“Every buyer’s situation is different, and I’d always recommend talking to your accountant.” The exemption is real; it is not automatic.
People ask why the homesites are six acres when five would have fit more of them on the same ground. This is the answer, and it is not a marketing reason.
Idaho’s Forestland Taxation Law lets qualifying forest land be assessed on timber productivity rather than full market value. Kootenai County administers it as the Timber Exemption. The requirement is at least five fully stocked acres devoted to growing and harvesting timber, and that five acres excludes your homesite and improvements.
Work that through on a five-acre parcel. Take out the house, the shop, the driveway and the septic field, and there is not five acres of standing timber left. The parcel cannot qualify no matter how it is managed.
We sized the land so the option exists. Whether it is worth taking is a conversation for you, the Assessor and your own tax advisor.