A seller who needs certainty, speed or an income stream will take less cash to get it, and those are three things you can give away cheaply.
Price is one term in an offer and rurally it is often not the term the seller cares most about. Land that has been listed twice already belongs to somebody who has been disappointed twice and now wants, above everything, a buyer who will actually close. Four heirs in three states want a clean split and an end to the matter. A seller who already moved is paying two sets of bills every month and is watching a clock you cannot see.
So the question before you name a number is: what is this person actually trying to get out of? Then build the offer around that, and spend the savings on the price.
What to actually do
- Ask the agent, or the seller, directly: why are they selling, and when do they need to be finished? The answer is given far more often than people expect, because nobody asks.
- Look up the sale history and the tax status on the assessor's site before you offer. An out-of-state owner, a recent transfer by deed of distribution, or two years of late taxes each tell you something about the clock.
- Offer the thing they want. A fourteen-day close. A sixty-day close so they can find somewhere. As-is, with no repair requests. Letting them leave the junk. Buying the tractor.
- Ask about owner financing, especially from an older seller who has held the land a long time. Many would rather have a monthly cheque at seven per cent than a lump sum and a capital gains bill, and it solves your down-payment problem at the same time.
- Keep exactly two contingencies and say so out loud: a passing soil evaluation, and clear title with legal access. Dropping the rest is a real concession that costs you nothing you needed.
Words to use
Before I put a number on paper -- can you tell me what matters most to you here? If it is speed, or certainty, or a particular date, I would rather build the offer around that than guess.
Knowing you should ask and knowing how to ask are different kinds of knowledge, and only one of them is common.