Pricing a TC file with no lender and a 120 day escrow

I've been coordinating files part time for two agents at a flat $425 per closed file, mostly resale with financing, average 34 days contract to close. That number works because the file has a shape I know: earnest money receipt, inspection window, appraisal, loan commitment, closing disclosure, done. I can run about 18 open files at once with a decent transaction management platform and e-sign.

Now I've been asked to quote on land files for a buyer who does raw acreage with feasibility periods. Their deals run 90 to 150 days, cash or seller carry, no lender clock at all. Instead I'd be tracking survey delivery, title commitment exceptions, a rezoning application timeline, well and septic testing, and access easement confirmations. Same file count, wildly different calendar length and a lot more waiting-on-a-third-party follow up.

My problem is the pricing model. Flat per file breaks because a 140 day file eats calendar slots I can't refill. Hourly makes me the person who benefits from friction, which I don't want. I've sketched a base of $600 plus $150 per 30 days beyond 60, capped at $1,200, and I have no idea if that reads as reasonable or as a coordinator inventing fees.

The other thing I can't size is scope. Surveys and rezoning submissions have real consequences if a date slips, and I'm not licensed. My state seems to draw the line at anything that looks like advising on the contract, and I'd want that in writing before I quote.

What does a land file actually cost a coordinator in hours, and how do people who do this price the waiting?

Answer

2nicole_adeyemiPassivePRO5

The hours on a land file aren't spread evenly across those 150 days, and that's the thing your pricing model should follow. On my acreage deals the work clumps into three or four short bursts. Week one is title order, survey order, earnest money, and getting the feasibility clock written down correctly. Then there's often a month where literally nothing happens except one email a week asking the surveyor where he is. Then survey comes back, exceptions get reviewed, and you have a hot week. Then closing prep.

So the calendar length isn't costing you hours, it's costing you slot capacity, which is a different problem. If your platform lets you hold a dormant file cheaply, a 140 day file might be 11 hours against 8 for a financed resale. That's not double the price.

What I'd actually pay for is the follow-up cadence during the dead month. Every land deal I've lost time on, it was because the survey was three weeks late and nobody chased it until the feasibility deadline was ten days out. A coordinator who calls the surveyor every Tuesday is worth more to me than one who knows the disclosure forms cold.

On your number: $600 base reads fine. The $150 per 30 days past 60 will annoy a buyer whose delays are caused by a county planning department, since he can't control that either. I'd rather see $850 flat with a written scope that says extensions past 180 days get requoted.

And get the licensing line in writing from your state commission before you touch anything near a rezoning submission. That varies state to state and it isn't worth guessing.

Pricing a TC file with no lender and a 120 day escrow

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