I have recently come across incredible property opportunities in London for our members. I later acquired these properties which included, a six-bedroom house in Chelsea and an apartment in another central area that is set to massively outperform the market.
The former will be a family home while the latter will be a pied-a-terre/investment.
Both are excellent properties that we acquired at attractive prices. The house involved a very complicated negotiation whereas the apartment was relatively simple as I had discovered that the seller was desperate.
But, how can you find these property opportunities in London?
Well, the house wasn’t on any of the property portals, but let’s look at the apartment because it was on the websites and had been for a while. It had a reception with a 4m+ ceiling & was well laid out but did require some cosmetic updating as it had been tenanted for a few years.
So, why hadn’t it sold? Well, the original asking price had been a bit high, so it had languished on the market. There was then a price reduction to roughly fair value, but I expect lots of people just saw that the property had been on the market for a long time and simply ignored it, little knowing that the owner was extremely keen to sell.
This is why I bore on about the importance of speaking to the agents at least once a week and inspecting as many properties as possible. You won’t really know how good (or indeed bad) somewhere is without seeing it and you certainly won’t learn anything about the seller’s motivations by staring at websites, i.e. there may be an opportunity staring you in the face but you will never know.
I had had my eye on this apartment for several weeks. And as it happened, I was showing one of our members a different property: a fantastic first floor apartment across two buildings which he loved. However, when we were discussing the strategy we should use for the house price negotiations, he mentioned that he was veering more towards the investment angle rather than a property for his own use.
So, while the property was great (it is rare to find a first floor apartment stretching across two buildings) and could be acquired at fair value, I immediately suggested that we visit the “opportunity” despite it being in a different area to his initial requirements.
Nevertheless, he loved the location and the fact that it was clearly a great property opportunity in London (it also had the advantage of costing 40% less than the lateral first floor apartment), so we moved swiftly to secure the property but still achieved a reasonable 15% discount to fair value. Remember, this is in a location which should outperform the market in the coming years.
None of this would have happened if I hadn’t been speaking to the agents on a regular basis and had just been trawling through the websites. Unfortunately, relying on the websites is exactly what the vast majority of buyers do which is why they miss out on the best property opportunities in London.
Of course, there are a couple of major issues with undertaking this level of due diligence:
- It takes a lot of time
- It is dull and often frustrating (we speak to over 230 estate agents every week)
- You need to have a clear understanding of valuations to spot the opportunities
“Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.”
So, if you recognise the importance of undertaking the massive research required to find the best property your money can buy, but the thought of speaking to dozens and dozens of estate agents doesn’t appeal to you, you are not alone!
It is one of the many reasons, I founded Mercury Homesearch 20 years ago.
There are several ways I can help you – ranging from complimentary information and a free strategy call to Bespoke Property Acquisition Blueprints and membership to Mercury (there is an investment for both of these).
Contact Mercury Homesearch
So, if you interested and finding the best property opportunities in London and have no interest in speaking to hordes of estate agents or would like advice on negotiation strategies or any other facet of acquiring a property, you can email my assistant, Dee, at dee@mercuryhomesearch.com or call 02034578855 (+442034578855 from outside the UK) to discover more about how we can help you find your ideal home or investment for the lowest price possible while avoiding all the wasted time and stress suffered by the typical buyer.
