A double-glazing salesman has earned £1,740 by spotting empty homes as a side hustle, using the money to fund his love of kebabs. Toby Yarrow, 46, from Portsmouth, works as a door-to-door salesman for windows in Hampshire but keeps an eye out for vacant properties during his rounds.
How the Side Hustle Works
When Toby identifies an empty property, he takes a photo and sends the address to Empty Property Hunters, a London-based firm that buys vacant homes to return them to use. If the firm confirms the property is empty, Toby receives £20. If they later purchase it, he gets 1% of the purchase price.
Over about two years, Toby has earned roughly £1,740 from this side hustle. He said: “I love a kebab. You can never have too many of them, and every £20 I earn goes towards kebabs and takeaways. It’s fantastic.” His weekly doner with chilli sauce comes from local ‘Copnor Grill’ kebab house.
The Inspiration: A Dead Pigeon
Toby’s first successful lead came from a dead pigeon. He explained: “I can spot a vacant house within seconds. And that pigeon was no exception - it led me to an abandoned home. So that poor bird made easy money for me. I just saw it as £20 lying on the ground waiting to be collected, you wouldn’t walk over one of them would you.”
Addressing the Housing Shortage
There are over one million empty residential properties in England, with about 265,000 vacant for more than six months, according to Empty Property Hunters. The firm aims to find homes for thousands of families amid a severe housing shortage. Toby said: “It’s great knowing that a house I spot could get repurposed, and a family could have a roof over their heads one day. It’s win-win as far as I’m concerned.”
Tips for Spotting Empty Homes
Toby shared his top tips for aspiring hunters:
- Look for physical signs when door-knocking: cobwebs sealing the front door, built-up mail, mouldy curtains, bins with cobwebs between them (indicating they haven't been moved), weeds on driveways, and gates that have not been trampled down.
- Knock and ask neighbours whether anyone lives next door.
- Post on Facebook to ask your community to report derelict or nuisance properties.
- Search Google for “abandoned house complaints” to find streets mentioned in complaints, then cross-reference on Google Maps or Street View.
- Check Google Earth from satellite view for overgrown or unusual-looking properties.
- Document with video evidence: send narrated walkthroughs to the firm.
How to Report a Property
Step 1: Take a clear photo of the property. Step 2: Submit the address and upload your picture to Empty Property Hunters. Step 3: The team will investigate and keep you updated if your lead progresses.
Toby added: “It's just purely a numbers game if you do enough hours and you do enough doors, probability will be on your side, and you will find an empty home.”
