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While infill development remains one of the most reliable paths to boost margins and meet buyer demand, finding these opportunities — especially off-market ones — has become more time-consuming and competitive than ever.

Acquisition teams describe the process as slow, manual, and increasingly frustrating: every seller seems to know their worth, every “off-market” lead is blasted to dozens of buyers, and every potential parcel takes hours of fragmented research just to understand the basics.

The challenge isn’t whether infill opportunities exist — it’s finding them before the competition moves in or prices go up.

So, the question is simple: Can technology streamline the grind and help builders protect their margins in a market this tight?

Why Infill Sourcing Is a Challenge

1. The market is highly competitive.

Buildable infill parcels are scarce. As entitled and shovel-ready lots tighten in most metros, competition pushes pricing above what pencils for most production builders. And once a property hits the MLS, pricing is almost always inflated by broker activity, investor demand, or unrealistic seller expectations.

For builders, the only consistent way to protect margin is to reach the owner before the parcel goes public.

2. Off-market deals are tricky and inefficient to source.

Finding the right infill parcel first is the most reliable way to control cost, but the sourcing process remains relationship-driven and time consuming. Teams rely on word-of-mouth leads, broker relationships, and Frankensteined data across maps, spreadsheets, and outdated ownership records.

Meanwhile, they’re competing against cash buyers, build-for-rent groups, and investors using opaque LLCs who can move faster or overpay. In this environment, inefficiency directly erodes margin.

3. Due diligence risk is rising.

Infill parcels carry higher due-diligence complexity: utilities, zoning overlays, slopes, easements, floodplain, wetlands, historical land use, right-of-way issues, and more.

Teams regularly spend days — or weeks — underwriting a parcel, only to discover late-stage constraints that kill the deal or materially change the cost structure. That’s lost time, lost focus, and lost margin.

Building a Differentiated Sourcing Strategy

In today’s tight infill markets, relying on the MLS or broker networks alone isn’t enough. The teams who consistently win are those with a proactive sourcing strategy designed to surface opportunities before they’re visible to the broader market.

helps builders create that advantage — identifying small, buildable parcels, reaching the right owners directly, and generating off-market deal flow that competitors never see.

Targeted Off-Market Sourcing and Lead Generation

Acres gives builders a meaningful edge by uncovering opportunities before they appear on the MLS or broker lists. Teams can focus on parcels that truly match their build profiles, target under-utilized properties, or quickly find out-of-state owners, who may be more open to selling or subdividing.

And when those parcels surface, Acres turns them into actionable deal flow. Builders get ownership details and exportable lead lists that fuel direct mail, outreach campaigns, and negotiations before the wider market knows a parcel is in play.

Rapid Due Diligence and Site Disqualification

Speed matters in infill development. Acres centralizes the core data needed to determine whether a parcel is worth pursuing — zoning, utilities, slope, flood and wetlands risk, historical land use, and more.

Instead of losing time across fragmented county systems and disconnected tools, teams get a clear, unified view in seconds. Builders can quickly eliminate parcels with utility gaps, topographic issues, or environmental constraints, and prioritize those that meet their buildability thresholds.

This saves days or weeks of manual due diligence and keeping acquisition pipelines moving.

Final Thoughts

In a market defined by scarcity, rising risk, and relentless competition, builders can no longer depend on traditional sourcing methods or hope the right parcel surfaces on its own. Winning in infill now requires a sourcing strategy that’s proactive, data-driven, and margin-protective at every step.

Acres gives builders the clarity and speed they need to turn complex, fragmented workflows into a streamlined path for finding and securing the next buildable site. to see how it works.