Many private landowners each year give away THOUSANDS of their potential income during a timber sale, because they rely on only a single figure offered to them by just one timber buyer when asking, What are my trees worth? Too often this single figure is a low-ball offer that is a fraction of the actual timber value. A timber buyer may offer a landowner $20,000 for their timber, when in reality, its value is $60,000. For this reason, it is to your financial benefit to seek help from a professional forester who represents your interests and can give you an accurate assessment of volume and value. If you choose to have a professional forester appraise your timber, you can use this figure to easily negotiate a much higher sales price with a timber buyer or even have your professional forester put your timber up for bids, acquiring an even greater sales price.

REALTORS - Take advantage of the opportunity to show immediate income from your property listing to potential buyers! Today’s real estate market challenges agents to be creative and pro-active; get an edge on the competition by providing an appraisal with your land listing. Our average appraisals have a 1 week turn-around time!

POTENTIAL LAND/FARM BUYERS OR SELLERS - Our appraisals are based on the latest timber market conditions providing you with a fast, detailed value analysis of the timber value. With this information, you can put together a buying or sales price that factors in immediate revenue from the property for an added sales incentive or a way to garner financing from a bank and/or pay off the mortgage!

The following example will demonstrate a simplified approach a professional forester would use in estimating your tree volume and value. (Market prices are estimates and not necessarily reflective of current prices.)

Estimation Example: The merchantable height is 32’ or two 16’ logs.

The diameter at Breast Height (DBH) is 18".

Several calculations can be used to determine the volume of the tree, but for this simple example, we read the volume off of the table on the side of our Biltmore Stick.

Therefore, the tree has 164 board feet of timber or 0.164 thousand board feet.

At $250/thousand board feet, this tree is worth $41.00. If each acre contains 22 similar trees, the timber value would be $902/acre. If the landowner owns 40 acres, the landowner could expect to sell the timber for $36,080 under favorable conditions.

Invariably, your land and trees will be different from this example, but it is essential that you find out what your trees are worth BEFORE YOU SELL THEM! For more information, please contact us.