Who would of thought 30 years ago that Manchester would be the ‘in place’ for young professionals to flock to; however in the last five years property prices in Manchester have increased more than any other part of the UK. According to a recent report by Property Wire, the average house rose in value by 11% in Manchester in 2011, against the UK average of just 5%. Heavy investments into the universities in the region and employment from the technology sector it’s no wonder property investors are always looking to snap up buy to let opportunities in the region.

If you are a property investor looking for a good buy-to-let deal in Manchester there are still plenty to find, you just need to make sure you are going about finding them correctly. The first starting point is always going to be the property portals. Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket all have varying property so it’s always a good idea to have all 3 of them open for regular checking.

Ideally what you want to look for in a buy-to-let investment is a property which has been on the market over 120 days. There are tools you can use to help you find this out, such as Property Bee and Property Tracker which check regularly whether a property moves in price, gets removed and gets added. Using these tools is essential for an avid property investor.

Once you have found a property that you like the look of, and the rental stacks up for your mortgage (if you are buying with a mortgage) you need to then get in touch with the vendor to arrange a viewing. The idea of buying a property below market value means it’s not always advisable to go through an estate agent to make your purchase. Instead what you may want to do is write directly to the vendor. You should be able to find out the door number of the property you are interested in by using Google Street View.

Once you have the full address it’s more formal to send a letter to the vendor stating you are an investor in the Manchester area, and you are interested in purchasing their home for a quick sale offer. Put down your mobile number and ask them to call you to arrange a viewing. If they don’t get in touch you can always create a system to follow up letters to try and persuade them to give you a call and arrange a viewing.

90 percent of vendors will not call you straight away, however with some time to think about your offer, and some further persuasion from repeat follow up letters they will eventually get curious. Another approach that some property investors choose to do is door knock the property. This is not always advisable as you are presenting the vendor with a below market value offer – they may not appreciate it and find it intrusive.

Another option to find discounted property in the Manchester region is to always keep a close eye on auctions. Buying property at auction is never going to get you as good a deal as dealing direct with a vendor as you have to compete in the room with other investors, however you just end up getting yourself a bargain!

The location of your purchase is key; statistically within a one mile radius of Manchester University is going to be the easiest property to let once you have made a purchase – however it’s not going to be the cheapest to buy. You also need to be aware that the student market is seasonal, so factoring this break into your rental plan will affect your yield.

As a final thought one other option to finding discounted property in the Manchester region is to deal directly with cash buying companies and investment groups. For example Ready Steady Sell a national cash buyer of houses state that they look to purchase at 85 percent of market value. A quick email to them and other ‘We Buy Any House’ companies similar to them saying you will consider any ‘deals’ they don’t want may pick you up some bargains. In exchange for them giving you deals they don’t want you could always pass back deals where the vendor will accept an 85 percent below market value offer, however the purchase price doesn’t fit your requirements for rental, or the figures just don’t stack up.

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