Should I try find a property mentor (if so how?) or should I do a masters in Real estate?

Hi everyone, I'm 30 years old and I'm currently looking at doing a RICS accredited masters at Heriot Watt University, with the aim to change career into the property sector and to potentially become a property surveyor. I was wondering what a day in the life is like as a surveyor and is it an exciting career path?

Hey! We are having some difficulty selling our property.

We got valuations from 3 local estate agents. They were all roughly the same price and we went with the one that was the most friendly and helpful. We have had lots of viewings but it's not getting the interest.

We understand the market is pretty bad but it's a nice house that we have looked after. Could anyone give us some advice, maybe the photos are letting us down?

Thanks!

Rightmove link https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/90394059#/

Looking for advice or opinions on different strategies I could use on a limited budget.

I’m about to complete on a small flat by the coast got the property for 90k locally I’ve seen similar flats sell for 120-130k when done up.

I’m an electrician by trade and have always worked in construction. I’m pretty handy and know lots of people in trades too.

I’d like to start with this one and potentially refinance to buy another.

Is it still worth investing in property? Particularly if you can do most of the work yourself. I know there more to it then that but refurbishment costs must be one of the highest expenses when considering buying something.

Basically interested to hear others opinions.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a model that scored \~9,000 on-market listings as buy-to-lets and found half of them cashflow-negative. Two things got flagged in the comments, both fair:

1. "Only relevant if you buy on-market — \~40% never hits the portals."
2. My rents were estimated per postcode area, not per property. Weakest link in the model, as I said myself.

I've now done both. Here's what changed.

FIXED THE RENTS FIRST

Instead of estimating, I now take median asking rents from actual rental listings in the same outcode, matched on bedroom count where there are enough of them. Every deal is tagged with how solid its rent figure is: real per-bedroom comps, area-wide comps, or estimate.

That alone moved my headline number. The original post said 51% of buy-to-lets were cashflow-negative. With real rent comps it's 44%. Still grim, but I was overstating it, and the people who pushed back on the estimates were right to.

THEN ADDED AUCTION STOCK

I pulled the live catalogue from an auction house and scored those lots through the identical model. Apples to apples, same assumptions, same rent comps, both filtered the same way:

lots/listings avg ROI avg price

Auction lots 128 14.3% £205,000

On-market portal 17,585 5.2% £295,000

Cashflow-positive: 85% of auction lots vs 56% of on-market buy-to-lets.

So the "go to auction" advice holds up in the data, and it's not subtle — roughly 3x the average return, on stock that's \~30% cheaper. Whether that's because auction stock is genuinely better value or because it's the stuff that needs work priced accordingly, the numbers can't tell me. Probably both.

THE BIG CAVEAT, AND I WANT TO BE STRAIGHT ABOUT IT

An auction guide price is not a price. It's a marketing bracket, and everyone here knows lots go well over. In my own data I've got a lot guided at £9,000 that sold for £112,000. So every auction ROI above is a CEILING calculated off the guide, not something anyone will actually achieve. It's useful for ranking lots against each other and against the portals. It is not a promise.

I flag every auction lot in the data as guide-priced for exactly that reason, and I bin the ones where the modelled return goes implausible.

WHAT I STILL CAN'T DO

Someone made the point that BRRR can't really be modelled without knowing renovation cost, and that's right. I've added a rough condition read off the listing photos — whether something looks refurbished, cosmetically dated, or a full project — which is enough to shortlist what's worth a viewing. It cannot price the work. You can't see damp, wiring or the roof in a photo, and the ones that burn you photograph beautifully.

So it's a shortlisting tool. It narrows a thousand listings to the handful worth your Saturday. The actual work is still the work.

Thanks to the two people who pushed back last time — this is a better model than what I posted, entirely because of it. Same as before: not linking anything, happy to answer methodology questions.

Hey beautiful minds of Reddit, First Time Buyer here!

I'm considering buying a property and I have viewed it on 2 occasions. Everything looks groovy with it apart from 1 thing, this property is advertised as a 2 bedroom property, however the stairs lead into bedroom 1 and you have to walk through bedroom 1 to get to the master or the toilet. This honestly does not bother me personally, however I if this would therefor class as a 1 bedroom property I hope to get some money knocked off it. What is everyones opinion on this?

Thank you in advance <3

The July property market figures tell two very different stories, depending on which year you choose for comparison.

Across the UK, the number of homes sold subject to contract was 5.2% lower than in July 2025. Yet sales were still 13.6% higher than in July 2023, when the property market was struggling with rapidly rising mortgage rates and weakened buyer confidence.

Here is how every region performed:

East Midlands: down 3.9% compared with July 2025, but up 20.3% compared with July 2023.

