Sustained forests; sustained profits

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The Lasting Forests Realtor

Lasting Forests Realtor is a system for people who are appraising, buying, selling, renting, or developing land. It is a system for realtors and their real or potential clients. It may also become a partnership development in which Lasting Forests invests with realtors in efforts to sell or rent land. If successful (very likely with the combined work of the effective realtor and the services of Lasting Forests), a small percentage of the commission of the realtor may be shared to improve the system and enhance Lasting Forests.

Most people believe they know what they want and they express these needs or wants in simple terms such as "a good piece of land" or "a place in the country." It takes work to describe exactly what is wanted; it takes work to get people to state what they want. Equally or more important is the problem of describing what they will get. Most people do not even know the categories, what questions to ask about land, or what information they could get if they knew how to ask for it. Few people have much practice in making big purchases. Stating wants and needs becomes increasingly more difficult as the society becomes more urban. Lasting Forests Realtor provides an expert system analysis of lands that may meet the criteria and interests of a prospective buyer and then suggests (if requested) three financial plans for assisting in achieving a sale or purchase.

Relative primeness of sites for residential development. The area is 69,000-acres in the Virginia coalfield The analysis (20 factors) was developed by Tom Cason, 1982. Darker cells are more prime. Modern maps with greater precision and more factors used in the analysis can be supplied in color.

Lasting Forests Realtor is a system that provides a report of a land analysis. The report is like a medical "work-up" on a patient. It can also be compared to military intelligence. It is a system that produces reports, maps, and illustrations that help realtors sell land by providing the answers to questions that clients actually have or may ask about land. It is the best information currently available within a dynamic database and it is provided in cost-effective phases. It connects responsible buyers with land units (each of which is unique), and to increase the chances that customers will be pleased, the land and resources will be used well, the people of the area will prosper, and the real estate business component of Lasting Forests Realtor users will become increasingly prosperous.

A group of scientists can study a small tract of land for their entire careers and pass it along to their children for more study. There is no end to interesting questions about every piece of land. Lasting Forests Realtor delivers information in three phases and in sequence. Each phase is of different intensity and depth. (A unique program of long-term studies can also be developed for a client by the Lasting Forests Realtor staff with a university foundation. Besides great taxation benefits, the public relations gains cannot be discounted. The report provides a baseline analysis as protection against future claims of excessive changes and abuses. Strategic project selection can usually be of direct benefit to companies (legal, environmental, and product development).)

Phase 1 provides information about the state and county. It gives the ecological region and general information about the forests and wildlife of the area. It provides exact location, rainfall, monthly temperatures, growing season, and an estimate of the number of species present. It analyzes area, boundary length and adjacent owners and problems and benefits. The most exciting unit is the maps. Based or a rough boundary map supplied by the realtor, the area is displayed within a topographic map "window" of about 25 miles on all sides (8 ½ x 11 size). Expert survey sources are suggested and detailed mapping arranged as needed. An attractive, three-dimensional picture (in color) of the shape of the land surface inside this map is presented along with the rough boundary. The third map in color is the 3-d picture of the land within the boundary that is for sale.

Phase 2 lists the major species known or likely to be present, analyzes the slopes, soil, aspect (direction downhill) of each unit, and provides extensive documents (all of these may be on a web site) about the forests of the area. A vegetation map is supplied. It includes a map based on the latest analyzed satellite images for Virginia. Five other maps are presented - slopes, aspects, solar radiation, elevations, and watersheds.

Phase 3 provides other information about the area but its emphasis is on ideas for development, ecological limits, financial options, ecotourism potentials, hunting and fishing potentials, and birdwatching and nature study and research potentials. Gross forest potentials are estimated but clients are referred, e.g., to Foresters, Inc., a company especially equipped to move past the Lasting Forests Realtor documents, use them and the investment made in them, and to supply sophisticated cost-effective forestry services to enhance the land and stabilize its productivity and potential profits. Lasting Forests may soon be able to assist land owners in having their lands classified as Certified Forests by SmartWood through Foresters, Inc.

Proposed Content of a report from Lasting Forests Realtor is as follows. Parts of the system are under development. It includes many GIS maps, at least one 3-d map, and the following topics. Much of the text is general and educational, applicable to many local sites, but many sections are site specific, using Landsat and other information sources. Progressively, the reports will be developed to become more site specific, with heavy use of "expert systems" technology.

