The Property Unleashed Podcast

Throwback Thursday: Mastering the Art of Deal Sourcing – 8 Expert Tips for Success

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 308

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Back by popular demand, this throwback episode is one of the most-loved and highly downloaded from The Property Unleashed archives. In this episode, Mark Fitzgerald dives deep into one of the most essential skills every successful property investor must master: deal sourcing.

Whether you’re sourcing deals for your own portfolio or packaging them for other investors, knowing how to find, negotiate, and secure the right opportunities is the key to building a sustainable and profitable property business. In this classic session, Mark breaks down the core strategies and insider tips that can set you apart in a competitive market.

Mark shares 8 expert tips to help you master deal sourcing and avoid the common mistakes that hold investors back:

• Why networking is the foundation of successful deal sourcing

• How to use data to uncover hidden property opportunities

• Building strong relationships with agents, landlords, and investors

• Recognising and avoiding time-wasting deals early on

• Negotiating confidently and ethically to secure win-win outcomes

• The power of follow-up and staying front of mind with key contacts

• Common pitfalls new deal sourcers face—and how to sidestep them

• Developing the right mindset to consistently source profitable deals


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Speaker 1:

Follow these specific steps to become an expert deal sourcer in the property world. Hello, my name is Mark Fitzgerald and it's fantastic to have you joining me here at the Property Unleashed. If you're looking at becoming a deal sourcer, or maybe you've already started deal sourcing in the property world but you're struggling and finding it hard I'm sure that my eight tips here will help you become a better deal sourcer, so let's go through these one by one and let's help you on your property investing journey. Number one is develop your knowledge and understanding of the property market and how to do deal sourcing. I've done videos in the past which you can check out, of course, on this channel where I've spoken to you about how to set yourself up for success, how to start deal sourcing. But at the end of the day, the knowledge and learning doesn't stop then as well. What you have to remember is you need to know what you're doing, but you need to know what the property market in your area, or the areas that you're choosing to deal source, are. How is the market going? Is the market buoyant? Is it on a downward spiral? Are prices stagnating or are they always on the up? What are rents doing? You need to know your return on investment, your ROI, on the deals that you're doing. So before you're running around there trying to get deals and then sell them on or package them up for people, you need to make sure you know what a good deal is, because at the end of the day, a deal isn't a good deal unless it's a good deal. So the numbers have to stack.

Speaker 1:

Now my problem with a lot of deal sources out there and I see this all the time is the fact that they try and fudge the figures at the end of the day. So what do I mean by fudge the figures? Well, they don't actually take the figures that are fact. They'll try, and you know, elevate a figure, elevate a rent, maybe play down utilities. They don't always know exactly what a good deal is because they have never studied that sort of strategy. Say, for argument's sake, you're out there, you're trying to find rent-to-rent deals for your chosen market, yet you don't actually know what a good rent-to-rent deal is. You've never done a rent-to-rent deal, so you don't know whether it's a good deal or a bad deal. A landlord could say to you I want £2,000 for this property. You think right, they want £2,000 for that one property. That's great. I'll sell this, I'll bag it up. I'll just get somebody to pay them £2,000.

Speaker 1:

Happy days Not knowing whether that is good for the people that are buying it or not. You need to become the expert in all the different strategies and that is something that deal sources out there that are showing you how to do this or trying to teach you how to do this, forget. They think they can show you a few numbers and then you can sell it on to people. At the end of the day, you don't want to get a reputation for selling bad deals. So know your market. Know your going room rent or your property rents or, if it's serviced accommodation, what the nightly rates will be at different times of the year, and become a proper property professional in your area.

Speaker 1:

Okay, not only learn the strategies for the deal types that you want to sell, but equally, on top of that, make sure that you know that you know it's good numbers, that that you know it's a good deal, because you will find people to buy these deals if you are 100% behind your own deal. Number two we want to be building up a network in the property world, so you want to have a good network of agents that you can talk to, of landlords and potential people trying to sell their property, ie vendors. So you want to have a really good understanding of what is around in your area, see what sort of deals are being done in your area at this moment in time as well. Maybe you can get in there with agents, solicitors, potentially architects, planning officials and just say to them the guys and girls that are coming to you with these sorts of deals, would you pass on my card and, if they contact me, happy days. So start getting out there and start building up your network. No point in going out there, finding a good deal and then having nobody to sell that deal to because you haven't gone out there and done the legwork first. So, as you're learning the area, start connecting with people. Start making sure that they know that you are a deal sourcer in the area. And mark my words if you're watching this now thinking well, I'm not really that fussed about being a deal sourcer. We're all deal sourcers.

