With permitted development legislation easing and the continued shortage of residential properties, there is now an abundance of new opportunities in the UK. But equally, there are also lots of property investors.
To get ahead, investors and professionals are leveraging property tech, however, many are finding that not all tech is suitable. Some even lack the key data and features needed to find and confidently assess residential property. Others have too much functionality that just isn’t suited to your residential projects and so can seem pricey.
Whether you’re already using a tool and you don’t feel like you are getting value for money, or you’re new to it and want to level up your property game with tech, here is our six-point checklist to help you find the right solution for your residential property investing needs.
How to choose the best residential property development solution
There are several key things you need to look for in a tool for residential property development:
1) Invest in technology that supports you at multiple points - The tech should have multiple uses and functionalities to help you with several areas of property development, for example finding and assessing potential sites. This gives you the best chance of deriving value from the technology you invest in.
2) Choose a tool that has great training and support - All technology companies will tell you that they offer great support but not all of them do. It’s the training that will allow you to make full use of the tool and ensure the features are used to help you hone in on off-market properties that fit with your property strategy. This saves an abundance of time and helps to minimise risk by presenting you with all the information available.
Moreover, some property tech providers will run property development webinars to provide free advice on new legislation and strategies to help you maximise your investments. You could even ask the experts specific questions you have to overcome your current challenges, for free.
3) Check for reviews on websites, like Trustpilot - These are great places to understand whether the tool is easy to use, if there’s sufficient product training support available and whether the tool has helped property developers. So be sure to look for companies with good reviews to give yourself the best chance of selecting the best tool for your needs and to ensure you get value from it.
4) Make sure residential and commercial data is included - Successful property development and investment strategies often involve converting the use of a property to maximise its value. And that’s why you need access to both residential and commercial data. You need to be confident of a property’s current value versus the potential value if it was converted to a different use class.
That’s why tools like Nimbus Maps, give you access to reliable full information on residential and commercial property. In fact, Nimbus Maps is the ONLY tool to provide such comprehensive data.
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5) Ensure it can highlight profitable opportunities - These tools need to instantly pinpoint the properties and sites where you can add value. This is how you save time and secure the best investments before your peers. The key element to look out for here is comprehensive data. If the tool isn’t powered by the depth and breadth of property data available, it won’t be able to pinpoint the most viable options in terms of planning and financial returns for development.
Some tools offer particular map overlays which can be added to your search to ensure properties meet your investment criteria - and most importantly, flag if they are financially viable. For example:
- Converting commercial buildings to residential use or sometimes a more valuable alternative commercial use.
- Building new houses or flats on land (back gardens, side gardens, corner plots).
- Demolishing a house to build multiple on.
- Demolishing commercial buildings to build new houses or flats.
- Unlocking previously undevelopable airspace to develop flats or extend houses under the new permitted development rights.
- Extending existing HMOs to increase the number of lettable rooms.
- Converting commercial buildings in residential areas to HMOs.
6) Connect with owners/planners/architects/investors directly - In some tools, you can export the details of all planning applications and filter by various criteria to find the planners, architects, developers and more for similar properties - such as converting offices to flats. This means you can go directly to specialists that will likely have the specific set of skills you want to make a similar project successful in that area.
How does Nimbus Maps compare to other property technology?
Data is the fundamental reason why thousands of entrepreneurs choose Nimbus.
One of the biggest differentiators for Nimbus is that it includes both residential and commercial property data. This is crucial for developers. The most profitable property strategies change depending on the demand for different property types. In a post-Covid world, there is a reduced need for offices and an increased need for homes that offer a workspace, however, this can change and you need a property tech solution that covers all land and property types in order to future proof your property business.
Moreover, the comprehensiveness and freshness of the data makes it a trusted platform for professionals to thoroughly and confidently assess an investment and reduce the risk.
With the Nimbus Maps Elite+ tool, you can even highlight the sites that are viable for development from a planning and financial perspective according to your chosen strategy. This is exclusive to Nimbus Maps.
You can see what other entrepreneurs say about us on Trustpilot - click here for reviews.
Many say they choose Nimbus maps because of:
- Ease of use
- Comprehensive, fresh and consolidated data
- Unrivalled support from a team of experts
- Free education from the Co-Founders every week, with live webinars
- Partnerships with finance providers, training companies and professionals such as tax advisors.
Find, assess and connect with owners/planners/architects/investors
Whether you’re new to property tech or you just don’t feel you are getting the value out of your existing tool, with this six-point checklist you can quickly assess your options and choose a tool that will improve property management workflows, enable you to find and assess opportunities quicker, reduce risk and even provide you with training to enhance your strategies.
Making sure the tool is powered by the most comprehensive and frequently updated data is crucial to this.
Trusted by 1000’s of the most successful property entrepreneurs, it enables property investors and professionals to find and assess sites for residential property development and make decisions quickly and with confidence.
Investors find Nimbus Maps so powerful that thousands use it daily and have rated it ‘excellent’ on Trustpilot reviews (230 property professionals have rated us 5/5 stars).
Ready to see our property data platform in action? Book a demo today.
