Property Buyers’ Cheat Sheet: How to find the Hidden Deals
Property Buyers’ Cheat Sheet: How to find the Hidden Deals
Buying a property can be an all-encompassing experience. It triggers the full gamut of emotions: hope, excitement, anger, exasperation, disappointment, elation – the list goes on.
Often the source of more negative feelings is missing out.
That phone call from the estate agent telling you the seller has accepted a higher offer you can’t match? Seeing a ‘sold’ board outside a property that you never even knew was for sale – a property you’ve had your eye on? The chain collapsing when you were so close to exchange of contracts?
What if we told you there were ways to reduce the risk of the above happening, as well as ‘property cheats’ that give you an advantage in a competitive buying market? Viewber thought it was time we let you into some of the property market’s best kept secrets.
Use filters shrewdly: become an expert at finding property gems by mastering portal filters. Zoopla’s game is especially strong. Head to its filter section and look for ‘property status’. When you tick the ‘chain free’ box, you’ll only see properties where there is a reduced risk of a complicated chain that might collapse.
Tick the ‘reduced price’ box and you’ll tap into a different group of sellers. Not only will reduced price properties be more budget friendly, the reduction may indicate the seller has a pressing need to move and may be open to negotiation.
Look at listings in detail: another way to peel back the layers of portal listings is to pay attention to dates. For example, Rightmove displays the date a property was added in the results list. If the property has been on the market a long time, there may be an opportunity to make a below-asking price offer. The date will also reflect whether a property’s asking price has been reduced, again indicating the seller is making adjustments with a view to speeding up a sale.
Zoopla has made a ‘back to market’ label available to estate agents when listing properties. It’s a good one to look out for, with the label appearing in the top left corner of the lead photo. A property may come back to market if a previous sale has fallen through, perhaps because the buyer experienced an unexpected financial hurdle or had an unforeseen change in circumstance. Sellers of ‘back to market’ homes may be desperate to rescue their chain and therefore be willing to work with a seller on price and timescales.
Be first to see: it sounds so basic but the first to view a property for sale will be in pole position. Dither or delay and you may miss out. If you have seen a house or flat you’re interested in, book a viewing for as soon as the seller makes their home available.
If life, work or existing plans get in the way of seeing a property, send a Viewber instead. We visit homes on behalf of buyers when time is of the essence – working evenings and weekends so you’re the first to get a foot in the door. We can be at a property, taking videos and photographs, frequently within 24 hours of a booking. Request same-day feedback so you can make a quick decision and make an early offer.
Use a property buying agent: so your application to appear on Location, Location, Location was unsuccessful but that doesn’t mean you can’t use a property buying agent. Also known as a property finder, search agent or property consultant, a property buying agent’s job is to find exclusive opportunities for buyers that will put them ahead of the competition.
A property buying agent cultivates preferential relationships with estate agents, housebuilders and homeowners, with new properties for sale made available to them first before they appear on the open market. The price for this VIP buying experience? The purchaser will pay the buying agent a percentage of the sold price for exclusive property access.
Register directly with estate agents: it’s amazing how so many buyers rely solely on portal results to find their next home. By the time a home is listed for sale online, however, it’s probably been offered to multiple buyers already. Why? How?
Buyers who register their details directly with estate agents are usually the first to know about homes coming on to the market. They may even get tipped off before the seller has signed a contract! Sales that happen without a property appearing on Rightmove or Zoopla are commonly referred to as off market transactions – the ones where a ‘sold’ sign appears overnight despite the property never being publicly for sale. Register with an agent and you’ll be given first refusal before the masses are alerted.
Set up property alerts: if your Rightmove addiction can’t be cured, there is a way to prevent hourly page refreshes and days of doom scrolling. You can set up property alerts that result in an email alert when a home meeting your requirements is listed for sale or to rent. Choose your preferred frequency of alerts too, with an ‘instant’ option available for those who want to know immediately.
Worried you may miss an alert in your busy inbox? Go to your email provider’s settings, create a filter using the portal’s email alert address (for example, Rightmove’s may be autoresponder@rightmove.com) and tick the boxes so it’s always marked as important or has a star automatically added next to it. Want to go further? Allow desktop notifications and create a sound alert.
Add Viewber to your property cheat sheet to ensure you’re seeing homes for sale and to rent in the fastest possible time. Our ‘view on my behalf’ service is nationwide and runs seven days a week, during the evening and on Bank Holidays, so you’ll never miss out.
