Finding the Silent Sales = Investment Properties at a Bargain Price

One investment strategy is to invest in properties that are in high capital growth suburbs which are found around 5-15 kms from major cities.

The problem with this strategy, is that there are a lot of other investors are doing the same thing. So that means a lot of competition for those prime investment properties - i.e. they are not cheap. Plus, the supply of these prime properties is pretty slim. So how do you get to these primo properties before your competition does?

You have to find the 'silent sales'. These are the properties that aren't advertised for sale. The reasons for not advertising are varied. It may be that:

• the vendor doesn't want the public to know (the vendor may have a high profile) 
• for financial reasons (sell before the bank gets it)
• they don't want to pay real estate fees 
• they may not want to put money into the property to smarten it up for sale
• or maybe they want to avoid the stress.

So how do you find these silent sales if the vendors aren't calling a traditional real estate agent to sell the property?

Buyers Agent

You need to build up a fantastic relationship with your buyers agent. A buyers agent works on your behalf to get the best deal for the property you are interested in. They will sniff out what you are looking for, and find the deals along the way. One of the ways that the buyers agents find the deals, is by sellers calling them to see if there are any buyers, before going to the open market. This often happens with repeat sellers - they have previously sold a property using the agent and would like to repeat the 'no fuss' procedure. 

Yes, you will pay for the services of a buyers agent. But if you are investing in property on a regular basis, then it makes sense to add a buyers agent to your team, after all they are  helping you make money.

Tell Everyone

Word of mouth is vital in finding deals. Tell everyone you meet that you are in the market for property, someone who knows someone, who knows someone, is selling property and that person may in fact have the perfect property for you.

Get Your Ducks in a Row

You have to be ready for the deal, before it happens! Get pre-approved financing, and your team in place - building inspector, valuer etc. You need to be ready to go at a moments notice. You can't come across a deal and then spend 3 weeks getting your team together - the seller wants to sell TODAY, not next month.

Get out there

Advertise that you are looking for property. Use social media, letter box drops, posters etc Create a co-ordinated and professional looking campaign. Yes you will be paying a little money for creating the material, but by getting the deal before the next investor means you may in fact be saving yourself a lot of money.

So what are your tricks to get to the silent sales before your competitors? How can you leverage this to make 2013 your best investing year yet?!