Finding investment property

HOW TO LOCATE YOUR PERFECT PROPERTY INVESTMENT

Finding investment property is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the hardest part of the investment process. Yet it remains the first and most crucial aspect of the investment process.

With the keen interest this sector is attracting, the laws of supply and demand prevail. Whilst there are thousands of investors looking for suitable investment property, there are only a few properties worthy of purchase for each individual investor's needs. This has been bourne out by the experience of property location services such as web sites trying to match those looking for investment property and those able to provide it. Without going into too many details, suffice to say that in most areas of the country, and especially in the South East and Home Counties, these services have been unable to provide investors with suitable investment opportunities.

Most suitable investment properties are not, in fact hidden in some secret location, but are plain to see. So why is it that investors have such trouble finding them. The answer is that they are mixed in with all the other thousands of properties available for purchase. Each individual property needs to be assessed on it's individual merits as an investment, and no two properties will be alike. In many ways this could be compared to a war of attrition: the more investment properties an investor is able to view, the more likely they are to find the one that suits their investment objectives. But the investor needs to keep in mind their investment objectives and selection criteria, so as to spot an investment opportunity and be able to act upon this information before other investors do.

So where should an investor looking for that ideal property investment start looking? The most obvious place to start is with the estate agents in your area. Contact as many of them as you can, explain your investment objectives and selection criteria, and get on their bulletins and mailing lists, so that they will inform you of the properties that are in your price range, area, type and condition each month. But estate agents, with all the demand that exists for investment property, have a great many potential investors to keep updated, they may not keep you on their mailing list forever, so it's a good idea to keep track of which estate agents you have registered with and check on a regular basis that you are still on their mailing list.

Newspapers offer another channel in which to find investment property. Local newspapers sometimes have good quality investment opportunities, but given the likely number and frequency of such publications, the property investor should check each publication when it is published to maximise the chances of identifying a good investment opportunity before others do. It is worth bearing in mind though that many of the best investment properties will not appear in newspapers, so don't rely too much on this source.

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