Speaker 1:

At the end of the day, anybody who's involved in property investing is a deal sourcer because they're always looking for the best deals. They're always looking for the right deals for themselves, if nothing else. But if you keep finding deals, you will run out of money. If you cannot fund a certain project and you have a really good deal, then look to package it up and sell it on to somebody else, or even give it to somebody else and have the good karma in what goes around else. Or even give it to somebody else and have the good karma in what goes around comes around in life.

Speaker 1:

So at number three, we want to be looking for deals. We want to be out there, we want to be analysing deals. We want to be looking at auctions, at auction websites. We want to obviously be talking to estate agents, to letting agents seeing what's on their books, seeing what sort of deals are there. Get yourself out there and attend the auctions, go there, start mingling with people. These are property investors, these are your people, these are your potential customers. If they don't get a deal there and you've got a deal to sell they're going to be more inclined and motivated themselves to be doing business with you, talking to landlords as well, putting some marketing out there, making sure that you are the first person that people think about and want to call if they want to sell their property or they want to do a property deal.

Speaker 1:

At the end of the day, you want to have a system in place that means that you're constantly out there, that you're constantly monitoring your markets and that you're constantly in eyeshot and earshot of people looking for property deals. So how do we do that? Like I say, we have marketing to do that. We go out there and we network, we start talking to all the specialists, ie in our areas or in the areas that we're looking to do these property deals. We start giving out business cards and brochures and we start making sure that people know who we are and how we are going to help them. Always look to get out there and help somebody. If you can help them, then you are onto a winner. But if you're always out there just looking for top dollar and how you can really just get a deal done, no matter what feelings there are, no matter if you're helping somebody or whether you're not helping them, then you will struggle at this and a lot of people just get into this for the money. They don't really care. They just want to make their money.

Speaker 1:

And be mindful of the fact that, when it comes to deal sourcing, if you are 100% compliant and you're doing proper deal sourcing. Realistically, you shouldn't be paid until that deal has gone through. And that was one of the things that used to put me off a deal sourcing, because you could work on a deal for six months, have you know right there, and then somebody pulls out. You lose that deal, you lose your fee. Now you may be able to lock in a fee before all of this, but not every time, and certainly it's difficult to do when you're starting out. So make sure that you have a pipeline of deals that you're monitoring, that you're working on. Don't just work on one or two, because if they fall over, you're not getting paid and at the end of the day, we're not doing this for a laugh, we're doing this to get paid. So just start to try and have as many different deals going through as you possibly can, and if you want to specialize in one type of deal, that's great. But if not, try and have some different types of deals, some bread and butter, buy to lets that, short-term rentals, hmos, commercial units, all that sort of thing, but build up to it slowly and get yourself out there.

Speaker 1:

So at number five, we're going to be looking at negotiations. Of course you need to be out there looking for deals, looking for investors, but you need to be negotiating really good deals. A lot of the times, you need to find their pain point and then you need to negotiate how you can help them. Now, if they don't need top price, they just want a quick sale, you can offer them below market value, but explain to them I'm offering you this because I know for a fact I can get a quick sale here, potentially even a cash investor to buy at this price, and that will help you because you need a quick sale. Not everybody needs your help. Not everybody will be able to do a deal or will want to do a deal with you, and that's fine. But at the end of the day, you've really got to work on your negotiation tactics, your negotiation techniques.

Speaker 1:

This is one thing that I help all my students with, whether I'm working with them on a one-to-one level or whether they're on one of my programs. It is about how to negotiate. And when I say how to negotiate, it's not about trying to rip people off. It's trying to find a win-win for both parties. That's what we want to be looking at doing. That's what you want to be looking at doing, particularly with your deal sourcing. So it's how can I structure a deal that I benefit from but, equally to that, that the other parties benefit from as well? So it's a win-win deal. It's less likely to fall over because everybody is on the same page and we can get forward and we can get these deals over the line and everybody makes money or everybody has their problems solved.

Speaker 1:

So when it comes to negotiations, you have to make sure that you're happy to take on their concerns, to answer their problems okay and be able to come up with solutions. And you don't always have to come up with the solutions then and there. If you're not 100% sure of how you can help somebody, just say this is a really, really tricky one. Let me take it back to the office, let me discuss it with my colleagues whether you've got colleagues or not and I'll get back to you.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes it's great just to step back and take a bit of time to find out, you know, what is the best course of action to help this vendor, this person looking to sell their property. And at the end of the day, as I say, we can't help everybody. But don't take too long. I'm not talking about going away and having a week thinking about it. I'm thinking. I'm saying go away, maybe have half an hour, maybe go and buy yourself a coffee, sit down, write out their problems, write out what you think their solutions are, and then just go back to them and negotiate.

