Ten snippets from one redacted folio. Swipe or use the arrows to see what a folio tells you before you offer.
Pre-offer research for homebuyers in England
Know what to offer
before you offer.
A folio is the evidence behind your offer on one home. What comparable homes sold for, what buyers really pay against asking, what the seller paid and when, the risks to check first and what the home will cost you to own. Then a plan for your offer, built from all of it.A folio is the evidence behind your offer on one home. What comparable homes sold for, the risks to check first and a plan for your offer. No agent, seller or portal pays us. You do, so it works for you.
- Data attributes on your home
- 500+
- Working days to your folio
- 2
- English homes covered
- 25M+
Built by two ex-Google founders, with 30+ years of data and product experience between them. SettleIQ on LinkedIn
Some of the public datasets
behind our folios
- EPC
- GIAS
- HMLR
- IMD
- NaFRA
- NaPTAN
- NHLE
- Noise
- NSPL
- Ofcom
- OSM
- PIPR
- Planning
- Radon
- UKHPI
- VOA
Research built on registered sales and public records, combined with SettleIQ market data. Not a RICS valuation, a survey, a price forecast or financial advice. Use it alongside a surveyor’s inspection, never instead of one.
Real folios, redacted
Three more folios.
Open any one and check the working.
02 · The flatE17
Ground-floor flat
Leasehold · Walthamstow, London
- Asking
- £450,000
- Open
- £440,000
- Comparables
- 46
03 · The semi-detached houseM19
Semi-detached house
Freehold · Manchester
- Asking
- £425,000
- Open
- £412,500
- Comparables
- 12
04 · The detached houseOX2
Detached house
Freehold · Oxford
- Asking
- £2,500,000
- Open
- £2,150,000
- Comparables
- 17
Why not a portal estimate
A portal estimate gives you a number.
A folio answers your questions.
Every folio page answers one question buyers ask before they offer, and shows its working: every sale it used, every rule it applied, every sale traced to its register. Here are six, in the order buyers ask them, and how far each tool gets you.
Where the tool takes youAnswers itGives you part of itDoesn’t
The question you’re askingProperty portal
estimateSold-price
searchSettleIQ
Folio
estimateSold-price
searchSettleIQ
Folio
01The askingHow does the asking compare with the sales?
Property portal estimate: Gives you part of it:A figure, without the sales behind it
Sold-price search: Gives you part of it:Nearby sales of every type, to compare yourself
SettleIQ Folio: answers it:From the redacted folioAbout £100,000 above where we place itPlaced among 25 comparable sales
02The proofWhich sales did you use, and can I check them?
Property portal estimate: Doesn’t answer it.
Sold-price search: Gives you part of it:Every nearby sale. You choose which count.
SettleIQ Folio: answers it:From the redacted folio25 sales, each one namedEvery one checkable on HM Land Registry
03The proofWhy is it priced where it is?
Property portal estimate: Doesn’t answer it.
Sold-price search: Doesn’t answer it.
SettleIQ Folio: answers it:From the redacted folioThe asking is £485 per sq ftAbove 23 of the 25 sales listed
04The placeWhat could go wrong?
Property portal estimate: Gives you part of it:Some facts from the listing
Sold-price search: Doesn’t answer it.
SettleIQ Folio: answers it:From the redacted folioTen risk checksAnd what to ask your surveyor and the agent
05Your planWhat should I offer?
Property portal estimate: Doesn’t answer it.
Sold-price search: Doesn’t answer it.
SettleIQ Folio: answers it:From the redacted folioTwo plans to choose fromOne follows the sales, one follows the asking
06Your planWhat do I say to the agent?
Property portal estimate: Doesn’t answer it.
Sold-price search: Doesn’t answer it.
SettleIQ Folio: answers it:From the redacted folioYour offer emailWritten from the evidence, for the plan you pick
Cost
Free
Free
£99 one folio
Where the tool takes youAnswers itGives you part of itDoesn’t
A folio doesn’t inspect the building and isn’t a valuation. It shows the registered sales of directly comparable homes, where the home sits among them and a plan you choose. The folio’s answers here come from our redacted folio for a listed end-terrace in Frome.
Request a folio
Choose your pack.
Yours within 2 working days.
Choose your folios, tell us about the first home and pay by card on our secure checkout.
How a folio is commissioned
- 01TodayYou request and pay
- 02Within 2 working daysWe send your folio
- 03When you offerYou make your offer
- 04With a packYour next homes, the same way
£99£199£279about £66 a folio in a 3-pack, about £56 in a 5-pack · VAT included · use packs within six months · each folio stays online for 12 months after we send it, and you can save a PDF at any time
How a folio is commissioned
01Today
You request and pay
Your first folio starts as soon as you pay. Every number in it rests on the home’s details, so take the asking price and floor area from the listing.
02Within 2 working days
We send your folio
By email, as a private link to the finished folio: your offer plan first, then every comparable sale, named, and the ten risk checks. Read it on a phone or a computer, in about 30 minutes.
03When you offer
You make your offer
The folio includes your offer email to the agent, and replies for when they push back. Your broker, surveyor or conveyancer gets a copy with only the pages they need, never your plan.
04With a pack
Your next homes, the same way
Send each further address when you’re ready, with nothing more to pay. Each folio follows within 2 working days.
Is a folio a valuation or a survey?
No. It is neither. A folio is not a RICS Red Book valuation, it is not a mortgage valuation, and it is not a building survey. It cannot assess structural condition, internal layout, decorative state or hidden defects, because it works from registered data rather than a site visit. Commission a qualified RICS surveyor for physical inspection; the folio is designed to be used alongside one, earlier in the process.
Will the agent or seller know I’ve ordered one?
No. SettleIQ never contacts the seller, the selling agent or anyone else about your folio, and never makes offers for you. The folio sits at a private link that only you have. For your advisers, it makes a PDF copy with only the pages they need.
Will a folio ever say the asking is in line with the sales?
Yes. It reports what the registered evidence shows, in either direction. If the asking sits within the sales range, the folio says so; if it sits below, it says that too. You still get the full offer plan, but the finding may be that the asking is in line with the sales.
What if my home is unusual or rural?
We look further out and further back for sales of homes like it, but never across property types. We only build a folio when there are enough directly comparable sales to stand behind every number. If there aren’t, we don’t publish it: a single folio is refunded in full, and a pack folio goes back into your pack.
How is this different from a portal estimate?
Most portal estimates give a single figure, without listing the sales behind it or the rules used to choose them. A folio names every comparable sale it used, states its matching rules and shows where the evidence is thin. It isn’t a valuation: it places the home among those sales by the steps on our Methodology page, and the offer plan built on them is our judgement.
Can my mortgage broker or buying agent use a folio?
Yes. The folio makes a PDF copy for your mortgage broker, solicitor or surveyor with only the pages they need. Mortgage brokers and buying agents who want folios for their own clients can partner with SettleIQ directly through settleiq.co.uk/partner.