Certificate nr. 126
E-mail: info@mets.ee
PURCHASING A FOREST
We will offer a fair price for your forest
We have been purchasing forest land for over a quarter of a century and our experience as well as knowledge ensure that the landowner will get paid fairly and properly. We are interested in forests that can be managed as well as those that have nature conservation restrictions. We also buy land with immovable property or old homesteads that might only have a foundation left. If you wish to sell a part of your immovable, we will arrange and pay for measuring the immovable off. Forest transactions are one-time final events, therefore you are always welcome to turn to our experts with legal questions.
When we make an offer to buy, we will carry out an inventory on your land
Working regions of inventory specialists – click on the map to see who will come to visit your forest
The process of purchasing forest land
Initial contact
Fill in the price enquiry form or call us. We will get in touch and specify the forest's data.
We will visit the forest
Our specialist will do fieldwork and inventory the forest land.
We will make an offer
We will make you the best offer possible to purchase your forest land.
We will sign a sales and purchase contract
If you accept our offer, we will prepare a contract and take care of the administrative tasks. Payment upon signing the contract.
Choose us to purchase your forest land
- If we buy your forest land, we will maintain and manage your forest responsibly;
- We will base the purchase offer on a professional forest land inventory which ensures the owner the fair price you deserve;
- A personal approach based on the client's needs - for example, when you sell a part of the immovable, we will help arrange the land-surveying;
- If we buy the immovable, we ensure a quick transaction and we will prepare all the documents necessary for the transaction;
- Before the purchase transaction, we will transfer the sum to a deposit account;
- There are no commission fees on forest land purchases;
- We will pay the notary's service fees.
Purchasing the legal share of a forest immovable
When we purchase forests, we have encountered cases where the forest owner wishes to sell a part of the forest immovable. In this case, it is possible to measure a part of the immovable off and leave its future to be determine later. A few hectares is usually enough for practicing hobby forestry for a forest enthusiast who is a private person. This helps avoid a great financial loss if anything should go wrong.
When we purchase a legal share of an immovable, we always make an order of use agreement. With this agreement, we can determine the part that remains an immovable in the sole property and in the use of one or the other landowner. We will add an exact plan to the agreement where the area remaining in the sole use of each co-owner is depicted visually, which will be used later on when land-surveying is conducted. Ideally, the borders would follow landmarks - along roads, ditch axis lines and boundary lines. Also, we will immediately get approval and after measuring off the immovable we will establish a permanent easement. This way, access for the landowner is granted.
The price of a forest
When making a purchase offer, the most difficult task is determining a competitive and fair price. When suggesting a price, we take into account the following factors: the location of the forest land, the fertility of the soil and the surface area of the forest land. The price of standing timber is most affected by the species of trees growing there, and their volume as well as age and health. Additionally, an important part of the market value is demand and supply on the market at the time of the transaction – are there more offers than the forestry companies’ current capacity to invest, or less.
Every year, in the case of the transactions of 600 hectares of Estonian forest land, LignaMets OÜ has made the best offer.
Determining the price of an immovable
Accessibility
Forest land that can be accessed via roads better makes various processes of forest management easier, such as felling, planting, land improvement and more. In a broader sense, the location of the forest land is attractive in areas where the raw material gained from the forest can be processed better. The “right” location enables to realise the raw material of forest management more economically.
Soil
The more fertile the soil of the forest land, the faster the forest will grow and the higher the forest’s quality. The soil’s fertility is measured with a soil quality rating and the owner of forest land whose forest land has a rating of Class 1 or 2 can get the best price. However, Class 5 soil is not fertile and it brings the price of forest land down. It is possible to improve the quality rating when the forest land’s owner is aware what the condition of the soil is and knows more about forest management.
Species of trees
Most forest communities in Estonia’s private forests are spontaneously formed mixed forests where we can find all of the naturally spreading species of trees at our latitude. The species of trees used for making products and the demand for raw material in various sectors will affect how valuable the trees are that grow in a landowner’s forest. Therefore, foresters need to be able to assess and foresee what will be in demand and how to use forest management to create a forest community that would fulfil that demand. Naturally, this also means taking calculated risks.
Forest reserves
The volume of standing timber, meaning reserves, determines the volume of timber assortment gained from the forest. Surveying a forest in complicated and it is the component that fuels the discussion most when trying to find a selling price. Therefore, forest owners who do not have an education in forestry might find it difficult to manage their forest skilfully and an independent consultant might not take the risk of assessing the forest reserves objectively.
The condition of the forest
Humans and trees both have a life cycle. The tree’s lifecycle has teenage years, middle age as well as retirement. The age also affects the health of the forest, although sometimes it can happen that pests, diseases or damage can spread in forests that are still in their teens. In order to care for the health of their forests, forestry specialists regularly visit the forests they manage – this helps avoid a decrease in the forest’s value.
Forest Act
One part of operating in forestry daily is understanding acts and regulations that can affect how the forests are managed. The restrictive role of acts and regulations influences the availability of timber, the extent of forest conservation, the development of forest-based industries, tax advantages as well as forest subsidies. This, in turn, has a direct effect on the sales price of a forest. The most essential pieces of legislation in forestry are the Forest Act, the Forest Management Regulation, the Nature Conservation Act and the Forest Inventory Guidelines. A forest owner needs to consider that there are around 30 pieces of legislation in total in this area, which means that finding your way in the legal field might be even more complicated than forest management itself.
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Would you like to find out more about forest transactions?
How much does forest land cost?
The price of a forest is the most complicated question for the owner of the forest land. When determining a purchase price, the most essential factors are the forest land’s location, the fertility of the soil and its surface area. The price of standing timber is most affected by the tree species growing there, their volume, age and health. Additionally, the market value of forests is significantly influenced by demand and supply on the market – are there more or fewer offers than the forestry company’s current capacity to invest.
How much does a hectare of forest land cost?
Many forest owners wonder what the average price of a hectare of forest is in order to use it to estimate the value of their forest immovable. Such an approach, however, often yields a misleading result. The price of one hectare of forest land might be 1,000 EUR when the forest land has been cleared and the soil’s fertility is low. At the same time, one hectare of forest land can cost more than 20,000 EUR when a coniferous forest grows there which has high quality and many reserves. It is easy to say what the average price of one hectare of forest land is based on its surface area and soil when the plot is treeless. However, it is difficult to estimate the value when the forest land is covered with a forest that is growing continuously. To do so, it is first necessary to review the silviculture survey data or to go and survey the standing timber at that point of time.
Why do we use a notary’s deposit account when buying an immovable?
When selling forest land as well as farmland, the safest option is to transfer sales and purchase sums using the notary’s deposit account. This deposit account is the notary’s bank account where the notary will deposit the transaction sum until the contract has been signed and after concluding the transaction, the sum will be transferred to the seller.
Why do we buy forest land at auctions?
We keep an eye on and take part in forest auctions where the results of the auctions reflect the market price and gives an insight into the forest immovables market. However, it is important to remember that the auctioneer takes a service fee of about 6% of the purchase price.