Property sourcing, done to a written mandate.
We find, appraise and negotiate residential acquisitions on behalf of investors — mostly off-market, always underwritten, and never advertised.
A sourcing agent is a buying agent for investors. You are hiring someone to find the opportunity, prove the numbers, and hold the line in the negotiation.
The estate agent works for the seller. The mortgage broker works for the lender's criteria. The solicitor conveys the title. Nobody in a standard transaction is paid to tell a buyer that the deal isn't good enough — which is precisely the job we do.
In practice that means a great deal of unglamorous work: building relationships with vendors and agents so opportunities surface before they reach the portals, appraising far more properties than we ever present, and being willing to tell a client with cash burning a hole in their account that this month there is nothing worth buying.
It also means acting under a written mandate rather than pushing whatever we happen to have. We are not a deal-packaging list. Every search starts from your criteria, and if an opportunity falls outside them we don't send it to you just because it is available.
Where the opportunities actually come from.
There is no secret list. There is a network built one relationship at a time since 2022, and the discipline to keep working it when nothing is coming through.
Direct to vendor
Owners who want a quiet, certain sale and approach us before they approach an agent — probate, relocation, portfolio exits, tired stock, broken chains.
- No public marketing
- Motivated by certainty
- Direct negotiation
Agent relationships
Local agents who call us first because we transact, we don't waste their time, and we don't renegotiate at the eleventh hour without cause.
- Pre-portal introductions
- Genuine local knowledge
- Reputation-dependent
Auction and distressed
Auction lots and repossession stock appraised properly, with the legal pack read in full before we ever recommend a bid.
- Legal pack reviewed
- Hard ceiling agreed in advance
- Finance arranged pre-bid
What has to be true before we present anything.
These are our own filters, applied before your mandate criteria are even considered.
It must survive our own numbers
Every appraisal is built from evidenced comparables and real costs, not from a vendor's estimate or a rounded-up rent. If the return only appears once you assume best-case refurbishment costs and best-case rent, it isn't a deal — it's a hope.
- Sold comparables, never asking prices
- Rents evidenced from let stock in the same street type
- Refurbishment costed by trades, not guessed
- Voids, management and maintenance deducted before a yield is quoted
- A downside case modelled at higher rates and lower rent
It must suit you specifically
The same property can be an excellent purchase for one investor and a poor one for another. Cash position, tax position, time available, experience, appetite for building work and exit horizon all change the answer.
- Inside your agreed budget, not stretching it
- A strategy you have the time and temperament to run
- Financeable on terms you can actually obtain
- An exit that works even if you have to sell early
- A location you are comfortable owning in for the long term
Six strategies we work across.
We are strategy-agnostic. The right approach is dictated by your position and the local market, not by what happens to be fashionable.
Single-let buy-to-let
The foundation strategy. Steady tenant demand, straightforward financing, predictable management. Best suited to investors who want the asset to be quiet.
- Stress-tested against lender criteria
- Local demand and void analysis
- Condition and capex allowance built in
BRRR / refurbish and refinance
Buy below value, refurbish to a defined specification, revalue and pull capital back out. Higher return, considerably more that can go wrong.
- Independent build costings
- Realistic post-works valuations
- Contingency and timeline modelled honestly
HMO and multi-let
Room-by-room letting for stronger gross yields, with the licensing, planning and management burden that comes attached.
- Article 4 and licensing checks
- Room count and layout feasibility
- Compliance cost included in appraisal
Serviced accommodation
Short-stay letting in locations with genuine year-round demand — not a strategy we recommend everywhere, and we will say so.
- Occupancy and ADR reality-checked
- Planning and leasehold restrictions
- Operating model agreed before purchase
Commercial conversion
Permitted development and change-of-use projects. Longer horizons, larger numbers, and a much higher requirement for professional oversight.
- Planning risk assessed up front
- Professional team assembled
- Staged funding requirements mapped
Portfolio acquisition
Buying multiple units in one transaction, where the value is often in the structure of the deal rather than the individual assets.
- Unit-by-unit condition review
- Existing tenancy and arrears audit
- Blended yield and exit modelling
The checklist applied to every opportunity.
Not all of it is visible to you, and most of it never produces anything interesting. That is the point — it exists to catch the one thing that would have cost you.
