# Logging a property to offset purchase price



## 67drake (May 6, 2020)

I’ve never bought acreage,always small properties with homes on them. So this is new to me. A guy I used to work with said his brother bought roughly 40 acres of mostly wooded land, then logged it, and it paid for itself. OK, lots of variables of course i.e. when has it been logged last, what type of trees, ect, but I find it hard to believe that you could get $4,000-5,000 per acre from a logger. That’s pretty much the going ASKING price around here.
My family hunts, and I don’t plan of spending my life in my current home. So just doing a little research into this to see if it’s worth pursuing.
So anyone ever log their property? How much did it pay? Any advice welcome.
Thanks!


----------



## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

We had our property logged in N. GA. Not clear cut, selective. The logger took out enough mature oaks it paid for our septic system. But that was nearly 30 years ago.


----------



## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

It would be very rare in this day and age for someone to sell a piece of property and not realize the value of the timber on it. Anybody that owns any forested land probably gets mailers multiple times per year from logging and timber companies, we do. 

We've logged our 15 acre woods in the back a couple times, and most we ever got was $15,000. The most valuable tree I sold was one at $300, most of the rest go for $50-100. It's been a few years, so I'm sure prices have increased some, but you're not going to hit it big or pay off ground selling timber. You also immediately devalue the place.


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

67drake said:


> I’ve never bought acreage,always small properties with homes on them. So this is new to me. A guy I used to work with said his brother bought roughly 40 acres of mostly wooded land, then logged it, and it paid for itself. OK, lots of variables of course i.e. when has it been logged last, what type of trees, ect, but I find it hard to believe that you could get $4,000-5,000 per acre from a logger. That’s pretty much the going ASKING price around here.
> My family hunts, and I don’t plan of spending my life in my current home. So just doing a little research into this to see if it’s worth pursuing.
> So anyone ever log their property? How much did it pay? Any advice welcome.
> Thanks!


My dad and brothers have done this over and over many times. The land must have the right kind of timber, you need to be able to walk the property and know how much the timber is worth, and what it will take to get it out. When they were finished logging, they would clear a home site and put in a driveway. They would log it and pay for the property, then sell it for more than the original price. 

It would be hard to do with pine, or spruce. But fairly easy to do with hardwood, like maple, or beech.


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I once bought a 500+ acre farm about half in timber. The seller had the timber appraised and sold the timber just before I bought the land. He gave the loggers a one year contract and stuck $40 grand in his pocket. The contract was sold and resold at least four times before the first tree was cut. Last company paid $400 grand and made a good profit off the timber. My point…. Know timber values before jumping in! Loggers tend to keep actual values to themselves… kinda like real estate speculators.


----------



## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

It was 425 per thousand board feet here a year ago for oak hickory etc.
Veneer logs pay more.
Walnut could be a payday.
But here in the Ozarks white oak brings 1600 per thousand board feet.
Why?
It's prized for making barrels for wine and whiskey and is shipped worldwide.
Supposedly Ozark white oak gives whiskey and wine a certain taste.


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

67drake said:


> I’ve never bought acreage,always small properties with homes on them. So this is new to me. A guy I used to work with said his brother bought roughly 40 acres of mostly wooded land, then logged it, and it paid for itself. OK, lots of variables of course i.e. when has it been logged last, what type of trees, ect, but I find it hard to believe that you could get $4,000-5,000 per acre from a logger. That’s pretty much the going ASKING price around here.
> My family hunts, and I don’t plan of spending my life in my current home. So just doing a little research into this to see if it’s worth pursuing.
> So anyone ever log their property? How much did it pay? Any advice welcome.
> Thanks!


My neighbor had some select cutting done last summer. The crew took white oaks, red oaks, and some Hemlocks. I believe they paid him 15K for about 11 acres of timber, however, I am sure you remember what lumber prices were last year.
That said, the place is now a mess. Tree tops, crooked logs, brush, limbs, ruts and gouges in the ground. A dozer or at least a large tractor will be needed to push everything into piles to burn. A lot can be cut into firewood, but regardless, it will be a long time before the place looks good.

Positive-Income from your land
Negative-You may have to pay to clean it up
Positive-Better visibility
Negative-Easier to see you
Positive-More land available for pasture
Negative-Loss of wind break and shade


----------



## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

GTX63 said:


> That said, the place is now a mess. Tree tops, crooked logs, brush, limbs, ruts and gouges in the ground. A dozer or at least a large tractor will be needed to push everything into piles to burn. A lot can be cut into firewood, but regardless, it will be a long time before the place looks good.


What one person calls a mess, another person calls great habitat. All of those tops on the ground and then the new sunlight to the forest floor will really thicken the place up with undergrowth for a few years until the canopy fills back in. Much better habitat for small game, deer, etc. than a clean open woodlot.

Give it a few years, all of that stuff will break down, and the only sign of loggers will be the old stumps and maybe some skidder ruts.


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

That is true. I have the logging ruts on my property from 1984. Down the road is a place where the groves from the horse drawn skidders still remain.
In my neighbors case, he doesn't want wildlife habitat, he is looking for open space for pasture, grazing, views and pushing back the treeline for predators.
If he doesn't do a thing to it, it will look like the aftermath of Gettysburgh for about 3 seasons before getting swallowed up in the undergrowth. 
His house is in the middle of it.


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

GTX63 said:


> My neighbor had some select cutting done last summer. The crew took white oaks, red oaks, and some Hemlocks. I believe they paid him 15K for about 11 acres of timber, however, I am sure you remember what lumber prices were last year.
> That said, the place is now a mess. Tree tops, crooked logs, brush, limbs, ruts and gouges in the ground. A dozer or at least a large tractor will be needed to push everything into piles to burn. A lot can be cut into firewood, but regardless, it will be a long time before the place looks good.
> 
> Positive-Income from your land
> ...


If they left the tops, then your neighbor has a lot of hardwood firewood, he could be using or selling. I wish I had a big mess like that to cut wood out of. Forests don't naturally look like a park, or a golf course. If he wanted it to look like a park, he should have had landscapers come in instead of loggers.


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Yep he has a lot of firewood and is stacking what he cuts to sell.
The money he got for the timber paid for a chipper and a stump grinder.
He was after the money, and the difference for him between a logger and a landscaper was one was money in and the other was money out.


----------



## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

muleskinner2 said:


> If he wanted it to look like a park, he should have had landscapers come in instead of loggers.


Amen !
Can't believe how many people want to move to the country to be out amongst the wildlife, then first thing they do is clear a woodlot and plant a house in the middle of it, turn their dogs loose, ride ATV's, etc. then wonder where all the wildlife went.


----------



## 67drake (May 6, 2020)

Thanks for the info guys. This is an idea I’m kicking around in case the right opportunity comes along. Figured I’d do my homework ahead of time.


----------



## indianjoe (Jan 12, 2011)

I bought an additional 15 pine wood acres last year and immediately cut 75% to change it into pasture. The price of the wood as well as cutting boards for a barn paid around 80% of the property cost. I have not cleared the remains yet but estimate maybe $2500 to clear it. The fencing is what is high, labor and materials.


----------



## Whoo (Apr 28, 2016)

My uncle is a logger and a land buyer. As Fishinndude said any ground that is for sale, he is running the timber on it.

He buys a ton of land (usually auctions) selectively cuts the timber and sells it again.


----------

