Real Estate Services

American Forest Management’s Real Estate Services Group specializes in the sale of rural acreage. To learn more about our real estate services, check out our sister web site, www.AFMrealestate.com. 

We offer brokerage services throughout the Southeast, the Lake States and Appalachian Regions and the Northeast. During the past several years, AFM has marketed millions of dollars in individual tracts of woodland and farmland, and represented buyers for the acquisition of nearly a billion dollars in land sales.

Our staff is highly trained and skilled; in every transaction, we strive to provide quality and knowledgeable services. AFM gives full disclosure of buyer-agent, seller-agent, customer, and client relationships to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

Unlike most timber management and land resource companies, or even the largest real estate firms, we have an extensive, skilled, core staff whose only job is the brokerage of investment quality timberland, development, recreational-hunting, farming and rural acreage. Most of these brokers or salespeople have forestry and wildlife management backgrounds. However their time is not split between timber management duties or the sale of commercial and residential properties. Therefore, our Real Estate Services Group has the ability to focus on selling your property as quickly as possible for the highest return.

Whether you are purchasing land for recreation, investment, or development, we are qualified to answer the most technical inquiries and give essential advice in a way that is informative and helpful. Our real estate sales personnel can address specific issues such as soil productivity, timber volume and pricing, fertilization rates and wildlife management techniques.

We also have the expertise to advise our clients if their property will bring a higher return if some timber is harvested before the land is sold, or whether subdividing a portion for commercial development is in the client’s best interest.

Research indicates buyers often make their decisions based on accurate and well-presented sales material. Our real estate services include developing a detailed and comprehensive description of individual properties in a sales prospectus booklet. Depending on how the seller decides to market their property, these booklets can include such items as:

• Up-to-date merchantable timber volume, acreage data, and the forest management history of a specific tract, including: reforestation, timber harvesting, fertilization, pesticide and herbicide use, etc.;
• Available survey plats;
• Color state and county maps are included to locate and pinpoint tract locations;
• Copies of proposed sale contracts;
• Disclosure of problematic items such as the location of easements, reservation of mineral rights, grave sites or other possible encumbrances;
• Easy-to-read detailed color timber stand maps drawn to emphasize recreational and hunting attributes. According to the client’s needs, these maps can specify individual forest types: hardwood, planted pine, swamp, upland, as well as tree age and acreage. This information is particularly helpful to recreational hunting buyers or novice investors.

Our extensive sales staff is always available --- seven days a week --- to show a property to potential buyers and sellers at their convenience. Our field offices will be particularly helpful with their on-the-ground knowledge of local land values, wood products markets, and regulations regarding land use and management. We understand that service sells.

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Experienced Administrative Staff
Our well-informed administrative staff is skilled to support our clients and brokers in the field. These administrative specialists maintain quality, up-to-date prospectuses and help our brokers maximize their time with clients. This staff provides invaluable expertise, which enables our brokers to obtain the maximum profits possible for the seller.

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Knowledge of Active Buyers
Quite simply, AFM knows the rural acreage market. We know the potential buyers of investment grade timberland, farms, development land, recreational hunting properties and plantations. Through decades of responsible work, these investors trust the reliability and integrity we bring to each listing. These individuals and organizations include:

• Timberland investment management organizations (TIMOs)
• Trust funds and institutional endowments
• National and regional investors throughout the AFM network of offices;
• Local loggers and timber buyers;
• Wood products industries;
• Other consulting foresters;
• Local and regional non-industrial private forest landowners showing increasing interest in investing in these tracts; recreational hunting clubs; farmers, plantation owners, environmental preservation groups and numerous land trust organizations;
• Southeast associates – in our years of experience we have developed a network of social and professional contacts throughout the Southeast, particularly in the major metropolitan markets.

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Total Market Saturation
In addition to knowing active buyers, our marketing specialist assists agents in coordinating a systematic advertising campaign to promote the highest exposure possible for a listing.

Typical marketing methods include:

• Advertisements placed in prominent local, regional, and national publications;
• On-site signs;
• Contacting adjacent landowners;
• Contacting larger landowners in the vicinity and adjoining counties by mailing color fliers describing the tract;
• Local real estate and appraisal firms are sent color fliers and prospectus booklets;
• AFM website and classified ads on other websites; and
• Timberland News – the AFM newsletter, with an extensive circulation, includes a “Land for Sale” section in each issue.

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Highest and Best Use
For small and large landowners, AFM will evaluate their land assets by determining each tract’s “highest-and-best use” (HBU). Properties once suited for growing timber, farming or hunting often become urbanized and better suited for development as population centers grow into rural areas. Therefore, portions of tracts or entire holdings may have increased substantially in value.

AFM analyzes the highest-and-best use of each tract through a detailed study of the listing. A marketing strategy is then proposed for the disposition of each tract. This includes researching a property’s attributes as well as the distinctive features of the surrounding marketing area. We will consider aspects such as general appearance, access, and proximity to water and sewer services, etc. Advice will be offered if these and other appropriate amenities should be improved to achieve higher sales prices, or whether tracts should be grouped together, so they can be marketed with a particular focus. This strategy also increases competition for all tracts in a sale.

Evaluating properties through their HBU can significantly increase the total sales price. This assessment is done by AFM using real estate market analysis, which may include evaluating net present value and future cash flow projections. An HBU study allows vital capital to be marketed in the most productive manner, increasing sales price.

Marketing Multiple Tracts
A particular strength of AFM’s Real Estate Group is our ability to market numerous tracts, comprising significant acreage, in a relatively short period of time. Our skills and experience give us the additional ability to recognize whether a particular tract should be marketed in a sealed bid arrangement or through traditional methods of stating asking prices.

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