Greenshoot Properties

symesd

Hi, anyone heard of or had experience with a company/website called greenshoot properties, they are based in Colchester.

They have offered to take over my mortgage, negotiate a 50% settlement figure on my secured loand and give me btwn £5,000-£15,000 cash to buy my house from me.

Does this sound ok - they say it is a practice which has been going on in Austrailia and USA for some years now.

Its a way of getting me out of debt and they get my property for less than market value to either do up & rent or sell on in a few years time - I asked them what they get out of it and they said they help people to get out of bad debt, negative equity & repossession whilst they get a property to add to their portfolio - they say house prices will rise eventually and this is what they are banking on - they will re-coup their money when house prices go up.

What do you think - It would be a life line to me as we would get rid of all our secured debts and be able to negotiate on our personal debt and may even clear most of it with the cash. We can then move into rented accommodation for a few years whilst we pay of the remaining personal debt and then start saving to get back onto the housing ladder - debt free in about 3-5 years time.

If we carry on the way we are it will probably take us about 18yrs to be debt free and we will remain in this house which we cannot sell at the moment as no takers at the asking price.

HELP!

Running_Horse

Have you posted a Statement Of Affairs on the debt free forum here?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

Nobody on this forum is going to say this company sounds like a good idea.

ILW

Why not just sell your property at "less than market value" yourself. It appears that is all this company is offering to do.

MobileSaver

symesd wrote: »

Hi, anyone heard of or had experience with a company/website called greenshoot properties, they are based in Colchester.

Assuming it is greenshootSproperties (with an 'S') then the domain name is listed as "The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service" which is clearly not true and always a concern.

Companies House shows the company was only set up on 22/1/10 so of course there's no financial history to check up on.

Are they asking for an upfront fee to value your house and/or process the sale?

What's the postcode of your house and what type it is? How much do you have it priced at and what's the size of the secured loans/mortgage? Armed with this we might be able to offer more feedback.

symesd

The ful trading address is showing on the website, I do not see a problems with no details on WHOIS.

I have done a lot of research on the chap who I have been speaking with and he seems to be genuine - havent found anything negative on the internet - he appears to have been trading in this company since Aug 2009 according to his twitter & blog & facebook pages and appears to be very open about what he does.

He is also on Linkenden - with all his details about what he is about

I cannot find anything bad about this man or his company - looks like he does some kind of "Lease Option purchasing" which is a practice which has been going on in Austrailia and the USA for some time.

ILW

Without being able to see this companies accounts (balance sheet) you will be taking a very big risk and could end up losing everything.

symesd

ILW wrote: »

Without being able to see this companies accounts (balance sheet) you will be taking a very big risk and could end up losing everything.

Thats kinda the point - want to get rid of my house and this chap seems to think he can do this for us.

and we will have some money at the end of it - so we can start to pay off the personal debt

ILW

You could end up with loss of title, but still liable for the mortgage. If this guy can make a profit on your home, why can't you?

MobileSaver

Have you checked they/he are authorised by the FSA?

FSA Register

As they're taking over your mortgage and/or releasing equity it may be classed as a 'home finance activity' so worth checking with the FSA whether this comes under their remit.

clutton_2

lease options are perfectly legitimate.... and can provide a legal way forward for some people... may i suggest you post this request on a website called property tribes.. there are some excellent lease operators on their and they will comment on the arrangements suggested for you

patman99

Seen this guy at my local bootsale. He has a stall there every week.
Mind you, so do several other local traders as they expose themselves to a foot-fall of 4,000+ people for £14 a day. Nowhere in Colchester offers that sort of passing trade for so little outlay.

I guess the way he operates is to buy your house then charge you rent. When the market value increases sufficiently, he will not renew your tenantcy, and will sell the house, thus leaving you looking for somewhere to live.
At least thats how similar companies operate.