How a Buyer’s Agent unlocks exclusive access to off-market properties.

One of the key advantages to working with a BA when you are looking for a new home or investment property is that you have greater access to what are known in the industry as off market properties.

These are properties that are not generally made available to the wider public, but to which you can nevertheless get access to if you engage the services of an experienced and well-connected buyer’s agent to act on your behalf.

What is an off market property?

A general definition of an off market property is one that is up for sale but which has not been advertised nor made available to the wider buying public (although in some cases, pre-market property might be a more accurate term, as the vendor is ultimately intending to advertise or promote the sale of the property, but has not yet done so).

Genuinely off market properties will not be contracted out to a real estate agent to sell using conventional methods, nor will they be advertised on online listing sites or appear in printed media.

Instead, it could be that the vendor is intending to sell the property privately themselves, or they choose a selling agent who will only offer it to a small number of selected clients, and without any advertising.

It can also be the case that the details of an off market property are only made available to a limited, exclusive database of potential buyers.

Why are some properties sold off market?

There are a variety of reasons as to why a vendor may choose to sell a property off market. It can be from a desire to reduce the costs associated with selling property (i.e., no ads or listing charges, for instance), or it may be that a property has previously been on the open market but hasn’t sold, and so the vendor is employing a different approach.

Off market properties for sale can also be those of celebrities and public figures who don’t want any media attention around the sale. These sorts of very high end properties are usually sold through a small, discreet network of selling agents and BAs, and so it can be very difficult to find out about them.

How can I find an off market property?

Given the circumstances under which off market properties come to be offered for sale, how does someone outside of the industry, or who is not part of an exclusive database, get access to off market property?

The simplest and most effective way of being able to find off market property is through engaging the services of an off market property agent.