elandon said:
As planners we know in advance where the best property is located in our respective areas (in the particular city our county that we work in). Has anyone used this knowledge to make a "wise" land investment for a profit?
I've had the opportunity. I won't do it.
What I have used is my ability to determine the neighborhood's dynamics by reading the built environment -- that sense of being an urban psychic of sorts. In my Denver house hunt, it came in real handy. Still, though, that's acting as an intelligent homebuyer, considering their fiture residence both as a roof over their head and a generator of equity, and not necessarily using any "insider information."
Now ... what if you bought a property not in the municipality where you were employed, but in another nearby municipality. You can "read" that things are "happening," and you're aware of officially adopted planning documents that propose more intensive uses for the area where the subject property is contained. It's not insider information, but rather public information. It's not going to be your personal home, but rather investment property. Okay to buy?
When does the purchase of real estate become an "inside buy?" Could a group consisting of planners and other parties "pump and dump" land the same way as with stocks? Planners start rumors about development proposals in an area, the price is pumped, the land is sold at an inflated value, after which the so-called plans change? I think it's possible. It's definitely unethical.