Most of our clients have as their primary goal the sale of their mature timber, and over the last fifty years we have found four things that are crucial to maximizing returns and having a successful sale:

KnowledgeThis seems obvious, but knowing what you have for sale is essential for targeting markets, and deciding on a minimum acceptable price. Yet, we see timber selling everyday by landowners who have no idea of how much or what they are selling. One thing for certain, the professional buyer definitely knows, and timber buyers are under no obligation to tell the seller. Their only duty is to buy timber as cheaply as they can. Our duty is to sell as high as we can. Knowledge lets you know which is which.

ExposureThe more people know that timber is for sale, the more likely the landowner will get the top market price on a particular day. Negotiate with one or two buyers and chances are you will sell below what the market will bear. Make the sale available to more and competition drives the price up. There are typically over one hundred potential buyers in a market area. We make sure they all know about upcoming sales. Growing Assets also gets added exposure to the market because of the sheer volume of wood we manage. Mills and production facilities are keenly interested in what we have for sale.

TimingEven if you get the top dollar that the market will bear at a particular time, it is no guarantee that on another day the market could not pay more. Timber markets have seasonal and economic cycles. They also respond to local weather, politics and economics that on the surface seem innocuous. The key is timing sales to hit market peaks.

Sales ProvisionsSelling the timber is only half the job. Special care has to be given to the timber sale agreement so that the landowner, his land and the environment are all protected during the harvest.