Anyone used Open Property Group?

riab101

Hi there

Just out of interest did you use Open Property Group? I am in an almost identical situation to you and OPG seems like a perfect solution but I don't know of anyone personally that has gone down that road. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ria

CheshireVictoria

We had a very negative experience with Open Property Group. All seemed very convincing and plausible initially, then they withdrew their offer at last minute, right before exchange.
Appalling really. I would advise not to touch them with a barge pole!!

OpenProperty

Dear Victoria,
Thanks for your feedback which unfortunately I disagree with.



As a property buying company we have an unrivaled reputation for being upfront and credible.



We have to rely on facts and we can't complete our final review until we have received our legal report.


We were not advised by you of the proposed development to the rear of your property which I feel will blight this property. Essentially any development is of inconvenience to the surrounding neighbours. .

I appreciate that you are very convinced by the value, however we disagree.


Although number 22 is smaller in square footage, the property has a larger frontage and it is in far superior condition to the subject. In my opinion, this property is ready to move in to and therefore would appeal to a much wider market who are ready to move in to a property. Typically buyers do not want to complete extensive works

Most importantly we have to rely on actual values and not inflated selling prices. Therefore the 'asking price' of properties locally have no relevance to our valuation.

I confirm that we have not reduced our offer to you, we have made a revised decision on this potential purchase following a revised valuation in light of matters revealed in our legal review, and due to the recent economic/Brexit news which has dampened our outlook on the market over the forthcoming months.

I am sorry that it is not better news, however I can only relay the facts on this matter and unfortunately your comments fail to mention about the actual reasons we withdrew from the purchase and no date for exchange had been discussed, therefore we did not withdraw our offer at the 'last minute' as you has falsely stated in your review.



I wish you a successful sale.



Kind Regards


Jason Harris-Cohen

CEO of Open Property Group

https://www.openpropertygroup.com/

eddddy

Jason - I guess the key question is... Did you:

a) make your initial offer in good faith - fully intending to pay the full offer amount?

b) make your initial offer in bad faith - intending to find reasons (or excuses) to reduce the offer or withdraw the offer later?

I'm sure you'll say the answer was a).

But I'm sure you'll agree, it would be very easy to do b), if you wanted to.

OpenProperty

Eddie,

Thanks for your response.

Our offer was made as point a suggests. Once we agree to purchase a property, we cover all costs of the purchase including; legal fees, survey, searches, professional reports etc. The seller does not pay any costs and there are no contracts or option agreements.

To confirm, we have not reduced our offer which others might have. We have merely decided not to proceed with this transaction and did not want to alter the agreed price.

Once we have agreed to purchase a property there are significant costs to us, once our solicitor is instructed and the clock starts ticking. Therefore as a reputable business, we have no reason to merely withdraw and offer without valid reason.

I hope this helps alleviates any concerns you may have.

Kind Regards

Jason Harris-Cohen
Open Property Group
https://www.openpropertygroup.com

eddddy

But Jason - your story just doesn't seem to add up!

You're a businessman - you must be able to see when numbers don't work.

On your website, you suggest that an seller could sell a house through an EA for £90k...

... or you would pay £80k for it.

... plus you suggest that you would pay for
- cosmetic repairs (£1k),
- Clearance fees (£1.5k)
- Surveys
- Buyers + sellers legal fees
- Gas Safety Certificate
- (SDLT, where appropriate)

Link: https://www.openpropertygroup.com/sell-house-fast/

That's got to be a total of about £85k to £87k.

So what do you do with the house? How do you make a profit by buying a £90k house for £85k to £87k?

If that's correct, maybe you should give up and buy properties at auction instead - you'd probably make a better margin.

I can't help feeling that you're not giving the full picture.

OpenProperty

Hi Eddie


Thanks for your interest and I respect your cynicism.



Our 'example' scenario does stack up.


The column with the £100,000 house price assumes our actual valuation price following our research process.



The second (Right) column selling via agents assumes an 'asking price' of £100,000 which is merely an agent's suggested marketing price which could, or could not be vastly inflated. In my experience generally an asking price is inflated and typically we achieve 10% below agent's suggested asking prices.



Just to be clear, when a customer sells to Open Property Group, they can sell a property 'warts and all'



We cover all costs and you won't need to spend any money on the property ie redecoration, repairs or fixing a broken boiler - we can buy in any condition and with any problem, although we will need to make an offer accordingly. You will appreciate, in many cases we are not told about issues until we have inspected a property.



We have not stated on the comparison table that we will pay £85-87k. The example states that we would offer £79,850 in this example.


We own a large portfolio throughout England and Wales. We are members of the Residential landlord association too.


We buy, sell, asset manage and add to our portfolio. We do buy properties via auction too, we are property investors and professionals. You are welcome to check companies house for Open Property Finance Limited to find out more about our balance sheet.


Hope this helps,

CheshireVictoria

I do not understand much of the response to my initial post and am unsure what it refers to.

However, I still would suggest that sellers avoid Open Property Group. My experience was not good. Like others I have spoken to with similar negative experiences, we ended up paying legal expenses when an agreed sale price was suddenly withdrawn at the last moment. OPG only pay costs on completion; so if THEY decide not to proceed at the final hurdle, you are left with any accumulated costs, This is definitely worth considering.

OPG guarantee they will buy any home, completing on a date to suit the seller - but this is not what happened. Thus far, I am finding traditional selling methods better in every respect. I have yet to meet anyone with a positive experience of OPG.

OpenProperty

Victoria

I strongly disagree with your feedback and slanderous comments and unfortunately you have failed to mention the facts of the issues which you withheld from us about the property and the housing development taking place to the rear of the subject property. Cynically I wonder if this was the reason that you chose to sell to us.

I reaffirm that we merely withdrew our offer and we did not ‘drop our offer’ to reflect the legal position.

Moreover I have not received your legal bill, however I am willing to cover this cost so please send me a copy of the invoice for payment. There seems to be a misunderstanding with you and you have failed to contact me directly as opposed to posting directly on forums.

I wish you well with your sale and hope that you find a buyer for your expected price.

Kind Regards

Open Property Group

teneighty

"slanderous"?

You really aren't doing yourself any favours Mr. Harris-Cohen.

Edit. added extract from previous post in case it gets removed.

"Victoria

I strongly disagree with your feedback and slanderous comments.....

Kind Regards
Jason Harris-Cohen
CEO of Open Property Group"