The Secret to Finding Off-Market Property Deals in the UK in 2026

[0:00]Now today's episode of the podcast is one I've been wanting to do for a while because I get asked this thing constantly, like all the time. How do you find off market property deals? You know the deals that aren't on right move or Zula, the deals that aren't being fought over by 10 other investors. The hidden gems that can actually make you proper money, serious cash. And here's the thing, most people think that off market deals are some sort of secret club that only the big players have access to. But that's absolute nonsense, obviously. I've been doing this for over 20 years and I can tell you right now, finding off market property deals is a skill that anyone can learn. You just need to know where to look and how to approach it. So today I'm going to walk you through my exact process for finding off market property deals in 2026. And we're going to cover everything from the old school methods that still work brilliantly today, even in 2026 and probably, you know, next year and beyond. To the modern tactics that are crushing it right now. And actually I'm going to talk about some curve balls as well that you may not have heard people talking about before. So grab a copper, get comfortable and let's get into it. So first things first, why should you even bother with off market deals? Why not just stick to right move and estate agents like everybody else does? Well, let me tell you a little story. And I wish someone, I wish someone told me this sooner. The best property deals are never on right move. A few years back I was scrolling through right move like everybody else, looking for another deal. I found this three bed terrace property in Birmingham. It looked decent, needed a bit of work, priced at, I think, 140-ish thousand pounds from memory. Uh, it's going back a few years now. And I thought, right, this could work. The numbers looked good. So I called the agent, booked a view in, and when I turned up, there were literally four other people there already. Four other investors all looking at the same property, they'd seen the same thing as I'd seen, all running the same numbers as me. Long story short, it went to sealed bids and someone paid, I think, over £160,000 for it. And that was like, it was way over asking price. And you know what, they probably still made money on it, but their margins were thin, based on the numbers, very thin. And that's when it clicked for me anyway, that if you're only looking where everybody else out there is looking, you're always going to be in a bidding war against the same old people. It's the same market. You're always, you're always going to be paying top dollar and your profit margins are always going to be getting squeezed by doing that. But off market deals, that's a completely different game because you're often the only person talking to that specific seller. There's no competition, it's just you and the seller. There's no bidding wars. And because of that, you can negotiate properly and you can structure creative deals and you can actually make serious money, proper money. And that's why off market is where the real money is. So now that you understand why off market property dealers are so powerful, let's get into the how. So how do you actually find these deals? Well, I'm going to give you five proven methods that are working right now in 2026. So method number one is something that completely and utterly changed how I look at property deals. And it's all about understanding that a good deal isn't always about getting the cheapest price. Now, I know that sounds a bit mad and people are probably watching this thinking what is he talking about? Obviously it's about price. Everyone is obsessed with getting properties below market value, right? You might be one of these people, you literally look for below market value properties. But stick with me because this is where most investors get it completely wrong. Forget everything you know about finding property deals. Here's how I paid off market value and still made loads of money on this property. So let me tell you about a deal I did that on the surface sounds absolutely mental, but stick with me. I bought a house for, I think it was around £170,000, I'm going back some years. Um, so yeah, from memory, around about 170. Now, all the other houses in that area that were similar were selling for about 150, 160, 165. And, so yeah, I actually paid above market value. And you're probably thinking, Paul, have you lost the plot? Why on earth would you do that? Well, here's the thing. I knew I could make the numbers work way better than any other investor out there looking at that property. See, a normal landlord, they might rent that place out as a single let and make about 900 pound a month. After they pay their mortgage, they'd be left with maybe £200 a month profit. Not bad, but definitely not anything to write home about, but I'm, I'm not thinking about single lets in this situation. I'm thinking convert that into a HMO. And that means I can rent out each room individually for £500, £600, maybe even £700 a month, depending on the room size. So that same property that was making a normal single let buyer to let landlord £200 a month profit. I was pocketing £1,000 to £1,200 a month after all my costs. Now here's where it gets really, really interesting. I bought it for 170 grand, around about ball park. Spent about six months converting that into a proper HMO and the stuff that I used to do was the high end high spec stuff. And when I got that revalued, it came back at, it was between 350-360 somewhere in that ballpark. And that's, yeah, it's almost double, doubled the value from what I paid to what it, what the valuation came back six, seven months later. And I got most of my money back out of that through refinancing because the refurb did cost a lot of money. So yeah, I paid more up front than other investors were willing to pay, but I made way more money than they could ever could have thought about earning, just because of the difference in strategy. Now, I understood the strategy. I understood how to add value, real value, and I understood how to make the numbers work for me. So what's the lesson here? Well, the lesson is this. Stop obsessing over the asking price and start focusing on what you can do with the property. A cheap property isn't always a good deal by default. Oh, it's