The Property Unleashed Podcast

Why Compliance is Key to Your Success In Deal Sourcing With Hav Singh

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 303

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Discover the intricate world of deal sourcing in property investment through this immersive episode where we chat with Hav, a seasoned entrepreneur and co-founder of SiteFinder. With an extensive background in the estate agency industry, Hav shares valuable insights, starting from his early career to his journey of building a powerful platform that connects deal sources with investors. He stresses the importance of compliance and how it is essential for establishing a reputable business in the property sector.

Throughout our conversation, we delve into what makes a deal valuable and the strategies needed to spot these hidden gems in the market. We emphasize that becoming a successful deal sourcer is not just about finding properties but also about being compliant with legal regulations to ensure credibility. Hav introduces listeners to the online features of SiteFinder, which not only help deal sources manage their deals but also link them with a diverse network of engaged investors looking for those prime investment opportunities. 

As the episode unfolds, you’ll learn about the challenges many new deal sources face and how to navigate them effectively—from understanding market trends to establishing connections with potential investors. More importantly, you’ll discover how you can position yourself as a serious player in the property investment game while building a solid foundation for your business. Join us and equip yourself with the tools and insights necessary to thrive in this competitive industry. Don’t wait—get ready to take action toward your property investment goals today!


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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to today's episode. It's great to have you joining me here, and today I have a real treat for you I am joined by a guest. Yes, we do try and get people on the podcast, people that are property professionals that can help us on our journey to whatever it is that we're trying to do, and today I think you're going to find this really, really fascinating. I've got Hassing joining me and he is the co-founder of SiteFinder and now Become Compliant Limited. Hab is an accomplished entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in the estate agency industry as the co-founder of SiteFinder and have become Compliant Limited. Hav combines his extensive knowledge of deal sourcing and estate agency with a passion of innovation and problem solving. It's great to have you on Hav. How are you today?

Speaker 2:

I'm good. I'm good, mark. It's a real pleasure to be here. It's always nice to talk to you, Mark, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Always. The last time we spoke was at the pin dinner and a few beers were being drunk at that time.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, oh, that was good, that was good, that was a good night wasn't? It. Yeah, I don't quite remember it.

Speaker 1:

I don't remember how I got back to the hotel.

Speaker 2:

anyway, Great to have you on. Great to have you on. So that's a brief overview of your good self. I know there's a lot more details, but sort of you know, tell us a bit about you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, so 12 years ago, myself and Reshma who you've obviously done an interview with her before, who's my wife and business partner and life partner and senior management boss, I suppose you call her we started in a state agency, just your typical state agency. It was in south london and we basically ran that for uh, 11 years. We became an award-winning agency. We did really well through that whole process. Um, and it was just a normal estate agency. We were just selling residential properties, you know, for vendors and, um, by the end of it, sort of about maybe seven years, in eight years in, uh, we started realizing that why do we need to sell all of these deals to other people when we're getting those proper? Sorry, we say deals, so naturally now they're just properties. We just saw them as properties.

Speaker 2:

Then, uh, these properties, we were managing those properties on on a management basis and the landlord at the time would say, for example, I need to get rid of it, I'm moving, moving country, or whatever the reason was and we started thinking wait, hold on, if we can maybe structure a deal with this person, maybe we can buy.

Speaker 2:

Because we wanted to start investing in property. And it started moving along like that and we started actually buying properties ourselves and some of the other ones we just started selling on to other investors for more fees, for bigger fees than we were earning as a normal estate agent. At the time it was like 1% fee. So we sort of realized okay, hold on, we're making a bit more money selling to investors, selling properties to investors. Should we start targeting this a bit more? Should we still go into this world? And that's what we ended up doing. So we sold that part of the estate agency and we've now concentrated it's just over a year now as SiteFinder. So now we actually help deal sources sell their deals to investors, which we have up and down the country.

Speaker 1:

So we're assisting deal sources and finding good quality deals through them for investors amazing that's basically the background and it's been an ever-growing platform as well, which, uh, when we had rashma on the show before uh and she was talking about you know the fact that of the ease that know people are looking for deals that haven't got time can go on to the platform and go on there as investors and, of course, other people that are finding deals that maybe aren't right for them but are good deals, and that's the thing we've got emphasis it's got to be good deals, of course, can put those on the platform as well and, of course, sell those using your team and your process to make it as smooth a transaction as possible. And it's an absolutely amazing site, I have to say, and it's a great concept as well, which you must be very proud of.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, absolutely and essentially what we've done. We've just taken our estate agents experience and just moved that into this part of the industry, this investment side of the industry, and it was really missing. This, this whole part, is missed An estate agent company in between to qualify the deals, have a team working here to qualify the deals and progress the sales and just make sure they're not rubbish, because you know you wouldn't believe how much rubbish we get through there. It's not rubbish. I shouldn't say that really, it's more. People don't know what they're doing, um, which is fair. You know you don't know what you don't know and everyone has to be educated at some point, um, but we have given a way for people to start loading up deals and get feedback, uh, on those deals, um. So, yeah, can't complain, complain, it's been good, it's been a really really good year, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

That's good. That's good. I mean, like you say, it's not rubbish deals. The thing is that they're not bringing deals that people want to pay for are they A lot of the time I expect and you can correct me on this that you're getting deals that are brought to you that just anybody can just go on right moving by. It's not really going to be a cost saving or there's no you know value in the deal, and that's the thing that a lot of people miss isn't it absolutely, and that is.

