true discount
Total money deployed measured against open market value, rather than the headline discount on the purchase price.
A property bought at 20% below market value is not bought at a 20% discount. The buyer also pays stamp duty, legal fees, a survey, finance arrangement fees, interest, selling costs and the works themselves.
True discount is what is left once all of that is counted: total money deployed, against open market value. A purchase that looks 20% below market and costs 19% of value to transact and repair is not a discount, and the figure will say so with a negative number.
It is the number that decides whether a deal is worth doing, and it is almost always worse than the headline.
Where this comes up
- The Deal Score, and why it is computed after tax
Nine weighted components, each carrying its own reasoning, scored on profit after tax and capped by hard gates. A pre-tax score flatters every deal, and…
- Red Team stress testing: finding the fragile deal
Nine scenarios move the value, the works, the rate and the timeline — one at a time, then together. Only single-factor losses cap the score, because a deal…
- The walk-away price in a deal: computed, not chosen
The highest price at which a deal still works is computed from the same engine that scores it, so it cannot drift during a conversation. An offer below…
- A free property appraisal that shows the true discount
Every cost, the transfer tax and the stress tests on figures you supply, with no account and nothing tracked. It returns buyer-side arithmetic, not a Deal…
- Below market value is not the same as a discount
The headline discount ignores stamp duty, finance, works and selling costs. True discount counts every pound deployed, and it is almost always worse.
- Stamp duty and the additional dwelling surcharge
A company pays the additional dwelling surcharge from the first pound, with no starting threshold. On a typical purchase that is thousands, before anything…
- What open property data shows before a listing
Price Paid Data and the EPC register are free, official and quietly revealing. Together they show which properties were prepared for sale and never sold.
- Selling a house that needs work: assisted sale?
A cash sale, an assisted sale, a deferred structure or an ordinary listing. What each one pays, how long it takes, and what you give up for the speed.
- When a deal pack becomes a financial promotion
Direct property purchase sits outside the perimeter. Package it, share it, or publish a return, and the same pack becomes something only an authorised person…