Several times every day, landowners ask us, What's the
current price of timber? Several times
every month, we get reports that current timber prices in a certain area,
state, or region are so-and-so. The
persons responsible for these questions and reports can be referring only to averages, and averages are often
meaningless. The range between bid and
asked prices is very small in nearly-perfect markets like the New York Stock
Exchange, and the price of a case of Coca-Cola is nearly the same in the
highly-competitive supermarkets in most towns, but nothing like this is true in
timber markets. Most persons who are familiar
with bidding in other fields are astonished at the results of JMV&CO sales.
No owner or agent whom we know of furnishes more detailed
information about the timber offered in each sale or sends invitations to bid
to more potential buyers than we do, and yet there is a huge range of prices in
all our sales. Here are typical
examples from late 1999:
| East
Texas |
SW
Mississippi |
SE
Alabama |
Central North Carolina |
| $102,864
|
$121,002
|
$ 207,024 |
$266,546 |
|
97,676 |
120,000 |
184,919 |
265,705 |
| 91,255 |
119,280 |
175,644 |
259,580 |
| 90,405 |
117,500 |
175,489 |
247,000 |
| 88,351 |
111,760 |
171,672 |
210,178 |
| 83,260 |
110,165 |
164,462 |
207,732 |
| 75,000 |
106,198 |
163,593 |
206,360 |
|
106,184 |
163,333 |
205,011 |
|
100,011 |
161,101 |
193,898 |
|
99,884 |
160,280 |
176,560 |
|
98,889 |
158,495 |
|
|
95,393 |
154,253 |
|
|
84,600 |
150,385 |
|
|
83,670 |
147,700 |
|
| |
|
141,832 |
|
|
How does an owner cope with such a situation? One-on-one negotiation is definitely out,
for most owners are amateurs and even the most expert hasn't the foggiest idea
who will pay the most for a specific tract.
The best solution is to list all details on www.se-timbersales.com. Then
you'll discover why the veteran John
Smith calls it the best thing since sliced bread. He is the
market, and whatever attracts him is the solution.
|
