David Moak

When my wife and I decided that we wanted to put some funds into non-paper assets, we decided on timber land. We contacted Tom Smith and met with him one evening. We knew nothing about this kind of investment and Tom patiently explained the ins and outs and how this sort of thing worked. We discussed our desires and Tom translated those into a specific type of property that we should be looking for, considering our budget. Because of our ages, we needed to find something that would be harvestable in a relatively short time. One thing you find out pretty quickly is that someone is willing to sell you a piece of timberland every hour of every day. If an agent or even an acquaintance finds out that you want timber, they will have something for you to go look at the next day. People kept asking me why I had not bought anything yet. They seemed to think it was like buying a car. You just go pick out what you want. Tom weeded out properties that did not fit our goals. We kissed a lot of frogs as we looked at different properties. They looked better on paper than they did in person. Eventually we found exactly the right piece at exactly the right price. There were a number of unforeseen difficulties in closing the deal, but Tom was right there every step of the way during the negotiating process and, with his help, we closed on the perfect investment. We could not be happier. The next time we want to buy or sell some property, Tom will be our man.