MEMBER's SUCCESS STORY
7 Deals in 3 Months: How Bruno Silva Sources Motivated Sellers with Property Filter
80% offer rejection rate. Then Property Filter. Seven deals in 3 months - and close to £3.8 million in GDV.
Yorkshire · Managing Director · Smart Dreams Property · Northstar Property Group · Blueest Property Group Limited
AT A GLANCE
Member
Bruno Silva
Company
Smart Dreams Property, Northstar Property Group, Blueest Property Group Limited
Location
Wakefield
Strategy
HMOs, service accommodation, commercial conversions
PF Feature Used
Motivated seller filter, follow-up reminders, pipeline and notes, AI assistant
Stand-out deal
£153K purchase (6-month negotiation from £141K), commercial GDV £575K
Results like these are happening every week. See how Property Filter works.
Before Property Filter, Bruno Silva was doing what most investors do: scrolling Rightmove, Zoopla, and other portals - submitting offers and watching most of them get rejected. Not because the numbers were wrong. Because the vendors were not motivated to sell.
Bruno Silva's challenge before Property Filter
Bruno Silva, Managing Director of Smart Dreams Property, Northstar Property Group, and Blueest Property Group Limited, started building his property portfolio around two years ago. His strategy spans HMOs, service accommodation, and commercial conversions - but in the early months, finding the right deals was proving far harder than expected.
He was using another software platform alongside Rightmove and Zoopla, but neither gave him what he needed. The lead generators were limited, and the fundamental problem remained: he had no reliable way to identify which vendors were actually motivated to sell. "80% out of 100 I would have offers denied because they were just not motivated," he explains. "The more silly offers I would put, the more denied offers I would get."
The solution came unexpectedly. At a property event, Bruno saw a well-known UK property mentor using Property Filter on stage. It was enough to get his attention. He stayed late that evening to speak personally with a Property Filter team member - and started using the platform shortly after.
"80% out of 100 I would have offers denied because they were just not motivated, you know, and the more silly offers I would put, the more denied offers I would get. That all changed when I started to use Property Filter."
How Bruno Silva uses Property Filter to find motivated sellers
The fundamental shift Property Filter created for Bruno was visibility. He could now see clearly which properties had indicators of vendor motivation - and which did not. Instead of casting offers widely and hoping, he could focus his time and energy on the deals most likely to move.
The lead generators replaced hours of manual portal scrolling. Rather than opening Rightmove, Zoopla, and multiple other sites to piece together the data he needed - comparables, price reductions, time on market, area maps, planning data - Bruno could find it all in one place. At his peak, he was doing around 20 viewings per week.
For deals that did not immediately convert, he uses Property Filter's reminder system to schedule follow-ups every two or four weeks. And the pipeline view gives him a live picture of what needs chasing, what has been sold, and what is still in negotiation. "I can visualise what I have to follow, what I've done, what I still need to be doing," he says.
"Property Filter does the best is to filter motivated sellers. You can have a good deal - but if the vendor is not motivated, you're not going to get anywhere."
Bruno Silva's challenge before Property Filter
Bruno Silva, Managing Director of Smart Dreams Property, Northstar Property Group, and Blueest Property Group Limited, started building his property portfolio around two years ago. His strategy spans HMOs, service accommodation, and commercial conversions - but in the early months, finding the right deals was proving far harder than expected.
He was using another software platform alongside Rightmove and Zoopla, but neither gave him what he needed. The lead generators were limited, and the fundamental problem remained: he had no reliable way to identify which vendors were actually motivated to sell. "80% out of 100 I would have offers denied because they were just not motivated," he explains. "The more silly offers I would put, the more denied offers I would get."
The solution came unexpectedly. At a property event, Bruno saw a well-known UK property mentor using Property Filter on stage. It was enough to get his attention. He stayed late that evening to speak personally with a Property Filter team member - and started using the platform shortly after.
"80% out of 100 I would have offers denied because they were just not motivated, you know, and the more silly offers I would put, the more denied offers I would get. That all changed when I started to use Property Filter."
How Bruno Silva uses Property Filter to find motivated sellers
The fundamental shift Property Filter created for Bruno was visibility. He could now see clearly which properties had indicators of vendor motivation - and which did not. Instead of casting offers widely and hoping, he could focus his time and energy on the deals most likely to move.
The lead generators replaced hours of manual portal scrolling. Rather than opening Rightmove, Zoopla, and multiple other sites to piece together the data he needed - comparables, price reductions, time on market, area maps, planning data - Bruno could find it all in one place. At his peak, he was doing around 20 viewings per week.
