From Parcel to Project: How Valence Screens an Opportunity
Every opportunity that reaches Valence enters the same first two stages of the process: Screen and Assess. Understanding what happens at each stage helps landowners and partners know what to expect — and what information speeds up a useful answer.
Screen: a fast initial read
The Screen stage asks a focused set of questions: Who owns the property, and is ownership clear? What is the current use, zoning context, and market setting? What do we know about access and utilities? What is the submitter's objective and timing? The goal is a quick, honest read on whether an opportunity merits further work — not a full underwriting.
Assess: naming the open questions
Opportunities that clear the Screen stage move to Assess. Here, the goal shifts to identifying what is still unknown: what professional studies are needed, what a preliminary budget looks like, what the key risks are, and what potential paths forward exist. Assess does not produce a final answer — it produces a clear-eyed list of what would need to be true for the opportunity to proceed.
What speeds this up
Submissions that include clear ownership information, a general sense of access and utilities, and a realistic description of the submitter's goals and timing move through Screen and Assess faster than submissions missing that context. Supporting documents — surveys, title information, prior studies — help but are not required to begin.
What happens after Assess
Opportunities that clear Assess move to Structure, where strategy, roles, contracts, budget, schedule, and exit path are defined before execution begins. Opportunities that do not clear Screen or Assess are not necessarily dead — they may simply need more time, better information, or a different structure before they are ready.
What this means for a submission
Submitting an opportunity through the intake form gives Valence what it needs to begin Screen and, where warranted, Assess. It does not create any relationship or commitment on its own — that comes later, if and when a project moves into Structure.
This article is educational and general in nature and describes Valence's internal process at a high level. It is not legal, tax, investment, engineering, surveying, appraisal, environmental, or brokerage advice.