“Below market value” is the most abused phrase in UK property. Every sourcer’s flyer promises a discount; almost none show you how they measured it. The dirty secret is simple — quote a high “market value” and any price looks like a bargain. So before you wire a reservation fee on any “BMV” deal, you need to be able to check the claim yourself, in ten minutes, from public data. Here is exactly how, worked through with real Coventry sold prices.
Start from what buyers actually paid, not what agents ask
The single biggest mistake buyers make is comparing a deal price to an asking price. Asking prices are marketing; they are set by whoever wants the most money and mean nothing until a sale completes. The only honest yardstick is what comparable homes actually sold for. Here is Coventry, from HM Land Registry.
Coventry sold prices — computed for this article
| Property type | Sales | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|
| Terraced | 1178 | £210,000 |
| Semi-Detached | 630 | £253,800 |
| Detached | 294 | £415,000 |
| Flat-Maisonette | 257 | £127,000 |
| Other | 41 | £255,000 |
| All types | 2400 | £225,000 |
Method: computed from HM Land Registry Price Paid data, retrieved 2026-07-26 — 2400 completed sales in Coventry between 2025-09-19 and 2026-05-27. Middle half of the market: £170,000–£290,000. Land Registry records completed sales only, so this dataset cannot support any rent, yield, growth or asking-price figure — do not state one.
Private rents in the West Midlands rose 4.4% over the year to June 2026, against 3.4% for England as a whole. Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents, retrieved 2026-07-26. This is the rate of CHANGE by region — ONS regional data does not give a £/month rent for this town, so do not state one.
The one calculation that exposes a fake discount
The example that follows is illustrative, not a live deal — the £175,000 and £190,000 are made-up flyer figures used to show the method; the only real market number in it is the £210,000 Coventry terraced median from the HM Land Registry table above, retrieved 2026-07-26. Say a flyer offers a Coventry terrace at £175,000 and calls it “£35,000 below market value.” The advertised discount rests on a claimed value of £210,000. So ask one question: where did £210,000 come from?
- If £210,000 is an asking price pulled off a portal, it is worthless. Two identical terraces can be “on” at £210,000 and £185,000 on the same street.
- If £210,000 is the sold median — which, for Coventry terraces, it genuinely is — you are closer, but a median is the middle of all conditions. A refurb project is worth less than a done-up house, so the fair comparison may be well below £210,000.
The discount formula is unforgiving: discount = (comparable value − price) ÷ comparable value. Against the £210,000 median, £175,000 is a 16.7% discount. But pull the sold comps for that specific street in similar condition and suppose they run at £190,000 — now the real discount is (£190,000 − £175,000) ÷ £190,000 = 7.9%. Same deal, less than half the headline saving, once you use sold comps instead of a flattering town-wide figure. That gap is where amateurs lose money and sourcers make their margin. We have seen packs where the quoted “purchase price” was simply the seller’s asking price — inflating a nonexistent discount to a number that survives right up until a surveyor sees the house.
A buyer’s due-diligence checklist for packaged deals
This is the sequence we would run on any sourced or assigned deal before parting with money. It is specific to how packaged and assignment deals actually work — not a generic “top ten tips” list.
- 1. Demand the comparable evidence — sold, not asking. Ask the sourcer which completed sales support the valuation. If they can only show live listings, the discount is unproven. Cross-check three or four sold comps on Land Registry Price Paid, same type, same postcode district, last twelve months.
- 2. Condition-adjust. A median assumes average condition. If the deal is a refurb project, the honest comparable is a similar refurb project’s sold price, or the median minus a realistic works budget — never the median as-is.
- 3. Read what you are actually buying. On an assignment deal you are not buying the house from the sourcer — you are buying the benefit of their contract or option with the seller (more on this below). Get that in writing, and get the assignment fee disclosed in pounds, not hidden in an inflated “market value.”
- 4. Check title and tenure. Leasehold term, ground rent, service charge, restrictive covenants and any charges on the title all move the real value. A “BMV” leasehold flat with 70 years left is not below market value.
- 5. Price your own exit on the same basis. Whether you refinance or resell, model your exit value from sold comps too — not from the number that got you excited on the flyer.
What you are actually buying on an assignment deal
This is the part most buyers never have explained. Anteire Properties is not an estate agent and does not own the houses we introduce. We negotiate directly with a motivated seller and secure the right to buy — an option or an assignable contract — as principal. What passes to the investor is that secured right, at a genuinely below-median price, with our fee disclosed up front. It is a legitimate, long-established structure, but you should always know which of these you are being offered: a straight introduction, an assignment of contract, or a back-to-back purchase. If a sourcer cannot tell you plainly, walk away.
The gate exists to protect you, not just us
A well-run process gives you room to verify before you commit. With Anteire the sequence is deliberately buyer-safe: viewing the property is free; the full deal pack — complete comparable analysis, offer strategy and our sourcing fee — is released after a signed NDA; and a refundable £1,000 reservation takes the deal off the market while you complete your own searches and due diligence. You are never asked to pay for the property, or to reserve it, before you have seen the evidence. If a “BMV” opportunity demands money before it will show you a single sold comparable, that is your answer.
Do the ten-minute check on every deal — yours or ours. The best discounts survive scrutiny; the fake ones evaporate the moment you swap asking prices for sold ones.
Work With Anteire Properties
If you want sourced, genuinely below-median opportunities where the comparable evidence is on the table before you commit, that is how we package every deal — you check the numbers first and reserve only when they hold up.
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