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04.05.2023 By: John Penquet
Get More For Less By Capturing Opportunity Gaps
Most of our industry works hard to deliver more. More rooms to rent, more properties to buy
and more enjoyment from higher living standards. You, and people like you are creating more all
of the time.
Over the past year, the property market has shifted across
the UK, with new opportunity areas emerging all over the nation. At the same time, many areas, and strategies
in these areas have seen a contraction of opportunity.
This is not a new phenomenon: our industry is adept at
finding new ways to grow and expand services, you and the industry has the
ability to adapt in an agile way that only entrepreneurs seem to know.
The current market is at another of these moments, and your business has a choice – to understand and adapt, or expend huge efforts to hold a current position or strategy.
Here’s my 6 steps to getting more for less:
1. Measure demand by area and by strategy
Every time I meet investors, I ask a simple question. Where is the highest local demand and for
what types of properties. And do you
know, every single time I get someone’s guess.
Never do I hear anyone tell me what the current stats are and
statistically where is best.
Now more than ever, you must know, with certainty, which
local areas are in highest demand and what properties in those areas are of
highest demand.
Source: Ultimate Property Dashboard Area Demand
2. Leverage the spread of prices in an area.
When there is a lot of movement and activity in property,
you will find distortion in the market.
Nicer, well presented properties often surge in value, whilst the not so
good looking property stands still. These are opportunities for investment with
strategies like BRR and Flipping, but also useful for complex strategies
too. Why? Because the gap in these values is the margin
you can make.
All too often people try to make these strategies work in areas with a narrow spread of prices. Savvy investors use data to understand this spread and buy where they can make more money and recycle investment (ROI)
Source: Ultimate Property Dashboard Lead Research Report
3. Look at the right metrics.
Still looking at land registry sold prices? If you are, you need to stop. These stats are months and months out of date. The right metrics today are current asking prices and asking rents. I spent years developing a process to collect and measure these stats, enabling my forecasting models. You need this for your target areas, so you ensure the area grows in terms of cashflow and in asset value where applicable. Let the demand deliver you the growth.
Source: Ultimate Property Dashboard Lead Research Due Diligence
4. Look at hotspots.
Too many investors rush to buy in an are WHICH HAS ALREADY GROWN. Few try and work our WHERE IS THE NEXT PLACE TO GROW. Knowing your next hotspot can save you £10,000s and make you £10,000s. With my friend Jo Jamison da Silva, we work with dozens of investors from all over the world to harness this data, using advanced UPD datasets to be the first not the last, to opportunity areas.
With my friend Jo Jamison da Silva, we work with dozens of investors from all over the world to harness this data, using advanced UPD datasets to be the first not the last, to opportunity areas.
5. Use Technology
Stop duplicating your tasks and doing things the same as
twenty years ago. Random portal
searching isn’t enough. My UPD software
, used by almost 1000 investors, deploys the latest AI to search for, filter
and report on all the properties in my target areas that match my strategy. My property search is done daily,
automatically, so I can spend more time acting on the shortlist.
You really need to automate the search and shortlists in your business too.
Example Ultimate Property Dashboard Deal Analyser Pipeline Report
6. Delegate to Virtual Assistants
Your pipeline of property leads, be they on or off market, need to be tracked and acted on. Even with our best intentions, we will occasionally need to commit 100% to a task or action, which often suspends activity elsewhere in our business. VAs pick this up and ensure you can keep the dynamism and agility in your daily work without dropping process or communication. My VAs use my data to find leads, and chase the pipeline for me. Nothing is missed and there is no burden on my time. Companies such as The VA Property Company are adept and already trained in these skills, so you can immediately get a service up and running.
The Data Versus The Opinions
Many people are rightly concerned by the recent economic turmoil, just as they were in 2020 and in 2021. To help us all to better understand what’s happened recently from a data and statistical perspective, you can download the latest Property Market Forecast for free here:
my.ultimatepropertydashboard.com/PMF2
This includes data and insights for many regions and strategies and follows on from the insights in this article.
Finding HMOs in a busy marketplace
So please make your life easier and more certain in these uncertain times by plugging data and software into your business process. See John using this data and software live and for free here:
Remember, successful property investment requires facts rather than opinions. Make sure you have what you need.
John Penquet
Market Data Expert
If you need more information you can watch a video presentation HERE.
You can always re-open this dashboard tour in Tutorial videos section.
Click on the button below to start finding some great investment areas and add them to your area research page.
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