any of the 'cash for your home' companies any good

marksward

Anyone any had any good/bad indifferent experiences with companies like these. Typically what kind of price is given. and does 'open market' value mean something differnet to what you seen in the estate agents window?

cheers
M

Jonbvn

I have no personal experience from such companies, although AFAIK such companies seem to have a poor reputation.

Unless you are desperate to sell, I cannot see why you would sell to them, since they buy well below market value (15%+). Furthermore, renting the property back from such companies on a AST agreement, provides you with little security.

mystic_trev

...................................................No!

silvercar

A good guideline is never to use a company that expects you to pay for their valuation; chances are they will take your valuation fee, give you a ridiculously low valuation and disappear. Anyone who really wants to buy your property will do their own valuation.

Although there may be the odd case that is suitable, generally speaking you are far better off selling yourself. Market through a good estate agent at a price just below market value and you should get a buyer quickly, or consider an auction.

To see the world from their eyes, visit the BMV board on singingpig.co.uk. Don't believe everything you read!

Mrs7ones

Hi, not sure if this is what you mean, but we sold to one of these type of companies 3 years ago.
Our house was valued at £80k by an estate agent (we had a £26k mortgage on it at the time), but was in an awful area (hence our desire to move) and we knew there was no way we would ever get that for it.... if we managed to sell it at all.... So we sold to a 'sell your house NOW for cash' company for £60k.
Big loss, but after we sold, the company re marketed the place for £75k and it is still up for sale now, so we know we did the right thing.
Fortunately, we could afford to sell for £20k less than the EA's unrealistic valuation, and we still feel it was the best decision we have ever made!!

clutton_2

if you have to go down this route, A Quick Sale is THE most ethical company in this arena - and no i dont work for them, but, i know several of their delegates.

real1314

There's been a lot of these threads recently, so here's my suggestion;

If you see any adverts for private landlords renting out properties in your area (cards in shops, local papers, signs in windows), why not ring them and ask if they would consider buying your property.

For one thing you'll at least know that they do rent out properties, and if you want to stay on it might last longer than with the "instant decision" BMV types. As regards valuation, I'm sure most of them would like to get hold of properties at better prices with tenants already in place.

HugoSP

There is such a company that advertises regularly on the radio near me. They apparently offer the possibility of buying the house back when you're back on your feet.

In the small print in another company's ad, they say that you'll be on an AST and could be booted out after 6 months.

What worries me is that if/when the market picks up there will be a huge number of section 21s served and these companies will take centre stage on forums like this one and tv programmes such as Watchdog etc. Hence people who sold their homes at 15% below market value now will pay for the privalage when the market picks up by being made homeless.

The best advice if you are struggling with the mortgage payments is enter into a dialogue with the lender. If you still need to sell, sell on the basis that you have no long term security of tenure. That is assume you'll need to move out and if are able to sell to a LL who can give you an AST then treat it as a bonus.

But, with rents lower than mortgage payments or likely return if the purchase price is invested in the bank, your home will become a speculative investment for someone, who may want to sell to recoup his investment at the right time.

I speak as a btl landlord

macaque_2

'Cash for your home' companies make difficult decisions on your behalf and at your expense. They offer you a price that covers two transaction charges plus their profit.

A home seller would have to be barking mad to do this in anything but exceptional circumstances. If you are desperate to sell, do your own discounting and find two interested buyers to bid the price back up again. If you end up selling at a heavily discounted price, its a racing certainty that the 'buy your home' company would have offered you even less.

Mrs7ones is patted herself on the back for selling an £80K house for £60K. Unfortunately, she is just rationalising a very bad decision. If she had put the house on the market for £60K herself, she would have sold it for £65 or70K.

Mrs7ones

macaque wrote: »

'Cash for your home' companies make difficult decisions on your behalf and at your expense. They offer you a price that covers two transaction charges plus their profit.

A home seller would have to be barking mad to do this in anything but exceptional circumstances. If you are desperate to sell, do your own discounting and find two interested buyers to bid the price back up again. If you end up selling at a heavily discounted price, its a racing certainty that the 'buy your home' company would have offered you even less.

Mrs7ones is patted herself on the back for selling an £80K house for £60K. Unfortunately, she is just rationalising a very bad decision. If she had put the house on the market for £60K herself, she would have sold it for £65 or70K.

No I wouldn't... that house was never worth £80k. We bought it for £28k when the area was said to be 'up and coming'. It never did quite get 'up'!
The area is now drug riddled, and with 3 children in tow, we needed to get out asap.
We pass the house regularly and it has been wrecked several times and is now boarded up.
We initially did put the house up for sale with the AE for £75k, and got some viewings - most of which told us that although the house was nice inside, they wouldn't consider living in the street.......

I AM patting myself on the back for getting £60k for the house, but I am more patting myself on the back for managing to get out of the area, which was far more important than the money.

(and we did make some money on the sale - more than enough to put down a sustantial deposit on the new house)

macaque_2

Mrs7ones wrote: »

[/b]


No I wouldn't... that house was never worth £80k. We bought it for £28k when the area was said to be 'up and coming'. It never did quite get 'up'!
The area is now drug riddled, and with 3 children in tow, we needed to get out asap.
We pass the house regularly and it has been wrecked several times and is now boarded up.
We initially did put the house up for sale with the AE for £75k, and got some viewings - most of which told us that although the house was nice inside, they wouldn't consider living in the street.......

I AM patting myself on the back for getting £60k for the house, but I am more patting myself on the back for managing to get out of the area, which was far more important than the money.

(and we did make some money on the sale - more than enough to put down a sustantial deposit on the new house)

So there we have it. By your own admission, you sold the house for 20% less than your lowest advertised price. You never even tested the market at £60K. All this talk about bad areas (which it may well be) is irrelevant and nothing more than a flimsy rationalisation.