Speaker 1:

Say, after looking at your certain problem, this is what I've come up with. We could offer you 25% below market value and get you a quick sale with a cash buyer, or we can try and get you market price, but at the end of the day, we may need to do what is known as a lease option, because you don't need the money right now. Obviously, it's different circumstances mean different outcomes, so you could hit them with maybe three options I wouldn't go over three options because people start to get confused but maybe three different negotiation options that all have something in their favor, but something in your favor as well, and just see if you can help that person. Of course, in the middle of all of that, you can address any concerns that they have. They'll be happy knowing that you're doing everything you can for them.

Speaker 1:

And then, of course, you can go back with counter offers and the not so glamorous bit of deal sourcing at number seven is finalizing the deal. You've found a property for sale, you've found an investor who loves the deal that you're offering. You've put the two together. You then need to see it through to the end. I see far too many people out there at the moment saying it's great, you find this, you find that, boom, you get paid off, you are to the next deal. It doesn't work like that.

Speaker 1:

If you're a seasoned deal sourcer, you want to build a business, a sustainable business, you need to have the systems and potentially, it doesn't have to be you doing this, but the people in place to follow this through, to follow it through with the vendor, to follow it through with the investor, to be able to finalize. You know the legals to be chasing, potentially the solicitors. There's a lot more to this than meets the eye and it all needs to be dealt with in the proper manner. Anything that's going through from both parties needs to realistically be pushed through by you or your team. Okay, so you can make sure that the deal stays on track, you can make sure that you get the end result that you need, and a lot of people just think I found a deal, I'll sell it to an investor and I'm going out the way and you can do that. But you will build up a bad reputation when people and deals start falling over and you're taking people's money and not actually helping them do this properly.

Speaker 1:

Far too many deal sources charge too little for finding deals, for pushing it through and for making it happen. You need to find out what you're worth and make sure that you're charging relevant to what you're worth. If you can make somebody potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds profit on a deal over the next 10 years, then you could charge £10,000 for that deal. Don't underprice yourself. There's a lot of work to be done here. Make sure that you price it in such a manner that when somebody says, well, your fee is £10,000. Yes, but this deal could potentially make you £450,000 if you do this. If somebody said to me, mark, give me 10 grand and I'll give you £450,000, or in that effect, I would give them £10,000.

Speaker 1:

You've got to build up the know like and trust. You may have to start smaller than that. You may even have to drop your fees to begin with and say listen, on this first deal, I'll only charge you this amount, but once you've got what you need from this deal, you can pay me either an extra bit or, on the next deal, these are my fees. Does that sound fair? Most people will say yes. At the end of the day, we do have to get our foot on the ladder, we do have to move ourself up, but be mindful of the fact that you need to make sure that you're charging what you're worth, that you need to be seeing things through to the end as well, and don't rely on other people to do it for you. At the end of the day, if you see this through, it's more likely to happen. You're more likely to get paid properly, and everybody's a winner. Your reputation will start to speak for itself.

Speaker 1:

Don't forget to get testimonials off of the vendors, testimonials off of the investors that you're working with. Add it to your marketing and start building a property business that you can be proud of. And if you need help with this, if you're struggling with anything of this, we have different programs to help you in property investing. We have service accommodation, we have rent to rent and I do one-to-ones as well. I do a 12-month one-to-one program with property investors, whether it's rent to rent, service accommodation, hmos, commercial conversions or deal sourcing. You want to set yourself up for success with deal sourcing. I can help you with that as well, and if you've already started and you're struggling, then again feel free to reach out to me. But do check out thepropertyunleashedcom for a lot of free tools and resources and, of course, subscribe to this channel as well and stay up to date with all the latest videos that we put out there.

Speaker 1:

And at number eight, it really does follow on from number seven. It is all about making sure that you're maintaining relationships okay, relationships with vendors, with investors, with solicitors, with architects, with planning consultants, with everybody okay. At the end of the day, if you start to get certain investors involved or intrigued, have a newsletter or something that you send out to them with potential deals on, make sure you're checking out the investors that you're using, even potentially taking a dummy deal to the investor that hits all of their criterias. To the investor that hits all of their criterias you may not have this deal, but you are looking for it. Take it to them and just say are you interested in this deal? This hits all of the criterias that you've asked for. If they say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and don't do anything, you know they're not a serious investor, they're wasting your time. If they say yes and they want to act on it and you're like crikey Mark, I did this. Now I haven't got a deal, you could just say I'm ever so sorry I didn't quite act quick enough on this one, but now I know that you're serious and that you want it. The next one has your name on it. I won't take it anywhere else, I'll bring it straight to you. Anybody in their right mind is just going to say happy days and then just make sure that you do Follow through with what you say you're going to do, but make sure that you're in constant contact with people.

