Sourcing genuine below market value property and sharing my property investment tips since 2007
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Hi I'm Jeff Djevdet and welcome to my property investment blog.
I am the director of Pure Acquisitions and here on my property investment blog you will find the regular investment properties that I source, my views on the property market and other property related articles.
You can find me on Google +, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn where I also post my below market value property and property investment tips.
Please feel free to contact me during normal office hours via any of these mediums or using the good old fashioned telephone!
From Twitter: @ThePureGroup
You may not realise it, but your search for a property is worth a lot of money.
Property portals such as Rightmove, PrimeLocation, Zoopla and so on – all household names these days – compete online, in the press and on television for your custom.
By attracting as many searches as possible, portals make themselves an indispensable tool to estate and letting agents, meaning that they can charge for their service.
To a certain extent everybody is a winner. The portals themselves make money, the estate agents have a relatively easy way of generating enquiries and the public who use the site have one place to find virtually all properties available in the area they are looking in.
With paper advertising almost constantly shrinking in market share, the portals have constantly looked to increase their revenue by putting up the charge that the agent must pay, adding on extra services which in time become essential (did you know that estate agents pay extra if they want their logo displayed next to a property for example?).
And also because portals count their visitors in the millions, there are also strategically placed advertisements on the homepage or next to the property search and if clicked these earn revenue for the portal itself. Rightmove is by far the market leader. One only has to look at their share price to see that this is a lucrative business.
A big percentage of the portal’s’ income is ploughed back into technology and research to make your property hunt as easy as possible. That way they can be more sure that you will continue to visit the site over and over again.
One of the older brands and at the moment at least, the default property portal with the lion share of estate agents registered and a huge amount of property.
Rightmove has almost entered the English language, the dream of every marketing executive as a word in its own right.
In the same way the we ‘Hoover’ our carpets rather than vacuum them, go for a ‘McDonalds’ instead of a burger or go somewhere to get ‘Rolls Royce’ service even if we are not talking about a car, we also now refer to Rightmove i.e. we ‘Rightmove’ a property or look on ‘Rightmove’ even when they mean browse the internet for property in general.
So, what is Rightmove like?
It’s the market leader for good reason. The search function is stylish, simple to navigate and it has almost every UK estate agent with property to buy, let and commercial. There is a basic sold price register so that you can look up sales in the last 7 years to compare valuations, but the most useful features in this respect are for estate agents only – locked away behind a password. There is an interesting and up to date blog and a fantastic smart phone app.
Rating: 9 out of 10.
Until recently, the new kid on the block but with ambitions to punch above its weight, Zoopla merged recently with PrimeLocation and FindAProperty, two of Rightmove’s main competitors. The feel of the site is more groovy (can we still use that word?!) than Rightmove. Think Mini Cooper more than Jaguar. Because of competitive pricing, Zoopla has an excellent take up rate with estate agents and has thousands of properties for sale.
Perhaps because of their small size, Zoopla are quicker to come on to market trends and technology changes and their app is very usable and interesting with augmented reality allowing you to see market intel within the location you are standing in.
The clean and simple search is slightly spoiled by adverts, but some people may find these useful. The “ask me” feature is under utilised by agents and the public alike, but its very user friendly and informative allowing the public to ask general property questions that can then be answered by their range of approved users.
Questions like ‘Where can I rent in Hampton with a dog?’ or ‘Are property prices falling in Norwich?’ are typical.
Rating: 8 out of 10. A close second to Rightmove.
The eBay wannabe has ventured into a property sales, but doesn’t really get off the mark. Fine if you are looking for private landlord to rent a property, but the site has the feel of the classified section of a local paper with very little choice, some dubious get-rich-quick property schemes being advertised and very little choice in property.
Rating: 2 out of 10.
Now incorporated within Zoopla, Prime Location is still a brand in its own right and has also has the feel towards the upper income bracket looking for a country residence or city pad. A clean interface and good search function, plenty of choice now that it is incorporated with Zoopla. Still feels a little bit niche, so why wouldn’t people use one of the other two brands?
