In a competitive property market, the best deals rarely sit in plain sight.

If you’re only refreshing Rightmove and hoping something underpriced appears, you’re competing with thousands of other buyers doing exactly the same thing.

Off-market deals, or simply the deals most people miss, are usually found through smarter systems, better relationships, and more efficient tools.

Here’s how to find them.

What are off-market property deals?

Off-market means one of three things:

1. The property hasn’t been listed on major portals yet
2. It’s being offered to a small list of buyers
3. It was listed previously but withdrawn and still available

These opportunities exist because sellers have different motivations. Some want speed. Some want discretion. Some simply haven’t gone down the traditional listing route yet.

The key is positioning yourself where those deals surface first.

Build relationships before you need them

Estate agents are one of the most underrated sources of off-market deals. Many properties are mentioned to trusted buyers before they ever reach the main portals, especially if the agent believes a quick, smooth sale is possible.

If an agent clearly understands your buying criteria, your budget, and knows that you can move quickly without wasting time, you’re far more likely to receive early calls when something suitable comes up. Certainty and clarity make you memorable.

Make it easy for them to think of you. Send a concise buying brief, follow up regularly, and stay visible without being pushy. Most buyers only reach out once a listing goes live online, the smarter ones build the relationship long before that stage.

Target motivated sellers directly

Some of the strongest deals come from going straight to the source.

This might include:

• Writing letters to landlords in specific streets
• Contacting owners of long-term vacant properties
• Targeting probate or inherited homes
• Following up on listings that have been on the market for 90+ days

When you remove the competitive layer of a public listing, negotiation becomes very different.

Direct-to-vendor (D2V) strategies take effort, but they create conversations other buyers never have and can sometimes lead to long-lasting relationships providing you with multiple deals.

Check out this episode of the podcast with Oliver Adams, a property trader, he breaks down how he’s found over 650 deals.

Track “stale” listings

Properties that have been sitting on the market for a long time are often overlooked, but they can represent real opportunity. Just because something hasn’t sold quickly doesn’t automatically mean there’s a major issue.

Many buyers dismiss long-listed properties because they assume something must be wrong. In reality, it’s often down to poor marketing, weak photos, or an unrealistic initial asking price. Instead of making emotional assumptions, approach these opportunities with structured, well-justified offers.

Look beyond the main portals

If your entire strategy revolves around Rightmove, you’re fishing in the busiest pond.

Broaden your search to include:

• Property auctions (including unsold lots)
• Local Facebook groups
• Gumtree and community listings
• Local agent email lists
• Networking events and investor groups
• Use deal sourcers

The more sources you monitor, the higher your chance of spotting something before it becomes widely competitive.

Know your numbers so you can move fast

Off-market deals reward decisiveness, but that only works if you’ve already defined your numbers. You should know your minimum yield or ROI, your maximum purchase price, how much renovation risk you’re comfortable taking on, and exactly what your exit strategy looks like before a deal even lands on your desk.

When those parameters are clear, you can assess opportunities quickly and act with confidence. In competitive situations, hesitation is expensive, if you pause too long, someone else will step in.

Creating a simple pass-or-fail framework removes emotion from the equation and allows you to evaluate deals logically and efficiently, without spiralling into overanalysis.

Tools that help you work smarter

Finding off-market deals manually is possible, but time-intensive. This is where smart sourcing tools can make a major difference.

A platform like Property Filter allows you to:

• Use advanced filters to search based on investment criteria
• Set up tailored alerts so you’re notified immediately
• Organise potential deals inside a pipeline
• Compare and assess opportunities more efficiently

Instead of jumping between spreadsheets, portals and email chains, everything can be streamlined in one place.

The goal is to reduce friction and make your sourcing process consistent.

A simple action plan to start this week

If you want momentum immediately:

1. Identify five long-listed properties and make structured offers (use Property Filter to do this quickly)
2. Join two local property Facebook groups
3. Draft a basic direct-to-vendor letter template (tip: use a handwritten font)
4. Set up smart search alerts using a dedicated deal-finding platform
5. Call 3 estate agents with your criteria

Making this work in practice

Off-market deals aren’t reserved for insiders. They’re found by buyers who build relationships, take action, monitor multiple channels, use tools designed to help and move quickly when the numbers stack.

If you combine proactive outreach with organised deal tracking, you dramatically increase your chances of finding opportunities others overlook.

Join us at one of our 6 shows this year where you can participate in our mastermind session where we dive deep into deal finding. Purchase a Gold or Silver ticket. Register here.