How to Make an Offer on Land: Contingencies, Earnest Money, and Timing

A house comes with a seller's disclosure and a home inspector. Vacant land comes with a legal description and whatever the seller happens to know. Nobody hands you a report on whether the soil will take a septic system, whether the road in is a legal right of way, or whether the county will let you build.

That leaves one place to put your protection: the offer itself. A well-written land contract gives you time, a right to enter and test, and a clean exit with your deposit if the answers are bad.

Contract law and closing customs vary by state. The Florida and Texas forms below are examples, and a licensed attorney in your state should review any land contract before you sign it.

Why a land offer is different from a home offer

Fewer disclosures. Texas is a useful example because its land contract is a state form. The Texas Real Estate Commission's Unimproved Property Contract, TREC No. 9-18, is for "property that does not have physical buildings, additions or fixtures on the land." Its seller's disclosure is a list of checkboxes: the seller marks whether they are or are not aware of flooding, litigation, environmental hazards, dumpsites or tanks, wetlands, endangered species, and floodplain. That is a statement of awareness, not a report.

No inspection culture. There is no house to inspect, so there is no standard inspection contingency. The checks that matter are a survey, a septic evaluation, a title search, and a zoning call to the county.

The contract carries the protection. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's rural land checklist, published in May 2026, tells buyers to make sure "inspection periods, disclosures, contingencies, and deadlines are clearly addressed." It adds: "Pressure to waive inspections, surveys, or title review should also prompt careful reconsideration."

Start with how to buy land and the land due diligence checklist.

Deciding what to offer

Land is harder to price than a house because comparable sales are scarce, and parcels differ in size, access, soil, and zoning.

Price per acre, from local sales. USDA's Land Values 2026 Summary, released July 31, 2026, puts average U.S. farm real estate at $4,500 per acre, with state averages of $3,100 in Texas, $4,950 in Georgia, and $9,150 in Florida. Those figures measure "the value of all land and buildings on farms," not vacant lots. Your offer should rest on sales near the parcel.

County sales records. The county property appraiser or assessor publishes sales, and they lag. In Volusia County, Florida, the appraiser says "it takes approximately 4 to 6 weeks for the sales to appear on our website" after the Clerk of Court records them. A parcel app such as Regrid gives you the parcel number and acreage to search those records.

Time on market and cost to develop. A parcel that has sat unsold is one other buyers passed on. Ask why. Then price in what the land needs: AgriLife's budget list runs to surveys, title work, fencing, water, access improvements, taxes, and insurance.

The parts of a written offer

A land offer becomes a contract the moment the seller signs it, so every protection you want has to be in it:

1. Price, and how it is measured. The Florida Realtors Vacant Land Contract, form VAC-14, can set the price "per unit based on a calculation of total area of the Property as certified to Seller and Buyer by a Florida licensed surveyor".
2. Earnest money. How much, who holds it, and when it is due.
3. A due diligence, feasibility, or option period. Your window to test and walk away.
4. Contingencies. Conditions that must be met before you must close.
5. A closing date. Set after the last contingency deadline.
6. Who pays which costs. The Florida form lists seller costs such as "Taxes on deed" and buyer costs such as inspections and the survey, and says whoever pays for the owner's title policy "will select the closing agent".
7. A right of entry for testing. The Florida form gives the buyer "the right to enter the Property at any time during the Due Diligence Period for the purpose of conducting Inspections," at the buyer's own risk. Without it, your surveyor is trespassing.

Earnest money: what it is and who holds it

Cornell's Legal Information Institute defines an earnest payment as "money set-aside into an escrow account after a home buyer and seller sign a sale contract." It is written around homes, but the mechanics are the same on land: "If the specified requirements are not met, the buyer can regain the earnest payment, but if the buyer breaks the agreement for a reason not included in the contract, the buyer forfeits the earnest payment."

Who holds it

In escrow, Cornell explains, assets are "deposited with a neutral third party, known as the escrow agent, who holds them until specified conditions in an escrow agreement are satisfied." In a land deal that party is a title company, an escrow company, or a closing attorney.

The Florida form makes every deposit payable to a named Escrow Agent, with the initial deposit due within a stated number of days, "3 days if left blank". Florida law also requires a licensed broker who receives a deposit to "immediately place, upon receipt" the funds in escrow. The Texas contract says the earnest money and option fee "shall be made payable to Escrow Agent" and are due "Within 3 days after the Effective Date".

When it comes back

On the Florida form, the deposit is returned when the buyer sends a timely written rejection during the Due Diligence Period, and when financing fails after a good-faith effort. It is lost when the buyer defaults, which includes paying a deposit late: the seller may keep the deposits "as agreed upon liquidated damages" or go to court.

Texas splits the money in two. Terminate during the Option Period and "the option fee will not be refunded" but "any earnest money will be refunded to Buyer."

How much

Neither form sets an amount, and no source for this guide publishes a typical percentage for land. Ask the title company or attorney who will hold the money what is customary in your county.

Contingencies specific to land

A contingency, in Cornell's words, "depends on fulfillment of a condition, which is uncertain or incidental." On land, these are the ones to write in.

