As the property investment game gets more challenging, the only sensible way to add to your portfolio in this environment is to buy properties significantly below market value. Do this properly, and you'll find you'll never need a deposit again.

The mortgage companies want you to find 15% of the purchase price every time you buy! Where on Earth do they think you have all these 15%'s stashed - under the floorboards?

This article will take you into the world of the below market value (BMV) investor, and show you how you can free yourself forever from the shackles of the 15% deposit.

You must first understand that it is perfectly possible to buy BMV properties, regardless of which area of the UK you live in, and almost regardless of your own financial circumstances. There are below market value properties for sale all over the UK, all the time. The challenge is tracking them down and adding them to your portfolio.

There are two routes to finding BMV properties for sale in the UK. One is through auctions, and the other is to track down motivated sellers yourself. In this article, I'll be concentrating on auctions - we'll leave the tracking down to another time!

People and organisations, such as banks, building societies, even the government, choose to sell through a property auction for two main reasons - speed and certainty. It generally takes no more than eight weeks at the most, and sometimes considerably less, to go from the decision to sell a property to the auctioneer taking bids for it in the auction room.

If the vendor sets a reserve - the minimum price they're happy to accept - and the reserve is met or exceeded on the day, then the property is sold the moment the auctioneers gavel falls, and the deal will be completed within 28 days.

No pulling out. No quibbling. No question.

As a BMV investor, you can get the auction catalogues from auction houses in your area, research potential properties, do your due diligence, turn up at the auctions, bid on your target properties, and then go ahead and complete on the deal within 28 days (or risk severe financial penalties).

All of this takes time, money, resources, a certain amount of skill and, if you're out-bid on the day, it's all for nothing and you have to start again. And let's be clear - not every property that goes through auction sells below market value - far from it!

The other way to do it is to use what might be called "vulture tactics".

Rather than spend all that time and energy scoping out possible BMV properties only to be out-bid by 'amateurs' who don't understand the true worth of a property, or who want it at more or less any cost, you just sit back and relax. Then, when the auction is over and the bidders have all gone home, you take a leisurely look at whatever lots are left unsold.

Just look at the advantages of this strategy...

* You only spend time and money researching the properties that are definitely still available

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