When building seller lists, many users rely on traditional ownership filters like owner location or length of ownership (for example, only targeting owners who’ve held land for 5+ years or live out of state). While this approach is common, our data shows it can actually cause you to miss a large number of motivated sellers.
This article explains why ownership filters should be avoided when using Seller IQ, and what filters you should be using instead.
❌ The Problem with Ownership Filters
A common belief in land investing is:
Owners must have held land for 5+ years to be motivated
Owners who live in-state or in-county aren’t good prospects
However, our findings show this simply isn’t true.
We consistently see motivated sellers who:
Have owned land for 1–2 years
Live inside the same zip code or county
Actively sell their land due to other motivating factors
🚨 Length of ownership alone does not determine motivation.
There are plenty of real deals from owners who:
Bought land recently
Live nearby
Still want to sell
If you filter these people out, you’re eliminating legitimate opportunities.
🧠 How Seller IQ Changes the Game
Seller IQ doesn’t rely on outdated assumptions like ownership duration or location.
Instead, it identifies sellers who are motivated based on multiple behavioral and data-driven signals.
That means:
A seller who owned land for just 1 year can still be highly motivated
A local owner can still want out
Motivation is determined by patterns, not stereotypes
When you combine Seller IQ with strict ownership filters, you’re working against the system.
✅ Recommended Filtering Strategy
To get the best results, we recommend the following setup:
🔓 What to Leave Unfiltered
❌ Owner location
❌ Length of ownership
👉 Do not touch ownership filters.
🏞️ What You Should Filter
Focus only on land-related quality filters, including:
✅ Landlocked scrub
✅ Flood zone scrub
✅ Slope scrub
✅ Land AI scrub
This ensures you’re targeting good land while allowing Seller IQ to do its job of identifying motivated sellers.
📌 Key Takeaway
If you:
Turn on Seller IQ
Avoid filtering by owner location or ownership length
Focus only on land quality filters
You’ll capture more motivated sellers and avoid missing deals that others overlook.
💬 Questions or need help?
If you have any questions, concerns, or run into issues with ownership data, our support team is here to help.
📧 Email us at: [email protected]
We’re always happy to assist.🤠