Speaker 2:

It was about 90 of the deals we were getting through the year last year. Um were just that. They were. They were almost some of them were just sending us links to online properties and we were like, do you want me to do this? It's like you know, it's, it's just one of those things. It's one of those things and, and you know, we tell them look, you know, go join the pin network or whatever you need to do and understand what's going on here. Understand this world, understand this industry and you'll realize how lucrative it can be just by selling the deals. The link that they found might actually be a deal, but you haven't actually found it.

Speaker 1:

No, if you know what I mean, yeah, Well, I think a lot of the way deal sourcing is portrayed out there to general public to get them in and get them excited and stuff. It's easy. This is easy you just find a couple of deals and then you sell them and you earn thousands and thousands of pounds.

Speaker 1:

They don't actually realize that it's a job there is a whole host and amount of work that needs to go into this and not everybody is going to be very good at this, because you do need to be able to negotiate, you do need to have strong communication skills, you need to be able to run the numbers and you also need to I always say understand the strategy that you're selling. If you're selling below market value, do you know it's below market value? Do you know the numbers of the area? If you're selling a purchase, lease option, do you know how to do a purchase, what makes a good deal? And I see all too often myself being in this sort of in the educational space as well as being a property investor that there's so many people out there that learn how to deal source but don't learn the strategies that they're trying to source the deals for, and I think that really muddies the water.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more and I couldn't say it any better than that. It is a space because it's an easy thing for people to, I think, understand, to get into. Like, I want to sell properties. Okay, let me wake up tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

I've read some, I've seen some stuff on youtube. It doesn't look too difficult, but they do quickly realize when you start actually trying to do it it is it is like you said a full-time job. It really it don't have to be a full-time job but it needs to take quite a lot of time at the start to understand and to get the ball rolling and then, once you've got that churn going, it can work really, really well. Yeah, which we've seen people. Yeah, it's a whole business, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And we've seen people when we've started just over a year ago, when we rebranded our estate agency to SiteFinder and we were working with people at the start. When we rebranded our estate agency to SiteFinder and we were working with people at the start when we first started and to where they are now. It's quite amazing to see where some of those people have come, because they've just put in consistent effort into themselves, educating themselves, but also into getting a deal flow going and using the right tools and using us as their back office and they're just really leveraging stuff and those guys are flying right now yeah, yeah, it takes a bit of time.

Speaker 1:

You know that I always say you get wealthy over time. There's no quick, there's no magic pills, there's no quick wins or anything. You can find a few good deals, but a lot of the time you've got to be finding those off-market deals as well, those little gems that nobody else can come and and get involved in. That they might be on market when you find them, but you've got to find a way to get it so that nobody else can buy that, because it's not a deal you should be selling. If anybody else could just come in and and bamboozle you absolutely, and it happens all too much in this country.

Speaker 2:

Unfortunately, there's no rules and regulations against that. Um, so it's, it's very easy know and we can't control while we even us where we have. I think we have over 1500 members now. We we can't know every single one of them and in reality, we are selling deals to a very small percentage of those people on our database, because they are the ones that really know what they're doing and they're the ones that can act quickly and understand. We have so many investors on our database. It's unbelievable. Now they're giving us all our all the criteria and you know our team are talking to them, understanding what they're doing. We just need more deals. I think that's the same story with everyone, everyone in the industry.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So before we move on, cause, there has been a problem and you found a solution for it, which is always a good entrepreneur. But so right now, you know you said to me we were chatting about it just before we went live that you have a lot of investors on your platform at the moment. You need more deals for your investors. So as a deal source let's say I am a deal source I've been doing it a while. Can can I come up to site finder and say what exactly are your investors looking for? Because I'd rather target what you guys need on your platform than just going out there and bringing something to you saying is anybody interested in this?

Speaker 2:

yes, yes, yes, you're essentially talking about kind of source to order. Yeah, that's sort of what. Yeah, absolutely so. On our on, when you register, you can go to a on the tab it's called investors criteria and you'll just see an overview of. I don't know how many there are now, but they're pre-qualified investors. They've told us exactly what they're looking for, their budgets and that they're actually willing to buy, looking to buy now, and what they're looking to buy in which area now and what they're looking to buy in which area. So that's on a sort of high level.

