The Secret Investment Power of Timberland Properties with John Brenard and Terry Myers

Ed sits down with John Bernard and Terry Myers of Southview Timberland Investments, a Georgia-based fund buying mid-sized Southeastern pine timberland with a four-plus revenue strategy on every acre. John spent 15-plus years at JP Morgan, Smith Barney, and Wells Fargo Advisors, scaled a wealth management practice from zero to over $100 million in assets, then co-founded and sold a publicly-traded venture before landing on Timberland full time. Terry has lived in Georgia his entire life, has been in timber for 30 to 35 years, manages roughly 12,000 acres of his own properties, and has built a deal network so deep he has bought some of the same tracts twice. They have known each other for 18 years. Terry was John's mentor before they became partners.

Southview is currently raising a $50 million Regulation D 506(c) fund with a $100,000 minimum, accredited only. They have been onboarded to the Charles Schwab alternative investments platform by invitation. The buy box is 500 to 2,500 acre tracts, almost always all-equity at close, with two thirds of the strategy in pine timberland and the remaining third in farmland, recreational, and other complementary uses on the same dirt.

What landed in this conversation:

1. The "four plus" model that beats public timber REITs. Most timber funds stop at the trees. Southview underwrites every parcel against soil quality and mill infrastructure first, but then layers two or three additional income streams: farmland cash rents to professional farmers, recreational hunting and camping leases, pine straw harvesting, cell phone tower ground leases, and opportunistic highest-and-best-use land sales. Public timber REITs that manage millions of acres are stuck at four to six percent total returns because they cannot operate at parcel level. Southview targets at least double that on most deals by staying in the 500 to 2,500 acre range where one team can actually run the property.
2. Why biological growth changes the math. The trees are growing while you sleep. The asset becomes more valuable every day regardless of what is happening in equities, interest rates, or inflation. Southview buys with all equity in most cases, which means there is no debt service pressure on a 12 to 20 year crop. That is the structural reason the fund can be patient enough to wait for the best exit on every individual tract.
3. Terry's deal sourcing network beats every screen. A third of his deals come from families winding down estates where heirs disagree on what to do with the land. A third come from operator groups he has known for decades where a relationship call gets him through the door. The rest come from properties he has already sold once or twice over 35 years that the current owner is ready to flip again. There is no Loopnet equivalent for the timberland Southview wants. The 35 year Rolodex is the moat.
4. Solar is on the watchlist, not in the portfolio. Northeast investors keep asking about solar field ground leases because the per acre numbers look attractive. Southview has stayed out for a specific reason. Solar leases get sold from operator to operator, panels become obsolete in 20 years, and the EPA cleanup obligation can land back on the landowner. Terry has watched it play out across several Georgia projects. The fund is keeping a close eye on it for a corner of future deployment, but right now the strongest market in the South for the actual timber product makes that the highest and best use of the dirt.

The advice that has stuck with John came from Terry: when you do not know what to do, go wash your car. Get busy. Self-reflection without action is just procrastination dressed up. Terry's anchors came from his dad ("do what you say you will do and never make excuses") and from John Dixon, a Marietta auction-business veteran who took Terry under his wing in 1995 and 1996 and taught him 1031 exchanges and conservation easements.

John pointed to the Founders podcast by David Senra as a regular listen for the way it pulls timeless lessons from historical entrepreneurs in under an hour an episode.

Best way to reach the team: southviewtimber.com or email John directly at johnjohn@southviewtimber.com. Terry is the operator on the dirt. John is the wealth-management-fluent partner walking accredited investors and RIAs through the asset class.

Real Estate Underground with Ed Mathews. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, at clarkst.com/podcast or elevista.com/podcast

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