have we sold our house for free?

ILW

If you are selling below market value, and they are apparently offering no better than completion within 120 days, why not use an estate agent who will not ask for money up front. Sounds like you have been scammed. Cannot see why any proper company would be asking for any payment until the deal had been completed. I would see if you can cancel the payment now.

maninthestreet

sceptical_seller wrote: »

no - sellyourhouse4free - ever heard of them?

Refer to the link provided above by Running Horse.
Why would any buyer want to pay a 2% fee for buying a house, especially
one they've never even viewed? Who is the buyer? I assume you have not yet exchanged contracts - don't be surprised if the offer from the buyer is withdrawn, to be replaced with another offer (maybe not even from the same buyer) that is a lot less.
Please do let us know how you get on.

goldbyron

As much as this seems like an obvious scam I sympathise with you and you don't deserve the negative comments. You are obviously very eager to sell for whatever reason and this can cloud our usual rational impulses. I do hope that it is not a scam for your sake - if it works out I would certainly consider it myself. Good luck.

RobertoMoir

I'm sure this is completely different to the scams mentioned in this forum before that just happened to use the exact same method. Pure coincidence, I bet.

Fire_Fox

sceptical_seller wrote: »

We have sent this money off via credit card to protect ourselves if the service is not provided.However this is so different and so easy in a current slow market I am anxious that it is too good to be true.
Has anyone sold their home successfully this way ? They have made this offer without ever asking for access to the house. The more I write the more mad it seems!
Any input or awareness of such companies would be much appreciated.
Thanks
p.s. they say they make their money by charging the investor 2%
I'll let the forum know if all goes well as it will be fab for us if it does and for other vendors.fingers crossed!!

Why would you pay the money and then start researching?

Cissi

Having read through the link posted by Running Horse (and the OP would do well to do the same as it's almost certainly the same outfit, whether they call themselves sellyourhouse4free or SYH4free dot com) I now wonder whether paying by credit card would actually offer any protection? Surely there are ways for the scammers to get round this? An obvious one would be for their "buyer" to come back with a substantially lower offer - and if the seller pulls out he forfeits the deposit.

OP, please do read through the other thread, and it may be worth contacting your bank/credit card provider as soon as possible to find out if you have any way of cancelling the transaction before it's too late. And I'd be seriously worried about having given my credit card details to this lot.

adg1

sceptical_seller wrote: »

this is so different and so easy in a current slow market I am anxious that it is too good to be true.

You've just hit the nail on the head. If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.

Let me guess - the offer was placed without the potential buyer viewing the property?

Sell Your House 4 Free is currently running in another posting linked to above. Read it carefully as it sounds like the same company, or another using the same methods.

The general gist is that you pay them 1% on acceptance of an offer, then this is returned at completion. The (probable) scal is that the deal will never go through to exchange/completion and hence you lose the sale and they get your 1% and disappear. This would link in with the fact the company has only been in existence since Sept 2009 - they would probably have been trading under s different name.

I sure hope this isn't a scam for your sake but it has all the hallmarks of one. They are playing on your wish to sell your house as fast as possible.

My advice would be to instruct the local agent that has the most success in your area and pay them their fee.

adbee

Phone your credit card company up now! Tell them what you have done, this is a SCAM!

Nothing about this adds up, it is the exactly same company as in the post by running horse.

I felt like banging my head agaisnt a wall when you said no it isnt SYH4free this company is called sellyourhouse4free. WAKE UP and phone your credit card company now!

sceptical_seller

thanks for your reply.We would gladly pay fees but the fact is that the house has been on the market for 2 years - it has sat like all 2nd time buyers houses as the market here is still dead. We removed it from an estate agency prior to launching down this route .Am off to phone them now!!

goldbyron

Have you considered an auction or just cutting your selling price by 10% to sell your home quickly but at least via a 'safe' route.