The moment the estate agent opened the bedroom door, I knew something was wrong.

It was June. A dry, slightly overcast morning on a street of Edwardian terraces — exactly the kind of property I’d been looking at for years. Nothing unusual from the outside. Nothing unusual on the ground floor. But upstairs, as the door swung open, I saw it straight away.

The bedroom ceiling was stained. A dark, spreading mark that told you water had been through there — and not long ago.

I stopped. Because something didn’t add up.

This was a mid-terrace — ground floor, first floor, two rooms in the attic above. There was another bedroom directly above this one. So the question wasn’t just “where did this water come from?” It was — how does water end up on the ceiling of a first-floor bedroom when there’s a room above it?

The estate agent was clearly rattled. “It wasn’t like this when I did a viewing last week,” he said.

I went upstairs, leaving him to call his client and tell them of the damage.

In the attic bedroom, I looked out of the skylight window and it was immediately clear what had happened. Slipped slates. Only about 4 slipped slates, but it was enough. Heavy rain had found its way in through the roof, tracked down through the attic floor and left its mark on the ceiling below. And not just one ceiling — it had also run across the joists into the other bedroom and the bathroom.

I knew it looked a lot worse than it was. Fixable. Not structural. Not rising damp. Not penetrating damp from the walls. A roof issue — specific, identifiable, with a known solution.

I made an offer. £25,000 below the £140,000 asking price. The offer was accepted.

Not because I was a clever negotiator. But because I could see what that ceiling was telling me — and I knew that many people who’d walk through that bedroom and who’d see the same stain, would draw their own conclusions, and quietly decide it wasn’t worth the risk.

To them, it would look like a problem. To me, it looked like an opportunity.

If you’re wondering, the repairs came to £2,500.

That’s what most buyers’ worst-case scenario actually costs when you know what you’re looking at.

That’s the difference between going to a viewing and going to an inspection. And it’s a difference that, on a single property, can be worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Imagine walking into a viewing and being able to do exactly that — to clock the stain on a ceiling, the crack above a door frame, the bloom on the brickwork — and know, not guess, exactly what each one is telling you. That’s what I want to give you.

Dear Fellow Property Investor,

Most property investors don’t walk into a viewing knowing what to look for.

And it’s not their fault. They’re not surveyors. Nobody taught them how to look at a property the way a professional does. So they see what the agent shows them — the layout, the light, the potential. And they miss what the agent doesn’t show them.

The damp behind the fresh paint. The roof that’s five years past its best. The crack that looks cosmetic but isn’t. The signs of a plumbing leak that a good clean and a coat of magnolia have done a reasonable job of hiding.

And then one of two things happens.

Either they make an offer based on what they saw — and overpay, because they didn’t know what the property was really going to cost them. Or they get a survey done AFTER their offer’s accepted, only to find out there are problems, but by then they’re already committed emotionally and financially. Walking away feels hard and renegotiating feels awkward so too often, they just press on and hope for the best.

And sometimes there’s a third thing that happens. They walk through a property, see something that looks serious, and quietly decide it’s not for them. Only to spend the next week wondering whether it was actually as bad as it looked. Whether perhaps it wasn’t that serious after all. Whether they’ve just passed on a bargain because they weren’t sure.

I’ve seen all three happen more times than I can count. Good investors, sensible people, making expensive mistakes — not because they were careless, but because they simply didn’t know what they were looking at.

My name is Peter Jones.

I’m an ex-Chartered Surveyor, an author, and a property investor with over 45 years in property. Before I built my own portfolio, I spent years as a professional surveyor — which means I’ve walked through more properties than most investors will see in several lifetimes, and I’ve trained myself to see what most buyers simply don’t notice.

But I also look at every property as an investor. Not just what’s wrong with it — but what it means for the numbers. Whether a problem is already priced in or whether it’s an opportunity. Whether it’s a reason to walk away, a reason to negotiate, or a reason to get the right professionals in before you go any further.

That combination is more unusual than you might think. Most surveyors aren’t investors. Most investors aren’t surveyors. I’ve spent 45 years being both — and this course is the result of everything I’ve learned from doing that.

At my peak I owned 75 rental properties, built from scratch with virtually none of my own money. I’ve since been quietly trimming the portfolio to fit my season of life — but that’s a different story. Along the way I’ve helped thousands of investors — through my books, my courses and my YouTube channel — to avoid the mistakes I made and get more out of the properties they buy.

And this course is one of the most practical things I’ve ever put together. Because knowing what to look for at a viewing isn’t just knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It changes how you buy — and what you buy.

The Good News Is, You Don’t Need to Be a Surveyor to See What a Surveyor Sees.

I want to be clear about something: you’re not going to become a surveyor by reading this course. That takes years of professional training and I wouldn’t pretend otherwise.

But here’s what’s also true: most of what catches investors out at a viewing isn’t obscure or technical. It’s knowable if you know where to look and what to look for. The signs are there — on the walls, the ceilings, the brickwork, around the windows and around the skirting boards — and once you know what you’re looking at, you’ll start to understand what each one is telling you.

That’s what 45 years of walking through properties teaches you. And it’s what I’ve spent a long time distilling into something any investor can pick up and use.

Not to replace professional advice. But to make sure you’re only spending time on properties that have potential — not on properties that were never going to work anyway. And that when you do move forward, you’re paying for professional advice on properties that genuinely deserve it.

That’s the real cost of not knowing what to look for. Not just the risk of buying something you shouldn’t. It’s the time, the stress, the money spent on properties you should have walked away from at the first viewing.

