Buying a Property Development Deal? Get a Second Opinion Before You Make an Offer

You've found a property that looks like a potential development. This is one of the best times to bring me into the project.

You don't need to have bought a property before starting property development mentoring. Some of the most valuable conversations we can have may take place before you've committed to buying anything.

With 38 years in property, I can be an experienced second pair of eyes. We can look at the opportunity together, challenge the assumptions, work through the numbers and brainstorm whether there is more potential in the property or site than is immediately obvious.

Found a Development? Talk to Me Before You Make the Offer

It's easy to become enthusiastic about a potential development. You find something that appears to work and immediately start imagining what it could become. That enthusiasm is useful — but before making an offer, we need to challenge the opportunity.

If you're working with me as your property development mentor, send me the details. Let's look at it together.

What Could We Get Out of the Site?

We're not only checking the development opportunity being advertised to us. We're asking whether there's another one.

Could we improve the layout? Increase the number of units? Is there unused land? Could we extend? Is there potential above, behind or alongside the existing building? Would a different conversion work better? Could changing the mix or size of the proposed properties improve the development? Is the agent selling us one opportunity when there could actually be another?

Not every idea will work. The point is to use experience to brainstorm the possibilities before deciding what deserves further investigation. If we identify an interesting alternative, we can establish what needs to happen next and which specialists we need.

Experience Helps You See Beyond the Sales Particulars

I've spent 38 years in property, from estate agency through investment, refurbishment and residential and commercial development. I've dealt with conversions, new-build developments, brownfield sites, listed buildings and properties in conservation areas.

That doesn't mean I'll instantly know everything about a property. Nobody does. But it does mean I can look at a potential development from several different perspectives and ask questions before you've bought the problem.

Don't Automatically Accept the Agent's Numbers

An estate agent's job is to sell the property. Suggested end values, development ideas or potential returns can be useful, but they shouldn't automatically become our development appraisal.

We need to make our own assumptions: realistic completed values, build costs, professional fees, finance, contingency, timescale, selling costs and the profit required for the risk we're taking.

What Price Should We Offer?

The asking price isn't necessarily the price at which the development works. Once we've considered likely end value, development costs, fees, finance, contingency and required return, we can start to understand what the project can afford to pay for the property.

That may support the asking price. It may suggest we should offer less. Or it may tell us there simply isn't enough margin. Walking away from the wrong development can be just as valuable as finding the right one.

What Are We Missing?

Some of the most important development costs aren't immediately obvious: structure, drainage, access, ground conditions, trees, utilities, title restrictions, planning policy or expensive surprises in an existing building.

I'm not replacing your surveyor, solicitor, architect, engineer or planning consultant. Part of good mentoring is recognising when we need specialist advice and what questions we need those specialists to answer.

I'm Not Just Checking Your Deal — We're Looking at It Together

I don't want my property development mentoring to feel like sending somebody a spreadsheet and waiting for a red or green light.

Bring me into the conversation early. We'll look at the property, the site, the planning position, the numbers and the potential together. We'll challenge assumptions, brainstorm alternatives, identify risks and decide what needs further investigation.

That's why I deliberately use the word “we.” If I'm mentoring you through a development, I want to understand the project and be involved in the thinking behind it.

And If You Buy It, I'm Already Part of the Project

If you subsequently buy the property, I already know the project. We've discussed why you're buying it, what we're trying to achieve, the numbers behind it and the potential problems we've identified.

The mentoring can then continue into planning, selecting the professional team, development appraisal, contractor selection, comparing quotations, build costs, programme, warranties, construction issues and ultimately your exit strategy.

Sometimes the Best Deal Is the One You Don't Buy

Not every property we look at will become a development. Sometimes we'll decide it's worth pursuing. Sometimes we'll identify something that needs further investigation. Sometimes it works only at a different purchase price. And occasionally the conclusion may simply be: don't buy it.

Finding that out before you've exchanged contracts is considerably better than discovering it afterwards.