Speaker 2:

You can very quickly see who's on our database. You can't see all their details, obviously, but you can see who it is with their ID number and you can get in touch with us and say, look, I've got a deal for this person. It matches their basic criteria. Can we have a discussion and all good. At that point we can then say, look, this person, this investor, is looking for he only wants three bedroom HMOs in this specific area with a maximum budget of 250,000, which needs refurb, and then you can really dial in and start finding those deals if you want to go that way. The other way is also on our platform. There's also a section there where it gives the criteria of what we know that sells.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we've had a whole year. Well, we've had many years of selling deals, but we've had a whole year. Well, we've had many years of selling deals, but we've had a whole year of selling deals with site finder investors. So we know generally what the market is looking for and what they want and what sells quickly, because our game is to sell stuff quickly. The quicker we can sell something, the quicker you can get paid right. And so, yeah, we want you to find those deals and we've listed those criterias just in black and white. It's always changing, it's forever changing, the economy is always changing, so we have to adapt to that. But you can go in there and just have a look and if you start sourcing those deals, we're pretty confident. You can never guarantee anything, but we're very confident that we could sell those deals quite quickly to one of our investors. So, yeah, it's all there in black and white.

Speaker 1:

See, that for me, is a complete no-brainer, absolute no-brainer. If you're in this industry and you know what you're doing, why wouldn't you be doing this? Because you've all of a sudden got everything that you need. In fact, it takes away one of the massive headaches that you need in being a property trader, a deal sourcer in the fact that you need investors you need, in being a property trader, a deal sourcer in the fact that you need investors, you need people. So most people are running around trying to A find a deal and B find an investor and then try and put the two together. Well, you've got that sorted. Just go and get the good deals, but don't just go and go to anything. Go and get exactly what you can sell on the platform and just basically make that a funnel of yours. Become that expert in that field.

Speaker 1:

So I think that people aren't checking this out. People aren't actually taking this seriously and actually looking at it as a business. I could systemize this. I can start being the go-to person for these types of properties because I'm going to niche down in this market Anything that comes along. If you go to estate agents and you were one yourself and you've got somebody in there that says anything that's like this let me have a little look at and if we can get the numbers right and work out a deal, then potentially there's a great opportunity there and I've got a pool of investors that are really interested in buying and moving quickly. You know you're going to get a few agents that are going to be like, oh yeah, another one of those, another one I've heard this all the time but once you've done a few of those deals, people are going to take you, uh, seriously, very quickly, aren't they?

Speaker 2:

exactly and you know what. That's a really good point. A question I get asked a lot is how do I secure a deal from an estate agent? And that's a whole another conversation to have. But what you said there is basically you're building rapport with estate agents.

Speaker 2:

It's the most valuable thing because you, as an estate agent, when I was just on the other side of the table as an estate agent and having investors come to me or sources come to me, essentially when I first heard of it I was like, okay, you were just going to sell a property for me, but that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to sell a property. Why am I going to tell you to sell? But then you start understanding what's actually going on. As long as again goes back to educating that person, yeah, and if you're going to help them sell the property, you're not taking their fee. You'll get, we're going to get the fee from the investor. They get this. They're just getting the fee from the seller. Everyone's still winning. We're all on the same page. So, yeah, there's loads of these, these things that we talk about, uh, that we can talk about.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, um, but yeah, you know exactly, like you said and I expect you had some go-to people that if a certain property came onto the market, you could almost say to the owner I've got some people you know, even before we market this, that might be really, really interested. And it's not taking advantage of anybody, it's just saying if you need a quick sale, we could potentially get you that on on these terms and stuff. But you know, being able to put that out there actually as, so to speak, an estate agent and this is how I would be selling, it puts you at the top of the pecking order to say I've actually got a lot of people on my books that are lining up to buy properties like this because all of a sudden.

Speaker 1:

You know that you can contact me and I have. I'll get that sorted for you. Now it's just a case of can we strike a deal, can we get the numbers to work and make it a deal?

Speaker 2:

that's a win-win for everybody yeah, exactly well, I remember when I was um. I remember once I actually sold the property standing outside the front door of that once. I did the valuation because I just called the guy. I knew the investor who was going to buy it. I knew it, yeah, so I called him and that was it. It was done. I didn't have to do anything, didn't have to even edit the photos, didn't have to do any videos, nothing. It was just one, yeah, yeah, and that happened a lot. That actually happened a lot through the estate agency, which is why we transitioned into this sector yeah, and that's good business, that is just good business.

Speaker 1:

But it takes a bit of time and a bit of knowledge to get that, uh, great stuff.

Speaker 1:

So, going back to the problem, obviously, site finder is a solution for investors. It's also a solution for people that are finding good deals and struggling to sell them, but there's fundamentals that still need to be ticked. There's boxes that need to be ticked, there's compliances that need to be ticked as well. And a lot of people think, well, I'll get a couple of deals, I'll sell a couple of deals, and then I'll worry about getting compliant. Of course, that is the wrong way to go about things. So, as I said before, being an entrepreneur, we're always looking to solve problems, and you've solved the compliance problem with your new company. Be compliant, haven't you?

