Guest Lecture: January 28th

Two guest lecturers attended my Finc 371 class on January 28th: Dr. Harrison and Mr. Gentry. Dr. Harrison is a former Aggie that was fortunate to inherit an incredible piece of land near the city of Boonville, Tx. Perhaps the most interesting part of his inheritance was how his great grandfather came into ownership of the land; He won it playing poker of all things! Mr. Gentry is Dr. Harrison's lawyer and has been instrumental in the development process of his prized piece of land.

The lecture basically covered a real life example of the topics we have discussed throughout the semester. Dr. Harrison and his team are currently in the process of building a hotel on his land, but unfortunately have ran into a few problems. The main problem outlined in their discussion was the moving oil pipeline underneath the ground, which is causing a small amount of oil spillage. It was extremely expensive to replace the soil, but the issue has been addressed.

I thought the most interesting part of the lecture was the zoning process. Zoning requires an application to the city to determine what kind of developments can be placed on the land. It's an extremely detailed and long process but it's important to take care of it before you have a potential buyer.