Buying a woodland

[turbull]

yes grant money not a lot like but its nice to get some back .

[Mull]

yes grant money not a lot like but its nice to get some back .

 

 

Good stuff mate, if there were no grants who would fence and plant six acres? Only the wealthy,

[Hiluxr]

I'm fortunate enough at the moment to be in a position to invest. Obviously the first thing that comes to my head is to buy a house to let but am looking at the option of buying a small woodland say 5 acres or so. Is this something that would one day make me a return or am I just dreaming.

All opinions gratefully received and appreciated.

Thanks

 

Your return will depend what trees and age of the trees you have i guess, our 8 acres provides a small amount of firewood each year.

Shame i couldn't persuade my dad to buy the adjoining 35 acres when it was on the market around 1990 for between £1000 and £1500 an acre, woodland in this area is around £10,000 an acre now. So long term it will gain in value, like buying a house and letting it, probably with less hassles and maintainance:001_smile:

[Mull]

Your return will depend what trees and age of the trees you have i guess, our 8 acres provides a small amount of firewood each year.

 

Shame i couldn't persuade my dad to buy the adjoining 35 acres when it was on the market around 1990 for between £1000 and £1500 an acre, woodland in this area is around £10,000 an acre now. So long term it will gain in value, like buying a house and letting it, probably with less hassles and maintainance:001_smile:

 

 

If it gains in value that's good, but that's market forces, not at all like letting I don't think! Different markets !

[tz1_1zt]

A family member was in the same situation and went for property. Purchased two small flats in easy to let areas. They decided to use a local letting agent do everything, rather than handle all of the tenant issues themselves.

 

After the associated costs; letting fees, redecoration fees for each new tenant (using agent approved contractors), periodic replacement of white goods (via agent approved retailers), re-carpeting, empty hand-over periods, agent fees for chasing non payment of rent, income tax, capital gains tax, other dishonest practices by letting agent, solicitor fees...

 

You get the drift, there was basically zero income, large tax bills and lots of hassle. Lots of money to be made if you are the landlord, rent collector, letting agent and repair man. But that's lots of hard work and hassle.

 

If I had the money I would buy woodland, put it with a local woodland conservation company to manage and take firewood, and enjoy it.

 

Does anybody get this to work for them?

[sandspider]

I'd like to buy some woodland one day.

 

I don't expect to make huge amounts of money from it, but that wouldn't be why I'm buying it. A bit of firewood, somewhere to camp / get close to nature / watch the woods change and grow, wood to mill to build sheds and fences etc. Maybe a bit of income from thinnings and so on.

 

Having said that, it's unlikely that the value of woodland will fall over time. And I believe it's free from inheritance tax when you die (if commercially managed), and is subject to reduced CGT - on the value of the land only, not the timber it contains.

[dogman]

Interesting thread, i've got one property i rent,& would like another, but a wood ia appealing, but i wood'nt(sorry..)know where to start searching for, other than that company that charges a fortune, any tips ?.

 

Rob

[ArthurBottlesworth]

Crap income by letting agricultural land

But currently appreciating by 13% per annum ( hopefully)

 

So if your missis can stay away from that fancy car and luxury shopping, and you don't want a range rover should do ok .......

[Jon3012]

A family member was in the same situation and went for property. Purchased two small flats in easy to let areas. They decided to use a local letting agent do everything, rather than handle all of the tenant issues themselves.

 

After the associated costs; letting fees, redecoration fees for each new tenant (using agent approved contractors), periodic replacement of white goods (via agent approved retailers), re-carpeting, empty hand-over periods, agent fees for chasing non payment of rent, income tax, capital gains tax, other dishonest practices by letting agent, solicitor fees...

 

You get the drift, there was basically zero income, large tax bills and lots of hassle. Lots of money to be made if you are the landlord, rent collector, letting agent and repair man. But that's lots of hard work and hassle.

 

If I had the money I would buy woodland, put it with a local woodland conservation company to manage and take firewood, and enjoy it.

 

Does anybody get this to work for them?

 

I think the moral of this story is you can't make money if you employ someone to do all the hard work. Thats the same be it houses, woodland or anything else. If your prepared to graft and make money then a house would be the choice. Rental and increase in value. More relaxed get some woodland potter about it should be worth more than you paid in 10 years time. Hard to make money out of small blocks of woodland harvesting timber.

[woodyguy]

As the owner of a wood I'd suggest caution. Yes small woods have gone up in value over the past 10 years. They may well go up further but..

It isn't a terribly fluid market. You are in competition with several on line sellers who buy cheap and sell expensive. Most wood will have prohibitive covenants on it. As firewood sellers will tell you, it is hard to make money from firewood.

So yes I love my woodland and enjoy improving it and sharing it. But no I don't make any real money from it and my firewood could be gold plated for what it costs me.

Small woods are to enjoy not invest. If you make a little money in the long run then that's a bonus. Or are there genuine experience from anybody on here who buys and sells woodland (like rental property) to make money?