Cash land files have fewer deadlines and more ways to lose money, so the value shifts from calendar management to exception chasing.
What belongs on a land checklist that isn't on a resale one: the legal description compared against the survey and against the deed of record, since a mismatch discovered after closing is your problem; every title exception read and dispositioned rather than just listed, including easements, mineral and timber reservations, and any restrictive covenants; recorded legal access confirmed, or a written easement obtained before closing rather than a seller's assurance that everyone uses the road; the survey ordered early enough that a boundary or encroachment problem still leaves time to renegotiate; unpaid or rolled-back taxes tied to an agricultural or timber exemption, which in a number of states can be clawed back on transfer or on change of use, and the amount and who bears it needs to be settled in the contract; and any pending assessment, lien, or lease, including hunting and grazing leases that survive a sale.
On the proration, how ag exemption rollback works and who owes it depends entirely on the state and sometimes the county, so that one needs a local attorney or the county assessor confirming in writing, not a coordinator's assumption.
Whether a per-file fee is worth it comes down to whether the coordinator you hire has actually run land files. A resale coordinator will send the standard packet and close on time with a title exception nobody read. Someone who knows land will hold the file open past your preferred closing date because the survey shows a strip inside a neighbor's fence line, and that hold is the entire value. Price accordingly and ask for two land closings they've run before you engage them. If they can't produce that, do the checklist yourself and pay an attorney to read the commitment.