Speaker 2:

Or become compliant. Yes, so this, like you said this through the year, through the last year, like I said earlier, we were just getting so many leads come through, which is absolutely fine, right, we were happy to take the leads and negotiate those deals. To start Q4, September-ish, we looked down at the data as to who we've sold deals for, who we're paying. Every month, tens of thousands of pounds is coming out of account, who's taking that money? So we wanted to just drill down on all the data that we've done over the year and actually understand what's been going on. And it was mark. You wouldn't actually believe this. It was almost like a straight line the the compliant deal sources were the ones who were pretty much making all the money from us and the ones that were set, which which actually made sense, but sometimes you just got to see it in front of you to really understand it and the ones who weren't compliant, who were passing us leads where a few of them had sold, you know where we had negotiated and got some great deals out of, but a lot of them didn't sell or are in a longer pipeline of sales, which makes sense because, as a deal sourcer, where you have gone and actually negotiated and stacked and packaged the deal up to an extent because, remember, we also do package the deal up as well. Once you give it to us, you've understood the process and the property, you've understood what that vendor is looking for or you've negotiated closely with the estate agent, because you're essentially co-sourcing at that point. So you're in a different mind frame, rather than just passing on a lead to another company to try and hopefully sell that deal or that lead for you. So they were. Yeah, by the time it was quite interesting we had a few leads in at the same time as when a couple of deals I say a deal sourcer deals came in and by the time we'd negotiated the deal of the lead, we'd already sold the ones that the deal sources have passed. So, yeah, it just made sense.

Speaker 2:

Look, we went back and we just asked these guys why, how? How come you're not compliant? Why are you not doing this stuff? We ran some polls and it was the 80% of those 220 people I think it was we did, we were asked said that they want to be compliant. They just don't know how, they don't want to go through the process. It's a headache, it's scary all of these things and we thought, okay, hold on, you want to be compliant, you, but you're missing the first bit. You need to get compliant before you can do all of that stuff legally. Okay, let's build a solution for this, because that shouldn't be a reason you're not doing this. So I stuck my head down. Obviously, we've had to be compliant for the last 13 years, as through an estate agency business. It's almost the same thing, and I did that myself, so I fully understand the process Revisited it again this was in September or whatever and just got everything in order, made a process, made a system and built a solution for this.

Speaker 2:

So now there really is no reason for you guys, for these deal sources, not to become compliant quickly and easily because I've got the solution and, more importantly, to now be selling deals through us or to your own investor list. And that's the important thing. Actually, I've built this in a way where you can sell it independent. Sell your deals independently. You're not tied down to whatever we're doing or our company or anything like that. You should be selling deals to your own investors list. You should be building up your own investors list, but we have got them already, and so if you want to just get the process going quickly. That that's what we build. This it's. It's to help people selling deals, yeah, so from your perspective, then, from become compliant.

Speaker 1:

What are you looking for when somebody comes to you and says right, I want to get compliant? Is there any sort of criterias that they need to have, or anything like that? Um?

Speaker 2:

not essentially. I mean, the only thing they need to have, uh, but but which we can also do for them if they. If they're not too sure how to do it is to have a company set up. We always you don't, it's not. You don't have to have a new company for your sourcing business, although we always advise it. It just makes sense to keep things clean in separate companies, because you have to have different SIC codes and different registrations for that particular company, but you don't particularly need anything.

Speaker 2:

We walk you through the entire process. Actually, we don't walk you through the entire process. We actually do it for you. We just do the entire process for you, but we tell you what's going on. You get educated through the entire process. We actually do it for you, um, you just, we just did the entire process for you, but we tell you what's going on. You get educated through the process so you understand everything. And because I've spoken to all of the other relevant bodies the hmrc, the insurers, uh, all the legal guys, everyone um, I've got everything already in place for that person, so it can happen really quickly as well. Instead of three months, it's like we're at a 10 day turnover right now. Yeah, that's good, that is good.

Speaker 1:

So, just just for people that are thinking about this, or maybe it have started but are still sort of scratching their heads and stuff, firstly I would say this is a. This is a business. Okay, deal sourcing is a business. So set yourself up as a business and, like you say, if you're struggling with that, then obviously you guys can help them with that. But setting up a limited company, having the right SIT codes and everything there, then the next thing normally is your insurances, your compliances, your anti-money laundering, all of those really, really important things that you need as a deal sourcer. And, of course, a lot of people will be like oh, I'm not sure I'm trying at this. Well, try it. Things is great. I mean, if you want to try it something, then it's great to sort of use your service because you're not having to go through it all, are you?

Speaker 1:

Other people won't, as you say, want to go through it all, but some people just want to get set up, you know, to be able to set a business up, to be fully compliant and ready to rock and roll in, you know, as little as 10 days if you like. Uh, give or take obviously a bit of time on weekends and stuff like that is amazing, absolutely amazing. So you want, you want people, realistically, that have got a passion for this, that are coming but also don't want to go through all the red tape and things. So what is the actual process for somebody now? So I let's say I've set my business up. I've been having a little bash at this. I'm struggling a bit because I'm not really compliant. So it's always in the back of my mind that I need to get compliant. Uh, I'm trying to get a client account. It's not happening, for whatever reason. Banks are funny old things, aren't? They don't make it easy for client accounts in any way shape or form.

