The absolute conditions
Some situations have no acceptable explanation. If the seller will not give you the survey number in writing, walk away. If you are asked to pay anything before you have independently seen the revenue record, walk away. If any part of the consideration is requested in cash, walk away.
These are not points to negotiate. A legitimate transaction has no reason to fail any of them.
The verification failures
If boundaries cannot be physically demarcated against the survey map on site, you do not know what you are buying. If a recorded co-owner cannot be produced or accounted for, the sale cannot complete cleanly. If the mutation chain has an unexplained break, the title has a question mark on it that will surface at your exit rather than your entry.
Any of these can sometimes be resolved. None should be resolved after you have paid.
The pressure signals
Manufactured urgency is the most reliable indicator that something does not survive scrutiny. Countdown timers, "three plots left", a price that rises next week, an offer that expires if you consult an advocate.
Land is an illiquid, long-horizon asset. There is no version of a good land transaction that requires a decision this afternoon.
The fit failures
Some deals are sound but wrong for you. If you may need the capital within five years, land is the wrong asset — there is no exchange for a plot in an outer scheme, and exit depends on finding a specific buyer.
If the purchase only works when a target date lands on schedule, you are underwriting someone else's timeline. If you would need to borrow to fund it, reconsider: land generates no income to service a loan.
Waiting is a position
The framing that costs buyers most is treating "not now" as a failure. It is a decision, and frequently the correct one.
Dholera was announced in 2007 and spent roughly five years going nowhere. Buyers who waited through that period and entered later did considerably better than those who bought at the announcement and held through the plateau.
We tell clients to wait when waiting is right. It costs us the transaction and it is still the correct advice.