Going rate for timbering land

Ask on the OB

You need an estimate from a pro


Stepdad had 250 acres that he wanted to sell. Full of beetles and fungus. Or some crap like that. Guy said he would light it on fire for free.


Buddy of mine had 50ish acres of pine, was driving a new suv with truck nuts the next week.

Contact your county extension agent for the name of a professional who will come out, walk the property, and give you an estimate. Also get references for him and talk to them. Some will leave property a mess, others do a responsible job.

Then you may want to figure the income into your tax planning. Currently long term capitol gains apply, make sure the ownership is long enough to avoid short term capitol gains.

St Tammany Parish is a pain in the arse for loggers. Good luck finding one that will do it.

Pine timber is not bring in much last I hear. Hell, even hard wood is way down. I'm due for a select cut, but not at the prices I was quoted.

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Clear it out 
Turn into subdivision 
Sell lots 
???? 
Retire

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My dad did this with 4 subdivisions in shreveport/bossier

The ?????? = shitloads of time and work. Paid off for him, but it was "more work than he ever imagined" when he began the projects. It was supposed to be a side, fun, adventure. Ended up being his main job for several years.

If its not off a state road good luck. I from OM, gave up on buying land in STT because of cost, taxes, and the absolute nightmare it is to get land cleared/timbered.

And please for the love of God, do not develop it.

It can range from $800 to $5000 per acre depending on the type of soil and moisture (affects growth rate), condition of timber standing, cost to get land back into production, proximity to market, land's possible use for other purposes, road access, percentage of property that will be unharvestable because of SMZs, the type of trees that can be grown, distance from sale points, etc.. You need to contact a registered forrester for a consult. My family buys and harvests timberland and I can tell you to avoid a traditional real estate agent: their main interest is to jack the price to up their commission. They are usually clueless about all the other factors related to timberland.

Eta: if you get into the higher end of that range and there's not much of a harvestable stand there right now, you may not see much return on your investment for a very long time in terms of harvests.

There are still a few mom-and-pop operations around here that will cut 20 acres, but, as you note, so much of the profit is consumed by the setup costs that you aren't going to get the margins you would on a much larger tract. No one runs a chainsaw on a timber cut anymore, at least not around here. Those Tigercats are something to watch chew through through a stand!

One thing my father-in-law does when he harvests smaller tracts is check out the adjoining tracts. If someone has a 40 acre spot right next door, then he'll approach them about cutting, since that will spread out the cost of the setup and increase the profit for everyone.

Some of those SMZs can really screw you up, though. We cut a 100 acre tract of my mother's four years ago and there were about 15 acres that we simply couldn't cut because they were across a creek with no access. The cost of a bridge or crossing that didn't impeded the flow would have negated the profit. Sucks, but it's better than the old days when they cut willy-nilly and let the runoff shallow out the streams and ponds, killing the fish and creating/expanding flood zones.

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$2000/acre for raw land, throw in another thousand if it has merchantable timber. That's

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Same for me.