Speaker 1:

And then I? Then what do I do? Go onto your platform?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. So you just go onto our website, which I think we'll put on the screen maybe. Yeah, we'll put a link up. You'll put a link up? Yep, and it's a really, really simple process. And this is the thing about me just as a businessman and I have always run things I have to make things really super simple, just in a really straight line. So what you do is you subscribe to the service um, you've got a discount code coming and you fill out one 10 minute form.

Speaker 2:

Uh, when I first built it, I thought it was going to take people 20 minutes to fill out this form. And people started doing it and they were like this is taking me less than 10 minutes. So I was like cool, I'm gonna bring that down. Yeah, so it's a 10 minute form, and what happens is we automatically fill out all the other bits, all the other compliance parts for you automatically. Okay, we build your paperwork and so you're.

Speaker 2:

Once you've filled out that form, you'll access a platform and you have to go through a training video which is on anti-money laundering, specifically for sourcing and estate agents. That takes about an hour to an hour and a half and you have to pass a multiple question test. At the end of it you need an 80% or higher mark. You can take as many times as you want, it doesn't matter. The point is you just have to understand what you're doing, what you're watching.

Speaker 2:

Basically and essentially, that is pretty much it. That's pretty much it. We do everything else for you. Okay, you get all the certification in your name, we do all the other registrations, we handle all that back end bit. So and I said 10 days at the moment we will get that back down to 48 hours. Okay, that is a target for us. But we're saying in the 10 days we may have to come back to you with some questions, we may have some queries on on the application that you've done. So we do, cause we want to make sure it's all right and correct and you're all, everything is in a straight line and everything's ticked because it has to be. It just has to be. You cannot sell deals without being compliant. You can pass leads, like we discussed, but you cannot negotiate a deal with another estate agent or a vendor. You just can't do it without being compliant. It's one of your business, so it just has to be done and through that process we give. So that is the process actually.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's. It's really really straightforward. Yeah, so if you're taking any deposits or you're taking any fees, obviously that are going to sit in your client account and everything you you have actually the details of that that you put out there, or do you? How do you? How would you work that?

Speaker 2:

uh, are you asking, how do they take, how do deal sources take fees? Yeah, okay, so so there's two things here. I'll just explain this clearly. Um, and I'll tell you what we recommend when you're starting out as well as a sourcer, to take a, to take any fee which is, uh, a fee which is refundable. Okay, so, if you, if, if that deal fell through for whatever reason and your terms and conditions say you have to, you can return this or the, the they will, or you'll be able to return the fee. It has to go into a client account. It has to be a protected fee in a client account.

Speaker 2:

Now, to get a client account is really, really difficult. It takes a very long time. You have to use a high street bank, they need to see a history of your trading and all that stuff. So we actually recommend you don't do this at the start, don't take upfront fees. And don't do this at the start. Don't take upfront fees. Or or and don't take any fees upfront. Just take your fee at the end on completion.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so, and obviously, if you're going to be doing it through, if you're going to be doing this process through site finder, we will be the ones paying you. So you don't even need a client account to start off with. But if you want to go down the route of um, taking refundable fees, you do need to open up a client account. We do have a system as to where you can use our client account for this process. Again, we're not recommending it if you're starting out, so this will be on like an application basis only.

Speaker 2:

We need to see, because we have to then do AML checks and checks on you as a sourcer. So it's a very stringent process and we just don't recommend it. When you're starting out, you don't need to take any upfront fees, refundable fees, at the start, because you're building your business, you're building trust. This is a people's business. Yeah, that's the first bit. Get the stuff going and then, as you get better and better, like we said earlier, when you start doing stuff like source to order and you have an investor who wants to almost give you money to go and find a deal for them, yeah, then you're going to need a client account and then we can have a talk about that.

Speaker 1:

OK, excellent, yes, so build it up in phases. Everybody just thinks they need everything right here, right now. And I do think a lot of people come unstuck, particularly early on with the fees, with what's refundable, what's not. I've done a bit of work here, but you said it was refundable and all of a sudden you can get a bad reputation and things yeah and, and it can be. It muddies the water.

Speaker 1:

