National homebuyers

kazzy

Have you seen the advert on tv for this co?? They WILL buy your house.Has anyone had any experience of this and if so please enlighten me!!.
I understand the co. needs to make a profit but i am curious to know if they make realistic offers or offer way below the av. value of your house.
Eg if i were selling my house which has been valued for say £315k,would national homebuyers offer £300-£305k(which one might accept if desperate to move) but would they offer a derisery figure of say £250k-which I would never accept but someone desperate might??

F_T_Buyer

It was on watchdog. They will offer a lot less than what you could get on the open market - it's how they make you money!

But if your desperate to sell...

meanmachine_2

Personally I'd regard a 250K offer on a property "valued" at 315K eminently sensible.

But then, I'm eminently sensible.

There have been a thousand threads on this subject already. I suggest you do a search.

anticlaus105

meanmachine wrote:

Personally I'd regard a 250K offer on a property "valued" at 315K eminently sensible.

But then, I'm eminently sensible.

There have been a thousand threads on this subject already. I suggest you do a search.

Exactly. What do people think national homebuyers are? A charity.

I understand the concern that they can just make money from doing surveys and then making completely stupid offers. But then again most people are asking stupid prices for houses so they are just as bad if not worse.

Ian_W

Erm, let me see .....
3% SDLT to buy @ £300K = £9,000
2% EA fees to sell at £315K = £6,300
Buy & sell legal fees = £1,000+

Don't think they'd be in business long if they bought £315K houses for £300K do you? And that's assuming your house valued at £315K is what it would sell for quickly rather than an owner Asking Price. I do think they do it to make a profit and a hefty one at that because people who use them are usually pretty desperate to sell. So my guess is nearer £230/£240K than £300K.

There you go, I'm even meaner than meanmachine!!

One thing to watch out for with these co's is that they require you to pay up front for their surveyor to value your property on whch they might offer 70-80% of a "trade valuation". So you lose money if you don't accept and lose a lot more if you do.

Tassotti

As far as I am aware NHB are the ONLY company to charge for a survey fee. This is how they make their money. From reports, they hardly ever buy houses.

Most companies of this type, mine included, do not charge any fees and will often pay sellers solicitors fees.

Did you realise that the average selling price to asking price percentage is 93.5%, so on your 315K, so that is around 294K.

If you want 300K, put it on with an EA, and be prepared to wait 5-6 months to sell.

dander

Bear in mind that if you're desperate to sell a house fast, you could always just price the house cheaply in the open market. Or put it in an auction for a low reserve. Say the house is actually worth £300k - well knock £20k off and you'll probably get someone who'll snap it up for £280k and be very happy with their bargain. That's more than you'd get from a house buying company and the same result in the end.

Doozergirl

Hear, hear dander!

crisp

NHB put sellers in a difficult position by demanding a survey fee upfront before they have even made an offer or seen the property. As there is no outlay for them, it can lead them to low offers (50% of open market value in some cases). This is why they have been dubbed not house buyers but survey sellers.

there are other companies out there and some will charge you a survey fee, but only after they have seen the property and made an offer and refund the fee on purchase. this is more sensible.

to make money out of buying property cheap you need a very good margin. once you paid survey, stamp, mortgage interest, legals, selling costs, build work, income tax on profits, arrangement fees etc etc you dont make as much as people think and that why offers at 70 to 80% of open market value are made.

the chancellor is the one that makes the most money out of it, with no cost and no risk!

Tassotti

Hear hear Crisp