Cold Callers for Land Wholesaling: What's Different and What to Test

REtipster, a land investing podcast, said in November 2024 that cold calling, once something "nobody ever did", "has grown in popularity" and that many land investors now rely on it partly or completely (REtipster, episode 198). A land call is not a house call, though. Here's what changes for the caller, what carries over, and what to test.

What carries over from house calls

• A calm opener: name, company, the property and one easy question.
• One question at a time, with the seller doing most of the talking.
• No price. Nobody has run the numbers yet.
• Stopping when asked: apologise, confirm and mark the number do-not-call during the call.
• The calling rules: the federal rules in 47 CFR 64.1200 make no exception for land.

The full list, with the calling rules, is in how to hire a cold caller for wholesaling.

What changes on a land call

There's no house, so the condition questions go. In their place come the things that decide what a parcel is worth and who can use it. DealMachine's checklist for buying vacant land (March 2026) covers them; a caller asks about each and your team verifies:

• Access. How is the land reached: a maintained road, a dirt track, a neighbour's easement? Physical access and documented legal access are different things.
• Utilities. Is there water or a well, sewer or septic, and power nearby? Extending power can change the numbers a lot.
• Zoning and use. Does the owner know the zoning, or what can be built there?
• Taxes and liens. Are property taxes owed, or are there liens or deed restrictions?
• The ground itself. Flood zone, wetlands, steep slopes: anything the owner knows.
• Who decides. Who else is on the title, especially for inherited land.

A seller's answers are notes to check, not facts: a survey, the county and a title report confirm them. The caller's job is to ask clearly and write down exactly what was said.

Owners who live far away, and fake sellers

Vacant land is also a target for fraud. Utah's real estate regulator warned in 2022 about people posing as the owners of vacant lots, with these warning signs: a seller out of state or overseas, contact by email or text only, signing only remotely, no answers about the property, a price far below market and a hurry to close (Utah Division of Real Estate, via Utah Business). That warning is aimed at buyers and agents, but it matters to a wholesaler too: a caller who notes when a "seller" can't answer basic questions about their own land helps your team catch it before a contract.

What to test before you hire

• The opener to an owner who lives in another state and hasn't seen the land in years.
• The land questions above, one at a time, in plain words, without sounding like a form.
• "What's it worth?" An honest "I can't say yet" and a next step, never a number.
• The notes: could your acquisitions manager act on them without calling the owner again?
• Stopping when the owner says no for the second time.

How Hire Now fits

Hire Now's Real Estate Cold Caller interview is built from house-seller calls: the opener, a "not interested" that turns into "don't call me again", and a seller asking for a price before anyone knows the property. Those skills carry over to land; the land questions don't, so test them in your own interview, and use the 30-minute interview checklist for the rest. You hear each candidate before you pay EGP 5,000 (about $100) once per hire, with nothing on wages.