A smarter way to sell your land.
Serving landowners in Wake, Franklin, Granville, Durham, Chatham, Nash, Orange, Lee, and Moore counties.
Other buyers will offer you one of two deals. We offer a third option.
1 — Cash at closing
- You receive the land’s cash value as it sits today — one check at closing.
- Your entire gain lands in one tax year.
2 — Structured sale
- You receive some portion of the cash value at closing; the balance is paid with interest over a period of time.
- Your gains are recognized over the payment period.
3 — Partner with Groundwork
- We divide, improve, and sell the lots at full retail price — at our expense, with our own crews.
- You receive all lot-sale proceeds until you’ve been paid the full cash value — agreed on at the outset.
- You receive 50% of the lot-sale proceeds above the cash value.
- Your gains are recognized over the period of time the lots are sold.
An example with real numbers
Say your family has 105 acres, and the land’s cash value — the best offer you could get for it as it sits today — is $1,050,000. Partnered with us, that same land is divided into individual lots, improved at our expense, and sold one by one at retail for a total of $2,100,000. Here is where the money goes:
| Your land’s cash value | $1,050,000 |
| Value of improved, individual lots | $2,100,000 |
| Development Costs | |
| Broker fees on the lot sales | – $63,000 |
| Improvement costs | – $200,000 |
| Recaptured property taxes (farm-program rollback) | – $25,000 |
| Total development costs | – $288,000 |
| You receive all lot sale proceeds up to the cash value | $1,050,000 |
| Your 50% share of the remaining proceeds | + $381,000 |
| Your total proceeds | $1,431,000 |
This is an example to show how the math works — not a promise. Every tract is different, and the cash value is a number we agree on together at the outset, from real recorded sales near your land, which you will see with your own eyes. Take our numbers to your own accountant and check them.
The same land, three ways out
Same 105 acres, same three years. Here is what each deal actually puts in your pocket.
Example figures, not a promise. Bars are to scale; the rollback and broker fee are typical, not exact.
How it works — three simple steps
Call and tell us about your land
Just tell us where your land sits and roughly how many acres.
We study the market — and show you the numbers
We study the comparable sales near your land and come back with the land’s cash value in writing — along with the market research on what the lots should sell for at retail. Free, and no obligation. If the number doesn’t suit you, you simply say no and owe us nothing.
We check the land, close the deal, and do the work
If you go ahead, you sign a simple letter of intent and we enter a short due-diligence period — soil testing, parcel layouts, surveying, and the like, all at our expense. If everything checks out, we close, make the improvements, and sell the lots. Once our improvement costs are repaid, you receive all of the proceeds from each lot sale until you’ve been paid the full cash value — before anyone earns a dollar of profit. After that, we split the remaining proceeds 50/50.
What about taxes?
A cash sale puts your entire gain into one tax year, so much of it gets taxed at the highest rate. Our way pays you over several years as the lots sell, which spreads the gain out and can keep you in a lower bracket — so you keep more of what your land is worth. Every situation is different, so have your own accountant look at our numbers. We’ll gladly wait while they do.
We’ll be honest with you: this isn’t for everyone.
If you need the cash proceeds within the next few months — or you think the value of your land is going to decline — then this is not for you: a cash sale is probably your best choice, and we’ll tell you so. But if you can wait months instead of days, a partnership will very likely put considerably more money in your pocket. The next step costs you nothing but a phone call.
Who we are
Groundwork Land Partners is the development arm of Land ClearCo, a Raleigh land-clearing and site-development company founded by John Kane, a Raleigh native from a family with deep roots in local development.
The work on your land is done by our own crews and our own machines — not hired out to strangers. John runs the company day to day, on-site and often in the seat of a machine himself.
Questions landowners ask us
Click a question to read the answer.
What if the lots sell for less than expected?
This is certainly a possibility — market timing dictates value more than any other factor. Part of our analysis prior to closing — which we will share with you — is to study the price per acre of raw land versus developed lots from nearby recorded sales. The premium for developed lot acreage over raw land acreage represents both the upside and your downside protection. This number can vary significantly from one property to another, but in a downside scenario, on average, lot prices can experience up to a 40% decline in value without putting your cash value at risk.
When do I get paid?
As the lots close. Once our improvement costs are repaid out of the early sales, every dollar, net of broker fees, of each lot sale goes to you until the full cash value is paid. Your half of the remaining proceeds then comes in as the last lots sell. A typical project runs about a year — that is typical, not a promise.
Do I have to put in any money, or do any work?
No. We handle everything from start to finish.
Who owns the land during the project?
Your land is sold to a single-purpose entity (SPE) that is established solely for your project. It exists only to improve and sell your lots. What protects you is that your payment is secured by the land itself, in the same first position a bank would insist on — so no lots can be sold, and no other debt put ahead of you, without you being paid.
What does Groundwork make on the deal?
Our land-clearing and site-work company, Land ClearCo (a licensed North Carolina grading & excavation contractor), performs the site work at market rates, and we receive a 10% management fee on the other expenses incurred to improve the land into ready-to-sell lots. We share the proceeds above your cash value 50/50. We only do well when your lots sell well, so our interest and yours point the same direction.
Why not develop it myself?
You certainly can. It will require you to fund and manage the improvements: hiring surveyors and an engineer, conducting soil testing, applying for land-disturbance permits, and hiring a land-clearing and site-development contractor. For some that can seem overwhelming; for others it’s very doable. The real challenge for most in developing their land themselves is taxes. In most cases, by developing and selling the lots one by one you will be treated as a dealer by the IRS — which means each lot sale would be taxed as regular income instead of capital gains.
Tell us about your land.
We’ll study your land and come back with the cash value in writing and a lot layout, usually within two weeks. Free, and no obligation.
Email jkane@groundworklp.com The easiest way to start — tell us where your land sits and roughly how many acres.— or, if you’d rather write it down, use this form —