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Sourcing your investment property

If you’re considering property as an investment vehicle you’ll be thinking first of your reasons for choosing property and you’ll be well advised to consider your strategy for your property purchases.

Having completed those steps and advisedly educating yourself in property for investment purposes, you’ll be ready to start buying your investment properties. But where should you start? There are a confusing and numerous array of choices in sourcing investment property.

A few of the main options

There are many options for sourcing your investment property from the local estate agent to the internet and many shades between. Local estate agents are usually knowledgeable about property in their locality but not necessarily about what makes a good property for investment. If you find one who invests in property themselves they will have the knowledge and experience you should look for in building your portfolio locally.

There are portfolio builders who will source, prepare and rent your investment for you which is great if you are an armchair investor. But beware of armchair investing however, as you may not see what is happening behind the scenes. Many property sourcing companies offering a one stop shop to investors have come a cropper over time, either because of their ethics or because they have not been able to predict the market and stay abreast of their clients’ needs. It is often the investor who is the victim.

There are auction houses which specialise in offering property for sale and there are often bargains to be had at auction. You can also research property auctions online and carry out preparatory work before you ever get near the auction room. Again, caution needs to be exercised as bidding against those looking for their next home can often be based on emotion rather than logic. Make sure you don’t get caught up in their enthusiasm. Set a budget before you get to auction and make sure you stick to it. Buying property for investment is all about buying at the right price not hoping that capital growth will claw back some of the exorbitant price you paid at auction.

The internet

With the growth in internet marketing it is commonplace to search for property there. There are now many sites which advertise property for sale and this is becoming increasingly popular with property sellers who see this as a cheap option to move their property off the market.

Even ebay has a property section with individual property entries available for auction. But any internet marketing does not remove the onus from the purchaser to carry out due diligence on their intended asset acquisition before committing. This is true of any property, but searching the internet tends to be from the comfort of your home and to lull you into a false sense of security because of that.

Less obvious methods

You could drive around areas where you are interested in purchasing property to spot the ‘For Sale’ signs. You could look in the local newspaper for people advertising their properties privately. You could place your own adverts in papers and on the internet seeking out people who want to sell.

You could set up a website of your own inviting people to sell to you and use a vehicle like Google Pay Per Click advertising to push your ranking up the internet searches. You could choose to leaflet drop in a locality, either using your own labour or that of others. If you choose to use the resource of others, you need to assure yourself that the leaflets are going through targeted letter boxes one at a time and not in a neighbour’s dustbin.

It is said that in times of trouble and strife, people turn to the church. And that is another good place to enquire about property for sale. The church owns vast amounts of land and property and is often looking to sell it for development or refurbishment because they no longer need it. This is also true of the armed services’ organisations and the MOD is an unusual but sometimes fruitful place to enquire.

Local councils are also a port of call for the intrepid investor where the local Empty Housing Officer may be able to help point you at houses which have been empty for a long time, perhaps with the owner being untraceable.

Wherever you choose to start looking make sure you choose wisely when looking for your investment property because the profit is made in the buying price not the selling price.