National Homebuyers are rip-off merchants

SusiB

I have a property valued at £300k by 2 estate agents and wanted a quick sale so went to National Homebuyers after seeing their advert on TV.

They asked for an upfront fee to cover valuation but I refused. They phoned back the following day to say "our directors like your property and will proceed without the upfront fee". They offered me £240 which I refused so they increased their offer to £245 plus £1000 for legal fees which I accepted as needed the cash urgently for another purchase.

They provided the offer in writing and then sent 2 estate agents to value it. They came back to me and said they were reducing their offer to £225 which I very reluctantly accepted. They then took over a month to process via their solicitor and on the day of exchange they phoned me and said they were reducing their offer to £200k. Fortunately, I was in a position to tell them to put their offer somewhere where the sun doesn't shine.

It is my opinion that this is their strategy. They prey on people who are desperate for a quick cash sale (why else would you go to this type of company) and then delay things until the seller is really desperate and has incurred legal fees and has no choice but to accept the reduced offer at the last hour. In my opinion, this is unscrupulous practice which takes advantage of people who are already desperate. Once it had happened to me, I googled them and find that this is very common practice for them. Trading Standards need to investigate these people.

mjdh1957

Lots of threads on here over several years pointing out that this is the strategy that these types of firms use.

marksoton

They " ripped you off " because by your own admittance you were desperate and allowed them to.

It's just gazundering on a commercial scale.

Dan-Dan

Tune in next week when SusiB reveals that night almost always follows day

Davesnave

SusiB wrote: »

Trading Standards need to investigate these people.

It's always someone else who needs to do something.

Eventually, you Googled them, but you should Google loads of things when intending to buy a property.

Never has there been so much information available to so many for so little, but still we hear these stories.

Now you are here, spend some time browsing the site. Read the stickies and the Forum to see the pickles some folks get into.

At least you woke up and got out in one piece....almost.

AnotherJoe

Once it had happened to me, I googled them

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So despite entering a transaction worth well in excess of two hundred thousand pounds involving your home, you only checked them out after it had gone wrong ?

ReadingTim

Trading standards aren't there to protect people from their own laziness and/or stupidity, and anyone who enters into the largest financial transaction they're likely to undertake in their entire life on the basis of an ad seen on daytime TV needs to take a little responsibility for their own actions, rather than blame someone else.

Still, I look forward to your next post about the religious inclinations of the Pope, or the toiletry habits of bears.

kinger101

You were foolish to accept an offer of £245K in the first place. If the house was really worth £300K, you could have just advertised it at a reduced price via an EA, or sell at auction with a reserve. Both these, particularly the latter, would result in a quick sale.

The prey on people who don't have the good sense to explore their options.

pinkshoes

Of course this is their tactic! They prey on people who need cash quickly! They are a business and need to make money.

If your house was valued at £300k, then you could have sold it online for £260k for a quick sale.

steeeb

You could have got more via an auction with a guaranteed quick sale...

Pixie5740

Tell me, do bears s**t in the woods?