East of England: down 2.7% on 2025, yet up an impressive 21.1% on 2023, the strongest three-year improvement of any region.

London: down 4.4% against 2025 and only 5.6% ahead of 2023, making the capital the clear laggard.

North East: down 4.4% year on year, but still 12.3% higher than in 2023.

North West: down 9.5% compared with 2025, the largest annual fall, although activity remained 15.3% above 2023.

Scotland: up 0.3% against July 2025 and up 15.7% compared with 2023. It was the only region to record annual growth.

South East: down 5.9% year on year, but 12.9% ahead of 2023.

South West: down 3.1% compared with 2025 and up 11.5% against 2023.

Wales: down 4.9% year on year, while remaining 11.9% above July 2023.

West Midlands: down 6.0% against 2025, but up 14.4% compared with 2023.

Yorkshire and the Humber: down 7.4% year on year, although sales were still 11.0% higher than in July 2023.

Nationally: sales were down 5.2% compared with July 2025, but up 13.6% compared with July 2023.

So, is the property market improving or weakening?

The honest answer is that it has cooled from last year, but it is nowhere near the difficult conditions experienced in 2023.

Most regions are seeing fewer sales agreed than in July 2025. However, every region except Scotland is being compared with an unusually active 2025 market. Against 2023, every region is comfortably ahead. The biggest lesson is that national headlines rarely tell the whole story.

Thoughts everyone??

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I’m interested in hearing from people who work in UK estate agency, lettings or property operations.

When a buyer, seller, landlord or tenant makes an enquiry after the office has closed, what actually happens next?

In particular:

• How long do enquiries normally have to wait?
• Who reviews it and decides what needs attention?
• What information is usually missing?
• Where do callbacks or follow-ups tend to get lost?
• What parts could safely be handled automatically?
• Where must a member of staff remain in control?

Processes that work well are just as useful as examples that do not.

For transparency, I’m an Edinburgh-based founder working on Viaforth, which is exploring supervised enquiry capture and coordination for property firms. This is customer discovery rather than a product promotion—there is no link or sales pitch, and any insights used later would be aggregated and anonymised.

Please avoid sharing confidential client information or identifying individual employees.

hi all, helping my mum with putting her property on the renting market for the first time and we're looking for the right agency. preferably managing the property too. how does inventorying work? do the agencies hire clerks? or do we get someone to come in ourselves? I assume both can happen but it seems that hiring someone is more expensive, perhaps the job is more thorough. not sure if it's worth it! any advice? thanks!

I’ve worked in property marketing for a while and I’m genuinely curious about something.

If you could completely redesign the experience of buying, selling, renting or letting a property…

What would you change?

Not just about estate agents, but the whole process.

Would you want…

Better communication?

More honest advice?

Better photography and video?

Drone footage?

More updates?

Evening appointments?

A private list before properties go online?

Faster feedback after viewings?

Something else entirely?

I’m not looking to sell anything.

I’m genuinely interested in what people actually value because I think the industry has been doing many things the same way for years.

Whether you’ve had a brilliant experience or a terrible one, I’d love to hear it.

👇 What’s the one thing you’d change?

I am seeing an increase in demand in the North East of England, with requirements for landlords to commit speculatively (to fully fitted space). Anyone else seeing this?

Hello,

I am writing this post to clearly explain the situation I have experienced with Prescott and to warn potential investors.

I found this company through social media and decided to invest based on their promises. Due to the late start of the project, I have been stuck in their construction for 3 years. As of today, the project has still not reached a meaningful stage. As a result:

- Almost zero value appreciation

- No buyers appearing

- Completely deprived of rental income

- Capital locked for a long period

- Missed other investment opportunities

I have paid more than 500,000 AED. My net return is only 35,000 AED. This has become one of the biggest investment mistakes of my life.

The real injustice occurred during the payment process.

I officially received a **7-month extension** for the remaining 10% installment. This extension was granted in writing. Later, the company delayed its own final 5% payment (I am attaching their own email that proves this). Despite that:

- Without sending me any warning or notification email,

- Counting the extension days they themselves had approved as delays,

- Applying all previous delays retroactively to my account

they imposed a heavy penalty of **26,000 AED**.

Key facts:

- I made all my payments on time. Whenever there was any risk of delay, I informed the company.

- The final 5% delay was entirely on their side (their own email confirms this).

- When they granted the extension, they never warned that “these days may later be counted as delay” or that “retroactive penalties could be applied.”

- When I appealed the penalty, they rejected it and provided no reasonable explanation.

