A quick way to sell a house? or not.

Hemlock

I am looking for some advice regarding selling a property.
My Father-in-law has recently died while in residential accommodation and his house has been for sale since last April. The estate agent is finding it difficult to find a buyer (like everyone else now) and has suggested that we lower the price considerably in light of the economic gloom. I still feel that this could drag on for some time, so am wondering if anyone has had any experience with people like National Homebuyers et al who offer to buy the house fairly quickly and what percentage I am likely to lose on the asking price. I have already approached one agent by phone and they are sending me an information pack. They have however, already told me there will be a surveyor’s fee of £495 whether I choose to accept their findings or not.
Is this the normal fee I should expect to pay if I want to accept four or five different quotes, and what experience has anyone had using this method of trying to sell their property?
M.

lonestar1

I suspect you would get less from homebuyer than you would by dropping the price enough for it to sell quickly to normal buyers

GDB2222

Generally, these sorts of guys make very, very low offers, but they make a bit on the survey fees. So, you work it out.

In your position, I would price it very very very competitively, instruct 3 estate agents, and watch a queue of buyers develop. Alternatively, put it in an auction with a realistic reserve.

poppysarah

What do the EA say it'll sell at.
Where are you?

Expect to get 50% or less for a quick sale from one of these companies - or worse a valuation you won't want to know about and being the fee down!

Hemlock

poppysarah wrote: »

What do the EA say it'll sell at.
Where are you?

Expect to get 50% or less for a quick sale from one of these companies - or worse a valuation you won't want to know about and being the fee down!

Well I’m not that far away from your good self in Cheshire.
Way back in April, the estate agent was adamant that we should be looking at offers over 250,000. I wasn’t so sure about that knowing the amount of money needed to be spent on bringing it up to a reasonable level.
50% is an awful lot to lose, but doing nothing could see that sort of devaluation in the housing market over the next 18 months or two years anyway if the credit crunch continues. Talk about a rock and a hard place!
M.

IHS88

Hemlock

Please, please please do not part with any money for a surveyors valuation as requested by this company.

There are a few "quick cash buying companies" that charge vast amounts for a simple valuation.

In all honesty, they are not interested in buying your home. They only want to take advantage of your need to sell and desire for an offer. If they do make you an offer it will likely be at 45% - 50% market value!!

"Quick cash buying companies" get a bad press and in many cases, deserved.

Google the company you mention and the word "watchdog" and see what appears if you catch my drift!

Shop around and only obtain an offer/quote from a company that is prepared to do 10 mins quick online research to give you an indication of an offer.

These firms typically offer between 70% - 80% of market value. Speak with national companies and local operators too.

You may find that the local operator who advertises in the free local paper will pay a little more. Local expertise from a smaller local firm may mean a higher offer.

If you can wait a a few years to sell then I would do so. This is not a good time to be selling and is without doubt a buyers market.

If you do wish to sell, then the "quick cash buying companies" could offer you a quick fix.

But never, ever pay for an upfront survey.

It has been suggested that some firms make so much from charging for surveys that they dont bother taking the risk and buying any property!

Good luck!

Hemlock

Thanks for all your suggestions which I appreciate, especially HIS88,
which I have taken on-board.
Another trip to other estate agents is warranted I think at this time.
M.

MarkwP

I was involved in a chain with this company,

The people buying my house were selling theirs to National Home Buyers. They said they could do it in 4 weeks, After 5 weeks they then started making excuse after excuse as to why they could not exchange.

This went on for 9 weeks and after they thought they had injected enough desperation into the chain, they phoned up my buyer and said "we are ready to exchange but we are dropping our offer by 30k!!!!!!" they were only buying it for 100K and its Market Value at that time was 140k