If you’re looking to invest in UK property, it can be hard to find the right property sourcing agent to help you out.
How do you assess them effectively?
For every property sourcer or sourcing agency you're considering, use these six questions to help you determine the best one to work with.
Good answers for all of them will give you the peace of mind of knowing your property investment activities have a strong chance of being handled correctly from start to finish.
If you like this article, then you might also like The Benefits of Working with a Verified UK Property Sourcing Company
1. How are you able to source properties?
Knowing how your property sourcer goes about their business to identify and pitch properties to you is critical. If your sourcer can't tell you where and how they locate properties, then it's probably time to look elsewhere.
Once you know where and how your agent can source properties, you'll be able to determine if they're a good fit for you or not.
In any type of business relationship that moves forward, every client should have as much information as possible before signing an agreement together with their vendor. Property sourcing business relationships should be no different.
Understanding what they're capable of doing and how they do it early on is important. Are they simply looking at Rightmove amongst the hundreds of thousands of other potential buyers? Or, do they have excellent relationships with local estate agencies, developers, and other expert and/or beginner property investors, to the extent that their network gives them an "early bird" ticket to assess properties before they're on the market?
2. Are you fully compliant?
Buying a property is often a lengthy and complex process, and that can lead to some of the more "casual" sourcers taking shortcuts on purpose or even by mistake. Either way, any shortcuts could have disastrous consequences for you, whether it be financial loss or getting on the wrong side of the law.
That's why you should ask whether your prospective agent follows the legal compliance regulations for the UK property market and associated real estate activities.
You can learn more about how we do our best to list only verified and compliant property sourcers via our property sourcer registration process. We highly recommend you ask every sourcing specialist that you're considering working with the same questions that we ask – easy!
If he or she refuses to provide you with documented (online or offline) proof, move on; you don't want to participate in an illegal sale, and neither will your bank.
3. Do you have the relevant insurance in place?
You'll be investing a significant amount of money into any type of property purchase. Therefore, it's important that your property sourcer (who'll play a key role in part or all of the buying process) is correctly insured.
Although this relates to #2 above in the sense that a fully compliant sourcer will also be insured, this area deserves its own spot! Don't hesitate to ask your sourcer if they have the relevant protection according to UK real estate practices, transactions, and specifically property sourcing.
If there's a problem with your transaction (and we hope there won't be), you'll want to know that your sourcing agent is covered in case something goes wrong and you need legal recourse.
This is particularly true if a sourcer is representing both you and another party (e.g. the seller) at the same time. For example, you or the other party might have been wrongly informed of the financials during negotiations, or someone gets injured while attending a viewing. The last thing anyone wants is for the responsible sourcer to not have insurance in such situations.
4. Can you share any customer testimonials and references?
Every property sourcing agent should be very happy to share at least two customer testimonials, and, depending on their size, even references.
If they don’t have any, ask why not...
They could be newly established as a professional property sourcer, and this is fine as long as you're comfortable with that. But still, they should provide references from other people/companies they've worked with during previous careers or roles; something to help build trust!
If they do have recommendations but can’t share them with you for legitimate reasons, ask for some anyway or get creative with them so that they can share something.
You're not trying to play tricks or catch them out, and any reputable property sourcer will know this. Put simply, your intention is to better assess the "expert" in their field before making potentially huge financial decisions with them later on.
It's a good sign if they're transparent and willing to share verified client feedback. Or, even better, the contact details of some of their previous clients so you can try and verify those experiences yourself.
5. Is there anything I should know about buying from overseas?
This is an example of a question to directly assess your property sourcer's knowledge in a property-related topic. It doesn't have to be this exact question, but just something that prompts them to showcase their expertise and allows you to gauge what level they're at.
Do they know their stuff? If not, do they have people in their network that do?
Questioning on investing in property from overseas is a handy "tester". As we all know, foreign investment in UK property is big business. Therefore there's a fair chance that any reputable property sourcer is working with international contacts in one way or another.
For example, are they aware of the differences in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) requirements for a UK resident versus a non-UK resident? Do they know any mortgage brokers who specialise in lending for expatriates? The sourcer doesn't need to know everything here, but if they can offer some high-level facts or at least put you in touch with people that do know, then it's a tick in the box regarding their credibility.
6. What are your property and location specialties?
A seasoned sourcing agent will be well versed in a variety of areas, but they should still be able to tell you where their strengths are.
There's no one out there that's a "specialist" in everything in the UK property market!
For example, your property sourcer may specialise in buy-to-let, rent-to-rent and/or serviced accommodation sourcing. Perhaps they're more focused on a subset of those categories like student housing or corporate lets. While another sourcer might focus on only commercial or semi-commercial properties.
Niche down even further: in what locations are they highly knowledgable for the types of properties that they specialise in?
The likelihood of being presented with a great property investment opportunity will increase if it clearly matches the sourcer's areas of focus and expertise.
Surely there are some more questions I could ask?
Absolutely there are! If time allows it and you feel you need to, then you can request more information based on any gaps that remain unfilled.
Having said that, if you're not 85-90% comfortable about proceeding with your property sourcer after doing the Q&A using the 6 questions in this article, then you should let go and explore the next sourcing agent.
