Estate agents are overlooking opportunities to attract investor interest by focusing on what a property is today rather than its development or improvement potential, according to the founder of a new property intelligence platform.
Christopher May, founder of Property Stalker, said many listings fail to highlight the value that buyers could unlock through refurbishment, extension or redevelopment, limiting their appeal to investors and other opportunity-led purchasers.
The platform has launched with two white-labelled report formats: one aimed at landlords, developers, auction buyers and deal sourcers, and another designed for estate agents to help demonstrate a property’s investment and improvement potential to prospective buyers.
May told EYE: “Where I think agents are missing a trick is that most property marketing still focuses on what the property is today – bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage and photos. Investors, developers and many serious buyers are often looking at something different: what the property could become.”
Property Stalker is currently in its launch phase and is being trialled by a number of estate agencies, according to May.
The reports can be fully white-labelled, allowing agents to present them under their own branding as part of their marketing material or to support valuation appointments and instruction-winning presentations. May said the reports are intended to help agents demonstrate additional value by highlighting a property’s investment potential alongside its existing features.
May continued: “It [Property Stalker] helps agents show the hidden upside in selected listings — extension potential, loft conversion potential, refurbishment opportunities, indicative build costs, post-works value, planning activity, comparable evidence and uplift potential.
“Not every property needs this, but every branch usually has two or three properties where the potential is the real story. Those are the homes where a normal listing undersells the opportunity. If an agent can show buyers and investors the possible upside in a professional report, they can create more interest, support stronger pricing conversations, attract investor buyers and potentially win more instructions.
“There is nothing quite like this in the market at the moment. It is not a traditional valuation tool; it is a way of presenting property potential in a format agents, buyers and investors can understand quickly.”
As part of the launch, Property Stalker, which costs from £30 per month, will be exhibiting at the 100th National Landlord Investment Show at Old Billingsgate, London, today.
