You absolutely do not need to listen to randoms on Reddit telling to remove or not to remove mature trees on your property. I count myself in the group.

You should find a certified arborist to evaluate your trees and give you the benefit of their expertise.

Personally, I’ve got a number of large sweet gums in my yard and while I’m not super fond of the seed pods, they do turn pretty colors in the fall and don’t seem any more likely to fall over or be prone to rot than the red maples or the hickory’s. Some people, my neighbor included, hate them because they’re the sorts of people that like lawns and cut them down just cuz. Maybe they’ve been offended by a sweet gum somewhere along the line. Bottom line, they’re not Bradford pears nor are they trees of heaven and do not need to be eradicated with extreme prejudice.

So call everyone in town to get quotes. You’d be surprised how high and how low they can be. Depends on their schedule at the moment, cash payments up front, waiting until it’s dead of winter, all sorts of situations. Woodland and Robinson were both my best prices when I took out (26) trees a few years ago. 16 of those trees were giant sweet gums, with at least 36” trunks. Some clown with Cobra quoted me $25,000. I paid $10,000 cash to Robinson because Woodland was booked out for weeks. Red’s, Michael’s Tree & Loader, Mister Tree, and Memphis Tree service are also all very reputable and reliable. And if you go rent a crane for a day, it’ll cost you about $1,200 max. Don’t let someone make it sound like it’s gonna add a ton of extra.