Is This Investment Long-Term or Short-Term?

The second step is to decide whether your investment goal is a long-term perspective (which I define as five or more years) or a short-term perspective (which would be less than five years).  The time horizon of your investment is critical to determining the type of land in which you want to invest.

For example, if you are interested in investing in a loblolly pine plantation, the normal cycle of that investment from replanting a tract to harvesting saw timber is 30 to 35 years.  If you are looking for an investment that is going to have a significant return in five years, then buying a freshly planted pine plantation with a 30+ year horizon is a bad decision.  Decide your time horizon and make that part of your definition of success.