PROFILE

John Loflin of Loflin Forest Management in Andalusia began working for landowners as a consulting forester after 30 years as a timber buyer. This is an advantage for his clients because he has insight about the things that make a tract attractive to buyers.

“I know what the other side wants, and we can market the timber to maximize the price the landowner can get,” he said. Although he values his time at bigger companies, he’s glad to be in the business now of providing a service that’s genuinely helpful to his clients. Loflin’s approach to forest management is hands-on and boots-on-the-ground. “If I sell a tract of timber, I go out and check on the logging crew—not to catch them messing up, but to see how I can help so we can do a better job.”

As a small landowner himself, he always wants clients to know he’s there to look after their land as if it were his own, but with their goals in mind. One mistake he sees landowners making often is not treating land as an investment, whether they are managing for timber or not. It wouldn’t make sense, for example, to buy stocks and not keep up with their value on a regular basis. “You need to treat land and timber the same way,” he said. “You need to know what it’s worth.”

Seeking clients in these counties:
Barbour
Bullock
Butler
Coffee
Conecuh
Covington
Crenshaw
Dale
Escambia
Geneva
Henry
Houston
Macon
Pike
Russell

Link#   98150
Acct#