Smokeshire Valley Preserve and her owners were longtime clients of Earth Asset.  For years, Earth Asset provided a wide range of advisory services.  When the family decided to transition their ownership of SVP, they entrusted us to be their exclusive brokerage representative.  One of the family members also engaged Earth Asset to exclusively represent them as their buyer broker, and work with them to find another forested property with similar features to SVP, yet on a smaller scale, where they could move to once SVP's next owners arrived.  During the marketing and representation of SVP, Earth Asset produced the accompanying collateral materials found here, including the video.  We share this as an example of the essence of our work -- relationships between people and places, honoring both during guardianship and custodianship, and through evolution and transitions.

Our marketing and representation of SVP unfortunately did not end in a sale, despite the commitment, efforts and collabration with the family.  When the family elected to turn representation over to another real estate company, LandVest - which also happened to be my former employer where I began my real estate career and was mentored and trained in land planning, appraisal, advisory and brokerage, she was renamed Chester Forest & Farm.  At that time, SVP became an Earth Asset "curated portfolio" property.

Our "curated portfolio" features properties that we have experience with, believe are exceptional investment opportunities, and are for sale and exclusively represented by other real estate firms. The in-house knowledge we have about these properties makes us well-positioned to provide informed, trusted counsel to a buyer. To learn about our exclusive buyer representation arrangement, contact Shawn at shawn@earthasset.com or (802) 434-7798.

We decided to share this experience as an advisory-to-brokerage case study because it allows us show how we work, more often than not, with families and their special places using real examples.  We've kept the video link live because, as unfortunate and disappointing as it was for us to lose our longtime client and relationship with SVP, it was equally unfortunate to learn what happend to SVP.  Under LandVest's representation, the property was offered in different pieces, as you can see below.  Eventually, they were able to secure buyers for the family and SVP was sold in parts.  The buyer of the large, forested portion effectively clearcut the landscape - causing ecological harm and destruction that is truly unimaginable.  Earth Asset shares the video it helped to create as a memorial and to honor the nonhuman sovereign beings who were impacted most at the hand's of the "ownership transition," and to celebrate the incomparability of this absolutely unique and iconic place that will, under the right human relationship, heal in time.  

Our Experience With This Property: Earth Asset's decade-long real estate counseling and valuation work for the owners provides our basis of intimate knowledge about the property, including its value integrity, historic use and management, potential to support a variety of new uses, income-generating opportunities, and conservation possibilities. Without infringing on the confidentiality we owe to the owners, we can leverage our wisdom to benefit a buyer. Save time, money, and avoid costly mistakes by partnering with us in the acquisition of this keystone property.

Why We Like This Property: Unfragmented landscape; water security & quality guaranteed by watershed control; rich wildlife habitat; robust wildlife population; excellent peripheral & internal access; field & edge openings; variable topography; variable solar aspect; diverse forest and NTFP (non-timber forest products) species for medicinal/food/fuel wildcrafting & foraging (eg. medicinal, edible fungi & plants like Reishi, red-belted polypore, birch polypore, stinging nettles); not over-improved with buildings; low carrying costs for a property of this size, quality & proximity to major metropolitan areas; easy access to major travel corridors and services; beauty; privacy.

Spanning nearly 2,000 acres, Chester Forest & Farm's size, contiguousness, 1.5-mile internal private road, diverse soil types and slope aspects, plentiful water resources, and close proximity to key regional markets like New York City and Boston, are its most valuable assets. Complementing them are excellent site access and privacy. Used as a family retreat, with the land managed primarily as a working forest, the property is in pristine condition.

The property was offered by LandVest in three ways:

Offering 1 - $3,940,000 (formerly $4,650,000) | Chester Forest & Farm - 1,881± acres and all improvements; link to listing

Offering 2 - $3,150,000 (formerly $3,750,000) | Chester Forest - 1,807± acres and cabin; link to listing

Offering 3 - $790,000 (formerly $990,000) | Chester Farm - 73.7± acres and some improvements; link to listing