If you say this is the fee, you know, bake that into your numbers and everything. Once you're there, ready to complete and everything you can, then you know issue the fee over to me, which is great. And, of course, you know you're looking at working with people time and time again, aren't you? You know we're not a lot of the time. A lot of investors will gladly pay a fee, but when you go up to them and say, well, I need three and a half grand just just now for you to even look at this deal, that's just like whoa, you're having a laugh. I didn't even know if I want it or not. Why would I give over any money whatsoever? So and I think you can, you can blow deals and you can certainly put off investors by acting like that and unfortunately, I do think there are certain people out there that that's how they show people how to do, deal, sourcing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. This is it, honestly, is a people's business and it's not. It's not about trying to quickly earn a bit of money and thinking in the back of your head, well, at least I'm protected because I've earned a bit of money at the front. It's not about that. That investor probably is going to keep buying properties. Yeah, that's what we're seeing. Right to explain that earlier we're selling the same, we're selling the deals to the same people over and over again, and we did that in the estate agency business as well. It's you know, you want to keep those people very close to you and it has. It's building trust with those people and that takes time. It takes time, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I think you know, with site finder, become compliant. You've almost got a business in a box, haven't you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, we're trying to get there, but we're just trying to find solutions to stuff that people are really struggling with. I didn't tell you about this, mark, but we're actually launching something called proof of funds, which is really exciting because, again, it's another thing that people are struggling with. We're not quite there yet, still sorting out some legal stuff, but we will be able to help deal sources again who are starting out don't have the funds to show. We can actually help them in showing funds as a company. Again, we have to do the due diligence. We have to know as a property that we could potentially buy because it'll be under our name and all this stuff. But, yeah, maybe that's for our next.

Speaker 1:

uh, yeah, yeah, absolutely exciting and that's what it's all about. It's making a process and and find it well sorry. It's finding a problem, yeah, and fixing and and filling it with with a system, with a business, with, with a method that people want, yeah, I think absolutely I think you know SiteFinder certainly has done that.

Speaker 1:

But since you've grown SiteFinder into a bit of a beast and everything and it's doing well, you've now realized there's other problems which need to be resolved to really help sort of feed SiteFinder as well, and of course not only helps. Sitefinder helps the investors, helps the deal sources and the people that are finding the deals and makes it as I always like to say a win-win situation.

Speaker 2:

Win-win situation. This is all about two things actually To become compliant and the proof of funds thing. It's actually all about the deal sourcer and the investor and site finder. It's only a product to help those things, those people. It's not something that we ever would run as a business independently kind of thing. It's not, you know, it's just there to assist, make sure people are doing the right thing. And also it tells us because when you join that compliance through us, you get added to a VIP sourcing club. So that's an exclusive club with me and the other SiteFinder members, owners, and we talk to you through your deals.

Speaker 2:

It's like a 24-7, not 24-7, but like an all day long deal clinic where you can just post the deals and we'll look at them. And obviously, because you've now invested in yourself, you've invested in your business, because you've gone through a compliance package, we want to work with you even more, because I know that you're actually serious. You want to make money this year, yeah, so this is what I was saying right at the very start. The leads were coming in, but because they haven't put anything into themselves and they're just copying and pasting links across, um, you know, naturally you're not going to want to put in as much effort to make money as if you've actually paid something into yourself, like education. Yeah, like any service, if you pay for something, you're going to want to return.

Speaker 1:

Well, definitely, definitely, and take it seriously. You know what I mean. It's one of those things. I know a small handful of deals. I know a lot of deal sources. A small handful of deals. I know a lot of deal sources, but I know a small handful of deals that do very, very well, very well. They're not out there chasing every last deal. They know their target market. They know exactly the sort of deals that they're looking for. They specialize in those deals so that, like your good self, they could basically walk into a property, look around, give it a few shakes, walk to the front door and they're on the phone to investors. We can get this sold for you straight away, and that is what you want to be getting yourself to. So, right here, right now, sort of the war cry. As you're building all of this, who are you looking?

Speaker 2:

for People who want to make money in this industry. I'm not saying you have to be a deal sourcer even the term deal sourcer like you want to be in property, in the property game you want to be. In my opinion, every deal sourcer is also an investor. Every investor is also a deal sourcer. We're all the same thing because, at the end of the day, we want to buy properties ourselves right, and we are. You may be buying properties, but you will always have properties that you can't buy or you don't want to buy, and those can be sold on as well. So why aren't you making money from them? Like a property, just an entrepreneur, really, property deal master. So, yeah, every part of this, of this. But an ideal person would be someone who wants to take deal sourcing very seriously and just wants to hit the ground running and get going quickly with support. They want support behind them.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant stuff, brilliant stuff. So, uh, become compliant and everything. Obviously you sign up to that. Uh, how's the? How's the fee structure, so to speak, on it yep, so we?

Speaker 2:

uh.

Speaker 2:

So if you went and did this yourself, it will cost you around £2,000. And I'm saying if you did it properly. A lot of people have done this compliance stuff and then realise they've done it wrong and then it costs them even more because they've got to do it again. Because a lot of the fees are not refundable once you've paid right, especially to the HMRC and all this stuff. So it a lot of the fees are not refundable once you've paid right, especially the hmrc and all this stuff. So it costs about two thousand pounds. Obviously we match that, but then we've got discounts going on, especially to the network, and so you'll be under what you're paying. But real bonus comes from all the extra stuff that we give you. So we give you all your business paperwork, your head of terms, your lease option agreements, um, ndas, deal calculators. We because, like I said, we want people who want to do this stuff, you we want you to start to get going straight away, not straight away, as soon as you're compliant um and and we do um.

