What should you check before treating a property as a deal?

1. Price and comparable evidence

Start with evidence that is genuinely comparable to the property being considered. Asking prices, broad area averages and automated estimates can be useful context, but they are not substitutes for recent like-for-like evidence where that is available.

2. Current condition and works

Understand what the property needs now, what may be optional value-add work and which items require specialist inspection. Refurbishment assumptions should be tested rather than treated as fixed simply because they make the appraisal attractive.

3. Income and demand assumptions

If the strategy depends on rent, room demand, short-stay income or another operating model, identify where the demand assumption comes from and whether the property, location and specification fit that demand.

4. Planning, licensing and use

Where the strategy relies on conversion, subdivision, HMO use, licensing or another change of use, establish what is already lawful, what is merely possible and what would require consent or specialist advice.

5. Legal and title matters

Ownership, tenure, restrictions, rights, leases, charges, auction conditions and other legal matters can materially change the opportunity. These should ultimately be checked by the buyer's solicitor or conveyancer.

6. Funding and transaction assumptions

A deal may look strong on paper but fail because the intended finance is unavailable, the timetable is unrealistic or transaction costs were understated. Test the acquisition route as part of the opportunity rather than as an afterthought.

7. Exit and downside

Ask what happens if the preferred strategy does not work. A credible appraisal considers alternative exits, holding costs, voids, delays and the price at which the opportunity stops making sense.

8. Decision, not promotion

The final conclusion does not have to be “buy”. It may be progress, progress with conditions, negotiate, investigate further, defer or do not proceed.