wheeler
Member since 2019 · 2 posts · 0 votes

 Curious about investing in land for the timber. I live in a rural area and wonder if anyone is making a living on doing that and what the process is as far as getting it appraised. Also if they just buy the land and sell the land to the lumber companies or if they just sell the timber and keep the land as an asset. Thanks for any advice!

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  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    6y

    I did this personally for about a decade and my business partner who I did it with has done it all his life 3rd generation logger.

    there is huge money to be made in Timber if you know what your doing.  

    most areas that have a viable logging industry there will be investors doing this for a living. 

    One thing that I like is for the young investor who has long retirement time lines ahead of them.  Timber ground in the right areas is a great hedge.. like in the Northwest proper timberland will grow at the rate of a 10 to 14% annual return.

    and talk about passive.. although there are things U can do to improve your timber ground and timber.. pre commercial thinning make sure animals are not scaring the timber etc etc.. 

    Not all timber has the same value.. far from it.. you have soft wood and hard wood.. Hard wood on the west coast has a value usually about 1/3 the price of saw log Doug Fir for example.. Redwood and Cedar are the expensive species .. And old growth Pine  Fir can bring a ton of money.. 

    Easiest way to scope it out is to find a Forester and either buy them a cup of coffee or pay for in depth information on what's most viable in the area you want to invest or work in.

    the largest owners of Timber lands in the US tend to be  Harvard endowment  John Hancock and of course the major lumber companies.. those aforementioned fund much of the acquisitions for those big companies plus hold their own for the long term returns.

    But its very local  VERY 

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  • Peter Sanchez
    Real Estate Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2014 · 236 posts · 328 votes
    6y

    @Jay Hinrichs don't forget the mormon church.  When a former timber company (St. Joe Company) that was the largest land owner in florida sold off all their non-beach acreage, they sold it to the mormons.  

    I have 76 acres of timberland in Patagonia that was left to me by grandfather, who was in the ranching (beef and sheep) and logging business. (about 1000 acres adjacent to it belongs to other family members). It doesn't really cost me anything to have it and I may sell it one day but it's nice to go down there once in while and walk the land and drink from my stream and think about putting a cabin up there one day.  If I'm having a bad day at work, I can also go on google earth and look at it...cheers me right up :) 

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