Most wholesalers build criteria for what they want. Fewer define what should immediately slow down or kill a deal. Your market-specific warning list might include: • No legal access • Unusable terrain • Heavy flood-zone exposure • Zoning that conflicts with buyer demand • Minimum-lot-size problems • Unresolved ownership issues • Taxes or liens that destroy the margin • A price above your verified walk-away number Not every issue makes a property impossible to sell. It does mean the risk should be understood, verified, and reflected in the price. A written ‘do not buy’ list keeps excitement from replacing judgment and helps your team screen opportunities consistently. What issue is an automatic deal-breaker in your market?

Here’s a hypothetical example: You find a vacant lot with an estimated market value of $40,000. The seller agrees to $25,000, and you plan to add a $7,000 assignment fee. Your buyer price becomes $32,000. At first glance, it looks like a deal. But then you check the active listings and find several similar lots priced between $29,000 and $34,000. Why would an investor buy your contract at $32,000 when they can purchase a comparable property directly from the market? This is where many new wholesalers get stuck. They calculate their offer using estimated market value but ignore the competition. Before signing a contract, check: • Recent sold properties • Current active listings • How long similar properties take to sell • Road access, zoning, utilities, and flood zones • The margin your end buyer will need • Your assignment fee and closing costs Then work backward from a realistic buyer price. A contract isn’t valuable just because the seller accepted your offer. It’s valuable when the numbers also make sense to the next buyer. Would you have considered this hypothetical property a deal at $25,000?

just curious before you spend time comping it

I had a lot under contract that looked like an easy flip. Clean, dry, road frontage, priced right. Then a buyer asked me one question I couldn't answer: "Has it been perc tested?" For anyone newer, a perc test tells you if the soil can support a septic system. No sewer hookup on rural land means no septic means no house. And no house means most of your end buyers walk. I didn't know the answer, so I lost momentum with that buyer while I scrambled to find out. Turns out half the parcel was low and questionable for septic. Still sellable, but to a much smaller pool, and at a lower number than I had in my head. The lesson isn't "always order a perc test." The lesson is that you have to know what your end buyer is going to check before they check it. If you can't answer the buildability question, you're not pricing for the end buyer, you're guessing. On rural land, before I lock anything up now, I want to know three things: is there legal access, can it get water and septic or sewer, and is anything on it flood or wetland. Those three answers decide who your buyer is and what they'll actually pay. Active listings are the competition, not prices. But a buildable lot and an unbuildable lot at the same price aren't even in the same competition. If you've got a lot you're unsure about, drop the county and acreage below and I'll tell you what I'd want verified before making an offer.

I once put a lot under contract that looked perfect on paper. Good acreage, clean county records, priced right for the end buyer. Then dispo stalled, and I found out why: the parcel had no legal road access. Landlocked. Here is what I skipped. I never confirmed the lot actually touched a maintained road or had a recorded easement to get to one. On the map it looked like it did. In reality, the only way in crossed a neighbor's property with nothing in writing. That one detail killed buyer interest. Investors do not want a lot they cannot legally drive to, and end users definitely do not. The fix is simple and it takes five minutes. Before you lock up any lot: Pull the parcel on the county GIS map and confirm it borders a public road, or that there is a recorded easement on file. If you are not sure, call the county and ask directly. Access questions get answered fast when you ask the right office. Access is not a detail you check at closing. It is a detail you check before you ever send the contract.