Why Do We Buy Land?
At HUTS, we’ve learned that one of the biggest factors in a project’s success is not the house.
It’s the land.
I often say there are really two types of residential HUTS projects.
The first are land development projects with a splash of home design. Those are the ones where a huge amount of the work is about interpreting the property itself: what can be built, where structures can sit, how access works, whether septic is feasible, what local land use rules allow, and how all of those things shape the opportunity.
The second are home design and development projects, where the land is more of a given and we can move directly into shaping the house, site experience, and assembling the build team.
Places Capital came out of that distinction. I co-founded the Places Capital fund so we could buy lots that felt like a strong fit for HUTS projects before there was ever a specific client attached.
The idea is pretty simple.
If we can answer many of the trickier questions upfront, we can create a much clearer runway into the project. We can study septic viability, land use constraints, siting options, access, utility considerations, and the broader development potential before a client ever steps into the picture. Instead of asking a future client to take on all of that uncertainty themselves - or coming to us with an unvetted parcel - we do a meaningful amount of the land interpretation work first.
That creates real value for our clients. Many single-family buyers prefer the reduced risk that comes with knowing more at the outset. They want confidence that the property can actually support the kind of project they have in mind, and they do not want to spend the first phase of the engagement uncovering hidden constraints. When HUTS brings a site to the table through Places Capital, there is usually a lot less guesswork. We know more about what the land wants to be. We know more about where the smooth path is. And because of that, these projects can move more efficiently from acquisition into design, approvals, and construction.
It also allows us to do some of our best work before there is ever a homeowner involved. We can identify overlooked land, study its potential, and put it through a real development lens before pairing it with the right client and project.
Today, our land acquisition work is limited to the Catskills and Hudson Valley and, because capital is finite, we have to be pretty selective. Even so, we’re building a strong set of case studies that show the value of HUTS finding and underwriting land upfront: better projects, with a clearer and more streamlined path to execution, and are looking forward to growing the land portfolio.
