Property sourcers - do they do a useful job?

The debate about property sourcing companies has recently intensified with the documentary on one of the more well known & high profile individuals.

Ajay Ahuja has been a celebrity buy-to-let landlord for almost a decade. He has diversified away from writing a range of buy-to-let guides. Probably because you make diddly squat selling a handful of books.

His business is now largely based around sourcing property for investors.

He has recently hit the headlines because of acquisitions of sharp practice from some of his clients. He claims that he had over 500 happy clients. Read Ajays side of the argument here.

Property sourcers offer a service to investors by finding suitable residential investments and then offering them to investors. They often claim to have found the property at a discount to RICS valuations.

They claim to offer a service to investors by doing the hard work of finding suitable investment properties and negotiating a saving on the price that an inexperienced investor would pay in the open market. They claim that because of this their fees are easily covered by the potential savings in purchase price and the convenience they offer.

Others claim that property sourcers are no more than dodgy middle men who look to exploit novice property investors and make money by selling hard to sell property to unsuspecting investors, and taking commission from the seller as well as charging the buyer a fee for their troubles. They often then make more money from lining up finance for the investor.

They question is do property sourcers such as Ajay Ahuja provide a useful service for property investors or do they just rip them off?

Post your comments and experience of property sourcers below.

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