Downsizing pensioner cash buyer

JW20

Want to move house and as a pensioner downsizing could pay cash. Any advice re:
1. Making an offer with cash ie what sort of discount could be expected eg on a £275000 house?
2. Are there any other options?
Thanks in advance
JW

bspm1

JW20 wrote: »

Want to move house and as a pensioner downsizing could pay cash. Any advice re:
1. Making an offer with cash ie what sort of discount could be expected eg on a £275000 house?
2. Are there any other options?
Thanks in advance
JW

We downsized three years ago but did not have to sell first to buy a smaller property.

As a cash buyer we made an offer of £250.000 on a property valued at £300.000 and got it, maybe they were in a hurry to sell or maybe the cash talked I don;t know but a cash buyer with nothing to sell is always welcome I would assume.

Do you have to sell first to get the cash? That means that yes you are a cash buyer but there will still be a chain.

Good luck with whatever you decide and I hope you are as happy as we have been in a much smaller property!

AnotherJoe

Cash may or may not be a benefit when buying. It certainly won't get any sort of automatic discount, it will depend upon your sellers circumstances. Some posters here for example have been dubious of real* cash buyers thinking they will trya last minute gazunder. They also suspect you may be less committed not needing to worry about the chain,
Also, when you say you could pay cash do you mean:
Wont need a mortgage , will use the sale proceeds to buy wholly with some left over,
Will sell first, live elsewhere, have a bag of cash to buy with,
Have the cash already to buy with and can sell at leisure.

* by real I mean, you havea bag of cash ready and don't need to sell.

StumpyPumpy

Unless the house you want to buy is not easily mortgageable (eg non-standard construction) then paying cash gives you no real advantage over a chain free buyer with a mortgage waiting. I wouldn't be holding my breath for a "cash in hand" discount if I were you, and I say this as a cash buyer myself.

SP

hazyjo

I'd not take less from a cash buyer. Maybe a grand or two if I could afford it, but it wouldn't matter to me.

Presume you'd still have a chain behind you?

theartfullodger

JW20 wrote: »

Want to move house and as a pensioner downsizing could pay cash. Any advice re:
1. Making an offer with cash ie what sort of discount could be expected eg on a £275000 house?
...............

Depends: Are you a genuine cash buyer?? i.e. Money in bank now could exchange & complete by end of Friday? If so some buyers might be interested, others it would make no difference. But if the only property on offer cheap is one you don;t want, who bleedin' cares anyway.

Or will you, having sold, not require a mortgage but nothing happening particularly fast. In which case no real advantage.

Bleedin' pensioners, coming over here, buying our 'ouses cheap!

Artful: 71: on 6 benefits thank you you generous taxpayers you (6 benefits as do others in receipt of state pension..- state pens, winter fuel allowance, £10 Xmas bonus, free prescriptions, free eye tests, free 'bus pass... And state pension going up at about 3% pa unlike most benefits: Bonkers, but only because pensioners vote...)

Mossfarr

theartfullodger wrote: »

Artful: 71: on 6 benefits thank you you generous taxpayers you (6 benefits as do others in receipt of state pension..- state pens, winter fuel allowance, £10 Xmas bonus, free prescriptions, free eye tests, free 'bus pass... And state pension going up at about 3% pa unlike most benefits: Bonkers, but only because pensioners vote...)

Tut Tut - i'm surprised at you Artful - state pension is not a benefit
. It is something you have made contributions for all your working life!!

xylophone

state pension is not a benefit

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/11194265/State-pension-is-not-a-benefit-says-minister.html

Mr Web told The Telegraph: “The law refers to the state pension as a benefit and has done since the war.

eddddy

JW20 wrote: »

1. Making an offer with cash ie what sort of discount could be expected eg on a £275000 house?

Don't expect to to get a discount for paying cash.

Some tradesmen etc, give a discount for cash, because they don't 'put it through the books' and so they dodge tax.

That doesn't apply to house sales.

If somebody is being paid £275k for a house, they don't really care if its all coming from cash or part cash/part mortgage.


(If you were able to buy quickly, some sellers might see that as a benefit and accept a lower offer - but it sounds like you have a property to sell anyway, and you might end up with a chain below you.)

Waterlily24

hazyjo wrote: »

I'd not take less from a cash buyer. Maybe a grand or two if I could afford it, but it wouldn't matter to me.

Presume you'd still have a chain behind you?

Same here.

lisyloo

Many people will have restrictions on how much they can drop.

In my case I’m selling on behalf of someone in a nursing home. I can’t just discount because if she later on needs state help I’ll have to justify my actions, hence I made it clear we had little wiggle room.
The fact that you can proceed quickly wouldn’t help us that much.

If people are divorcing then it’s hard to get a siginificant discount from 2 people in the heart of an acrimonious split about money.

Other people who are moving up may need as much as they can get for their next purchase.

Cash makes no difference. It only makes a difference Ito some people if you are saying you will move without selling your property, ut even so that won’t make a difference to everyone. Our flat is empty and the local authority are currently paying the nursing fees, so we are more concerned about price rather than timing (we are getting full asking price).