Ten public sites are open for offer in California right now. Two expired on the State's own dashboard.
The State emails every Surplus Land Act notice to anyone who asks — for free. What it doesn't tell you: which sites are worth pursuing, who else responded, and which negotiations are about to collapse into the open market. That's what this desk does.
The notices are free. Knowing which one to fight for isn't.
Every California agency must notice surplus land before selling it, and HCD will email you every notice at no charge. The judgment layer — underwriting, respondent intelligence, fallout tracking, and a licensed advisor to file and negotiate — is what this desk sells.
Three layers. Each one earns the next.
Every notice, parsed weekly
Each new NOA statewide turned into a deal card: parcels, zoning, pricing basis, computed deadline, agency contact, and a desk read. Free, because the raw notices already are — and pretending otherwise would insult you.
What the State's feed can't tell you
Fallout Watch on every negotiation about to lapse into the open market with only the 15% covenant. Who actually responded to each notice, from public records requests. Pre-NOA signals from council agendas. Feasibility packets on request.
Your public-land acquisition desk
You state the box — geography, scale, product, affordability appetite. We monitor statewide, underwrite what fits, file the notice of interest, and represent you through the 90-day negotiation. Retainer credited against the success fee.
Free to watch. Paid to know. Retained to win.
About eight notices a month statewide. You don't need another feed — you need to know which one to fight for, and someone licensed to fight for it.
The Watch
- Every new NOA statewide, parsed into a deal card
- Computed deadlines + agency contacts
- One-line desk read per site
- Weekly email, public card archive
The Desk
- Fallout Watch — negotiations about to lapse to open market at the 15% covenant
- Respondent intelligence — who actually filed on each notice, via public records
- Pre-NOA signals from council agendas and paused RFPs
- Feasibility packets on live sites, on request
- Priority line to the desk
The Mandate
- Statewide monitoring against your criteria
- Full underwriting on every fit
- Notice of interest filed on your behalf
- Buy-side representation through the 90-day negotiation
- Retainer credited against the success fee
The data finds the deal. The license closes it.
SurplusDesk is operated by a licensed California commercial real estate investment advisor who has run full SLA disposition feasibility — LIHTC pro formas, subsidy stack analysis, offering memoranda, and developer outreach on multi-acre public sites in the East Bay.
Cities already retain professionals to run these dispositions — the sell side is a crowded, funded market. The buy side has nobody. SurplusDesk is buy-side representation for Surplus Land Act dispositions: mandate monitoring, notice-of-interest filing, and negotiation through the 90-day window. Transaction fees on close; every subscription above is a path to this table.
Full disposition feasibility on a 5.79-acre, 11-story-entitled public site: LIHTC pro forma, subsidy stack, offering memorandum, and targeted outreach to Bay Area affordable housing developers — the exact workflow now built into every Pro feasibility packet.
Straight answers.
Isn't the State's notice feed free?
Yes — and so is ours. The Watch gives you every notice, parsed, at no charge, because charging for public data would be dishonest. What you pay for is what no feed contains: which negotiations are breaking, who else responded, what's coming before the notice publishes, and a licensed advisor to file and negotiate. HCD states plainly that it does not verify what agencies self-report. We do.
Who is this for?
Affordable housing developers, market-rate developers monitoring exempt dispositions, land brokers, and capital sources that want early position on public land. If your team is registered — or should be — on HCD's Developer Interest List, this desk pays for itself on the first parcel.
What does AI actually do here?
It reads every notice, staff report, and agenda item so you don't have to: extraction, covenant math, preliminary yield modeling, and drafting. A licensed advisor reviews feasibility reads before they ship. AI does the volume; a human signs the judgment.
Is this legal advice?
No. SurplusDesk provides market intelligence and preliminary feasibility analysis. Engage counsel for SLA compliance opinions and transaction documents.