For deals that did not immediately convert, he uses Property Filter's reminder system to schedule follow-ups every two or four weeks. And the pipeline view gives him a live picture of what needs chasing, what has been sold, and what is still in negotiation. "I can visualise what I have to follow, what I've done, what I still need to be doing," he says.
"Property Filter does the best is to filter motivated sellers. You can have a good deal - but if the vendor is not motivated, you're not going to get anywhere."
Feature Spotlight
Bruno's core Property Filter workflow: motivated seller filter + reminders + pipeline
Bruno uses three Property Filter features in combination. The motivated seller filter surfaces properties with genuine indicators of vendor motivation. The reminders system allows him to track every live negotiation with scheduled follow-ups. And the pipeline and notes view means he never loses sight of what is active, what has moved, and what needs action.
The result is a deal flow he can manage without spending hours each day on portals. "For me, anything that is more than 10 minutes - I go into Property Filter. I like this property, it's interesting - I add it. I don't like this - I delete it."
"Property filter gives you everything. I wish I could start to use Property Filter way before."
Rule 3: never ignore STC properties
This is the tip Dion would give himself if he were starting again: do not just look at what is on the market. When a property has been sold subject to contract (STC) for a while, there is a high chance it falls through, or as he puts it, "40% of properties fall out of bed." So every STC property in his area that fits his criteria goes on a watchlist. When one comes back to the market, Property Filter sends a notification, and he hits the phone straight away. By then the agent has had to put the property back on the market with the vendor on their case, and Dion has a high chance of securing it. Fellow member Justin Ingrey found two fall-through deals with a single Property Filter indicator.
Bruno's core Property Filter workflow: motivated seller filter + reminders + pipeline
Bruno uses three Property Filter features in combination. The motivated seller filter surfaces properties with genuine indicators of vendor motivation. The reminders system allows him to track every live negotiation with scheduled follow-ups. And the pipeline and notes view means he never loses sight of what is active, what has moved, and what needs action.
The result is a deal flow he can manage without spending hours each day on portals. "For me, anything that is more than 10 minutes - I go into Property Filter. I like this property, it's interesting - I add it. I don't like this - I delete it."
"Property filter gives you everything. I wish I could start to use Property Filter way before."
Rule 3: never ignore STC properties
This is the tip Dion would give himself if he were starting again: do not just look at what is on the market. When a property has been sold subject to contract (STC) for a while, there is a high chance it falls through, or as he puts it, "40% of properties fall out of bed." So every STC property in his area that fits his criteria goes on a watchlist. When one comes back to the market, Property Filter sends a notification, and he hits the phone straight away. By then the agent has had to put the property back on the market with the vendor on their case, and Dion has a high chance of securing it. Fellow member Justin Ingrey found two fall-through deals with a single Property Filter indicator.
7 deals
7 deals
7 deals
7 deals
closed in first 3 months
£153K
£153K
£153K
£153K
case study purchase price
£575K
£575K
£575K
£575K
commercial GDV (conservative)
£3.8M
£3.8M
£3.8M
£3.8M
total GDV found to date
<30 min
<30 min
<30 min
<30 min
daily research (was 3-4 hours)
The case study: 6 months, one property, never gave up
The deal that best illustrates Bruno's approach came from his own area. He spotted a property suitable for conversion into a 6-bed HMO. The asking price was £165,000-£169,000. After running the numbers - including a conservative commercial GDV valuation using yield-based methodology - he calculated he could offer no more than £141,000.
"I want the vendor to say no," Bruno explains. "Otherwise he'd call me stupid - because I offered too much." A few hours after viewing, the offer was rejected. Bruno set a 2-week reminder in Property Filter and added the property to his pipeline. Then he waited.
What followed was 6 months of back-and-forth negotiation. "They have to be the motivated sellers," Bruno says. "Not me the motivated buyer." He tracked every exchange in his pipeline, scheduled follow-up reminders every 2 weeks, and continued submitting offers systematically. He eventually raised his offer to £153,000 - the vendor rejected it. Two weeks later, Bruno submitted the same figure again. This time, they accepted.
The final deal: purchase price £153,000, back-to-brick conversion to a 6-bed HMO, commercial GDV £575,000 on a conservative yield-based valuation. Across all three of his companies, Bruno's total GDV from properties found through Property Filter now stands at close to £3.8 million.
