If you own a home with some trees on the property, you probably don’t think much about them unless they need maintenance. And at that point, you see them as an expense. Sure, those trees have value for their natural beauty and shade (or maybe the fruit they produce), but few people think about the trees in their yard in terms of monetary value.

But you should, because trees on your property do have value, and that value is often substantial. First, well-maintained trees in good condition generally add value to your property, up to 15%. But some types of trees can be worth a lot of money if they grow to enormous proportions in your yard. For example, an unassuming elm with a 20-inch trunk can be worth $30,000. And some trees have been valued at over six figures. Some trees are so valuable that poachers will actually invade someone’s property to steal them.

If you're currently looking out the window at the trees in your yard and wondering if you're sitting on some kind of timber mine, here's how to find out the value of the trees on your property.

The easiest way to get an idea of how much your trees might be worth is to use an online calculator like this one, which uses the USDA Forest Service’s i-Tree software, or the slightly simpler one here. These calculators rely on you to input accurate information, so you may need to research the species of your tree and do some measuring and observation to get a truly accurate estimate.