Surge in online 'blind buying'

While less-experienced buyers are feeling the strain of becoming landlords, a growing number of professional buy-to-let investors are ‘blind buying’ homes over the internet in the hope of fending off rivals and securing properties in record time.

According to one website operator, LandlordTrader, investors using its portal have purchased more than 100 houses and flats in the first three months of this year – without even viewing the properties. These purchases account for around 93% of the portal’s business over the past six months.

LandlordTrader co-founder William Foot believes the ‘blind buying’ method is becoming more popular with sophisticated landlords who are typically more concerned about the financial rationale behind buying a property, rather than the ‘emotional’ appeal of a house.

Foot said: ‘Some people worry about spending as little as £20 on the web, so when we launched LandlordTrader, we knew we would be asking a lot of our users.

‘Yet provided the price is right, buy-to-let investors are willing to bid for houses with little more to go on than a photo and a few key figures.

‘Provided the purchase makes sound financial sense and the buyer instructs professionals to carry out prudent due diligence as a matter of course, there is no need to view the property first.’

Colin Barber, founder of online commercial property listing site Propex, added: ‘Sensibly, interest in financial gain is becoming far more important than the colour of the wallpaper.

‘We expect this theme to snowball with the advent of residential self-invested personal pensions come April 2006.’