cheap, therefore it's good. That's not how it works. And an expensive property isn't always a bad deal either. Now what matters is the return on investment. What matters is the cash flow that you can generate. And what matters is the equity also that you can create through adding value. So when you're scrolling through right move, don't just dismiss properties because they seem too expensive or because they're priced at market value. Ask yourself these questions. Can I add value to this property? Can I change the use? Can I convert it into a HMO or split it into flats? Can I increase the rental income significantly? And what will this property be worth once I've done that work? And here's another thing. Don't assume the asking price is the sale price. I, what you'll pay for it. I can't tell you how many people out there look at a property listed at 200 grand and think, I can't afford that without even making an offer or even trying to negotiate. So what if the seller of that 200 grand property that's advertised would accept 180? What if, what if they'll accept 185? What if you structured the deal creatively, maybe a delayed completion or a purchase lease option? The point is, the point I'm trying to get across is, you'll never know unless you ask. Now, I've negotiated thousands of pounds off properties just by having a conversation with the seller or with the agent. Just by asking, what's the lowest you'd accept or, would you consider an offer of X? The worst they can say is no. Don't worry about offending people, all they can say is no, that's too low, and that's it. And if they say no, you've lost nothing, nothing at all. But if they say yes, you've just saved yourself a huge chunk of money, or you've unlocked a deal that other people walked away from. So here's your action step from this section of the podcast. Stop filtering properties on right move purely by price. Obviously price is important, is important to a point, but don't just let that be the only thing that you, you search by. Start looking at properties through the lens of potential. So what can you do with it? How can you add value? How can you make the numbers work better than the next investor? Is there another strategy or usage of the property or could you do something with the property to increase the value? That's how you find deals that other people miss. That's how you make proper money in property by just being creative. Just being creative and having an open mind. Right. Method number two is one that I absolutely love because it's free, it's easy, and most people completely overlook it, even now in 2026. And that's Facebook. So what do I mean when I say Facebook? Well, I'm talking about Facebook groups in particular and Facebook marketplace. And most people don't know this, but Facebook is hiding property deals in plain sight. I remember years back scrolling through a local Facebook group, one of those buy and sell groups. And I saw a post from a guy saying he needed to sell his house quickly because he was moving abroad for work. He already, he was, he'd already packed up and he, he desperately needed to sell, needed the cash. Now most people would have just scrolled past it. I messaged him straight away. I got on the chat and I went and viewed the property the next day and we agreed on a price that worked for him and me. So no estate agent, no competition, just a deal direct to vendor. Now, I bought it for around about 130, 135, spent about 10, 12,000 pound on a light refurb. And then it was worth just shy of £180,000, and that's like £30,000 profit from a Facebook post. Now, the beauty of Facebook is that you're dealing direct with the seller. There's no middleman, there's no agent, there's nobody else in between. And a lot of these people and these sellers that you get, you come across like this, they're motivated. Like that guy was, he was desperate to, to sell the property to get to get the thing gone because he'd already moved. His life was overseas now. He'd already took the job, he was about to leave the UK in a matter of weeks. And he did not need the headache of of a long protracted drawn out selling process. He needed certainty of sale. And he was willing to take a good discount as well because he needed to sell and he needed, you know, a lot of these people are super motivated. They need to sell quickly. They don't want the hassle of estate agents or they just want a simple straightforward transaction. So how do you use Facebook to find deals? Well, first join every local buy and sell group in your area. Just type in the search for your area wherever you live in the UK and then buy and sell or type in your area and then for sale. And join them all. They'll be loads of groups. Then set up alerts so you get notified whenever someone posts in that group, you want to be the first person or one of the first people to see the posts, the new posts because the good deals go fast. Now you can also post in these groups yourself, something like, hi everybody. I'm a local property investor looking to buy properties in the area. If you're thinking of selling and you want a quick hassle-free sale without any estate agency fees, drop me a message, let's have a chat. You would be amazed, honestly, amazed at how many people will reach out. And just engaging in conversation, and it may or may not go somewhere, but the point is, it's like fishing. You've cast your line and you've give yourself a shot of catching the fish. Don't forget, Facebook marketplace as well. So that's Facebook groups, but we've also got Facebook marketplace. Now people list properties on there all the time. So set up your search filters, check it daily, and jump on anything at all that looks remotely interesting. And the key here is, the key here with Facebook marketplace is speed and consistency. You've got to check these groups every single day. Be the first to respond, build relationships with people. And this isn't about being pushy or salesy at all. It's just about being helpful and offering a solution to someone else's problem. Right. Method number three is something that changed the game for me when I first started out in property. And that's networking events. Now I know some of you are probably groaning right now. Oh God, I'm not going to some corporate networking event or really networking event. Come on, there's better ways. Um, but hear me out because networking events are where some of the best off market