Selling Your Timber

Long Forestry Consultants, LLCTimber, Wildlife, and Land Management

Forest Management From Seedling to Sale

Professional Management Pays! Good management is the key to

achieving the long-term goals of any forest landowner. Professional resource managers can help landowners increase timber production and profits by providing up to date inventories and growth projections, information on current market conditions and trends, and the use of current technologies applied to a viable management plan tailored to meet the goals of the landowner.

Pine plantations have the highest productivity rates of all forest types in the southeastern US. Intensive management results in growth rates and income potentials unmatched in natural stands.

Marked for THIRD thinning in March 2012 note: POLES marked in front right Leave trees: nelson blue

TIMBER SALES Selling timber is an

opportunity which occurs only two or three times in the life of a stand of timber. The timing, method of harvest, and method of sale can have a tremendous impact on the price a landowner is offered. Professional Forestry Consultants can provide all the services required to maximize profits from your timber sales

Professional foresters provide inventory cruises, market data, and appraisals for sales, as well as all pre-harvest activities such as marking sales boundaries and Streamside Management Zones, and planning road construction and access.

We perform regular inspections of all harvest operations to insure our client’s interests are protected. We have the experience and expertise to help you make the most of your timber resources.

Things To Be Considered When Selling Timber

1 Ownership: Individual, Partnerships, Estate, Corporate

2 Property Lines and Sales Boundaries:Plats, Maps, Surveys, Deeds 3 Sales Type: Lump Sum or Per UnitAdvances and Accounting 4 Markets: Highs, Lows, and Averages 5 Professional Assistance : Worth the price

Ownership

• What type of ownership?• Do you have the right to sell?• Who has legal title or control of timber?• Liens? Does someone owe money against the

timber?• Is the Title clear?

Property Lines and Sales BoundariesPlats

Descriptive Deeds

Monuments: Pins, Pipes, Posts, Concrete markers

Maps: Satellite Photos, Tax Maps

Do you know your property lines?

How much of the tract is to be sold? All or Part?

Satellite Photographs Topographic Maps

Inventories

Timber Cruise Statistical Sampling• Recording Timber Data• Diameter at Breast Height –

DBH• Heights: Total or

Merchantable• Product Class: Pulp, CNS,

Sawtimber, Poles• Plot vs. Prism• % Inventory – Degrees of

Accuracy

Sales Types• Lump Sum

• Timber sold as a whole: potential buyers bid for timber

• Requires inventory cruise: know what you’re selling

• Cash paid at closing• Contract length fixed: 1-2

years• Market risk Buyers• Local taxes paid at closing

• Per Unit

• Timber sold by weight (tons) as it is carried to mills – “ by the load”

• Cash paid 1-2 weeks after timber removed

• Need to understand product types and mills

• Paid for what is cut, and how it is sorted

• Market risk shared by Seller• Taxes billed afterward• Do you need Advances?

Markets

• When is a good time to sell my Timber?• Highs, Lows, Averages• Where are we now?• Historical Data• What affects markets? Demand, weather, fuel,

distance to mills• Who are potential buyers?

Professional AssistancePublic Resources• Georgia Forestry Commission

• Assistance limited to providing printed information regarding BMP compliance and timber buyers list .

Private Resources• Forestry Consultants

• Provide completed range of services including: appraisals, inventories, marking sales boundaries and property lines, BMP compliance, marketing and sales, contract development, and over sight of harvest operations to ensure contractual obligations are being met

Advantages• Registered and Licensed • In field daily• In markets daily• Understand local market

conditions• Multiple outlets• Your eyes and ears on the

ground• Continued support after

harvest: reforestation

Comparisons of Sales BidsTelfair County, Ga. Jan.2013 46 acres

• High Bid $ 104,581• $ 98,400• $ 92,871• $ 88,900• Low Bid $ 88,109

• Range $ 16,472• % 15.75

Dodge County, Ga. 2014 50 acres

• High Bid $ 42,430• $ 39,100• $ 36,941• $ 34,125• Low Bid $ 32,323

• Range $ 10,107• % 23.82

Bleckley County, Ga. 2013 35 acres

• High Bid $ 36,799• $ 29,552• $ 27,036• Low Bid $ 24,092

• Range $ 12,707• % 34.53

Lee County, Ga. 2013 65 acres

• High Bid $ 57,500• $ 56,300• $ 55,495• $ 53,100• Low Bid $ 51,700

• Range $ 5,800• % 10.08

Things affecting Stumpage Prices

• Market conditions – the general economy

• Product volume and quality• Local or regional weather• Distance to mills• Access to and within tract• Knowledge of “the

business”

Consultant FeesSales Commissions• Percentage of sale• Vary by size and type of sale• Range from 3% - 15%+• Generally, larger sale the lower

the commission• Average 5-7%• Includes inventory cruise,

appraisal, boundary and SMZ groundwork, contract development, and harvest oversight

Timber Inventories & Marking• Inventories tell you what

you have• Are forms of statistical

sampling• Require measuring timber• Marking is the painting of

trees selected for harvest or to be left

• Fees by acre/plot or day