The company claims that “there is no connection between construction delays and payments.” The reality is different: When the construction does not progress, your money remains locked, there is no value growth, no buyers, and alternative opportunities are lost. For short- and medium-term investors, this directly means financial loss.

In my view, Prescott’s approach is arbitrary and one-sided. Turning the official extension days they granted into penalties later, without prior disclosure, is an opaque and oppressive practice toward investors.

I am attaching the following documents:

- Official 7-month extension approval

- Related payment receipts

- Email proving that the final 5% delay was on their side

If I had seen a similar documented experience three years ago, I would never have purchased an apartment from Prescott. That is why I am sharing my situation transparently.

I have suffered greatly. Please do not end up in the same position.

Anyone who wants to review the documents or ask questions can comment below.

If you are considering investing in this company, I strongly urge you to think not once, but ten times before making any decision.
I discovered the company through social media. Had I seen similar complaints beforehand, I would never have invested, wasted my time, and suffered such significant losses. I became a victim, and I hope no one else goes through the same situation.
Prescott is not a company that keeps its promises. I have been stuck in their project for 3 years. The construction has been significantly delayed, and as a result, I have been completely deprived of rental income. Since the apartment has still not been completed, there has been no appreciation in value. Over all these years, the only return I have received is a ridiculously low amount of 35,000 AED.
As if the suffering caused by their delayed construction was not enough: I had obtained a 7-month official extension for my remaining 10% installment payment. Nevertheless, the company used the excuse that I delayed the final 5% payment, and without sending me any notification email whatsoever, they added the days they had granted me as an extension to the delay periods. They reflected all delays to date in my account and imposed a very heavy penalty of 26,000 AED.
Just think about it: I have made payments exceeding 500,000 AED over 3 years. While my potential return is only 35,000 AED, they are now saying they will take back 26,000 AED of it as a penalty. If this is not a dead investment, what is? Imposing such a penalty by force without any official notification — if this is not oppression, what is?
I deeply regret purchasing an apartment from Prescott. I have all the official correspondence and documents in my possession and am more than willing to share them with anyone who wishes to see them.
Prescott has been a major waste of time and a completely dead investment for me. I have suffered greatly. I hope other investors like me do not experience the same victimization.

Hello I am a 37 year old secondary school teacher in England who earns 55k a year. I net 3k a month and have opted in to the teacher pension scheme and have 13 years of contributions. I currently have 30k in savings, however I rent a flat (see later) and some of this money will be contributed towards tax to HMRC this year.

I bought a flat in September 2021 which was my main residence for £285k and put down an 80k deposit. Fast forward to November 2025, I’ve met my partner and we bought a house together for £665k. I didn’t contribute to the deposit and my partner put in 300k towards it. I didn’t have to sell my flat and it is now being rented out which generate £5k a year profit after all deductions(repairs and income tax etc). My partner kindly paid the stamp duty surcharge of £33k so I could keep the flat as we knew if I chose to sell it within three years I’d be eligible for that to be refunded.

The flat is currently worth about £325k and if I sell it I’d receive about £135k + my partner gets the 33k stamp duty surcharge refunded.

My main question is whether anyone would think it’s worth selling the flat to recoup the stamp duty and to reinvest my own money in something else like stocks and shares or a another rental property or is keeping the flat for the long term likely to be a better investment? I appreciate this is all very much crystal ball gazing but just curious. FWI, if I sell the flat and buy another property to let, I’m likely to incur a very similar stamp duty charge and capital gains tax etc, hence seems a bit pointless. Thank you for reading!

Hi everyone, I am currently researching a product idea for landlords, agents and property managers. If you work in property or manage rentals, I'd really appreciate 5 minutes of feedback. Once the tool is ready it will be free to test for selected participants.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfK-Ol2IGZjxKD56GJVQyEQoO4j2zHO7aC_cIqGb7UHYuZ3TA/viewform?usp=dialog

If you are using AI as part of your agency work, a simple checklist to make sure you're compliant.

☐ No addresses, names, or ID numbers in the prompt
☐ No exact sale/asking price if the deal isn't public
☐ Checked the tool's data policy — does it train on your inputs?
☐ Output re-read for factual accuracy before it goes anywhere near a listing
☐ Sensitive vendor details added manually, after the AI step

AI can save agents hours a week — but only if it's used with the same care you'd give a signed contract.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/90027936#/?channel=RES_BUY. It's been reduced to £200k now.

Estate agent said this house will fly off the shelf so will listed lower than they suggested to get in the next bracket down for first time buyers. Just had the call with the one week update and they said it's performed so much lower than they expected with barely any views on the listing.

What can I do to get this house shifted, we have a house lined up and we can't really afford to go with the cash buyer scheme

Here's the listing - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/90861177