Jordane Thompson
Published: August 9th, 2022
Updated: April 22nd, 2025
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Can You Find an Investment Property Using Zoopla?
We like to think we’re experts when it comes to finding properties for investment, it’s what we do and we’ve been pretty successful at it! Although we get our property opportunities for our members off the traditional market, which you can sign up for, we also know a thing or two when it comes to finding a great deal in a more traditional way.
One often overlooked way of finding a great deal as an investor is to simply use Zoopla, well, using Zoopla right. If you’re not an expert on the platform, not to worry, we’ve written this guide on how you can get started and hopefully find a fantastic investment opportunity.
Yes – of course, you can! Zoopla is a treasure trove of hidden gems when it comes to investment opportunities, it just takes a little bit of time, effort and patience. A lot of investors dismiss online property portals as it does require leg work, or it might simply just seem too hard to actually find a worthwhile deal, but there are several tips and tricks to really improve the searching process.
There are other platforms that can also be great for finding a deal, like Rightmove & OnTheMarket, but Zoopla has some fantastic tools and filters so you can really narrow down your search and save a lot of effort which we will go into a lot more detail next!
Let’s get started, the reason you’re here – finding that Zoopla opportunity!
Step 1: Setting up an account on Zoopla
In order to access some of the better filters and save a shortlist of the best ones that you’ve set up, for ease of access in the future, it’s necessary to sign up for an account. It’s really easy to do, it only takes a few minutes and all you need is an email address.
Step 2: Determining your filters
This will likely be personal to you, but you need to start filtering the properties that you’re looking for. In this example, we’ll start by looking at properties in Leeds. You then want to get more specific about what you’re looking for, if possible – this can be on the number of bedrooms, price, property type & must-haves.
You also want to exclude any new homes, retirement homes & shared ownership, as typically speaking these aren’t great for investment opportunities.
Step 3: Testing different keywords
Depending on what you’re looking for you might want to test different keywords within the filter, here are some great ones to find properties that might need a bit of work, as an example:
- “in need of”
- “requiring a new”
- “potential”
- “refurbishment”
Step 4: The BEST filter
There is one filter on Zoopla that is by far and away the best filter available for you when looking for investment opportunities & it’s the “Most reduced” one.
If you select this filter in the drop-down, it will show you within your search what the price reduction has been in a percentage figure. This is extremely important as it can indicate how desperate they are to sell their property – if there constantly reducing it, that would say they are becoming impatient with how long their property has been on the market giving you the perfect opportunity to swoop in with a low offer.
Step 5: Bolt-on Tools
There are some fantastic tools out there that can really help your search and put you in a favourable situation when it comes to negotiating the offer. If you are using a browser like Google Chrome there are some excellent plugins out there you can use, like PatMa Property Investigation Tool.
What this does is shows you the full history of the house, from when it was first seen, to any price changes or even when it’s gone from Sold to being back on the market.
Step 6: Using the map search
You can narrow your search with “Map View”. If you have a good knowledge of the local area, then you’ll probably love this feature. When you click the map view button you’re taken to a map with an outline surrounding the area you’ve searched, you can then edit this area to really narrow into specific locations within it.
Are you stuck on what you should actually be looking at to narrow down all those filters & really hone in on the perfect property for you? We’ve highlighted a few of the main things you should consider to help you narrow your filters.
Average property price
Well, this should go without saying, it’s how much you can afford! Typically with investment properties, people tend to start with a lower budget, but what you need to consider is that might straight away rule out some areas.
Do remember the price of the house might be listed higher than what the owner would accept as an offer for the property – so you want to look at properties slightly higher than what you are looking to spend as you might be able to negotiate down.
Average rental yield
This should be a big dictating factor if you’re looking to rent the property out, the rental yield is the potential returns on your property investment. It’s worked out as a percentage figure calculated by the annual rental income divided by purchase price x 100.
The higher the percentage figure, the better the investment.
Growth of the area
If you’re looking to hold this investment for the long term then you will want to consider what the area is looking like in terms of growth. Are there some good plans from the local council to invest in new developments in the area? If there is a lot of investment in the area it can often help increase the property value.
Consider what tenants it would appeal too
There might be a certain type of tenant that you want to attract to the property for whatever reason. This might help you determine the property type you want, for instance, a two-bedroom terrace will likely attract professionals or couples, whereas a 3 bedroom semi-detached will be more attractive to a small family.
They each have their own advantages, but personally, we feel like just due to a few extra filters that Zoopla have, it has the edge. Although you are likely to find more properties on Rightmove, the main concern for people looking to invest is usually the hours it can take to actually find a good deal, and Zoopla helps cut down that time.
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