How to Become a Property Sourcer

Property sourcing can be an extremely lucrative career, but like anything else, to be successful, you need work ethic, knowledge, skill, and the right contacts. Let’s look at each of these fundamentals in turn and see if you have what it takes to be successful in the world of property sourcing…

First of all, to get started, you need to get the foundations in place. Set up a business and take care of your legal obligations.

The legal side of becoming a property sourcer

You need to get familiar with how to conduct your ethical sourcing business from the outset. As you will effectively be acting on behalf of the buyer in sourcing the property, you will be governed by the Estate Agents Act 1979.

You will also need to…

• Be registered with a property ombudsman, such as The Property Ombudsman (TPO)
• Be registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
• Be registered with a professional body, such as the National Landlords Association (NLA) or Residential Landlords Association (RLA)
• Have professional indemnity insurance in place

Other items which are helpful to prospective clients and serve to protect you are; a Terms of Business document, outlining what it is you offer, and a Heads of Terms document. You should work with a legal expert who can craft these for you.

Get your legal house in order before you begin, this will be the foundation of your success.

Connections needed to be a successful property sourcer

Of course, you need to have a lot of investors on your books. Not only that, you need to know each of these potential customers intimately so that you can find the perfect deals for them. Not all investors are looking for the same type of opportunity, they will have different business plans and different budgets.

Put in the work to not only build your network but to build your knowledge of your network. To do this it helps if you’re a natural networker and like to be around people. So, if you have strong communication skills and can naturally build relationships and influence with people, property sourcing could be the career for you!

Knowledge and skills required to become a property sourcer

In addition to communication and networking skills, it helps to have the following attributes…

• Market knowledge: the ability to find a deal
• Negotiation skills: the ability to negotiate a good deal on the right properties
• Good with numbers: you need to show the value to potential investors
• Sales skills: you need to present your deal to your investors and influence their decision making
• Organised: the ability to keep on top of many different projects and manage your time effectively
• Patience: some deals can take a long time to close!

Work ethic required to become a property sourcer

Property sourcing is not suitable for those looking to make ‘a quick buck.’ But then again, not much is. If you want to be a successful property sourcer, or successful at anything in life for that matter, you’ve got to put in the work. The work to perform to your best throughout the process and to rinse and repeat over many years.

You’ve got to build your knowledge constantly, build your network constantly, develop yourself constantly, and keep at it. If you are willing to do that, you can make a lot of money.

PDS: making life easier for new sourcers

We’ve spent years looking at our own careers and analysing the best in the business to understand what goes into becoming a successful property sourcer and from this experience, we identified the traits discussed in this article.

Then, we took it a step further. We wanted to solve some of these ‘problems’ and break down some barriers new sourcers faced when getting into the business. Property Deal Store was formed! A unique place that connects the property sourcer to the property investor.

We’re still a young organisation which means now is the best time to join us as a registered sourcer and meet our investors before all the competition arrives! You can set up an account now for free and start adding your deals. Not only that, as a member you will get exclusive access to a range of free downloads containing the perfect resources you need to start your new venture!

Sign up here, or you can contact us today on 01924 635 035 to find out more.

-Janice Minihan, director and co-founder of Property Deal Store