In a recent video, I demonstrate the 5 best strategies to get off market property deals. A lot of people assume the only way to find properties is to look on RightMove or other property websites, but there are so many other ways to do it.
In this article, I summarise these 5 strategies. Please watch the full video (above) to learn exactly how to do them yourself.
1. Land registry search
When you are out and about, look for houses that appear rundown or abandoned. Take a photo of the property and write down the house number and street name. Look them up on the land registry website for £3. This will give you the owner's contact details. Write them a letter and offer to purchase the property directly. This will allow you to make an offer without having to compete with developers looking to buy these type of properties.
2. Estate agents
If you get to know estate agents, they will often be able to tell you about properties that they haven’t yet listed for sale. Let the local estate agent in the area you are looking to buy in know exactly what you are looking for and that you are able to move quickly on a purchase. Sometimes when I call an estate agent asking about an on market property, if it’s sold, they can find a similar property that they haven’t listed yet. Always tell estate agents about the type of properties you are looking for, you never know what they may have unlisted.
3. Networking
One of the best ways to find property leads is at business, property and other networking events. They say that ‘your network is your net worth’ and that is very true in the world of property. In fact, the ‘luckiest’ investors are the ones who attend live events. You can meet extremely successful people at these events and strike brilliant deals. When you have an opportunity to pitch, simply say that you are looking to buy properties at the moment, and if anyone knows someone looking to sell to send them your way.
4. Online portals
While everyone knows to look at property sites like RightMove and Zoopla, which list properties that are on the market with an estate agent, there are other ways to sell properties. People selling their property without an estate agent often list on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree or Craigslist. They are usually motivated sellers who have a reason to want to sell their property quickly. This is a great way to find property leads.
5. Advertise
Run adverts targeting people looking to sell. You can use online adverts such as Facebook ads or Google ads to target specific people. We ran a Facebook ad offering a free property valuation. We then research the property and provided a valuation based on comparable sold properties. We also offer to buy the property for a lower price and a quick sale. You can also run offline ads in newsagent windows stating ‘we buy houses for cash’ or similar slogans.