"They have to be the motivated sellers - not me the motivated buyer."
From 3-4 hours a day to half an hour: the AI assistant
One of the more recent features Bruno highlights is Property Filter's AI assistant. Before Property Filter, calculating whether a property was worth pursuing required pulling data manually from multiple sites and building his own spreadsheets - a process that consumed 3 to 4 hours a day. Now it takes half an hour or less, sometimes every other day.
"The AI assistant is brilliant. It's just brilliant," Bruno says. "What would take me half an hour - now it's just a click away. Copy the AI link, paste it into Claude or ChatGPT, and it'll tell you everything you need to start your due diligence." Fast initial screening means more time spent on the deals that actually deserve deeper analysis - and less time wasted on the ones that do not.
"The AI assistant is brilliant. It's just brilliant. What would take me for example half an hour to set everything up and do a bit of due diligence - now it's just a click away."
Bruno's advice for anyone considering Property Filter is direct: "I would tell the Bruno in the past - why didn't you find Property Filter earlier? Any investment strategy that you want to pursue, Property Filter is the way to make it through."
The case study: 6 months, one property, never gave up
The deal that best illustrates Bruno's approach came from his own area. He spotted a property suitable for conversion into a 6-bed HMO. The asking price was £165,000-£169,000. After running the numbers - including a conservative commercial GDV valuation using yield-based methodology - he calculated he could offer no more than £141,000.
"I want the vendor to say no," Bruno explains. "Otherwise he'd call me stupid - because I offered too much." A few hours after viewing, the offer was rejected. Bruno set a 2-week reminder in Property Filter and added the property to his pipeline. Then he waited.
What followed was 6 months of back-and-forth negotiation. "They have to be the motivated sellers," Bruno says. "Not me the motivated buyer." He tracked every exchange in his pipeline, scheduled follow-up reminders every 2 weeks, and continued submitting offers systematically. He eventually raised his offer to £153,000 - the vendor rejected it. Two weeks later, Bruno submitted the same figure again. This time, they accepted.
The final deal: purchase price £153,000, back-to-brick conversion to a 6-bed HMO, commercial GDV £575,000 on a conservative yield-based valuation. Across all three of his companies, Bruno's total GDV from properties found through Property Filter now stands at close to £3.8 million.
"They have to be the motivated sellers - not me the motivated buyer."
From 3-4 hours a day to half an hour: the AI assistant
One of the more recent features Bruno highlights is Property Filter's AI assistant. Before Property Filter, calculating whether a property was worth pursuing required pulling data manually from multiple sites and building his own spreadsheets - a process that consumed 3 to 4 hours a day. Now it takes half an hour or less, sometimes every other day.
"The AI assistant is brilliant. It's just brilliant," Bruno says. "What would take me half an hour - now it's just a click away. Copy the AI link, paste it into Claude or ChatGPT, and it'll tell you everything you need to start your due diligence." Fast initial screening means more time spent on the deals that actually deserve deeper analysis - and less time wasted on the ones that do not.
"The AI assistant is brilliant. It's just brilliant. What would take me for example half an hour to set everything up and do a bit of due diligence - now it's just a click away."
Bruno's advice for anyone considering Property Filter is direct: "I would tell the Bruno in the past - why didn't you find Property Filter earlier? Any investment strategy that you want to pursue, Property Filter is the way to make it through."
Watch Bruno Silva's full Property Filter story
Bruno walks through his full journey - from 80% offer rejections to 7 deals in 3 months, including the 6-month negotiation that resulted in a £153,000 purchase with a GDV of £575,000.
Watch Bruno Silva's full Property Filter story
Bruno walks through his full journey - from 80% offer rejections to 7 deals in 3 months, including the 6-month negotiation that resulted in a £153,000 purchase with a GDV of £575,000.
Frequently asked questions
What is Property Filter's motivated seller filter?
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Ready to find motivated sellers before anyone else?
See how Property Filter's motivated seller filter, reminders, pipeline, and AI assistant can help you stop wasting offers on unmotivated vendors - the way Bruno Silva does it.
Join hundreds of property investors who use Property Filter every day to source, analyse, and act on deals faster.
Ready to find motivated sellers before anyone else?
See how Property Filter's motivated seller filter, reminders, pipeline, and AI assistant can help you stop wasting offers on unmotivated vendors - the way Bruno Silva does it.
Join hundreds of property investors who use Property Filter every day to source, analyse, and act on deals faster.