Am I right to refuse sale to investors?

AdrianC

eidand said:

interesting, I would have thought you'd want to get the most you can for your property, does it matter who buys it?

Restricting the market doesn't necessarily bring a lower sale price. Investors are likely to be offering the minimum. BtL buyers particularly will be working to a yield calculation, and will simply walk if the likely purchase price takes the yield to lower than they want.

But they will almost certainly be a smoother transaction than a worrywart of an FtB who gets scared because of trivialities over irrelevant paperwork or survey backside-covering.

Skiddaw1

Watching this one with interest OP as one of my dearest friends (sadly now deceased) felt exactly the same. When she and her husband were selling their house a few years ago she flatly refused to sell to an investor (house was in an area with many student houses/HMOs/BTLs and was right at the height of that market) for much the same reasons as you. She went as far as specifying to the EA that she wouldn't consider any offers from investors and house was, in the end, bought by a FTB as a home. She could have obtained a higher price (as it was, she and her husband were moving to a remote part of Scotland where house prices were much cheaper so it wasn't that much of an issue) but she said she would have felt it was morally wrong (and could never have lived with herself) if she'd not made that decision.

Mr_P_

I'm not refusing viewings at this point, I already had a low offer from a guy who said he "has tentants ready to move in" but then also said he'd give us as much time as we needed to find a new place so he doesn't mind waiting. I declined the offer as the house wasn't even on the market. I have 3 viewings saturday 1 of them an investor, so I'll see what they offer.

Just out of interest, should I start conversations with a conveyancer around now?

eddddy

Mr_P_ said:

Just out of interest, should I start conversations with a conveyancer around now?

It's probably worth getting quotes, and deciding which one you want to use.

Then you'll be able to get them started, as soon as you're ready.

Mr_P_

eddddy said:

Mr_P_ said:

Just out of interest, should I start conversations with a conveyancer around now?

It's probably worth getting quotes, and deciding which one you want to use.

Then you'll be able to get them started, as soon as you're ready.

That's great advice, thanks. I've already found 2 which are local and score high in reviews, I will call to see if they have capacity right now as some are always busy.

gab3x

I think your intentions are really good but essentially you should be mainly interested in securing a buyer for as high purchase price as possible and with lowest risk of pulling out of the process as possible. 

I had a first time cash buyer recently come in and then drop out a few weeks later because they didn't want disruption from a flat below being redecorated some time in the future. Aside from fact that this takes a few weeks and living in Central London this happens all the time, it was also selfish and caused me worry and cost.

I now have another cash buyer but this couple are investing. They made exact same offer as FTB at just a fraction under asking price and I worry much less they will cause issues as they own their property and seem sensible.

MoneySeeker1

I can understand this, as both investors and ftb's were after my last house and I preferred to sell to an ftb and that is exactly what I did in the end. But where I do differ is that by ftb I did not mean only couples. I also meant single people and my preference was, in fact, for single people (rather than couples) - as I knew they need the cheaper houses more than couples do (courtesy of only one income coming into the household). So my buyer was an FTB and, more coincidentally than anything else, was single.

theartfullodger

Discrimination is legal as long as it's not because of one of the protected characteristics - eg gender, race, pregnancy,religion, age etc.  

So ok as long as your not only refusing investors who are e.g. female/English/pregnant/CoE/47 yrs old.

When renting my houses I discriminate against those without income to pay the rent or with a history of not looking after their home or not always paying rent in-full/on-time.