Septic. Tie the contingency to a permit, not a test. NC State Extension, describing North Carolina law, says an improvement permit "must be obtained from the local health department before construction begins on the home or the septic system." It advises buyers to "make the purchase conditional upon the issuance of a permit for a specific type of septic system." In North Carolina, "permits for septic systems are valid for no more than five years." Other states differ; ask the county health department.

Legal access. The Florida form has the seller warrant "that the Property presently has ingress and egress." That is a promise, not a recorded easement. Florida law gives a landlocked owner a statutory way of necessity only when "no practicable route of egress or ingress is available", which is a remedy to litigate later, not access you own today. Make your contingency the recorded access itself. See our guide to easements.

Survey. The Florida form lets the buyer survey at the buyer's expense and requires written notice of encroachments or zoning violations "within 5 days after receiving survey but not later than 5 days before Closing Date". Under one Texas option the seller furnishes "Seller's existing survey of the Property" plus a T-47 affidavit, and if the seller fails to deliver both, "Buyer shall obtain a new survey at Seller's expense".

Zoning. Orange County, Florida issues a written zoning verification letter for $128.00 on conventionally zoned property, or $222.00 in a planned development, as of September 2026, and says "The processing time may take up to thirty (30) days after receipt of payment." Fees and timelines are county-specific.

The due diligence period: how long to ask for

This clause makes every other contingency work.

Florida: the Due Diligence Period

The Florida form gives the buyer a Due Diligence Period of a stated number of days, "30 days if left blank", to decide "in Buyer's sole and absolute discretion" whether the land suits the intended use. The buyer may conduct "a Phase 1 environmental assessment" and investigate "zoning and zoning restrictions", "soil and grade", access, utilities, and permits.

Before the period ends, the buyer must deliver written notice of whether the property is acceptable. Silence counts as accepting the land as is. A timely rejection means "this Contract will be deemed terminated, and Buyer's deposit(s) will be returned."

Texas: the Termination Option

The Texas form does not use the term feasibility period. For a separately stated option fee, the seller grants the buyer "the unrestricted right to terminate this contract" by notice within a negotiated number of days, the Option Period. The fee is the price of the exit: if none is stated or paid on time, "Buyer shall not have the unrestricted right to terminate this contract" under that paragraph.

Why 30 days is often short on rural land

Compare the 30-day Florida default to the clocks you do not control.

An Orange County zoning letter can take up to 30 days after payment. Volusia County's sales records lag about 4 to 6 weeks. A North Carolina septic permit needs a health department site evaluation with no timeline stated. Any one of those can outrun a 30-day period, and on rural land you may be waiting on all of them.

Ask for a period that ends after the slowest answer you expect, with a cushion, and tell the seller what you are waiting on. Then order everything on day one.

Negotiating a land offer

Cash is a lever. The Florida form's cash option says the buyer "will pay cash for the Property with no financing contingency." That is one fewer way for the deal to fail. If you need a loan instead, the form's Financing Period defaults to "Closing Date or 30 days after Effective Date, whichever occurs first, if left blank", and if the buyer cannot get the loan in that time after a good-faith effort, either party may terminate and the deposit is returned. Read land loans explained first, and run the numbers in the land loan calculator.

Seller financing is a term sheet. The Florida form writes it as a purchase-money note and mortgage. Its default terms give the buyer "the right to prepay without penalty", make the note "due on conveyance or sale", and require the seller, "within 10 days after Effective Date," to say in writing whether they will make the loan. Every blank is a place to trade: a seller who wants a higher price may accept a lower rate or a longer term.

Ask for what the seller already has. Existing surveys, soil evaluations, title policies, and permit files cost the seller nothing and save you weeks. The Texas survey option above builds that request into the contract.

Attorney review and who runs the closing

The Florida Bar's consumer pamphlet on buying a home says "The best time to retain a lawyer is before the purchase contract is signed," and if that is not possible, "make your offer contingent on lawyer review/approval". It also warns: "The closing agent handling your transaction may be a lawyer, but they may not necessarily represent your personal interest."

In some states the law requires a lawyer. Connecticut's statute says "no person shall conduct a real estate closing unless such person has been admitted as an attorney in this state". Georgia's Supreme Court has held that "it is the unauthorized practice of law for someone other than a duly-licensed Georgia attorney to close a real estate transaction".

Ask a local title company or the state bar how closings work where you are buying, and have a licensed real estate attorney in that state review the contract before you sign.

Wire fraud at closing

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes a scam in which criminals "send spoofed emails to homebuyers" posing as the agent, settlement agent, or legal representative "with false instructions for wiring closing funds." The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported a 2025 case in which buyers closing on a home received "an email impersonating their legitimate attorneys" and a wire "for over $449,000" went to the wrong bank. Both were home closings. A cash land closing has the same exposure.

The bottom line

On land, the contract is the inspection. Put the earnest money with a neutral escrow agent, never the seller, and tie its return to specific contingencies: clear title, a survey you accept, septic approval for the home you plan, recorded legal access, zoning that allows your use, and financing if you need it. Ask for a due diligence period long enough to get real answers, order everything on day one, and send your written notice before the clock runs out.