Mike BellsProperty sourcing
Free · September 2026 edition
Zero districts clear 8% at the asking price.
Not a typo, and not a sales line. We screened 246 properties across 32 North East postcode districts against three different buyers. Six districts clear 5.5%. None clear 8% on the price the seller is asking. The map, and the district-by-district detail behind it, is free.
- Two-bed and three-bed priced separately — they are not the same market
- The highest price rent can carry at 5.5%, 7% and 8%
- The districts where nothing works, named, with the reason
Send me the map
Six quick questions. It is how we decide whether we can actually help you — and it means we only ever send you things that fit.
What’s in it
A map of what actually works, not what’s for sale
The map started as our own working document. We kept looking at properties where the rent looked fine and the price looked fine, and the deal still didn’t work once we put street-level rent against street-level price. So we stopped trusting the average and screened the districts one at a time.
Advertising rents, not hopeful ones. Districts measured, not guessed. Two-bed and three-bed kept apart, because a two-bed in one street and a three-bed in the next are two different markets.
Every district shows you
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Live rent | What two- and three-beds are advertised at |
| 5.5% price | The highest price that rent carries on a letting mortgage |
| 7% price | Where a stronger yield still stacks |
| 8% price | Usually below what anything is advertised for |
September 2026 edition. Figures are asking rents and asking prices as at that date, and they move.
Why we gave it away
Because a deal that only works on an average isn’t a deal
The number that matters is the one you get when you price the rent on that street, not the one a sector table gives you. Half a mile is our limit for a comparable. Same house type, same rough size, sold in the last twelve months. If that doesn’t exist, we say so and move on — we don’t widen the search until something appears.
That habit is why we screen a lot and show very little. Nine out of ten things we look at fail, and we would rather tell you that than dress one up.
The three numbers we check first
- Net yield. Rent after every cost a landlord actually pays — not rent divided by price.
- Return on the money you put in. This is the one that quietly kills most deals, even when the yield looks fine.
- Monthly cash left. After the mortgage, voids, management and maintenance — because a deal that doesn’t leave you anything each month is a job, not an investment.
What happens after you send the form
Three steps, and no pressure at either end
- The map is yours straight away. The form takes you to the download the moment you send it.
- We check your brief against what’s actually available. If there is nothing in your area at your price, we tell you that — we won’t invent a match to keep you warm.
- Anything that does fit gets sent properly. Rent evidence, comparables with links, the full workings, and what we think you should offer. Usually one or two properties a month.
What we are not
We are not an estate agent, and we do not have a panel of properties to push. We are paid a sourcing fee by the investor when a purchase completes — so we only earn if the deal is good enough for you to buy it.
Mike Bells Ltd, North East England. Sourcing fee agreed in writing before anything is committed.