deals happen. Here's what no one tells you about property networking events. They're where the real deals happen. I went to a local networking event one time. It was in Manchester actually and it was a regular one that I used to attend back in the day. And I wasn't really expecting much to be honest. I thought, it was one of the first times I'd been to that event, in fact, the first time I'd been to that event. And I thought it's just going to be a bunch of people talking about property deals and bigging themselves up. But I got chatting to this guy at the bar, um, and he mentioned he had a portfolio of three properties that he was thinking of selling. He was, you know, your typical tired landlord. He'd had enough of the tenants. He'd had some issues. There was some maintenance problems and it was a hassle, it was a pain in the backside for him and he just wanted out. We exchanged numbers, we had a chat for the evening, shared a bit, met up a few days later for a coffee. Um, and I ended up buying all three properties from him. So no estate agent, no marketing at all, just a direct deal because I attended a networking meeting. Now I paid a fair price. He got a quick hassle-free sale and I added three cash flowing properties to my portfolio. And the equity I gained across those three properties was about 60 grand, I think. And that all happened only because I showed up to a networking event on a cold, wet, windy, miserable winter Wednesday evening and had a conversation with another person. So where do you find these networking events? Well, there are loads of property networking events all over the country, all over the UK. My advice, try and avoid the progressive property and pin events and target the smaller non-salesy events without speakers. That way you'll get a chance to network instead of just watching a presentation with very limited networking. Like the pin events, fantastic for newbies, lots of, you know, education I suppose. Maybe the talks are interesting to some of you, but, I'm going there to network. I want to have conversations with people. I don't want to be sat on my backside listening to somebody prattle on about damp in a property or how they fixed XYZ problem. Now, if I'm taking two hours out of my evening or three hours out of my evening, I want to be having conversations, not watching some sales pitch for some property trainer. Now the progressive events and the pin events, there's always an element of salesy stuff to them. So yeah, the smaller events near you looking on uh meet up.com and just having a quick Google. Property networking events near me, see what's out there, try them all, pick your favorite, stick with it, be consistent. And here's the thing. You don't just go to these events to find deals. You go to these events to build relationships. You meet other investors, you meet letting agents, you meet mortgage brokers, you meet solicitors, builders, all sorts of useful people. And all of these people can become sources of potential deals for you in the future. Now, I've had letting agents call me up and say, Paul, I've got a landlord who wants to sell, are you interested? I've had other investors pass deals onto me because they're just too busy or their money is tied up or it's just not the right fit for them and they've thought about me. Your network is your net worth, and I know that sounds cheesy and everybody says it, but it's absolutely so true in property. So go, get yourself out there, go to these events, have conversations and be yourself. Just be genuine. Don't be that person who's just handing out business cards trying to sell themselves all night in sales mode. Just be a normal human being. Show interest in what other people have got to say and listen to people and the deals will come. Right. Method number four is one of my absolute favorites and is something most people completely overlook and that's post auction deals. Now you might be thinking Paul, auctions aren't off market. Everyone can see those properties. And you're right, but here's the thing. What happens when a property doesn't sell at auction? Well, the best time to buy an auction property is after it fails to sell at auction. So let me explain how that works. When a property goes to auction and it doesn't sell, it gets a kind of a black mark against it. Everyone knows it didn't sell. Now the seller at that point is usually disappointed, frustrated, annoyed and even more motivated to get rid of that property. And here's the beautiful part. You can now approach that seller directly without any competition and negotiate a deal. Now I've done this so many times, so many times. There was a property that went to auction with a guide price of 120,000. It didn't sell. The reserve wasn't met. So the day after the auction, I called up the auctioneer and asked what the reserve price was. And they told me it was 135,000, and I said, right, okay. I'll offer £125,000 cash and I'll complete in three weeks. They went back to the seller and the seller with a bit of negotiation, accepted. Why? Because they were motivated. They'd already tried to sell it at auction. Because they were motivated, they'd already tried to sell it at auction and they didn't want to wait another three months for the next auction to come along. They just wanted it gone. Now I bought it for 125, spent about £15,000 on it and it's now worth 180,000. Now that's £35,000 profit from a deal that most people didn't even know was available. It was just a property that went to auction and didn't sell. So how do you find these post auction deals? Simple. Go to auction websites like auction house, SDL auctions or Saville's auctions. Or any other auction website, there is, there's loads of them. Look at the properties that are coming up for auction, make a note of the ones you're interested in. Then watch the auction. If the property doesn't sell, call the auctioneer the next day, ask what reserve was and make an offer. Literally do what I did. You're now in a brilliant negotiating position because, number one, the seller is motivated. Secondly, there's no competition and third, you can move quickly. And auctioneers love this because they still get their fee. If you buy it post auction, they get paid, they get paid their fee. Now this is one of the easiest ways to find off market deals and hardly anyone does this. So you've got much less competition finding properties. Going back to what we're saying earlier about below market value, now if you really do want to chase below market value, this is where you're finding your deals. You're not finding them on right move. Right. My fifth method is one that takes a bit of time to set up, but once you've got it in place, it's like having a deal finding machine. Working for you 24/7. And that's building relationships with letting agents. Now, if you're not talking to letting agents, you are missing out on the easiest property deals out there. Here's the thing. Letting agents talk to landlords every single day, because letting agents let properties. Who do they let properties for landlords and investors? That's their, their ideal client avatar is exactly the same as yours. And they're often the first people to know when a landlord is thinking of selling a property. Now, maybe the landlord's had a nightmare tenant, maybe they're fed up with the new regulations and changes, maybe they're just tired and they want out. Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. If you've built a relationship with that letting agent, with a local letting agent, guess who they're going to call first. You. Now, I used to have about five or six local letting agents in my area who would call me regularly with off market deals and they'd say, Paul, I've got a landlord who wants to sell, are you interested? Do you want to have a look at it? And the beauty of this is that the landlord trust the letting agent. So when the letting agent recommends you, you're already halfway there. So how do you build these relationships? Well, first up, go and introduce yourself to every letting agent in your area. Pop into their offices, have a chat, tell them what you're looking for. Then stay in touch. Stay front of mind. So when they come across stuff, they're going to think of you. Send them a message every few weeks, drop in if you're walking past, if you're, if you're in that location where they're based. Um, and just stay front of mind, like I say. Maybe take them up, take them out for a coffee. See what they've got coming on. See, see whether they've got any landlords looking at selling. Just make friends. Show them that you're serious and that you're a reliable buyer. And here's a little tip for you. Offer the letting agent a finder's fee. Tell them that if they bring you a deal and you buy it, you'll give them £500 or £1,000. Now that gives them a real, real cash incentive to think of you when a landlord wants to sell. And you can also offer to take over the management of any properties you buy from them. And that way, they keep the management fee and everybody wins. Now this is a long game. It might take a few months before you get your first deal this way. But once you've got these relationships in place, and you've put in the hard graft, and you've you've built that trust, the deals are going to flow, the deals will keep coming. Right. I'm going to give you a quick bonus method before we wrap up and this one is an absolute gem. And often underused. Only 1% of people know this hack for finding motivated property sellers, and this is the key, use it correctly. So go to your local council's website and download the HMO register. Now, this is a public document that lists every licensed HMO in an area along with the landlord's name and their address. Now, why is this useful? Because HMO landlords are under a lot of pressure right now in 2026. The regulations are getting tighter, the costs are going up and a lot of them are thinking of getting out. So, you can send them a letter, something like this. Hi, I notice you own a HMO at X address. I'm a local property investor and I'm interested in buying HMOs or single buy to lets in the area. If you're ever thinking of selling, I'd love to have a chat and maybe we can, we can discuss how we could work together to get a solution. Now I've had multiple deals come from this exact method and the beauty of it is that you're targeting landlords who are already in the game. They understand property. They're often motivated and they usually have multiple properties. So you might end up buying a whole portfolio. Did you notice what I actually said in the letter there. So in in the message or the letter that you would send to the HMO landlord is you're saying you're, you know, you're up for having a discussion about anything. Right. So there you have it, five proven methods plus a bonus one for finding off market property deals in 2026. So let's quickly recap that. Number one, don't search property portals just based on price. Think outside the box. Number two, Facebook groups and Facebook marketplace, which is free and full of motivated sellers. Number three, networking events, build relationships and the deals will come. Number four, post auction deals, swoop in after a property fails to sell at auction. It couldn't be easier. Five, letting agents, build relationships and they'll bring your deals. And number six, the bonus one, HMO register target motivated landlords. Now, here's the thing. You don't need to do all of these at once. Pick one or two that resonate with you and just get started. Have a go, but commit to it. Now the biggest mistake people make is overthinking it. They watch videos like this, they get all excited, and then they make notes and they think I'm going to do that and then they do nothing. Don't be that person. Pick one of the methods I've I've spoken about today on today's episode of the podcast. Do it consistently for 30 days, and I promise you, you'll be, you'll be much further ahead than where you are today. You'll find deals, you'll come across opportunities, you'll have conversations, you will make connections in the property industry. Now I hope this episode has given you some real actionable strategies you can use right now. Now, if you're serious about building your property portfolio yourself and you want some one-to-one support, my mentorship program, the Property Accelerator, is designed exactly for that. It's lifetime access, one to one coaching and support and I'll help you build your personal road map to success. If you're interested, head on over to the website. The link's in the show notes and you can book a free chat with me. And that's all for this week's episode. I'll be back next week with another one, but until then, take care, stay safe and take it easy. And thanks for listening and thanks for watching if you've been watching on YouTube. I'll see you next Monday.