The target market is roughly any place within two hours driving time from Washington--Maryland and Virginia, Delaware, southern Pennsylvania and eastern West Virginia. Marc Dubick, president of Duball LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. "Our acquisition phase will last for the next two to three years. Then we will move into implementation mode." There is nothing in the company's pipeline except for a number of opportunities that are currently being evaluated, he adds. The firm has just brought on board a new VP of land acquisition to aid in the initiative.

Bargain-basement priced opportunities to buy land are fueling the launch of all sorts of funds, says David Reiner, managing director of Capital Markets of Grosvenor Investment Management, which is looking to invest $100 million or more in residential home builders. "Homebuilders either have to write off the value of land they bought at highly inflated prices to more realistic numbers--or they need to sell it to get cash," he tells GlobeSt.com. He points to the December $525-million land bank JV between Lennar Corp. and Morgan Stanley Real Estate, in which Lennar will sell 11,000 lots to the investment bank as another example of this strategy.