Odd situation with prospective buyers

isadora127

I have a local businessman who wants to expand his business by buying the neighbouring property (let's call him Fred). Fred doesn't really want to move but the businessman has offered to buy my house, which is worth almost twice as much as Fred's, in exchange for Fred's house. The businessman says he will buy my house and then 'swap' it for Fred's. The businessman is obviously is quite keen to get his hands on it. And Fred can't believe his luck.

I'm very concerned that Fred is being bullied into moving but obviously it is not my place to interfere (he has lots of family around so he's not on his own). I am just very wary about getting involved in this scenario because it just sounds like a nightmare to me and I can't help but think that it will go wrong somewhere along the line because it is such an odd situation.

I've been on the market for a few months and this will be the first offer I've had. There are 3 other parties who are all very interested but still need to sell their houses, they have all had 2nd viewings, although no guarantee of an offer from any of them.

It's quite a long time since I bought and sold a house. Is this sort of scenario common or is it just me that thinks it's odd. Any advice on how anybody would handle this would be appreciated. Is it too much of a risk (for me) or am I just over-worrying about it?

kinger101

Can you simply your post? I think I'm missing something.

It is not clear to me why anyone would want your property.On the face of it, the business man would buy Fred's property.But Fred could then buy any he wanted.

csgohan4

if you have been on the market that long, likely your house is overpriced

Davesnave

So, the he businessman wants to buy both properties, give Fredyour house as a gift and then develop the Fred's property.


This seems fair enough to me, if Fred is agreeable. Assuming they have no mental impairment, they must be responsible for their own decisions, but as kinger says, why should they be limited to your house?

moneyistooshorttomention

kinger101 wrote: »

Can you simply your post? I think I'm missing something.

It is not clear to me why anyone would want your property.On the face of it, the business man would buy Fred's property.But Fred could then buy any he wanted.

I'm guessing Fred has taken a particular shine to OP's house - ie the type of house he wants and anticipating less hassle getting it than getting one on the open market in the standard way.

It's certainly an unconventional idea - but that doesnt mean it's not worth investigating (closely!) to check it out and see if it's feasible.

If the businessman is on the level - then it could be win/win all round and everyone happy.

But - yes - I would want to "dot all i's and cross all t's" and investigate it closely to see if it was feasible (ie from my and Fred's viewpoint).

Davesnave

csgohan4 wrote: »

if you have been on the market that long, likely your house is overpriced

Depends on the area, the price bracket and the stance of the occupant as regards waiting, surely?



They have interested parties.

moneyistooshorttomention

Thinking on - and I guess I'd start by googling for all available info. about the businessman and that would include seeing if I could find his company accounts online.

I'd be sitting down mentally putting myself in his shoes/with what I knew of his finances and trying to think "Now if I were him - is my business doing well enough to expand? What are all available options on the table for me to expand?" etc and try and think through how feasible this is as a proposition for him to work out whether he'd come through on it.

isadora127

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, I know it's odd/unusual.

The business is not next to my house, it's next to Fred's house which is why the businessman wants to buy it. He clearly wants Fred's house so badly that he is willing to pay well over the odds for it. Fred wants to stay in the town where we all live and the businessman has selected a few houses in the town that he 'approves' of and Fred has viewed them all. Fred seems to have taken a shine to my house over all the others that he has viewed.

I don't understand why he doesn't just give Fred 'X' amount of money for it, even if it is well over the market value, and let Fred buy what he wants but I'm not involved in it and I can't control that. It just strikes me as odd and wondered if anyone had ever heard of anything similar.

moneyistooshorttomention

True - that is the oddity in the situation - as you say why not think directly:
- Fred's house is worth, say, £200,000
- Yours is worth, say, £400,000

Just hand Fred £400k and let him get on with it in the standard way.

Is it for a reason to do with Fred do you think? - ie is Fred someone that looks like a person that would "want his hand held" for some reason? - eg he's not very bright OR he's not very well and businessman feels Fred isn't up to the effort of doing this the standard way and therefore he's "holding his hand"?

Pixie5740

Does it matter what the business man intends to do with your house? You want to sell it and he wants to buy it. What he then chooses to do with the house is irrelevant.

bouicca21

Is the intention to link all the transactions? That could be messy. Or will Mr Businessman just buy yours and then enter into a second transaction with Fred?