Where Does My Christmas Tree Come From?

With the Christmas season coming (Yes, I said the word Christmas, the season we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ) I thought this would be a fun blog post. Although Christmas Tree farming is not a big forest product industry in Georgia, it just seems like trees and land go together…..

There are many species of trees used for Christmas trees but the dominant species are Scotch Pine, Douglas Fir, Balsam Fir, White Pine and Norway Spruce. Georgia grows primarily Leyland Cypress, Virginia Pine and White Pine north of the Gainesville-Rome line. See the following map.

Virginia Pine Range

Every state has Christmas tree fames but Oregon is the top producer

• Douglas Fir is the most widely grown  tree in Oregon
• North Carolina is the second top producer with the Fraser Fir
• The United States grows about a half billion trees by 21,000 growers
• Generally the tress take 5-10 to mature
• Trees are planted close together to improve cash flow, many growers plant over 1,000 trees per acre

Advantages of growing Christmas Trees:

• Rotations are much shorter than commercial forest types increasing Present Net Value
• Can be grown economically on small acreage
• Can be grown on land that is only marginally productive for agriculture
• Capital investment can be low

I hope you and your family have a wonderful  Christmas season!

To see my listings visit AllSouthLandandHomes.com Buying or Selling LAND? Contact G. Kent Morris, ALC, RF

@706.457.0090

Timber Harvesting Equipment – What’s That Weird Machinery Running Through the Woods?

I loved writing this post as I traveled down memory lane. I spent 28 years  cruising timber, supervising loggers, managing land and timber resources. I must say my career  was a ton of fun. My office was a pick-up truck and the great outdoors. I know I was fortunate and blessed!

I have people asked about the weird machinery they see running through the woods, so here we go.

Feller-Buncher –  This is the first piece of equipment in the woods. A type of harvester used in logging. It is a motorized vehicle with an attachment that can rapidly cut and gather several trees before felling them. The vehicle may have rubber tires or  tracks.

Wheeled Feller Buncher

Track Feller-Buncher

Log Processor –  these are not common in the southeast. Mostly used in the north and northeast. The machine is designed to cut a tree down, delimb the tree and process into predetermined lengths.

Log Processor

Skidder - is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing or log deck.

Rubber Tired Skidder

Clam-Bunk Skidder - A clam-bunk skidder has top-opening hydraulic jaws to hold a load/turn of trees for extraction. The advantage over a grapple skidder is typically a larger payload that is located above the rear axle for improved traction. The disadvantage is that it must be loaded. Clam bunk skidders are typically used in swamp logging or shovel logging.

Clam Bunk Skidder

Stroke-Delimbers - A stroke boom delimber consists of a boom with a grapple (referred to here as the “front” grapple) and saw mounted on it. Another grapple (referred to here as the “rear” grapple) and saw are mounted on the base machine. The boom is mounted on the machine horizontally. The tree is normally grasped somewhere near the middle of the stem. The butt of the tree is placed in the rear grapple. The grapple arms function as delimbing knives just like the knives on a processor head. The boom ‘strokes’ the front grapple along the stem to remove limbs while the rear grapple holds the tree stem in position. The tree is topped and bucked into log lengths by the saw on the boom. These machines are costly and only seen on very high production jobs.

Stroke Delimber

Knuckle Boom Loader – a hydraulic loader generally self propelled or mounted on a trailer. The loader is used to load logs onto the trucks for delivery to the mills.

Knuckle Boom Loader

Yes it takes all this equipment and more to get the trees from the woods to the sawmills and paper mills. Forest products provide you toilet paper and lumber for housing. Thank goodness.....have you tried a corn cob lately!

If you are interested in Buying or Selling LAND,  please contact G. Kent Morris, ALC, RF at 706.457.0090

Why Should I Use an Accredited Land Consultant when Buying or Selling LAND?

This topic is near and dear to me! Several years ago I was steering a large real estate project in northwest Alabama. I was working for a timber company who owned 20 miles of shoreline on Smith Lake. I was asked to chose a Realtor to help identify and market these properties. I interviewed several realtors and chose a realtor who was an Accredited Land Consultant. I was so impressed with their knowledge and land expertise. Therefore when I decided to pursue a real estate career, I decided to pursue this designation. I checked with the Georgia Real Estate Commission recently and was told there are over 60,000 people in Georgia licensed to sell real estate. At the time of this posting, there are only 26 with this highly esteemed designation. So what is it ????

The REALTORS^® Land Institute confers the esteemed Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation to only those individuals who have achieved the highest level of education, experience, and professionalism.

         

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENT ALC candidates must be Institute members in good standing for at least 6 months prior to filing an ALC designation application.            EDUCATION REQUIREMENT Successful completion of a total of six Land University courses.  Courses may be completed in a live classroom, online, through the hybrid (independent study) program, and other delivery systems that may be made available.               Required courses (3 total):       -Land 101:  Fundamentals of Land Brokerage       -Land Investment Analysis       -Tax Deferred 1031 Exchanges          Electives (3 of 6):         -Tax Implications of Real Estate       -Agricultural Land Brokerage and Marketing       -Creative Land Planning       -Land Development       -Timberland       -Site Selection            -Practical Navigation for Land Brokers       -other electives as developed by the REALTORS® Land Institute EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT Applicants must submit a resume that demonstrates a minimum of 3 years of experience in land sales or brokerage or a minimum of three years of comparable real estate experience in auction, appraisal*, leasing, development, farm management, consulting, brokerage management**, or related services in land.    VOLUME REQUIREMENT Applicants must submit a portfolio. The portfolio must substantiate the applicant's participation and material involvement as a broker, agent, consultant, or employee in at least 5 closed land transactions totaling $10,000,000*, or a minimum of 25 separate land transactions.   EXAM All ALC designation applicants must successfully complete comprehensive online exam that covers the core components of the Land University curriculum.  If you decide to sell or buy real estate, why not choose someone who specializes in the type real estate you have an interest in and go with the best. I earned my designation in December 2009!! For Information on Buying or Selling LAND, contact G. Kent Morris, ALC, RF @ 706.457.0090

  

Generational Trends Among Buyers and Sellers!

The NAR (National Association of Realtors) recently conducted a survey to determine generational trends among Home buyers and sellers. Here are some of the highlights.

•        Among the generations, Gen X comprises the largest group of recent home buyers, followed by Gen Y, and then younger Baby Boomers, older Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation. The G.I. Generation represented less than 1 percent of recent buyers.
•        At least 80 percent of buyers who are aged 57 and younger bought a detached single-family home, while it is increasingly common for buyers over the age of 57 to purchase townhouses and condos.
•        Among all generations of home buyers the first step in the home buying process is looking online for properties for sale.
•        Buyers gain many benefits from working with a real estate professional. Among age groups, younger buyers are more likely to want the agent to help them understand the process as they are more likely to have never purchased a home before.
•        Older buyers are less likely to finance their home purchase in comparison to younger buyers; when they do finance, the share of the home they financed is typically smaller.
•        Among the generations, Gen X is the largest group who are recent home sellers followed by both younger Baby Boomers and older Baby Boomers, the Silent Generation, and Gen Y. The G.I. Generation represented less than 1 percent of recent buyers.

I recently wrote a blog about my optimism in the 2013 real estate market. Link following:

http://gkentmorris.blogspot.com/2013/04/optimism-for-2013-real-estate-market.html

I believe it is easy to see that the line share of purchases will take place by Gen X and  Gen Y. They are coming into their most productive years in terms of income. As the housing market improves in terms of volume and price, slowly but surely the land market will follow.

For information about buying or selling land, contact G. Kent Morris  (706) 457-0090