Our approach to every property we are asked to assess starts with attaining a comprehensive grasp of the zoning and land use policy affecting the site in question. What are the main drivers in determining best use (i.e. FAR, unit count, parking, topo, enviro, etc.)? In our opinion, it is this level of specificity surrounding our understanding of a site that allows us to become a uniquely valuable transactional advisor and facilitator for our land seller or buyer. From there, we begin applying market assumptions of revenue/rent and cost to gain our bearings on a site’s potential valuation under various entitlement and transactional timing assumptions. Most of our competitors focus first on who the buyer(s) might be before having a handle on the details. Our feeling is that first we need to know what we are selling and then we will be much more effective in identifying and approaching the appropriate target market.

We are unique because our clients and the transactions we facilitate for them are unique. In addition to assessing the economic merits of the real estate, its location, etc., we want to understand a potential client’s motivation, their aptitude to structuring unique workarounds to site-specific challenges, and (most importantly) their willingness to ultimately transact. Instead of focusing on the accumulation of listings, we focus primarily on the few that we know we are being contracted to transact – not to appraise. We find ourselves oftentimes being the second, third, and sometimes fourth listing broker on a deal. In most cases, we are the last.

Nobody enters an industry as a consultant. It’s something we’ve fallen into after almost two decades of transacting infill land. What we noticed is that to manage the land sale efficiently, or at all in many cases, we’ve had to assume the role of consultant in some capacity in almost every transactional instance out of necessity to navigate to a closing. We’ve always been hesitant to convey the title without having gone through certain trials necessary to embody that role and at this juncture we can state with confidence that we’ve endured (and continue in real-time to endure) these trials. With that said, we learn something new in every ensuing transaction and therefore feel that understanding where and how to get an answer or solve a question or a problem is as equally if not more important than knowing the answer, to begin with. Additionally, we genuinely like helping people and projects become successful.

The concurrent maximization of value to landowner AND community through the brokering of entitlements and projects to induce progressive change.