Passion Forest
How to sell a forest in France
The approach of 'Forêt Patrimoine'
To ensure the tranquil transfer of your forest, Forêt Patrimoine supports you with its thorough knowledge of the forestry world and its experience.
We offer personalized support at every step of the transfer of your forest assets.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Valuation Notice
Whether it's a forest or shares in a Forestry Group, valuing your asset is the first step to a successful sale. For this, a valuation notice is essential to have a precise and well-argued idea of the value of your property. The valuation notices produced by Forêt Patrimoine are based on two fundamental aspects: the fund and the area.
- The value of the fund takes into account the intrinsic quality of the soil, but also the infrastructure, access roads, and any existing buildings. We also include forest-related rents, the main one often being hunting leases.
- The value of the area, that is, the trees on the land that can be exploited, is generally determined following a statistical or comprehensive inventory. This inventory, carried out on the ground by the teams of Forêt Patrimoine or associated experts from the Forestry Committee, allows for a quality control of the stands, their distribution, and their health status. Such an approach has the advantage of quantifying the stock of standing timber, enabling a well-founded valuation of the forest. This estimation phase is also an opportunity to produce a detailed mapping of the forest.
All the elements constituting these valuation notices are updated in light of the dynamics of timber prices, but also the local and national forest market to set a sales price.
File Compilation
Once the valuation notice is produced, the phase of compiling the file begins. Forêt Patrimoine then undertakes a thorough synthesis of all elements related to the forest, incorporating not only the valuation notice, but also all administrative, legal, financial, and tax information that might interest potential buyers.
Marketing
This is followed by the marketing phase. At this stage, two approaches can be recommended: a classic marketing aiming for a private sale or the organization of a tender.
- In the case of classic marketing, the forest is presented to our national and regional buyer network, the goal being to establish healthy competition and to encourage potential buyers to submit their best offers. If necessary, broadcasting the offer within our network of private banking partners or more broadly in specialized media can help to maximize visibility for your property. Candidates for acquisition will be invited to submit their offers after having counter-assessed the forest, examined the information, and determined their price. The seller will then choose the best option.
- The tender process, a relatively new procedure in the forest market, is a marketing strategy governed by regulations and based on a "blind" competition among potential buyers. A deadline for submitting offers is set, and the candidates, after evaluating the forest, submit purchase offers that remain confidential until the opening session. The seller commits to selling the property to the highest bidder, provided that their offer exceeds the reserve price. The sale price of the forest is thus determined by the best offer received. This approach involves meticulous preparatory work carried out by Forêt Patrimoine and a notary office.
Several buyers will want to see the forest and have it counter-assessed before committing. Therefore, good accessibility to the forest as well as its presentation are important. If necessary and based on our findings on the ground, the execution of forestry work may sometimes be necessary. With our network within the forestry world, we can assist you in carrying out these works.
Negotiation
We then support you, deploying all our negotiation skills to obtain favorable sale conditions, both in terms of price, terms, or timing issues. These conditions are finalized at the signing of the sales agreement, a crucial point before the final signing of the deed.
A forest property often involves multiple commitments, contracts, or agreements (with the state, operators, hunting, wood gatherers, guards, farmers, hiking clubs, energy sector companies, quarries, etc.). Forêt Patrimoine assists and advises you in managing relations with these various actors to ensure a property transfer under optimal conditions.
Sale
The entire sales process, which, depending on the conditions, can span a period from 3 to 6 months, concludes with the signing of the final deed of sale.
With a deep understanding of the forest market, Forêt Patrimoine offers you comprehensive support in selling your forest, ensuring that you derive the best benefit from it while ensuring a fair and satisfactory transaction for all parties involved.