From first call to keys.
Nine stages. You will know which one you are in at any point.
- 01
Discovery call
Thirty to forty-five minutes, no charge and no pressure. We establish what you are trying to achieve, what capital and financing you have available, and how involved you want to be. If we're not the right fit, we say so on that call.
- 02
Client verification
Before we take a mandate we complete identity verification and source-of-funds checks. It is a legal requirement in this sector and it is also how we make sure everyone at the table is genuine.
- 03
Written mandate
We agree the brief in writing: strategy, target areas, maximum purchase price, minimum acceptable return, condition tolerance, and timeline. This is the document we are held to.
- 04
Active search
We work our vendor relationships, agent contacts, auction pipeline and direct-to-vendor channels. Most of what surfaces is discarded before you ever hear about it — that filtering is the service.
- 05
Underwriting
Anything promising is fully appraised: purchase, costs, finance, refurbishment, rent, yield, cash-on-cash return, and the downside case. If the numbers only work on optimistic assumptions, it doesn't progress.
- 06
Private presentation
You receive a written appraisal covering the opportunity, the evidence behind every figure, the risks, and our recommendation. We tell you what we don't like about it as well as what we do.
- 07
Offer and negotiation
With your instruction we negotiate directly, structure the offer and conditions, and hold the position. We negotiate for you, not for the seller and not for a quick completion.
- 08
Progression to completion
Solicitors, brokers, surveyors and vendors chased weekly. You get regular updates without having to ask for them.
- 09
Refurbishment and handover
Where works are required we can oversee the contractors, specification and schedule. On completion the property is either handed over to you or moved straight into our management service.
How we charge, and what can go wrong.
Fee principles
Fees are agreed in writing before any work starts, and there are no surprises later in the process.
- A written fee agreement before the search begins
- The fee stated as a fixed sum or a defined percentage — never open-ended
- Any commission or referral arrangement disclosed to you
- No fee for opportunities you decline
- Management charged separately and transparently if you use it
Current fee levels vary by strategy and deal size — ask us directly and we will put them in writing.
Risks, stated plainly
Property is an illiquid, geared, cyclical asset. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
- Values can fall as well as rise, and gearing amplifies both
- Interest rate movements can erase a thin margin entirely
- Refurbishments overrun on both cost and time
- Tenants default, and possession takes months
- Legislation changes, and compliance costs rise with it
- Selling can take far longer than planned in a weak market
Nothing on this website is financial, tax or legal advice. Take independent advice before committing capital.
Sourcing, answered.
No. We never publish property particulars, addresses, prices or deal packs publicly. Opportunities are sourced against a specific client's written mandate and discussed privately with that client only. Anyone marketing 'deals' openly online is usually selling the same opportunity to a list of dozens of people.
Sourcing is charged as a fee agreed in writing before any search begins, typically a fixed sum or a percentage of the purchase price depending on the strategy and complexity. There are no hidden commissions from the vendor's side that you are not told about. Confirm current fee levels with us directly — they vary by strategy and deal size.
Then you buy nothing. A mandate is not an obligation to transact. We would far rather present three opportunities in six months and have you buy one than present twenty and have you buy something you regret.
We strongly encourage it, and for anything requiring works we insist on either your attendance or an independent survey. Remote and overseas investors are accommodated with detailed video walkthroughs and independent reports, but we will never pressure someone into buying unseen.
London and UK-wide, with particular depth in the West Midlands. Where we don't have direct local knowledge we say so and either build it properly or decline the mandate.
We are not brokers and do not give financial advice. We work alongside independent mortgage brokers and can introduce you to specialists in buy-to-let, HMO, bridging and development finance, but the advice comes from them and the decision is yours.
It depends entirely on how tight the mandate is. A broad single-let brief in a liquid area might produce something within weeks. A narrow brief with strict return requirements can take months. We would rather take longer than lower the standard.
It means a purchase price meaningfully beneath independently evidenced comparable sold prices — usually because the vendor is prioritising speed, certainty or discretion over price. It does not mean a discount off an inflated asking price, which is the trick most commonly played in this industry.
Set a mandate
Tell us your position and what you want the money to do. If we can help, we'll agree a written brief. If we can't, we'll tell you that on the first call.