Before you close on land, test five things on the site: what zoning lets you build, what the finished product earns nearby, what it costs, what the land is worth after cost and profit, and what is still open. The six questions below are the ones developers ask before a land closing. Each is answered in the first paragraph, then shown on one finished Titleman run on a real lot.
Prepared by Titleman AI, on behalf of the Titleman team. Figures are from the run's own records as published on this run page and were rechecked against it on 17 October 2026. The run was made on a Titleman QA account on 7 October 2026. A feasibility run is a screen, not an appraisal or a design.
What does a feasibility study for a commercial real estate development include, and how can I get one fast?
A feasibility study covers five things: what zoning lets you build on the site, what the finished product sells or rents for nearby, what it costs to build, the land value left after cost and profit, and a list of what could not be established. Titleman produces all five from an address in one run. The run read for this page took 1 hour 5 minutes 55 seconds.
What that run delivered, from an address and a short brief:
- An Excel workbook with the sheets Assumptions, Comparable Land Sales, Development Budget, Sources & Uses, Land Residual Value & Returns and Sensitivity.
- A memo in Word, Markdown and PDF, a deck, a zoning report and an evidence folder.
- 1,014 fact rows, each marked derived, found, fact, assumed or missing. 275 of them (27%) were left empty because nothing sourced was found, and 17 were assumptions, the places where a person can disagree and re-run.
The speed comes from starting at the address instead of at a blank spreadsheet. The run was made on a Titleman QA account on 7 October 2026, on a real lot with the address left out.
How can a developer check zoning, entitlements and highest-and-best-use for a site before buying it?
Read the zoning rules for the parcel one by one, find the limit that actually binds (floor area, height, density or parking), then test several schemes inside it and compare what each is worth. An entitlement you do not hold is a risk to price, not a given. On the lot in the run, the owner said zoning allowed a floor area ratio of 4.0. The records showed 1.5.
On that 17,500 SF lot in Miami Beach the run checked what it was told:
| Item | Owner said | Records show |
|---|---|---|
| Existing building FAR | about 1.5 | 0.43 (7,552 SF on a 17,500 SF lot) |
| FAR zoning allows | 4.0 | 1.5 on that street, which is 26,250 SF |
At 4.0 the lot would carry 70,000 SF. At 1.5 it carries 26,250 SF. A density limit of 100 units per acre caps the lot at 40 units either way. The run kept both of the owner's figures in the answer, beside the records, and said the study depends on which one is right.
It then sized five schemes, using 80% saleable area and a 900 SF average unit. These are area studies, not an architect's plan.
| Scheme | Floor area | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Addition, storefront kept | 26,250 SF | 16 condos |
| New building after demolition | 26,250 SF | 23 condos |
| Same building held as rentals | 26,250 SF | 23 apartments |
| Test at 2.0 FAR | 35,000 SF | 31 condos |
| Test at the owner's 4.0 FAR | 70,000 SF | 40 units, a density cap |
A new residential building for sale came out ahead of the rental case and of the addition. The run labeled that order indicative: the rental inputs were city-wide averages, and the order holds only if the historic board lets the existing shell go. For the method behind this step, see highest and best use analysis with AI and how to check a parcel and its zoning before you underwrite.
Is there an AI tool that produces a development feasibility analysis (costs, rents, returns) for a US site?
Yes. Titleman starts from a US address and returns the analysis as a workbook, a memo, a deck and a zoning report: schemes, build costs, nearby sale and rent values, residual land value and returns, with a source on each figure. It is a screen for a licensed professional to review, not an appraisal or a design.
Costs are stated as assumptions you can change. In the run: hard cost of $350 per SF, tested at $300 and $525; soft costs of 22% and contingency of 5% of hard cost; selling costs of 7% of sales; a loan of 60% of cost at 8.5% over 1.5 years; developer profit of 15% of sales; demolition of $100,000.
A modeling tool is good when you already know the inputs. A research tool is good when the inputs are what you are missing. This is the second kind. To compare tools by category, see property development feasibility software: how to choose, and for the full run, best tool for a development feasibility study and residual land value.
How do you estimate residual land value, the most you can pay for a site?
Take the sales value of what you can build and subtract build cost, finance cost, selling costs, your required profit and any demolition. What is left is the most you can pay for the land. If it is negative, the project carries no land value at that cost. Test it at more than one build cost: on the run's lot it went from $5.90M to -$1.88M.
For the new-building scheme, the residual land value was:
- $5.90M at $300 per SF of hard cost
- -$1.88M at $525 per SF
Hard cost alone moved the answer by $7.8M, so the run gave the residual a weight of zero and carried land sales instead. Two recorded sales of development land, $277.78 and $311.11 per SF of land, carried to the lot and less demolition, gave $5.05M to $7.23M, midpoint $6.14M. The residual range did not contain that midpoint, and the run said so instead of blending the two numbers.
For comparison, the lot was listed at $9.9M and its assessed land value was $5.78M. The run stated no price as its answer. It gave the facts and the method, so the price can be re-worked in the workbook when an input changes. For the step-by-step calculation, see how to calculate residual land value.
What can still go wrong after the contract is signed, and what should I confirm before the land closes?
A desk study cannot close four things: whether the city's current zoning text matches the copy it read, whether a pending zoning change was adopted, whether a historic or design board will allow the existing building to come down, and what a contractor will charge. Each has a document that closes it, and each belongs inside your due diligence period.
The run listed what it could not establish, and the document that closes each item:
| Open item | What closes it |
|---|---|
| Whether the city's current zoning text matches the copy read | A zoning verification letter |
| Whether the pending city plan was adopted, and what it gives this lot | The adopting vote and the final text |
| Whether the historic board will allow demolition of the existing shell | The board's decision |
| The amount of a lien the city marks on the parcel | A title search |
| A contractor's price for the building | A contractor's budget |
| Rents and cap rates for new apartments in the area (the inputs were city-wide averages) | Local lease comparables |
That list is as much a part of the output as the residual. A blank that stays blank is better than a plausible number, because it tells you which letter to ask for before the deposit goes hard.
How long does a feasibility study take, and can it fit inside a due diligence period?
A desk feasibility run takes about an hour on the clock: the run read for this page started at 17:26:59 UTC and was delivered at 18:32:54 UTC, 1 hour 5 minutes 55 seconds. The slow part is the documents that come from outside, such as a zoning letter or a contractor's price. Order those first and run the desk study while they are in the mail.
A workable order inside a due diligence period:
- Day one: run the feasibility from the address. Read the list of open items first, not the headline residual.
- Day one: request the documents on that list: the zoning verification letter, the title search, the contractor's budget.
- When the documents arrive: change the affected input in the workbook and see the residual move.
- Before the deposit goes hard: decide with the schemes, the residual at more than one cost and the land-sale cross-check side by side.
The study is a draft for a licensed professional to review. Whether to pursue a variance, which scheme to take forward and what to offer stay with the developer.
Run it on your site
Send the address of the site you are about to close on and we will run the feasibility, then walk you through the schemes, the residual at more than one cost and the open items. Request a demo.