The slower of two cheap rural parcels taught me more

I look at cheap dirt in thin markets, so nobody should copy these numbers into a metro.

Bought both from the same estate. 11 acres and 8 acres, adjoining, in a county with maybe 9,000 people. Owner was an executor two states away who wanted the file closed. Contract on both at 21k combined, assignable, 45 day close because probate paperwork was still moving.

The 11 acre piece had 600 feet of county road frontage and went in nine days. Assigned for 4,000 to a guy who buys and holds rural acreage. Easy.

The 8 acre piece sat. It's behind the first one with a 30 foot recorded access easement running along the property line, which is legal but ugly, and the back third is in a wetland per the national map. Took 71 days and four dead conversations. The buyer who finally took it was a neighbor who wanted the boundary straightened, and he paid 5,500 over my contract price.

What nearly broke it was the timeline. My contract had a hard close and I ended up asking for a 30 day extension in writing, which the executor granted because he had nothing else moving. If he'd said no I'd have been choosing between closing on it myself and walking from a real fee.

What I'd keep: contracting the adjoining pair together. What I'd change: I'd price the extension into the original contract instead of hoping.