Regular Phone Call Question: "What do I absolutely have to have in place to start my sourcing/deal packaging business"?

I have regular arranged calls and sometimes impromptu calls to the NAPSA office phone, with existing sourcing agents and deal packagers or those who are thinking of setting up such a business, to answer their questions and provide a little guidance and support.  They have often attended courses of some sort already and are now thinking either about what they have in place and is it everything that they MUST have, or what MUST they have in place to set up and operate.

 
Have you ever been having a conversation with someone, and they ask the same question but in a multitude of different ways to try to get you to say what they really want to hear?  That has been my month so far with a lot of the calls I have taken!

This is a new platform built on trust and compliance.  A community for NAPSA Approved Members and interested property investors, a safe place to connect, chat, build relationships and do more deals.
 
All of the NAPSA Approved members go through a vigorous vetting process to ensure that they meet current national minimum standards for their sector.  This reduces the risk to the property investor of losing their hard-earned cash.
 
 

There are no hidden fees for investors or sourcing agents and deal packagers (NAPSA Members), NAPSA takes zero fees for communicating or deals that are agreed.  Property Connect is built on ‘Compliance’ and not ‘Commission’!
 

If you’re a property investor and would like to apply to join, please use the link below and complete the form:

 

https://tinyurl.com/7kks77ye 
 
 

If you’re a property sourcing agent or deal packager and would like to become an Approved NAPSA Member and sell your deals free of charge in the community then please use the link below to Join NAPSA now:
 
 https://tinyurl.com/2nkyd6z4 

 

 

If you search Google for, “What do I absolutely have to have in place to start my sourcing/deal packaging business?”, it comes up with the following ‘advice’:
 
 Legal & Compliance Requirements (Must-Haves)
 
1. Business Registration with HMRC – Tax Purposes

2. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Supervision – HMRC – AML policies – Due Diligence – ID Verification – Proof of Funds for clients
 
3. Property Redress Scheme Membership – Legal requirement to join none of the government-approved schemes
 
4.Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Registration – Data Protection Act
 
5. Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance – Essential for protection
 
6. Clear Contracts and Agreements – Legally sound contracts – Terms of Business Agreement – Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA)
 
7. Dedicated Client Account – If handle client money – Account protection required

1. Market Knowledge – An in-depth understanding of your local property market and investment strategies

2. Network of Contacts – Building strong relationships with estate agents, lettings agents, investors, solicitors, builders etc.
 
3. Due Diligence Procedures – You need a consistent and thorough process for analysing deals and conducting due diligence on potential properties and clients.

4. Marketing & Investor List – A plan for finding investors and a method for presenting professional deal packages is essential for making sales.
 
Now to those who don’t know what full, MUST have compliance looks like that can appear reasonably straight forward.  To those who know what is required as a MUST, that is virtually no help at all.

What a lot of people don’t realise is that searching Google pulls up everything that it can find from a myriad of sources, some good, some indifferent and some just wrong, and as they often say, “you don’t know what you don’t know”.

So when I have all of these calls what do I say to the callers about the fact that what I am telling them, the list that I often dictate to them, is actually the minimum level needed, that actually is the MUST HAVE in place before you operate your sourcing or deal packaging business and that what they have Googled, been told in Facebook or WhatsApp is incorrect?
 
I say this, “I have operated a sourcing business for over 13 years, I have studied the law for the same amount of time, I have founded and set up the first and currently only trade body for the sector (NAPSA).  NAPSA is in partnership with both approved property redress schemes, we also work closely with HMRC’s AML Team, National Trading Standards and now other, higher professional bodies; do you think they would partner with us, or work closely with us if they didn’t believe and agree with what we say”?
 
There is generally then a few seconds silence and the usual next statement from the caller after that goes something like, “Thank you for your time, I will go away and do some more research on this, I obviously have a lot to think about”.  Ninety nine percent of the time after such an interaction I know that we will not hear from them again, as they will go anywhere else to hear what they want to hear and potentially set up and run an illegal business!

 

Open to all Sourcing Agents, Deal Packagers and Property Investors who want to learn more about the research and the resulting data gathered from a five-month project by the NAPSA Team and how NAPSA can protect, support, guide.
 
 Link to join the webinar is below:

 

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/6f362c25-2990-4228-a67b-e74b38e09b5b@3f4de624-25d3-4c0b-8551-0b243b1fb074

Please not that if you have a Microsoft account using the link may ask you to log into your account, that is not necessary, simply open the link in an incognito/private page and the form to complete will be visible.

 

 

Have a great week ahead!

Tina Walsh

Founder & CEO - NAPSA