You're building. Talk to someone who knows good dirt from bad.
When growth means buying land, a bad site or a botched closing costs months and millions. Zoning, title, entitlements, easements, the way a deal actually comes together: I've lived in that world, and I'm Luke Crawford. I work on your side of a deal, not the seller's.
Advisory from Luke Crawford, Crawford Lands
The hardest part of building isn't your product. It's the ground it sits on.
Teams that have to acquire land are usually excellent at their core business and new to real estate. The expensive mistakes hide in the parts nobody on the team has done before.
Assumptions about the land
Zoning, entitlements, title, easements, water and access rights. The assumptions baked into your model that no one has tested against how land actually trades.
How deals really close
Diligence, contingencies, who signs, what kills a transaction at the last minute. The mechanics that look simple in a pitch deck and sink companies in practice.
Who you're dealing with
Sellers, brokers, and what is really driving them. Knowing who you are up against and how they operate keeps you from working against your own interests.
An advisor whose outcome is tied to yours.
Counsel from someone whose equity rides on the same decisions you are making, available when they matter most.
An advisory board seat
Ongoing counsel on strategy, real world risk, and the calls that need someone who has actually closed these deals.
Reality check diligence
I test the land and deal assumptions behind your plan: the zoning, title, access, and feasibility questions that decide whether a site is real, before you find out the expensive way.
An experienced hand on live deals
When a real deal is in front of you, I help you read the terms, spot what is off, and push back, so you are not facing seasoned brokers and sellers alone.
I work for equity.
Early teams are tight on cash and long on equity, and an hourly meter running while you think out loud helps no one. Equity keeps it clean: no invoices, no clock, just an advisor who only wins when you do.
The name is the model. Earnest money is the deposit that proves a buyer is serious, real money committed up front. I take an advisory stake for the same reason, so my outcome is tied to yours, and the counsel you get is the counsel I would give if it were my own company.
- A small advisory grant. Typically 0.1% to 0.25%, with standard vesting over about two years. No cash, no invoices.
- A genuine commitment. Ongoing availability for the decisions that matter, not a logo on your website.
- Right fit only. I take on a small number of companies where land and real estate are genuinely core.
- Start with a conversation. We figure out together whether I can actually move the needle for you.
Built for companies that have to acquire real estate.
Luke Crawford
I run Crawford Lands, a land acquisition search firm. My work is the real business of land: sourcing, acquiring, structuring, and closing on the ground, not theorizing about it. Most recently I built a 4+ GW data center land pipeline, the kind of large, complex sourcing effort that separates the people who know this market from the people who only talk about it.
To date I have facilitated over $100 million in contracted development deals across single family, multifamily, industrial, and data center projects. Sourcing and closing real estate is the part most teams underestimate, and the part they have the least experience in. I advise the people doing these deals, so the wrong assumption gets caught early, the deal behaves the way you expect, and a door that would otherwise stay shut opens.
What this looks like in practice.
Two moments where knowing the ground, and knowing the deal, changed the outcome.
Knowing what the dirt is worth
A developer was buying land for a data center and doing a joint venture with a PE firm. The PE firm offered to sell them an adjacent parcel for $68,000 an acre. I found comparable land directly across the street for $9,000 an acre, same access and same fundamentals. That is more than seven times the going rate, and it saved them from paying a markup to their own partner.
Keeping a $20M deal alive
A $20 million project nearly died at the last minute when it suddenly required sewer easements. I advised the team on how to approach the affected landowners and structure the ask. We got the sewer easement signed the day before closing, and the project closed.
Need help on one specific deal or parcel? That is Crawford Lands, not Earnest. For a single site, diligence on one parcel, or brokerage on a transaction, start there.
Go to Crawford LandsCommon questions.
Why equity instead of cash?
Early teams are usually tight on cash and long on equity, and an hourly meter helps no one. A stake ties my outcome to yours, so the counsel you get is the counsel I would give if it were my own company.
What if I only need help on one deal?
Then you want Crawford Lands, not Earnest. For a specific parcel, diligence on a single site, or brokerage on one transaction, that is a fee based engagement. Start here: crawfordlands.com/land-acquisition. Earnest is for an ongoing relationship where land is core to your business.
How much equity?
A small advisory grant, typically 0.1% to 0.25% depending on stage and how involved I am, with standard vesting over about two years.
How do you handle competing clients?
I take on a small number of companies and I will not advise two that are competing for the same markets or the same sites. I am upfront about who else I work with, and anything I source goes to the company whose mandate it actually fits.
Building on land? Let's talk.
Tell me what you're working on and where land or real estate risk shows up in your business. If I'm the right advisor for it, you'll know quickly.