There are plenty of platforms out there that showcase sourcing agents deals for investors to ‘shop’ around before getting in touch, however we are often asked why in addition to our sourcer search functionality, we don’t also allow agents to advertise deals.
So, why don’t we do this at NAPSA?
Firstly, we believe in compliance and professionalism, which starts with building relationships with your investor first.
Getting to know exactly what they are looking for by talking to them, seeing their calculations and understanding exactly their interpretation of a ‘good deal’.
It makes it much simpler to go out and find deals that meet their calculations and criteria – saving you both time and effort viewing properties and presenting those deals.
You will have far more chance of the investor being happy with the deals you present, than if you just throw lots of opportunties their way that don’t meet what they are looking for. You’ll just end up with frustrated investors who will move on to the next sourcing agent.
Advertising “great deals” to anyone and everyone isn’t really much use, as all investors calculate their return differently – not to mention this is breaking Trading Standards rules.
We aren’t saying you can’t advertise your deals online, you just need to be very wary of how you promote them and what material information you include.
From an investor point of view, you should be wary of sourcing agents who do advertise this way as odds on they are not operating compliantly and could in fact be putting your cash at risk.
NAPSA is a Trade Body
It’s incredibly rare for a Trade Body to allow members to have a profile to promote their services, however at NAPSA each of our approved Members can include details about their services and experience on their own business profile page.
Investors can search and contact each of our approved members on their profiles at ZERO cost.
This is as far as it goes, as whilst we want to help connect agents and investors as much as possible – we also can’t facilitate moderating every single deal that is advertised on the platform by hundreds of sourcing agents.
Much like Rightmove and Zoopla, we would need to make sure that each description does not breach Trading Standards regulations and hits the new Material Information rules.
If they were found to fail on both counts, NAPSA would likely be held accountable for ‘hosting’ the deals on our platform.
Instead, we focus our efforts on education, training, 1:1 support and guidance for our sourcing agent members – which absolutely takes up 100% of our time!
Not to mention reviewing compliance for each and every agent that joins with us + re-reviewing registrations and document updates multiple times each year.
Our Members are given the knowledge and tools to get their businesses out there, connect with investors and stay compliant.
As a Trade Body we regard our main responsibility to be towards the professionalism and legality of the sourcing agent. The quality of the deal is the responsibility of each individual investor assessing them to match their own personal requirements.
If you have any questions or would like more information, don’t hesitate to get in touch at: [email protected]
NAPSA’s core mission is to educate the sourcing sector for the better, build credibility and trust from investors who have either heard bad things about sourcing agents or been burned themselves. We are building a community of professional and compliant sourcing agents, whilst providing a safer space for investors to search and communicate with approved and credible sourcing agents.