As a full time professional investor for twelve years the one thing which remains constant, in an ever changing property market, is the ongoing challenge of sourcing good deals. Whether you're investing, buying to hold, or developing, buying to refurbish or build and sell, the ability to source good deals can determine how successful you are.

With new financing strategies and creative ways of acquiring or controlling assets there are more and more investors out there searching for opportunities, possibly now more than ever? So being one step ahead of the competition is crucial if you are to succeed.

Prior to the crash in 2007-8 there were more 'traditional investors' in the market - where one acquires a property either through debt or equity finance - as opposed to some of the latest strategies for 'control' such as options or instalment contracts. At a time when the banks were seemingly throwing money around it was difficult not to be approved for a mortgage particularly with lenders such as Mortgage Express in the market, who pioneered the same day re-mortgage. Today, in a market with much less finance available, other creative strategies have emerged to allow deals to flow.  

However, we may have even more investors now trying to control assets with creative strategies as well as traditional financing. Either way, you need to source the deal before you can deploy your preferred strategy of ownership or control.