Advice on cash purchase of a house appreciated please.

arlywarly

Hi all, stumbled across this site whilst searching for advice on behalf of my dad. If anyone can offer general advice I'd be most grateful.
Basically, my dad will soon be in a position to move, having accepted an offer on my late grandfather's (his father's) house. This offer was made almost 2 weeks ago from a property development company, and the solicitor told my dad he was free to look to purchase a house (ie. The funds will be available soon. He has his own house to sell, but there is no hurry to do this). He has found a house - hurray! - but none of us has any experience of buying a house without a mortgage.
We assume he can confidently make an offer in his position? The house in question has been on the market for over 8 months, and the agent did tell us there hasn't been much interest (only 1 very low offer that was not accepted). I've told my dad not to offer full asking price. The trouble is, he may do that as he's too nice and honest (he's moving from London prices to Derbyshire so everything to him is cheap!). I've offered to act on his behalf but he said he'd be fine. Besides the price issue, is there anything we need to look out for?
We reckon he needs to instruct a solicitor and have a proper survey carried out (it's an old building, over 100 years old). What else do we need to do?
Thanks in advance.

jacko74

In my experience of also being a cash buyer I'm finding it holds very little sway, I've also been looking to buy in a part of Derbyshire with a very slow/stagnant market where property hangs around for quite a long time and often eventually sells for anything between 5-20% below asking price... I've so far made offers on 5 different properties, all offers were around 5-8% below asking (so not ridiculously cheeky).. I've made it clear that I'm a cash buyer, immediately procedable but that my offer is 'pretty much' best and only... in each case the offers were immediately rejected with no hint of a counter offer or any encouragement that a deal could be done (unless I'm prepared to pay near as dammit the full asking price)

arlywarly

That's surprising to hear, especially if the market is slow. I guess we think it'll be like it is on TV, but it rarely is in reality unfortunately.
Hope you find something soon. Can't believe the agent wouldn't encourage you to increase your offer at all.

booksurr

psychology?
if the vendor knows you are rich enough not to need a mortgage (and therefore are not restricted to a max that you can borrow) they may resent any offers less than full asking price since they think your funds are "limitless" so why should they be the ones to take the financial hit when you "can" afford it ?

good_advice

X2 houses to sell, how can your dad be a cash buyer.
Cash or gold bars everyone's money is the same.

silvercar

good_advice wrote: »

X2 houses to sell, how can your dad be a cash buyer.
Cash or gold bars everyone's money is the same.

Not true. If you don't need a mortgage you can move that much quicker and aren't whim to a lender's requirements or deadlines.

jacko74

Yes I've been analyzing the psychology of it all, and I can only assume that they either think I'm a time waster and not a genuine cash buyer... or else they're just bitter and resentful that I'm in such a position!

borkid

silvercar wrote: »

Not true. If you don't need a mortgage you can move that much quicker and aren't whim to a lender's requirements or deadlines.

No, when we last sold it was the person who said they were a 'cash buyer' who held up the chain and eventually broke it. They didn't need a mortgage but had a house to sell. The top 3 in the chain absorbed the drop in price because she was a cash buyer. Infact she was a waste of time and I wish our buyers had gone with someone else. To me cash buyer means money in the bank and not a house to sell. When we bought we let our vendors know we had a place to sell but once sold we didn't need a mortgage.

arlywarly

The only thing that's making my dad hesitate in making an offer is wanting to have the money in his bank first. It was the solicitor dealing with it that told him to go ahead. The vendor of the house he is interested in has already moved out, so don't think there is a chain on their part. The main part of my query was asking what my dad needs to do as a cash buyer. Is it simply instructing a solicitor and getting a survey?

G_M

If he has the cash in the bank, or knows for sure the date when he will have it, then he can start buying.

dad will soon be in a position to move, having accepted an offer on my late grandfather's (his father's) house. This offer was made almost 2 weeks ago from a property development company, and the solicitor told my dad he was free to look to purchase

1) I assume grandad wrote a Will?
2) and dad inherits under the Will?
3) and Probate has been applied for? Or granted? Which? When?
4) and HMRC have been paid (Inheritance Tax)?
5) Who is the Executer? Dad? A solicitor?

If the estate has been wound up, then yes the property can be sold, and if a buyer has been found, then dad is in a good position.

But having a buyer in place is no help if probate must still be granted, or there is an unknown amount of tax to pay....

arlywarly

G_M wrote: »

If he has the cash in the bank, or knows for sure the date when he will have it, then he can start buying.


1) I assume grandad wrote a Will?
2) and dad inherits under the Will?
3) and Probate has been applied for? Or granted? Which? When?
4) and HMRC have been paid (Inheritance Tax)?
5) Who is the Executer? Dad? A solicitor?

If the estate has been wound up, then yes the property can be sold, and if a buyer has been found, then dad is in a good position.

But having a buyer in place is no help if probate must still be granted, or there is an unknown amount of tax to pay....

1) Yes
2) Yes, the house was left to my dad
3) My grandfather passed away in January, probate has been granted. The house was free for him to sell a few weeks ago and went to sealed bids (the solicitor told my dad 2 weeks ago everything was imminent, but not heard from them since. He's not one for chasing people).
4) The solicitor is dealing with everything...the estate, the sale of the house (a private sale through them). So we are waiting for them to indicate a date when the estate/any taxes paid is sorted.
5) Yes, my dad is executor.