This course won’t make all of that disappear. But it will make sure a lot less of it happens to you.

Here’s Exactly What 63 Common Defects in Investment Property Will Do For You — and the Real, Practical Difference It Will Make to Every Viewing You Go to From Now On.

1. You’ll Have a Much Better Idea of What You’re Taking On — What Needs to Be Done, What It Could Cost, and Whether It’s the Sort of Thing You Want to Get Involved With.

Here’s what you won’t see on Rightmove or Zoopla. They don’t tell you what needs doing or how much the property is going to cost once you own it. The roof that’s five years past its best. The damp that’s been painted over. The electrics that haven’t been touched since the 1970s. This course won’t make you a surveyor — but it’ll give you a much better chance of spotting these things, and a genuine sense of what you’re looking at before you spend a single pound finding out officially.

2. You’ll Have a Much Better Idea of What This Property Will Really Cost You.

Once you know what’s there, you can start to price it. What will that roof cost? What does treating that level of damp typically run to? How much for a full rewire? You won’t have exact quotes — that’s what builders are for — but you’ll have a working sense of the numbers. And that working sense is what most investors simply don’t have after a vague viewing where they noticed the south-facing garden and not much else. It puts you in a completely different position from almost every other buyer looking at the same property.

3. You Can Negotiate the Right Price for You — Based on Knowledge, Not Hope.

After your inspection, you’ll know what the property needs. You may have a working sense of what it’ll cost — or at the very least, you’ll know what to research and what questions to ask a builder. With that information, you’ll have a much clearer sense of what you need to pay for the deal to work for you. Most investors making an offer don’t have that — they have a feeling about the price and a hope that the survey won’t throw anything up. But they have no real clarity around what it’ll cost to own this property, or how that affects the price they can afford to pay. Negotiating after a proper inspection is the difference between cold hard facts and guesswork. It gives you a much better chance of paying the right price for you — and making the profit you planned for.

4. You’ll Know Whether This Property Is Right for YOU — Not Just Whether the Numbers Stack Up.

Some investors are happy to take on underpinning, rewiring and a new roof if the price reflects it. Others would rather pay a little more for something straightforward and get on with their lives. Neither is wrong — but you can only make that call if you know what you’re walking into. A lower offer only compensates for the hassle if you’re someone who doesn’t mind the hassle. And only you know whether that’s you.

5. And If You’re Looking for a Project — to Renovate and Let, Refinance Through BRR, or Sell On at a Profit — You’ll Know Whether This Is the Right One.

For the renovator, finding defects isn’t a problem. Sometimes it’s the whole point. What matters is whether they’re the right defects — the kind that add value once fixed, and that you can afford to fix within a budget that still leaves you a profit. A property that needs a new kitchen, a bathroom and fresh decoration is a project with a predictable outcome. A property with serious structural movement, ongoing damp and a failing roof is a very different proposition — one where costs spiral and the numbers stop working. This course helps you tell the difference. Do the figures still work at those numbers? Is it work you’re genuinely happy to take on? Good — proceed to the next stage. If not — say next, move on, and find one that does.

And on top of everything above, I’m also going to take you through the things that matter to property investors — things that go beyond simply knowing what to look for.

You’ll Know Exactly What to Do With Everything You Find.

Spotting defects is only half the job. This course also walks you through how to think about what you’ve found — whether it means walking away, adjusting your offer, asking your builder to take a second look, or pressing ahead to a full survey with your eyes open. Finding a problem and knowing what to do about it are two very different things. This course gives you both.

You’ll Spot the Modern Defects That Most Investors — and Some Surveyors — Are Still Learning to Recognise.

There are issues showing up in investment properties right now that didn’t exist a generation ago. They’re not obvious. They’re not mentioned in the property details. And if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you can walk straight past them — and into a property that no mainstream lender will touch. This course covers them. After reading it, you’ll know what to look for and why it matters.

You’ll Know Which Properties Are Worth Spending Money On — and Which Ones Aren’t.

Every survey costs money. So do solicitors, builders’ quotes and the time you spend chasing a deal. This course won’t eliminate those costs — but it will make sure you’re spending them on properties that genuinely have potential, not on ones you could have ruled out at the viewing. Every time this stops you commissioning a survey on a property that was never going to work, it pays for itself several times over.

You’ll Understand Why Construction Type Matters — Before It Becomes an Expensive Surprise.

Not every property that looks straightforward is straightforward to mortgage or insure. Some construction types come with lending restrictions that have nothing to do with the condition of the property — and finding that out after you’ve instructed solicitors and paid for a survey is an expensive way to discover it. Knowing what you’re looking at before you commit saves you that cost.

And If You Ever Buy at Auction — You’ll Have an Advantage That Almost Nobody Else in the Room Has.

At auction there’s no pulling out. No renegotiating. No waiting for a survey to come back. The moment the hammer falls, you own whatever’s in that lot — problems and all. Which means every other bidder is making a final, legally binding decision based largely on guesswork. With 63 Common Defects under your belt, you won’t be. You’ll have walked through that property and formed a view. Not a surveyor’s view — but an informed one. And that’s an edge most people in the room simply don’t have.

And I’m going to show you how to do all of this by sharing my actual methodology for inspecting a property — learned and refined over literally thousands of inspections in the last 45 years. Most people ring the doorbell and go straight inside. Most investors start downstairs and work their way up. My methodology does neither — and I’ll show you why starting that way means you miss what the structure is really telling you. Where to start, which route to take, and what to look for at each stage — so you’re working through it methodically, the way a professional does, not wandering around hoping to spot something.