March 20, 2025
Understanding the Timber, Getting Proposals & Independent Appraisal
Before accepting a timber offer, we needed to understand what was actually standing on the property and whether the offers we received represented fair value. This stage combined buyer proposals with an independent timber appraisal to give us a better basis for making the decision.
Once we decided that a commercial harvest might make sense, the next problem was determining what the timber was actually worth.
For a landowner who does not regularly buy and sell timber, that is not an easy number to know. The trees are standing on your property, but their value depends on species, size, quality, volume, access, logging conditions, local mill demand and what buyers are willing to pay at that particular time.
We obtained proposals from timber buyers and also had the timber independently appraised. The appraisal placed the timber value at approximately $90,000 for all timber with $62,000 being in pine.
That gave us an important reference point, but an appraisal and an actual cash offer are not the same thing. The market ultimately determines what someone is willing to pay for the right to harvest the timber under the conditions of the property and the terms of the sale.
The proposals therefore became more useful when viewed against the independent appraisal. Instead of evaluating an offer in a vacuum, we had at least some independent evidence of the underlying timber value.
The eventual transaction was $60,000. The gap between the approximately $90,000 appraisal and the $60,000 sale price became one of the first important lessons from the process: estimated timber value does not automatically equal the amount a landowner can actually realize from a sale.
Observations
• Timber value is difficult for an inexperienced landowner to estimate independently.
• An independent appraisal provided a useful benchmark against buyer proposals.
• The appraisal was approximately $90,000, while the eventual sale was $60,000.
• Appraised value and realizable market value can be materially different.
• Price alone does not capture every factor in a timber transaction; access, harvest requirements and buyer terms also matter.
Actions Taken
We solicited timber proposals and obtained an independent timber appraisal before making the final sale decision. We compared the proposals to the appraisal and considered the practical terms of the harvest, not just the headline timber value.
Next Step
Selecting the Timber Buyer