Speaker 2:

Every month we do two deal clinic and accountability calls to make sure that you guys are doing something and you understand that. That's actually more specifically on how to sell deals with site finders. So the deals that you're finding, can you sell them through us and how? What would our investors want on the deals that you found? So we're trying to just tie it all up and make and we set a target this year and we'll see how it goes. We'll have another chat next year, I suppose next january.

Speaker 2:

Uh, we want these guys who are you know, this is obviously quite a high target, but that's what we do, right, we want them all to be doing to be selling at least one deal a month within 12 months, which is not difficult. It's really not difficult. Just got to get that ball rolling and I think the support that we give and because of the situation that we're in, because we have so much data and we're talking to so many people about sourcing and investment, we kind of know what this industry wants and what investors are looking for and what deal sources need to find. So I don't see why that's not a realistic target. And if I look back from 12 months ago to the guys who started then, who were doing maybe one deal a month at that point because they were already established sources, they're doing a few now. So it's. I don't even know how many they're doing themselves outside of our network. Yeah, so it's a real. Like you said, you can really scale this business quickly, a sourcing business. I want to work with those people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that's good. I want to work with those people. Yeah, no, that's good. I'd say it's about filling that funnel, isn't that that, basically, once, once you start to fill that funnel, you know what? One a month is quite easy, but you might have three in a month. You know what I mean? It depends when they go through and on what sort of deals they are and stuff, but it sounds absolutely amazing and I think the fact that people get the support, they get the hand holding, which is lacking, uh, you know, with it, with with a lot of um, training and things like that, out there, of course, there's a lot of people that will show you what to do, and then they leave you to your own devices to bumble around here.

Speaker 1:

You've got actually experienced people in the industry that you can fall back on. You've got deal clinics to you know really dig deeper into what is a good deal, how do you stack these deals, and things like that. You know that you're compliant. You've got all of that behind you. You've got SiteFinder as well, which is full of investors looking for deals. Get out there and find us some deals, so you've got a ready audience customer base. If you like as well, you can still sell deals to anybody else that you come across as well.

Speaker 1:

What's not to love If you're in that sort of and, like you say, we are all deal sources? I am a deal sourcer. I just tend to keep it for myself. Yeah, absolutely. But if the right deals came my way and somebody wanted a fee for it, I would gladly pay it. As an investor myself, I'm quite happy to pay somebody for a good deal. If they bring a good deal. That's something I'm looking for. I pay for it all day long. It's just all too often, as you say, you're seeing yourself. They're just not really good deals, are they?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is it, this is it. So this is I'll tell you how and I know this is by no means the highest fee anyone's earned, I'm sure I don't know what the highest. But uh, in our estate agency days, right at the end of it, uh, while we were doing that part of the estate agency, we sold two deals to the same investor and he paid 75 grand per deal. Yeah, and we spent. It was nothing, it was just we were just giving him the deal because he was making so much money. It was two development sites.

Speaker 2:

75 grand was nothing yeah yeah, so I I've said this to people before and I don't know if they believe me, but and I wish I could show probably can show proof of it, but it's like people will pay what. I don't need to say that, right, I've got a whole business running on it, yeah yeah, my entire business runs on this.

Speaker 1:

I know so many investors as well that do like million pound deals and they say if you can make me like 500 grand, or you can make me 800 grand. I'll gladly pay you 100,000 pounds for a deal that will make me. You know, if you could do a whole complex and make a million pounds or something like that, they said I'd pay a hundred grand for that deal. Why wouldn't you? Yeah, exactly. You're starting to get into life-changing money then, aren't you? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. Ah, brilliant, absolutely brilliant. So if people on the PIN network and everything want to get involved, there is a code that they can use when they.

Speaker 2:

You're so and site finder is completely free to register to. Okay, so that's, you're going to go to sitefindercouk forward slash pin. That's for site finder. You should 100 be registering to that because it's completely free. Scope it all out, check what investors are looking for, you know, start understanding things and when you're ready, or if you're already ready, to get compliant, you're going to go to becomecompliantcouk forward slash pin and you're going to put in uh, in the checkout you're going to put in pin 24.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to just double check that that is right, that's what you told me. You're good, we're good, we're on the same page.

Speaker 2:

PIN 24 and you're going to get a discount because, like I said, this is not about us making money we don't need to make. We need to get you compliant, that's, and I want you selling deals through us, that's.

Speaker 1:

That's the whole point of this whole thing, and so, yeah, this, as you say that this solves a problem that you're seeing a lot of people having. The next problem, obviously, is just making sure that people are getting good deals. So get involved. Go on the site, see what people need, see what is a good deal. You know the criterias of people like that. Get yourself compliant and get out there and build a reputable deal sourcing business that can completely change your life. Go for it and I'd say in 2025, you know, we've done this in January as well. It's just so happens that it's all happened at the same time, but this is January at the moment of recording this. Ok, you might be listening to it in November, but it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1:

Get stuck in. Give yourself a challenge to say, right, if this is the right thing for you and this is what you want to do for the next 12 months, I am going to do nothing but succeed at this and in 12 months time, I'm going to take stock and I'm going to review where I am and I bet you any money if you give it everything you've got. You make sure you're compliant, you stick around the community of like minded people, you tap into it, you give input, you take, obviously, output and learnings and stuff into it. You give input, you take obviously output and learnings and stuff you get into SiteFinder which, as you say, is 100% free to just look at, to become a member of and to join In 12 months time.

