Sell Land to a Developer
Most landowners near a growing city think they have two choices: sell now at today's price, or hold on and hope. There's a third one almost nobody explains.
You can sell your land outright for cash. Or we can find out what your land is actually worth to a national homebuilder — paying for the perc tests, surveys, wetland delineation, feasibility studies, engineering and approvals ourselves, which on a typical project runs well over $100,000, and in many cases paving the roads and running electric and water to every lot, which can reach a million dollars.
When the land sells, you receive the purchase price we agreed at the start plus a share of the profit. You put up the land and the time. We put up the capital. If it falls apart, you keep the deposits we've paid you along the way and you keep your land. You also keep title the whole way through: the land stays in your name until the sale actually completes.
The two routes
Route one
Sell it outright
A cash price, agreed up front, closed in two to three weeks at a local title company or local real estate attorney in your county. We pay those fees.
This is the right choice if you want to be done, you need the money now, or you'd rather not wait on a process you don't control.
The trade-off is honest: you're selling at what the land is worth today, as it sits, unentitled. That is less than it may be worth once somebody proves what can be built on it.
Route two
A set price plus a share of the profit
We agree a purchase price at the start. Then we go to work on the land — at our expense — to establish its highest and best use and get it approved.
When the entitled land sells to a national or regional homebuilder, you receive the full purchase price we agreed, plus a share of the net profit on the deal. The specific split is agreed with you upfront and depends on the deal.
You put up no money. The land is your contribution. We fund everything.
You keep title to your land throughout the entitlement period. You remain the owner of record until the sale actually completes.
You receive earnest money deposits throughout the process, and those are yours to keep whether or not the deal completes.
How much, and when, is agreed with you upfront and varies from deal to deal, because every property and every project is different.
If entitlement fails, you keep the deposits and you keep your land. The work we paid for doesn't come back to you as a bill.
What we actually do during that time
This is the part landowners rarely see, and it's where the money goes.
Perc testing.
Whether the soil will support septic, which on unsewered land determines whether anything can be built at all.
Boundary and topographic survey.
Exact acreage, boundaries, easements, and how the land actually sits.
Wetland delineation.
A qualified consultant walks the parcel and identifies any wetlands subject to federal or state jurisdiction. Wetlands can take developable acreage off the table or force a redesign, and no builder will close without knowing.
Feasibility study.
How many lots the parcel realistically yields under current zoning, and what it would take to improve on that.
Engineering.
Grading, drainage, stormwater, road layout, utility routing.
Entitlement.
Taking the plan through the county or municipality — rezoning, preliminary plat, conditional use, whatever the jurisdiction requires.
Getting the entitlement through typically costs well over $100,000 by the time the studies, engineering, consultants and approvals are paid for — before a single piece of equipment arrives on the property.
And increasingly, that isn't where it stops
Many builders today don't want raw entitled land. They want lots they can start building on immediately, which means the horizontal work has to be done first: roads paved, electric run to every lot, water lines extended, plus sewer or septic infrastructure, stormwater and grading.
Depending on the size of the project, that work can run up to a million dollars.
That is the real barrier between a landowner and what their land is worth to a national builder. Entitlement alone is beyond most people. Entitlement plus horizontal development is beyond almost everyone who isn't a developer.
None of it is billed to you. None of it comes out of your purchase price. And if the project doesn't happen, none of it is money you owe.
We work out the best route for your parcel
Not every piece of land wants the same treatment. Part of what we're paying to find out is which of these produces the most money.
A minor subdivision.
Sometimes the best answer is simple — split the parcel into a small number of lots and sell them. Fast, cheap, and occasionally worth more than a complicated plan.
A major subdivision.
More lots, new road, utility extension. Longer and more expensive, but a different order of value.
Full entitlement for a builder.
Taking the land all the way through approvals so a national or regional homebuilder can start work the day they close.
Entitlement plus horizontal development.
Increasingly what builders actually want — the site ready to build on. The most expensive route by a wide margin, and it commands the highest price.
We don't decide this at the start. We decide it once the studies tell us what the land can actually do.
Where this works
Development deals happen where people and jobs are arriving. If your land is in one of these areas, it may be worth more to a builder than to anyone else.
- Population growth — the county is adding residents, not losing them
- Job growth — new employers, distribution centers, manufacturing
- New or expanding hospitals — one of the most reliable signals of a market builders take seriously
- Infrastructure — new highway interchanges, road widening, utility and energy expansion
- Within about 45 minutes of a major airport
That last one is a useful shortcut. It tends to capture the secondary markets where these deals work best — places with an airport, a growing hospital system and a new interchange, rather than only the obvious big cities.
Where it doesn't work
Genuinely rural land, far from any growing market. A national homebuilder isn't putting a subdivision an hour and a half from the nearest employer. If that describes your land, a cash sale is almost certainly the better route, and we'll say so.
How long it takes
Six months to two years, depending on the route and the jurisdiction.
A minor subdivision can be done in a few months. Full entitlement in a county with a slow planning department can take the better part of two years.
We'll give you a realistic estimate before you commit to anything, and we won't give you an optimistic one to get a signature. Counties move at their own pace, surveyors get backed up, and anyone who promises you a firm date on an entitlement is guessing.
This is the real cost of route two: time. Not money — time, and the patience to let a process run that you don't control.
Why landowners choose the profit share
You keep the upside you'd otherwise sell away.
The gap between raw land and entitled land is where almost all the money in development sits. Sell today and that gap goes to whoever buys from you.
You risk no capital.
Every dollar of study, engineering, approval and site work is ours.
You're paid along the way.
Earnest money deposits along the way, structured to fit your deal, yours to keep regardless of outcome.
You keep title the whole way through.
The land stays in your name, and you remain the owner of record, until the sale actually completes. We fund and run the entitlement work; you stay the owner.
Your floor is set at the start.
The purchase price is agreed before any work begins. The profit share is on top of it, not instead of it, and the specific split is agreed with you upfront and depends on the deal.
And if it fails, you still own your land.
With completed studies and survey work on it that cost you nothing.
When you shouldn't do this
If you need the money now.
The purchase price is paid when the entitled land sells. Earnest money arrives sooner, but it is not the whole number. If you need to be cashed out this quarter, take the cash offer.
If your land is genuinely rural.
No builder, no deal. We'll tell you quickly rather than tie up your property finding out.
If you can't tolerate an open-ended timeline.
Two years is a long time to have land committed to a process.
If a neighbor wants it more than a builder would.
Sometimes the person next door pays more than the market does, for reasons that have nothing to do with development. That's a real option and we'll say so if we think it applies.
Who we are
Our team and partners have closed over 200 land transactions.
Every closing happens at a local title company or local real estate attorney — in your county, not ours — and we pay those fees. You can look them up before you sign anything.
We are not a brokerage and we are not agents. We're a principal buyer using our own capital.
Common questions
Find out which route fits your land
Call Paul at 860-269-6410 or email Paul@AcreageTrust.com. Tell us the county, roughly how many acres, what's nearby, and whether anything has been built near you recently. We'll tell you within one business day whether it looks like a development parcel or a straightforward sale — and we'll tell you if it's the second one.