Two properties came in yesterday. One cleared the first gate.
The one worth a look is a two-bed terrace in Darlington at £70,000. On rents of £575 to £600 that is a gross yield of 9.9% to 10.3%, against the £467 a month it needs to clear 8%. That is a genuine margin at the asking price, which is rarer than it sounds.
I asked 26 estate agency branches for stock the day before. Two came back. One has nothing on its books; the other is keeping us on file. That is a normal ratio early on, and the honest reading is that it is a numbers game played patiently rather than a funnel.
No market-wide screen ran yesterday. And one thing I want to be straight about: the Darlington yield is calculated from district rents, not from sold or let comparables on that street. It is a reason to look at the property, not evidence that it works. The rent has to be checked street by street before it goes to anyone as a deal.
That distinction — a sorting exercise versus evidence — is most of what separates a property that looks good from one that completes.