LandThink

Most — but not all — timberland investments require little routine maintenance. But one upkeep job that I recommend is for the landowner to maintain existing roads in usable condition.

Brooks C. Mendell, Ph.D., is president and founder of Forisk Consulting, a Georgia-based firm that specializes in forest-industry, timber-REIT, bioenergy and timber-market research.

A conversation with Curtis Seltzer, Columnist for LandThink.com and Author of How to Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property about the success seen by smaller timberland investors.

When I returned late Friday night from a business trip, I had a message from a new client. He’d found 300 acres with a functional house on a mix of timberland and old fields at about $500,000.

As a real estate broker in Georgia, I’ve sold land all over the state. And everywhere I go these days, I always seem to get asked the same question, “How’s the land market?” That is the hardest question to answer for a broker who sells investment property.