Most landowners hear from a steady stream of interested buyers. Some are real developers with capital and a plan. Some are wholesalers who plan to assign the contract. A few are simply daisy-chainers — relying on someone else to actually close. These seven questions help you tell the difference fast.
TL;DR & ask a question
1. Are you the principal buyer, or are you assigning this contract?
This is the most important question. Wholesalers usually answer with words like 'we partner with...' or 'our buyer network...' A direct buyer answers with a name, an entity, and a source of funds.
Assignment is not inherently bad — some assignors deliver real buyers — but you should know what you are signing.
2. Where is the closing capital coming from?
A real buyer can tell you. Cash from a fund, debt from a named lender, or equity from named partners. A vague answer is a yellow flag. An evasive answer is a red one.
Proof of funds is not a wire screenshot from a personal account. It is a letter from a bank, a fund administrator, or a lender on letterhead.
3. What is your contingency period and what are your contingencies?
A short, clean contingency window means the buyer is serious. A long contingency window with vague contingencies means they want a free option to shop your property.
Reasonable contingencies are tied to specific items: title, survey, environmental, zoning, soils. Open-ended 'feasibility' that runs 90+ days deserves scrutiny.
4. What is your earnest money, and when does it go hard?
Hard earnest money is real money committed to the deal. The amount and the trigger matter. A small earnest deposit that never goes hard is essentially a free option.
On larger transactions, you should expect a meaningful initial deposit and an additional deposit that goes non-refundable on a defined date.
5. What is your plan for the property after closing?
You are not entitled to a business plan, but a real buyer can describe in plain English what they intend to do — even if the details may shift. A buyer who cannot tell you what they plan to do may be planning to flip the contract.
Plans evolve. That is fine. But the absence of any coherent plan is information.
6. Who is on your team and who has done this before?
A serious development buyer can tell you about their engineer, civil, architect, GC, attorney, and lender. They may not commit to specific names this early, but they can describe the team and prior work.
If the buyer has never executed the product type they are pitching for your land, that is a real risk. Capacity is not the same as track record.
7. What happens if the deal hits a problem?
Ask how they have handled a deal that ran into trouble — title issue, environmental finding, market shift, capital partner change. Their answer reveals more than the pitch.
Real operators have stories about hard deals and how they communicated, restructured, or walked. Pitch artists tell you the deal will never have a problem.
Disclaimer. This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, construction, engineering, lending, or securities advice. Every property and project is different; consult your own qualified professionals before acting.