For every real estate development in the country, before a property is listed, before a broker sends the email, before the asset has a price, a planning application gets filed. A permit gets pulled. A rezoning request lands on a city agenda. Inside a municipal database almost nobody watches, the deal has already started to move.
The myth of the off-market development deal
The moment more than one person knows about a deal, it is on a market. Even if it's a market of one! Maybe the farmer finally responded to the analyst's fifth call and is willing to go under contract. Or maybe the rich land owner starts calling around a couple of his country club buddies to see if anyone wants to partner with him.