W. Grant's blog

One of the biggest misconceptions that we see with landowners is the idea that if the land has trees on it, nothing needs to be done but watch them grow.  This is far from the truth and can be very costly.  If proper management is not carried out, growth can be much reduced.  This means a reduction in future value.  I can give you a number of examples of tracts of land with and without good timber management that have been sold.  In most cases the tract with the managed timber will sell significantly higher compared to the same sized tract in the same area that has

Most people have heard the term "1031 Exchange" mentioned, but many are unclear on how they can benefit from it.  Some think that it is only used by multi-million dollar investors.  Others think that you can only exchange a tract of land for a tract of land or an office building for an office building, etc., but both of these assumptions are untrue.  It is a tool that can be used by both large and small investors to increase their return on their investment.  Land can be exchanged for land, but it can also be exchanged for an office building, a rental house, or a retail

“Money still grows on trees” as a recent article in the Wall Street Journal mentioned (“For Some, Sound of Profit Is Timber”). As a long term investment, timberland has out-preformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Pension funds, insurance companies and investment trusts, among others, have increased their holdings in timberland dramatically over the last 25 – 30 years because of this realization.

There are several factors that play a role in making timberland an attractive asset.

In these turbulent economic times, many of us are wondering what our property is worth or is it saleable at all. As my partner, Ned Massie, has often said – If you offer it for a dollar, someone will buy it; but if you offer it for $5 million there may not be many buyers depending on what the property is. Obviously, the value will probably be somewhere in between.