Umm...
"Get planning permission to build, say, eight houses on it."

This isn't necessarily very easy -- more often than not the reason a piece of land hasn't already been built on (especially in desirable areas) is that it is specifically zoned to prevent that. Persuading local authorities to change the zoning of land is hard.

The trick is finding a piece of land that you know can be re-purposed, but the owner doesn't -- otherwise they'd just do it themselves. And to be honest, just showing an interest in the land is likely to tip them off, or at least lead them to explore the possibility.

More likely to be successful is identifying areas where there are existing, large houses (or houses with lots of land) that could be demolished to make way for more houses in the same space. You're more likely to get planning permission because the land is already designated for housing.
( reallywittyname veraciously conspues lexiphanicism on, Wed 6 Aug 2008, 10:41, Reply)