The first conversation with a landowner

The first conversation with a landowner is for listening: find out who decides, why they're thinking of selling now, what's on the ground and in the paperwork, and where their price came from, before you pitch anything. Agents who ask good questions in the first meeting earn the second one, which is where the listing gets won.

Why listen before you pitch?

Most landowners have heard a pitch before. Many get letters from cash buyers. A landowner who picks up the phone for you is often half-braced for another one.

Asking careful questions does three things a pitch can't:

• It shows you know land. The questions themselves (tillable acres, CRP, the farm lease, how the access road is held) prove more competence than a brochure.
• It tells you whether this is a listing at all, or a family that won't agree for three years.
• It gives you what you need to price and market the land well, so the second meeting is specific to their ground.

Keep the first meeting to the owner's kitchen table, their shop or a walk on the property. Don't bring a presentation. Bring a notebook and a county map.

Questions about the people

Land decisions are family decisions. The person who called you may not be the person who signs.

1. Whose names are on the title? A husband and wife, a trust, an estate, three siblings, an LLC.
2. Who else has a say, even if they aren't on the deed? Adult children, a sibling who hunts it every November, a tenant who farms it.
3. Where does everyone live? In Iowa, 20 percent of farmland is owned by someone who isn't an Iowa resident, according to Iowa State's Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey (2022 data). An owner in Arizona decides differently from one who drives past the field every day.
4. Has the family talked about this together yet? If not, you're early. Stay in touch and don't push.
5. Is anyone else helping you? An attorney, an accountant, a farm manager or a trust officer. You'll be working with them, so know their names.

If the land is part of an estate, slow down. Listing inherited farmland and hunting land covers working with heirs.

Questions about why and when

The reason for selling tells you the timeline, and the timeline shapes the whole plan.

1. What's got you thinking about selling? Retirement, health, an estate, a move, a tax plan, or simply being done hunting it.
2. Is there a date you're working toward? A closing before year-end, a move in the spring, a harvest to finish.
3. What would you do if it didn't sell this year?
4. Are you planning to buy other land with the proceeds? If yes, a 1031 exchange may be in play, and that has hard deadlines. Don't advise on it. Note it and send them to their accountant before anything is signed.
5. Have you talked to anyone else about selling? Another agent, an auction company, a neighbor who wants it, a cash buyer who sent a letter.

The last answer matters. A neighbor with a standing offer, or an auction firm already at the table, changes what you need to show.

Questions about the ground

You'll walk the property later. In the first conversation, find out what the owner knows that you can't see.

1. How many acres, and how are they split? Tillable, pasture, timber, CRP, wetland, building site.
2. How do you get in? A public road, a field approach, a private lane, an easement across the neighbor. Ask whether the access is written down and recorded, or a handshake.
3. Where are the boundaries, and do the fences match them? Ask whether there's a recent survey.
4. Are there wells, old or new? In Minnesota, the seller must disclose known wells on real property before signing a purchase agreement, and the deed must carry either a statement that the seller knows of no wells or a well disclosure certificate (Minn. Stat. 103I.235). Ask about old farmstead sites, not just the well in use.
5. Any buildings, dumps, fill or old tanks? In Wisconsin, transfers of land with no buildings require a Vacant Land Disclosure Report, which covers subsoil conditions, conservation easements, use-value assessment, farmland preservation agreements and boundary disputes (Wisconsin REALTORS Association, June 2018).
6. What does the land do best? Ask them. A family that has hunted it for 40 years knows where the deer bed, where the water sits in spring, and which ridge holds the wind.
7. Do you have trail camera photos, harvest records, yield history or timber cruise records? Buyers ask for them, and they're easier to collect before listing than after.

Questions about leases and programs

This is where land deals stall. Program contracts and leases carry deadlines and obligations a buyer inherits, or a seller pays for if they're handled late.

1. Is anyone farming or renting it now? Is the lease written or verbal, and when does it end? Termination rules differ by state. In Iowa, farm tenancies continue unless written notice is served before September 1, ending the lease March 1 (Iowa State CALT). Wisconsin requires at least 90 days' notice for year-to-year agricultural tenancies (Wis. Stat. 704.19). In Minnesota, a tenancy at will ends with notice at least as long as the rent interval or three months, whichever is less (Minn. Stat. 504B.135). Their attorney handles the notice.
2. Is there a hunting lease? Ask who holds it, whether it's written and when it ends.
3. Is any of it in CRP? When does the contract expire? If land sells and the new owner doesn't become a successor to the contract within 60 days, the contract terminates on that land and the seller must refund all previous payments plus interest and liquidated damages, unless USDA agrees otherwise (7 CFR 1410.51). What happens to a CRP contract when land sells goes further.
4. In Wisconsin, is it in the Managed Forest Law? Open or closed? MFL continues after a sale, the buyer must follow it, and a transfer form goes to the DNR with a $100 fee (Wisconsin DNR).
5. In Minnesota, is it in SFIA, 2c Managed Forest or Green Acres? An SFIA covenant stays on the land after a sale, the seller must notify the Department of Revenue in writing within 60 days of the transfer, and buyer and seller decide who gets the payments (Minnesota Department of Revenue, SFIA FAQ).
6. Any conservation easements, wind or solar leases, or pipeline easements? Ask for copies.

You don't need to explain any of these rules in the first meeting. You need to know they exist, so the owner's attorney, FSA office or DNR forester gets involved before a buyer is.

Questions about price

1. Do you have a number in mind?
2. Where did it come from? A neighbor's sale, an appraisal, the paper, a USDA average, a cash offer letter.
3. What number would you need to walk away satisfied?
4. What have you heard land around here is selling for?

Write the answers down and don't argue in the first meeting. You haven't walked the ground or pulled the sales yet, and a price fight before you've done the work reads as a sales tactic. Come back with comparable sales. If the number is high, how to tell a landowner their land is overpriced covers that conversation.

What to listen for

The words a landowner uses tell you as much as the answers.

What to leave out of the first conversation

• Your commission. They'll ask when they're ready. Answer plainly when they do.
• Your firm's history. One sentence is enough. The meeting is about their land.
• A price. Not until you've walked it and pulled the sales.
• Tax or legal advice. Name the question, then send them to their accountant or attorney.
• Promises about a buyer. Unless you have a specific, qualified buyer, don't mention one.

After the conversation

Within a day, send a short written recap:

• What you heard: the owners, the timeline, the ground, the programs and leases.
• What you still need: a survey, CRP contract, MFL order, lease copy, well information.
• When you'll come back, and what you'll bring: comparable sales, a price range and a marketing plan.

Then show up on that date with exactly what you said you'd bring. The second meeting is the listing presentation, and a landowner who got a clear recap and a kept promise is already comparing you favorably to whoever else they're talking to. More on winning the listing is in the winning listings library.