As folks may already know we are currently selling our house we have had letters from a couple of house buying companies, my question is has anyone on here used any of these companies and how do you rate them would you recommend any in particular ?.
Thanks in advance.
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I have heard that such companies sometimes allow the conveyancing process to progress and the seller to incur costs then with the house move imminent look for excuses to reduce the purchase price. You the seller and if there are others in a chain are then forced to consider absorbing the reduced offer. The company buying can walk away from the deal far easier than the homeowners who is moving for reasons relating to their lives and family future. Best of luck hope all goes well.
I'm not in the position of owning a house, but I think I would be very wary. Especially if they are anything like the "We-buy-any-car" type operation. They offer you a price, then when you turn up with the car they drop it considerably.
As towedyears in effect has said, the company has little to lose, you do.
I agree with daveyip. I sold my house within 1 day of it going on the market for the full asking price. A near neighbour sold theirs within hours by word of mouth and getting the full asking price. The buyer was another neighbour who bought it for his mum. My wife and I decided not to move in the end unable to find anywhere nicer. My advice would be give you home kerb and buyer appeal. Box and store any clutter tidy garden away you go.
Most of these will offer around 75% of market value, the typcial sold price. Not the often inflated selling price.
If you need to sell then either make your house look more appealing, offer to pay stamp duty (if that is still allowed) and knock a few k of the house.
yes we have had seven viewings and the feedback from five of them was the house is nice but too small overall, one gave no feedback, one has said they think the bedrooms may be too small but they are not ruling it out and may do a second viewing .
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Quote: Originally posted by Decto on 27/9/2019
Most of these will offer around 75% of market value, the typcial sold price. Not the often inflated selling price.
If you need to sell then either make your house look more appealing, offer to pay stamp duty (if that is still allowed) and knock a few k of the house.
Have you had any buyer feedback from viewings?
I'm not aware of many sellers who readily accept a 25% price drop between advert and eventual selling price, if they did everyone would use a housebuying service!
yes we have had seven viewings and the feedback from five of them was the house is nice but too small overall, one gave no feedback, one has said they think the bedrooms may be too small but they are not ruling it out and may do a second viewing .
It sounds like buyers are either able to get more space with less cash or being unrealistic about what they can get for their budget.
It may be worth a look at sold prices in your area for similar houses in your street or close by and being honest with yourself about the comparisons. We tend to look favourably on things we already own.
It's also not a great time to sell as a move now would fall over the Christmas period. If you're not in a rush, you may do better to take it off for a few months, perhaps declutter or a fresh coat of paint in some areas then relist in the spring.
I had some unsolicited offers from house buying companies while my house was on the market. The offers were for about 2/3 of the asking price and about 3/4 of what I eventually sold for. I would have been out of pocket by about £100,000 if I had taken their offer.
Basically they are sharks taking advantage of people in difficult positions (like they must sell before a certain date) or people who are going senile (like moving into an old-folks home). I was neither.
I think in my case they were also trying to take advantage of the fact that my house was a one-off, not one on an estate of similar or identical houses. In the latter case the price to expect is fairly easily established by looking at recent nearby sales (it's public info). With a one-off house the price to expect is not obvious.
These companies are preying on folk who are desperate to move for whatever reason, hence take full advantage.
Selling can take a long time. We had just two credible offers. The first one after a month - which i thought was a cert. fell through after 2 months. Then we got the second offer 2 months later, which took us to 9 months from marketing to moving.
We were in a place where prices had not risen in over 10 years, so felt extremely lucky to get the money we needed, and 'escape'.
UPDATE
we have had another viewing over the weekend and they they liked our house and have made us an offer which we have accepted so we will not need to resort to using any of those companies.
thanks to all those who gave advice, much appreciated. 👍
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