Speaker 1:

If you're talking to agents and then you've left it for a few weeks, why? Because potentially you've built up a sort of reputation with about five or six different agents, but then there's two agents or maybe there's even one agent who you really get along well with and you think they're going to find you a deal. They're going to be the one. You need to make sure that those other five agents are still seeing you. You're still talking to them, you're still connecting with them and you're still building on your relationships and make sure that you're constantly out there networking, talking to investors, talking to landlords Anybody's thinking of selling their property.

Speaker 1:

They want to be calling you up to see how you can help them, and it's not always about making sure that you get the lowest price possible for your investors. Some investors will pay market value just for a good cash flowing asset. So you don't necessarily have to go to these other investors or landlords and say, listen, I need to knock 25% off or at least 10% off At the end of the day. If it's a good cashflow and property, you can probably sell that to an investor. At the end of the day, property tends to go up, as we all know. It tends to go up anyway. So they will get that extra value in the properties themselves. They will get that capital growth. But if they can make really good cashflow right here, right now better than they can make in the banks by just parking their money in bricks and mortar, which is a good, safe bet then a lot of people will snatch your hand off for that sort of thing as well.

Speaker 1:

We'll take you up on those offers. So make sure that you follow these eight steps. If nothing else, there is a load more to deal sourcing, so make sure that you subscribe to this channel, because I'm going to talk about this and a whole host of other strategies as well, like I do. And at the end of the day, if you are a deal sourcer, listen to the different strategies, listen and actually watch what people are talking about and putting out there.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to the strategies that you're not interested, I'm a deal sourcer. I'm not interested in rent to rent, yes, but you might find a rent to rent deal and if you don't know how to stack it and you don't know it's a good deal, how can you sell it with a hundred percent certainty? Learn the strategies that are out there and sell the deals with a hundred percent certainty, and that's the other thing. You have to be a hundred percent certain that your deal is a good deal. Why? Because you will sell that deal, people will believe in you, people will want to work with you and you will become a successful deal sourcer out there and you can make really, really good money doing that sort of thing. Ok, there's property strategies out there, that cash flow, and I always think you should have a handful of different property strategies. So if you're looking at building a successful deal sourcing business. Follow these steps and make sure that you hit all of those points. There are a lot of other aspects to this, but you need to make sure that you know the different strategies, that you learn them all out there.

Speaker 1:

I would say that you don't need to do every strategy, but let's just say, for argument's sake, you found a sweet little rent to rent deal that's going to cash flow you a thousand pounds a month. Why wouldn't you keep that bad boy for yourself at the end of the day? Don't be so one-tracked or narrow-minded that you think I've got to sell it all the time. Now you might want to sell it, but trust me, if somebody brings something like that to me, or I found it, I would be snatching that one up. But again, if I'm not interested in it, if I've got no passion in that, I would be selling it. But I would be selling it for a good amount as well.

Speaker 1:

Okay, don't go cheap. A lot of times we all think we have to go cheap. If you go cheap, a lot of people think, well, why is it so cheap? So put yourself out there. Maybe, like I say, my fees are this boom and people just go. Oh, that's expensive. Yes, but for the first deal I'll do it at this fee while we get our feet under the table. If you're interested in buying a handful of properties or deals off of me, then I'll do you the first deal at this price, just while we build up our relationship. And, of course, if I do a really, really good deal for you, you can always offer to pay me a little bit more, but let's do it at this price and then deals afterwards we'll do it this price. You know that I bring you the best deals. I know that you're serious and you take action, because, unfortunately, there are a lot of time wasters out there. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I hope you join me for future episodes and past episodes.

Speaker 1:

Do go back through the back catalogue, remember. We have the Property Unleashed podcast, the Property Unleashed YouTube channel, which is what you're watching me on right here right now, and we have the Property Unleashed website as well, thepropertyunleashedcom, which has free tools and resources there. We're always running webinars as well, where we do live Q&As, where we help people. So go sign up to my newsletter. Download some of our freebies. There's a deal analyzing spreadsheet on there which will really, really help you stack those deals to the best of your abilities. Get yourself out there and get yourself in the game. Have a clear vision about what it is that you want to achieve. Yeah, break that vision down into goals. Break those goals into bite-sized chunks and tasks. Take action on those each and every week and move yourself forward. You take care and bye for now.