• Title Page
• Preface
• A map from home or meeting place to the property
• The Ecological Region of the State
• The Forest Region
• The Area
• The County and its History
• Pre-settlement People
• GPS and the exact location
• Taxes
• Area
• In-Holding
• Distance to Schools
• Distance to Towns, etc.
• Boundary Analysis
• Elevations
• Slopes and Flat areas
• Aspects
• Precipitation
• Temperature
• Solar relations and energy potentials
• Soil (General: later detailed soils maps will be prepared and potentials and limits described)
• Wind energy potentials (and wind hazards)
• Streams, Ponds, and Water Resources
• Stream conditions (as relevant)
• Bridges and culverts
• Fish (number of species)
• Groundwater
• Scenic Vistas and Landscape
• Landscape Ecology
• Forests
• Forest Productivity with Management and Innovations
• Wildlife
  • Birds (number and later a likely species list)
  • Deer Resource Management potentials (including damage control)
  • Bear
  • Wild Turkey
  • Quail
  • Squirrel
  • Other Wildlife
  • Plants, Botanical Surveys, Plant numbers, Rare Species,and Wild Flower Gardens
  • Toxic Plants and Allergens
  • Growing Season and Planting Dates
  • Butterfly Gardens
• Roads, Trails, and Access
• Mining and Mineral Resources
• Reshaping the Land and Restoration
• Recreational Sites and Opportunities
• Air Quality
• Noise
• Wildfires and Protection
• Rural vandalism and safety protection potentials
• Potentials for the Future and Services of Lasting Forests
• Appraised values with and without such services.

All or part of the above may be on the web site (with security for the owner) or delivered on paper (or both). On the web, changes as they are found or occur in the neighborhood of a tract may be incorporated for the owner.

Work with web site groups may be explored. For example, AgentMLS was said to have been created by agents for agents. Unlike other real estate malls, when a client searches for property, no other agents are listed. Properties selected by your client are dropped in a shopping cart at your site and you are notified of their selections, so get prepared to answer questions or show the properties. The free website also contains current market information, great content, handy tools and calculators and marketing assistance.

As part of the service with each sale, we could list forests and wildland opportunities for the tract that is sold on our special web page. (Later we propose to enhance an expert system responsive to the stated needs of a client, one that sifts through available properties and gives each a "score" for how well the client's objectives and criteria are likely to be met.) We'd show sweeping digital pictures (e.g., IPIX) of tracts and their surroundings (on the Web) and list characteristics: production, forest yield, recreation potentials, hunting, birds, geology, opportunities, then try to make the purchaser of land a customer for our management. A computer "fly-over" might be done for large tracts. After the sale (and as a major advantage of the sale being offered with the assistance of Lasting Forests), we offer to help market the productive potentials of the land for the purchaser, presenting the services (and financial rewards) it might provide. Making connections and marketing for the realtors are encouraged for foresters, wildlife managers, and other aspects of Lasting Forests. Certification of forests as well managed and sustainable can be arranged. Boundary signs are sold; plans are suggested; Trust-land tax benefits arranged; fencing and trails and restoration offered; etc.

One Western U.S. firm now purchases lands, restores them to environmentally sound, high qualiy hunting and wildland recreational areas, gains their certification, and sells them in their new form with special marketing skills. Continued management can be arranged for such sites.

The business model of the conventional realtor is now flipped by the Lasting Forests paradigm to one of providing entrance to long-term regional productivity, land and land value enhancement (related to later sales), and the realtor being the middle-person for sophisticated, modern, high-quality long-term resource management. Training programs are offered to realtors to achieve effective use of the "intelligence reports "for clients.

Sample correspondence (ideas only):

Dear Realtor:

You can sell your forests, hunting, and recreation lands more rapidly and at a higher price than normal by using the Lasting Forests Realtor. These services are available for local realtors and they produce satisfied customers that spread the "good word" about you and your company among potential customers.

Each realtor has special needs so we have developed a standard package with additions. We can customize analyses for you from among a set of options for your special customers. Typical analyses for areas include those such as:

• Selected sites for commercial development.
• Selected headquarters and warehouse sites.
• Timber values of land.
• Timber harvest schedule sequence.
• Protected areas to avoid litigation over threatened and endangered plant or animal species.
• Dynamic forest profits (growth) over 10 years.
• Dynamic cattle forage values over 10 years.
• Soil nutrient loss rates (erosion) in cost-of-replacement units or foregone value.
• Ecotourism potentials (visitor and profit capacity: several types).

We can deliver to you analyses of any tract in the region (now on paper but soon to be available directly from the Internet), providing more information than anyone has ever had before to help make a sale, interpret land and its potentials (and risks) to a buyer, identify possible buyers, and dodge potential problems and associated costs.

One alternative for getting started is to develop the system together, then engage in marketing it together to other realtors. Another alternative is for us to invest in the system and have exclusive rights, then offer it as a service to you at a specific cost per report produced. Another is to work together for a small percentage of the commission on each property on which the system is used. We work with you, enhancing your profits through sales. If our services do not work for you, there is no cost to you. (The more you make, the more frequently, the greater are the incentives.) There may be other options; let's work together. Please contact us at 540-552-8672 or rhgiles@vt.edu.

One other sample correspondence is provided for ideas.

A superior real estate web site.

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This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Revisions: January 17, 2000; April 6, 2002