Found something that fits a land buyer's criteria. No idea what to ask.

Why hasn't it sold in eleven months at 3.2 when comps are 3.6 to 4.4? That's the whole post. Either the comps aren't comps, or there's something about the parcel you haven't found yet. Access easements, a floodplain across the frontage, mineral rights severed, an old lease. Find the reason before you find the price.

@sable is asking the right question. Seasonal creek plus eleven months on market makes me want to see the FEMA map and a wetlands determination. If a meaningful share of those 62 acres is unbuildable, your buyer's $4k ceiling was never a ceiling on this parcel.

Arbor, on the process question, tell him the criteria match and the county before you tell him the price. Something like: 62 acres, county road frontage, ag zoned, seasonal creek, here's the parcel number. Let him do his own value work and come back with what he'd pay. He assembles for a living, he knows this county better than your comps do. If you name 3.8 and he was at 4.2 you just gave away 25k, and if you name 3.8 and he was at 3.4 you look like you don't know the market.

Also confirm the recorded access, not the visible access. A road that people drive on isn't the same as frontage on a dedicated public right of way, and how that gets established varies by state.

Genuine question, is 30 days of due diligence enough to get a survey done on 62 acres? Everyone I know waits six weeks for a surveyor.

@beacon it isn't, usually. But arbor isn't the one surveying, the end buyer is. The due diligence period only has to cover long enough for the buyer to say yes.

@lantern that's true right up until the buyer's own diligence takes longer than arbor's window and he needs an extension from the seller. Seller sitting eleven months will probably grant it. Ask for 45 up front anyway, it costs nothing to ask.

Nobody's said the obvious thing about the listing. It's listed. Your buyer could have found it himself, and if he's been buying in that county for years his agent may already have shown it to him and he passed. Ask him straight if he's seen it before you spend anything.

On the mechanics, a land purchase contract with an assignment right and a due diligence out works the same as it does on houses. Check that the listing broker's form doesn't restrict assignment, plenty of state association forms make assignment conditional on seller consent, and that changes who you have to talk to and when.

Offering 2,900 on a 3,200 listing that's been sitting eleven months seems timid to me. Eleven months is a seller who has stopped believing his own price. I'd start lower and let him counter.

@bramble low enough that he's insulted and stops responding is a real failure mode though, especially if there's only one parcel like this.

The part I'd be nervous about is the $50k of theoretical room. Buyers don't pay their ceiling, they pay the least they have to. His 4k number is what he'd stretch to for something perfect. This parcel has a creek and two extra acres, so he'll price it down from there before you even start.

If you got 15k on this I'd call it a good outcome for a first one.