How is My Credit Score Determined?

The company I am affiliated with provides some great training! During one of our business meetings we discussed 'credit scores' and how they are determined. Eddie Kirby with Guarantee Mortgage did a great job!

If you borrow money, you better know what your score is. Determine your score first before you apply. There may be some quick easy steps to raise your credit score, such as paying off a credit card, reducing the number of credit cards or paying off student loans.  Let's discuss how your score is determined. There are several factors that go into the calculation. Look at the following chart!

Your score is determined by the following:

• Payment History – 35% - Includes information on types of accounts, public records, payment delinquencies, collections
• Amount of Debt – 30% -  Number of accounts (loans, balance of installments compared to the original loan amount, proportion of high credit to balance on revolving debt.
• Length of Credit History – 15% - Do you have a long period of consistent and on time payments?
• Acquisition of New Credit – 10% - have you recently taken on a lot of new debt, this may decrease you chances of securing financing
• Type of Credit in Use – 10%   Mortgages vs Pay Day Loans and Title Loans

To see my listings visit AllSouthLandandHomes.com Buying or Selling Land? Contact G. Kent Morris, ALC, RF at      (706) 457-0090

To Burn OR Not To Burn…That is the Question!

To start the discussion let’s establish some rules…generally prescribe burning in done in pine stands and here’s why. Hardwood bark can be thin and is NOT a good insulator against the heat built up during a fire. Thus fire can damage the hardwood tree making it more susceptible to fungi and rot. Most of the southern pines do great in a fire ecosystem. The bark is thick and the tree is a natural invader of open areas like those caused by fire or fallow fields.

Now, let’s carefully examine the pictures…

This tract was 'BURNED'

This tract was 'NOT BURNED'

Believe it or not, these trees are the same age, they are separated by a fence. One owner elected to burn his, the other did not. Burning will actually put MONEY in your pocket. The trees are actually bigger on the site that was burned. The fire helps eliminate the herbaceous and woody competition on the site, therefore more water, nutrients and sunlight are available to the trees. The other benefit is visibility and accessibility. A forester cruising the timber needs good visibility, whether he is using fixed radius plots or variable radius plots, he has to see the trees. He is subject to miss a tree if the undergrowth is thick.

You might wonder about the cost, the Georgia Forestry Commission told me most of the fires they conduct cost the landowner between $12 and $17 per acre. Generally the larger the tract, the cheaper the burn!

Burning is a win-win situation and there are very few reasons not to burn. It helps keep a healthy forest!

To see my listings, go to AllSouthLandandHomes.com For information on buying or selling LAND, contact G. Kent Morris, ALC, RF at                (706) 457-0090

The LAND MARKET.....Normal OR Not?

I was reading an article by an economist and it gave me the motivation to pen this post. I recently attended a meeting of ‘Land Brokers’ and everyone is asking… Have we returned to normal? What is normal? Will prices return to pre-2008 levels?

We have probably not seen a normal market since 2006-2007. Well the bubble popped in 2008, prices fell off the cliff in 2008 and 2009 and we have been waiting for over 6 years for things to return.   In some areas things have gotten a lot better i.e. row crop land and irrigated land in the mid-west. Some of the other areas are struggling and in west central Georgia prices have not moved much in 4-5 years.

So what is going on??? Our economy is so tied to other factors such as gas and energy prices, national debt at all-time high, recession in Japan, terrorism, imports, exports etc. In some way we have little control on what happens outside our borders and this has impacted the ‘land market’. 

Although there has been some recovery since 2010, there are very few land sales taking place.  The "new normal" has been sporadic surges with different durations in time ,  and different peaks in intensity or price.  My prediction is this trend will continue for some time..... So if you are waiting for things to return to normal…maybe they already have!

If you are a Seller should you wait? Maybe the opportunity cost of waiting is not worth the risk. Maybe that cash can be used for other purposes.

If you are a Buyer, it is  a good time to purchase.  Prices are still relatively low and interest rates are favorable. A really good tract is always a good investment. Some properties have the ability to generate intermediate cash flow from farm rents, timber harvest, hunting leases and more. 

There are some good properties out there, be selective and you will look like a hero later on!!

To view my listings, go to AllSouthLandandHomes.com Selling or Buying LAND? contact G. Kent Morris, ALC, RF  @ 706.457.0090

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