Does anyone here have any experience buying timber land? I have been trying to lease land in Northern California from Roseburg Timber but they reasonable have some hang ups with liability. They have five acres on the track that we are looking at that have no trees so I thought we might circumvent the problem by making an offer.

Anyone here have experience buying land?

Bought, own, and operate a timber farm... fire away

Essentially, wanted to put a Yurt on Forest Service Land and they told us to pound sand. We aren't a big enough business to be worth their time or the Environmental Assessment or Native American Impact Assessment they are required to perform. Turns out Roseburg has a 40 acres track right in the middle of the area we have been looking at and we don't have to do a damn thing if we use their land.

I know nothing about the timber industry. How does one judge the valuation of timberland?

The five acres in question have no mature trees as of now. Are there any considerations to be made for right-of-way or easements to lower potential costs?

I've managed timberlands on an industrial scale (100,000 acres to 1,000,000 acres) during my career.

I suspect Roseburg doesn't see your five acre offer as worthwhile. Large land owners are reluctant to "carve out" little pieces here and there because they often become an encumbrance to their typical activities of harvesting, burning, spraying pesticides, leasing hunting rights, etc.

I can't tell you how many times we had little pieces where sometime in the past an acre or two... or ten... were sold to somebody to build a cabin or whatever in the middle of a remote forest. Over time, these owners exert their ownership rights with the county judge, courts, etc. and demand their larger neighbor (the timberland owner) who sold them their lot cease their traditional timber activities because it interferes with their enjoyment of their small acreage.

Not criticizing your desire to secure the five acres. In fact, good luck with it.

Just offering perspective for why the large landowner might be lukewarm to it.

Perhaps if you offered to sign a waiver against future claims, but I'm not sure those are worth the paper they're written on.

Edit to add that leasing should be more attractive to them then selling the land. A lease should give them comfort they could always cancel if you became in their eyes an "obnoxious tenant."

I totally understand and agree. Fortunately, with the death of many of these timber towns up here Roseburg is on a big PR kick to help the local economies through recreational access. Mountain bike trails, ski resort access etc. Fingers crossed.