Speaker 1:

I can't guarantee anything, but if you do the work, you're probably not going to be still doing that day job, you're probably going to be full-time in property and who knows, by that time you might even then be buying your own properties, keeping those really juicy deals to yourself but selling on the ones that are still great deals but aren't fitting your criteria. And that is going to be such a sweet place to be. But you've got to give yourself time to do it. You're not going to do it in a matter of weeks. It is going to take time. I always like to say this use time as your friend and just think right in 12 months 12 months isn't long, but in 12 months time, if you go through the right process, you can be in such an amazing position, can you?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely 100%. Couldn't have said it better and everyone's situation is different, but we have. So we, our minimum fee that we charge investors is £5,000. Okay so, as a deal sorter I'm talking about SiteFinder fee that we charge investors is 5,000 pounds. Okay so, as a deal sort this I'm talking about site finder. So as a deal sourcer compliant deal sourcer it's different if you're passing a lead, but as a compliant deal sourcer, you get 50% of that fee.

Speaker 2:

Okay so the minimum unless the property value is ridiculously low, like 20 grand or 30 grand you're going to most likely be achieving two and a half thousand pounds as a minimum. Now you just need to work out how many of those you need to do a month to replace your day job. Yeah, you know. So it's one of those things. And if you give yourself 12 months to do that and to get to the point where you're now doing one deal a month or you shouldn't be doing one you should be doing more than one, but you know you'll know by the end of that process is this for you and can can you really sustain two, three, four a month? Or I've done five this month. Now I can only need to do one a month. You'll know by the end of the 12 months.

Speaker 1:

So it's just like you said yeah, well, as you grow in your building systems, you can get virtual assistant on your part of your team to help you do a lot of the back end stuff, the data scraping and things and, of course, this is what it's all about. This is what. Hey, it's always good to chat to you, my friend, I'm always conscious of time and things. Yes, anything that you'd like to leave us with a final thing.

Speaker 2:

I think, like I said uh earlier, I think this is about something you, if you're interested in this industry, in sourcing and buying properties for yourself and selling on making money in property, I really want to talk to you. I really want you to be part of our network. Join SiteFinder, send me an email All my details are on the website and if you really want to get further, take out the compliance package and just get going with this. We are here. It's actually me. I'll be part of the deal clinic calls at the moment. Uh, I'm talking, we're doing saying this in january as well. Uh, so you know we, we will all be there giving, making sure you're doing something under, making sure you understand the deals. You're part of a community and I really want to see you succeed, because if you guys succeed, we succeed and that's how we all grow. Like mark said, it's a win-win deal, everyone's winning everyone's a winner, baby absolutely awesome, yeah, brilliant stuff.

Speaker 1:

Well, as I say, great to have you on. Sorry, what did you say?

Speaker 2:

no, no, I was saying it's always really nice to be here talking to you, mark, yeah oh, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate that not everybody says that, no, I'm only kidding well, I might not be, but, uh, no, it's great to have you on my friend. Uh, it also actually be really good to maybe, in six months time or something, do a little update to this just to see how you know, become compliance going, how side finders going as well. Yes, um, and tap into that. We don't necessarily have to leave it 12 months, but it would be good, and by that time you'll probably have something else as well. That helps everybody.

Speaker 1:

So, it'd be great to dig into those things as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we'll catch up with the proof of funds. That's our next thing. So as soon as this is. Well, this is running nicely. We've in the last. We launched it just last month and we've had nearly 25 people now and they're all compliant. Well, they're almost all compliant, and so they're cracking on with it. We're on a group. We're all chatting away about deals and stuff and they're all just doing. It's just, it's really nice. It's really really nice.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant, so go and get involved. If you're struggling at the moment, or if you're thinking about this check out site, then become compliant and speak to Hav. You know what I mean. Get out there. He's letting you have his email and everything. Tap into these industry experts and get the knowledge that you need. Well, once again, thank you for joining me today, my friend.

Speaker 2:

Pleasure, absolute pleasure, mark.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant stuff, let's catch up in six months. Yes, indeed, we will catch up in six months. I love it. I love it. We'll put all of the links in the show notes so that you can just click on those as and when you watch this and get stuck in. Get out there, make it happen. Only you can do that. Remember, everything is your fault. So look at life that way. If you're not where you want to be right now, I'm sorry to say it's your fault. I had that for a long time when I was in my corporate job and I hated it and it was only me that could get me out of it. We're trying to give you all of the help, support on these channels, to get out there, to get stuck in and to make things happen. Remember, the best investment you can ever make is in yourself and, of course, the next one is in your own business. So get out there, get stuck in and come and join me in the next episode very soon. Take care everybody. Thank you for joining me here and bye for now.