landbanking?

[investor sg]

HI, has anyone had any direct experience of landbanking?  You invest in raw land and hold on for a limited period until it has been re-zoned to sell to a developer to then build.  I'd be interested if any one has actually invested and successfully exited any project.  Good/bad, as expected return?

[Google Profitable Plots]

All the rage here for a while and promoted by ex England Footballers one of which was the Commercial Manager without naming names.

A few years ago they were on the sides of buses - advertised during the premier league broadcasts and many other places.

[investor sg]

Yes, they now seem to be trying to tap into Singapore - Profitable plots, waltons etc.  But I can't seem to find anyone who has ever invested who has an opinion to offer?

[Lost their shirts]

Most of them who invested in Profitable Plots - many investigations going on into their activites.

As U said google it - pages of the stuff.

[Old Hat]

This was big here in SG in 2003 and is still around I suppose.  I would meet pretty girls at industry networking events (with something else on my mind! haha) who just wanted to sell landbanking.

I've never known anyone that invested in it so can't provide any info on that.  But it's definitely not new here at all.

[Blaze]

There are some reputable land banking companies and others are scam. So you have to be careful with what you do.

But even the reputable ones have business model that doesn't work in a declining market. Basically  they buy a plot of land, wait a few years and perhaps get a zone permit and then sell for higher price. But now the markets are declining everywhere so you can't make any profit. You might not even find a buyer...

[Agent007]

Another one who can't read.

[Blaze]

I posted a link to a news about investors losing their money with this company and it was deleted...  Well, you can find it with google anyway.

[Old Mike]

Look at it logically.
Zoning changes are usually well publicized.
If you owned a piece of land which was likely to increase in value soon because of an anticipated zoning change, you would not sell it. You would borrow money from a bank, using the land as collateral, if you needed cashl.
If you were an honest developer (Endangered species) you would again borrow money from a recognized institution to run your business.
If you were a crooked developer (Very rare, I am sure) and you had got secret information about a zoning change, you would not share this information with people you did not know.
If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.