Many investors are finding that their hard-earned dollars are much-safer and potentially could yield more return in the time-proven benefit of owning land. The volatility of the stock market and uncertainty in world events and politics has caused a wave of investors to turn their interest to land investments. In the niche market of rural land sales, investment properties most commonly are either entirely or have a higher percentage of tillable farmland.

A big factor influencing that is the somewhat reliable annual return through tenant farmer cash-rent or from direct grain sales proceeds. But not all investment properties fall into the “farmland” segment. Timbered acres can also provide a great return, albeit in a much longer cycle, on original investment through both well-planned and executed harvests, and also the fact that those acres are appreciating in value over time.

In the northern half of the U.S. hardwood timber is the king cash crop when it comes to valuable timber, in the southern pine plantations are commonplace and provide the country with much of the paper and lumber needs annually.

The management and harvest strategies are vastly different, as well as the duration between capturing a return, but the overall objectives are very similar. One way that timberland owners can derive a reliable annual income in between those harvests is by leasing the hunting rights to the property to individuals looking for quality hunting experiences and longing to have property all to themselves.

Also oil, natural gas, minerals and aggregates used in construction are valuable commodities that can create an attractive reason for investing buyers to consider rural lands in their portfolio.