Mistakes Forest Land Sellers Make That Could Cost Them a Sale: Crowdsource Challenge 
Bob Stewart has once again asked us for some information for his upcoming webinar, and of course he is paying well with a pile of Points, so I am in with a story about why a potentially valuable chunk of Forestland did not Sell, or nearly did not sell.
One thing that we have learned over the years is that some agents know how to sell forestland and others just don’t get it.
Those who don’t get it will price the property low to start with, put minimum effort into marketing the property, like posting it on the MLS and their own website, and then wonder why it is getting lots of traffic but not selling.
Recently one of these agents who just don’t get it listed Mr. and Mrs. Sellers large tract of timberland using his usual modus operandi, of doing just about nothing other than complaining the sellers wanted too much money.
After 6 months on the market this agent who we will call clueless agent, went back to his agent complaining that it MUST be Overpriced and that they were just losing money holding on to the property and that they surely should lower the price a bit more.
About this time Mr. and Mrs. Seller were about fed up with Clueless agents complaining and whining to sell their land for less than it is worth so that he could get a quick easy commission.
They looked around and after a small amount of research they determined that Expert Agent was not only selling most of the Forestland near them but he was also getting much higher prices, far better than clueless was attempting to get.
So they set up an appointment with Expert Agent, he met them in his office where he was prepared with aerial photos, tax records, and estimates of what forestland in this area should go for.
Expert Agent’s first question for them was, let’s take a look at your Forest Management Plan, and they said “What?”.
His next request was for a copy of the most recent Timber Appraisal, again he was met with a blank quizzical stare.
How about a diary of the history of management on this forestland, again nothing.
Do you have a Wildlife Plan? How about a Wildlife inventory?
Well after a few minutes it was clear that Expert Agent was going to need to make a call to Woodland Management Service to get started on the documents that are needed to really sell forestland like an expert agent.
Next he suggested that while he was waiting for us to get started on the Forest Management Plan, Timber Appraisal, Wildlife Plan and Wildlife Inventory, that they should head out to the woods and take a look at the boundaries and trails.
Unfortunately that trip was unnecessary, since they sheepishly admitted that they had neither a trail network nor clearly marked boundaries.
After a bit of quick Staging work by the Foresters and Wildlife Experts at Woodland Management Service, Expert Agent had a set of documents that enabled him to do most of the showing of this fine property by emailing a few documents out to the prospects.
And when a prospect read the documents and decided that this was the property for them, the next step was to go out and see the property.
This trip to the property was a pleasure with clearly marked boundaries and trails filled with wildlife tracks leading to all of the best parts of the property.
Needless to say, it sold quickly, and for a very high price, much more than Clueless agent and his cohorts thought was possible, and the new owners are delighted.
They even send frequent pictures of themselves enjoying the property to Expert Agent and the folks at WMS.
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