Back to the Shortlist...
So by looking at a few factors we’re going to try and create a very tight, shortlist of potential deals that are worth going out to view where we think we are dealing with motivated sellers and by doing this we’re going to save a heck of a lot of time.
Remember we don’t want to rely on estate agents to send us the listings that they THINK will make a good deal. We want to be selecting the properties that we want to view.
This will save us time and make it easier when it comes to the negotiation process but it’s motivated sellers and their need to sell that we’re particularly looking out for.
Property That’s Been On The Market For A Long Time
So, the first thing that we want to look for are properties that have been on the market for a long period of time.
Typically, in a buoyant market, there are sales happening. There are activities. House prices might be increasing. In a market like this, there should be very few properties that aren’t sold within, say, a couple of months.
Even so, there will be a few properties where it is obvious that the owner is struggling to sell. It could be that the house has been priced incorrectly or that the marketing behind the property hasn’t been sufficient to generate interest. There can be many reasons for a house not to sell even if the market is buoyant. In most cases, it is safe to assume that the seller is becoming more of a motivated seller as more time passes.
To put it simply. If you have a property that’s been on the market for many months and hasn’t sold or had much interest, it’s a good sign that the vendor might be a motivated seller.
To find properties like these you need to use your search engine again and some of the search tools and filters provided on the site. Again, these tools and filters tend to be overlooked or underutilised by property investors and potential buyers.
So you’ve got a list view, a grid view and a map view. You can use list view and map view to spot potential deals. Using list view it’s simple. Set your filters to show you properties that have been on the market for a long time relative to the way that the market in the area in which you’re interested tends to behave.
Using The Most Recent Listings (Backwards)
So, let’s start with the most recent listings. All the properties that are new to the market will be at the top and all the properties that have been on the market for a longer time will be at the bottom.
NPC also has a date section that says when the property listing was added. There are some things that some property centers shows that other doesn’t. That’s why you need to compare sites.
So a if you stoll down to the bottom of this list in NPC you’ll be able to see the properties that have been on the market for a very long period of time. You’ll see in this example that there are properties here that were added in July 13 2017. We are now in mid-2017, so there are a few properties here that have been on the market for quite a while.
Coming back up towards the top of the list we’ll see the date get closer to today’s date but we should have a really good look at those properties at the bottom because they’ve been on the market for such a long time. We need to consider what effect the property being on the market for a length of time like that has had on the seller and whether or not we are looking at a motivated seller.
We also want to have a look at the description in the listing to see what it can tell us. For example, if it says there is no chain, that means that the seller doesn’t need to sell that property in order to move into their next property. This might mean that the property we’re looking at is, in fact, vacant. This, in turn, could mean that it is costing the homeowner money. There might be mortgage payments, council tax, utility bills. All the things that someone isn’t going to want to pay on a property that they are not living in.
Factors To Consider
The longer a property is on the market the more it will have cost the homeowner to keep hold of it. Also the longer the period of time the greater the chances of a change in circumstance for the vendor which might create a need to make a quick sale.
So properties that have been on the market for a long time are well worth keeping an eye on. What you need to do when ever you come across them is put them in your favourites and continue my search.
Focus On The Right Investment Fundamentals
in the search result, you will see that there are lots of 3bedroom properties in Lekki that are above, within and below the budgeted amount. You can see here. you’ve got one that’s on the market for a twenty million. It’s a three bedroom. you may as well get another one here that’s on the market for only nineteen million that’s a three bedroom as well.
As a buy to let investor, or a buy to let landlord, you probably achieve a similar rental to both of these properties, but this one’s going to be a lot lower in terms of potential purchase price.
There might be reasons as to why that price is different. It could be the condition of the property. It could be because the house is in a particularly bad neighbourhood, or street, or whatever it might be, but it’s certainly interesting enough to have a little bit of a further look at it if you were.
Then we’ll have a look at some of the other listings in the area. These two are on the same road. Similar styles in terms of houses. This one’s on the market for a twenty-five million and this one for a twenty million. Now, there’s a five million price difference. It’s not massive so it’s probably not one that would catch my eye at this stage, but it’s something to consider that price ranges and differences, which is why it’s important to consider the right property fundamentals.
Stand Out Deals
We’re looking at ones that try and stand out. If you’ve got a very narrow short list and you haven’t added many to your property list at the moment, then sure it’s worth maybe adding some of these to it because there’s a price difference there that makes it worth pursuing a little bit further if we’re short on potentials.
But if we’ve got a lot of opportunities to go at, then you look for the ones with the largest price discrepancies. Again, this is a three bedroom on for fifteen million. The other three bedrooms in the area are going for a twenty-five million, twenty million.
Again, this one that’s on for fifteen million is worth adding. It’s worth adding to the list. Again, it might be because of the condition of the property. It could be a whole host of things as to why that price difference is there, but there are opportunities that happen like that.
Whether properties are differently priced even though they’re very similar in terms of style, location, maybe even in the same street. But the reason for that change in price is because maybe simply they have a motivated seller. The person that’s selling one particular property needs to sell by a certain date. They’re happy to sell for a certain price. They’re going to list it at a slightly different price to generate that interest.
Narrowing Down Your Shortlist
If you go to your search list or the properties you have saved, what remains now is the list of all of these potential deals that you have just added. Now, if you’re short on time and you’ve got a very large short list then you can certainly narrow that down. You can look at each of these descriptions a little bit further. You can look at some of the properties in a little bit more detail and see if they do really fit the criteria you set out for and if they do really match what you’re looking to achieve.
If you’ve got a little bit more time to play with, you want to go out there viewing properties, you want to go out there seeing what potentials there are in your local area, then certainly it’s worth booking and arranging these potential viewings. But you can also prioritise them.
For example, you’ve got a couple here on the market with Asgaf Realtors, a couple with A & B properties, so maybe if you’re short on time and you just want to build up that relationship with one or two agents in the local area then you’d focus on the agents that tend to have the most properties in that particular investment area.
Now, you are good to go
Hopefully, you have got an insight into how you can potentially spot some cracking property deals in your local area. As said, they may be hiding in plain sight. You might have missed before if you were just using the general search tool without knowing the detail of what you can try and spot if you understand a little bit more about the reasons why a vendor might be selling a property, the motivations behind selling the property.
Looking really for that need and for that time frame and the reasons why somebody might want to sell quick, and might change the price, and might be motivated to accept offers because they’ve not had much interest. That type of thing.
Now, as discussed earlier on, there’s a whole host of different ways, there are about ten plus different opportunities that we’ve spotted to how to find motivated sellers using property listing sites and the main property tools.
There’s also ways that you can spot particular properties that require refurbishments and that may be suitable for a buy refurbishment and sell, or maybe a buy refurbish and refinance type property strategy.
All of these particular techniques and tips we go through within our online property investment tips if this is something you want to learn a little bit more about. Hopefully, you found this article helpful. You can certainly go out there straightaway and start using some of these tactics in your property sourcing if you’re looking to buy property at the moment or you’re looking to add to your property portfolio.
Getting Educated
But if you may be on the fence, if you’re kind of considering getting involved in property but you don’t know which property strategies to use, you don’t know which are the best opportunities, you don’t know which areas you should maybe focus on, we cover all of that for you in our company.
To give you a little bit more detail on that you can access that via our website which is asgafrealtors.com. At the top, a navigation bar.Click on make a request and our team shall get in touch with you.
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For property consultant and management, contact us on 09098603663, 08065329702, 09098628047 or contact@asgafrealtors.com