Rating: 5 out of 10.
Rightmove has seen many pretenders to the throne over its lifetime and seen all of them off so far.
Zoopla is gaining ground in this market and this race can be watched with interest from the sidelines.
There is a common theory in the estate agency world that Rightmove will continue to be lord of all they survey unless a corporation of the size of Google start to take an interest in this high value sector of the market. For now at least, they remain the portal to beat.
One of the first things a buyer should ask a seller or their estate agent is how long the property has been for sale.
The Days On Marker figure is crucial to deciding what property you may want to view and of course and what to offer.
The days on market figure is essential in helping you get a picture of the property as seller as well as the market at large in the area.
Try to find out the average for your location by speaking to estate agents and researching property portals, all of which have this information somewhere on their site.
A high Days On Market figure may mean one of a few things, either the property is overpriced and receiving little interest or that the owner is not particularly flexible on moving dates, price or some other key matter, but it could also mean that the owner is now very keen to sell and will be flexible on the sale price.
Homes can hang around on the property market for the following reasons:
This is a big factor but of course it can be overcome if the price is right. Anything will sell at the right price.
Sometimes agents deliberately over value in order to get an instruction onto their books, a board up and something new to advertise. Owners are also sometimes responsible for overpricing using the agents’ eagerness to obtain the instruction to push the price up in the hope of finding the right buyer willing to pay highly.
Sometimes sellers are simply testing the market by pricing high to see if somebody bites.
A seller may be willing and financially able to wait until the market improves in order to get their price.
Sometimes owners work nights, so properties can’t be viewed during the day or there is a tenant in residence who may be a bit unhelpful so buyers get put off.
This applies to properties that are untidy, halfway through the renovation or in some way unpleasant. All of which may put off a potential buyer.
Sometimes owners put their property on to the market with an agent that they are friendly with even if they do not specialise in the style of property or the area that the house is in. This is less of a problem now that most searches take place online and so the locational suitability of an agent does not have such a bearing – but it is still a factor.
Set yourself up for Rightmove property alerts which are emailed to you every time a new instruction in your category is taken on to the market by an estate agent.
You can then refer back to this if you store your old emails to check at a later date exactly when the agent was instructed.
This gets you around the problem of the agent fudging the days on market figure when you ask them or as some agents will do, withdrawing the property from the market for 5 minutes which resets many of the internet statistics.
The property is then listed as a new instruction and the days on market figure is reset to zero. Another tip is to ask the agent when you enquire and double check with the seller when you view. Many people are very open and honest about such things and you can get some good information this way.
For further information or details on how to secure this below market value property today, call us now on 01903 868 597.
A first floor studio flat built circa 1980 with accommodation comprising, entrance vestibule, open plan kitchen/living room/bedroom, dressing room/study and shower room. The property has electric storage heating and residents parking.
The property has a home report dated 16th December 2011 with the value stated at £40,000. We have the property available at a reduced price of £25,000.
Appraisal: £40,000
Purchase Price: £25,000
Estimated Discount: £15,000
Estimated Rental Yield: 14 %
Rental Estimate: £300pcm
Montrose (pronounced mont-ROUZ), is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles (61 km) north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers. It is the northernmost coastal town in Angus and developed at a natural harbour that traded in skins, hides and cured salmon in medieval times.
With a population of approximately 12,000, the town functions as a port, but the major employer is GlaxoSmithKline, recently saved from closure. The skyline of Montrose is dominated by the 220-foot (67 m) steeple, designed by James Gillespie Graham and built between 1832 and 1834.
Montrose is a town with a wealth of architecture, and is a centre for international trade. It is an important commercial port for the thriving oil and gas industry. It is known for its wide thoroughfare and high street which leads to picturesque closes containing secluded gardens. The town has a view of a two square mile tidal lagoon, Montrose Basin, which is considered a nature reserve of international importance. It is the largest inland salt water basin in the UK, and an important habitat for the mute swan. Just outside Montrose is the 18th Century House of Dun, designed by the Scottish architect William Adam and built in 1730 for David Erskine, 13th Laird of Dun.
