Consider this; Every successful living thing specialises, from the smallest living being to the largest. That’s how they survive & prosper, they find a niche and exploit it. Imagine if an elephant tried to compete for food with a sea lion one day, a rabbit the next and whale the next – he would soon starve – why?
Because each time he is competing he has to learn new tricks against others that instinctively know how to go about their business. If you keep changing your area for finding deals you will have the same result, you need to find an area you have confidence in and then learn everything you possibly can about it. Otherwise you will arrive in a new area and find yourself against all the dealers & traders who know all the local prices, the estate agents, the planning officers etc. while you are catching up they are snapping up all the best deals and moving faster that you can – result? You get the ‘fag ends’ which you will struggle to make work.
Pick an area and work it, learn everything about it & get to know everybody involved, build an instinctive awareness of everything which helps you beat the competition.
Here are some of the things you should know about your operational area so that you develop a deep ‘feel’ for it (look in the Yellow pages online www.yell.com):
Accommodation - Residential
Accommodation Agents - Business
Builders
Builders' Hardware
Builders' Merchants
Building Consultants
Building Estimators
Building Maintenance & Repairs
Building Services Engineering
Buildings - Relocatable
Business Transfer Agents
Carpenter
Commercial Estate Agents
Electrician
Estate Agents - Commercial
Estate Developers
Estate Managers
Facilities Management
Home Information Packs
Hotel & Licensed Property Valuers & Brokers
Housing Associations & Trusts
Industrial Units
Interior Landscapers
Land Agents
Letting Agents
Local Authority
Nursing Homes
Office Fitters
Offices - Rental
Offices - Serviced
Planning Consultants
Planning Department
Planning Supervisors
Plumber
Property Development
Property Investment
Property Management
Property Owners
Rating Surveyors
Refurbishment - Commercial Premises
Relocation Agents
Removals - Business & Industrial
Rent Officers
Residential & Retirement Homes
Residential Estate Agents
Schools
Serviced Apartments
Serviced Apartments
Sheltered Accommodation
Timber Frame Buildings
Trading Estates
You also need to build a database of local property values, visit; http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/uk-house-prices/ or https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/ for key data about your area.
Identify key locations – low, medium, high quality areas; industrial, residential, retail areas.
Use Internet sources and online agents, set up alerts at https://www.google.com/alerts or join newsletters to keep up to date – here are a few useful links;
BRIGHT MOVE
CHOICE HOMES
FIRST 4 SALE
HOMES GO FAST
HOMES ON SALE
HOMES WITHOUT AGENTS
http://www.Homeswithoutagents.com
HOUSE LADDER
HOUSE NETWORK
HOUSE WEB
HSC PROPERTY
JUST MOVE
LOOT
MONKEY MOVE
MOVE HOME ONLINE
http://www.movehomeonline.co.uk
MOVE LOCATION
MY PROPERTY FOR SALE
http://www.mypropertyforsale.co.uk
NO MORE ESTATE AGENTS
http://www.Nomoreestateagents.co.uk
PRIVATE HOUSE MOVE
http://www.privatehousemove.co.uk
PRIVATE HOUSE SALES
http://www.Privatehousesales.info
PRIVATE SELLER
http://www.privateseller.co.uk
PROPERTY SELL
RIGHTMOVE
THE LITTLE HOUSE COMPANY
http://www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk
THIS HOUSE IS FOR SALE
http://www.thishouseisforsale.co.uk
TOP OF THE SHOPS
http://www.topoftheshops.co.uk
YOO CAN
http://www.Yoocan.com
Specialise in an area
Or region, then become An expert
TASK OF THE DAY - Try to focus on one area of the property industry that you feel is for you, you could look into a few likely areas. Start gathering as much info as possible on the area(s) & build your file(s)