Express Offers - house buying company?

ColinGrib

My house has been on the market, originally at 750K but was recently reduced to £735K, for about three months. I have just received a letter from a Company called 'Express Offers' stating that they they believe it is worth between £719565 - £743086.  They also offer to pay all costs!
Anyone else had dealings with these?

rik111

They generally offer around 80% of the value then drop their offer the day before exchange. If they pay market value what’s in it for them, it’s all a big con. They will even hit you a valuation fee up front.....

NameUnavailable

Great! Call them and accept their higher offer. What can possibly go wrong!

davidmcn

ColinGrib said:

they believe it is worth between £719565 - £743086.

Tell them you won't accept a penny under £743087.

Crashy_Time

Start at sub 700k, it sounds overpriced TBH.

Mickygg

rik111 said:

They generally offer around 80% of the value then drop their offer the day before exchange. If they pay market value what’s in it for them, it’s all a big con. They will even hit you a valuation fee up front.....

Whenever there is a post like this there is always someone that says this. Is there proof of this? Has anyone actually experienced this?

it doesn’t take a genius to work out they won’t offer market rate, why the hell would they? But people who constantly say they drop the price on exchange day, who actually has proof of this?

For the record I don’t recommend this option, merely trying to find out whether the drop on exchange day is nonsense or not.

NameUnavailable

80% for an immediate sale with no fees to pay would be pretty amazing if you were desperate for a quick sale.

When I enquired with a few it was more like 60% of market value. I sold at auction and acheived about 78% of full value.

pooh

Avoid like the plague.Drop your price but do not go with one of these companies.

NameUnavailable

pooh said:

Avoid like the plague.Drop your price but do not go with one of these companies.

You like living dangerously! Be careful, don't walk down any dark alleyways anytime soon. I have heard that some of these companies take criticism very badly!

I would just say, they sound amazing, if they're offering the OP pretty much full value then take it. I'm sure it's all as simple as it sounds and look forward to hearing how it all goes.

eddddy

Mickygg said:

Whenever there is a post like this there is always someone that says this. Is there proof of this? Has anyone actually experienced this?

it doesn’t take a genius to work out they won’t offer market rate, why the hell would they? But people who constantly say they drop the price on exchange day, who actually has proof of this?

For the record I don’t recommend this option, merely trying to find out whether the drop on exchange day is nonsense or not.

A recent example from a seller who contacted a quick buy/sell company...

• Day 1 - seller phones them
• Day 2 - they've looked at the Rightmove listing and are prepared to offer full asking price
• Day 4 - they've spoken with their surveyors, and (list of excuses) the surveyor is saying they have to reduce their offer by £20k
• Day 6 - they've investigated prices in the local area, and (list of excuses) they have to reduce their offer by another £20k

The seller lost interest at that point, and didn't continue the discussions.

I got the impression that, in those early days, the company was less interested in the property, but more interested in finding out how gullible and desperate the seller was - to assess whether the seller was worth targeting.

ian1246

So... I've also had a letter from ExpressOffersToday.co.uk.

Little bit of back story - we put our 3 bed semi up for sale on 03rd August 2020 for £209.950. Solid it for £203,000 to a first time buyer by August 07th 2020. Buyer pulled out on 23rd August 2020 due to "Devastating Personal Circumstances". Managed to sell it again within 2 weeks to a cash buyer for £198,000.... who promptly got cold feet 24hours later and decided he didn't want to go into buy-to-let.  We then dropped the price down to £207,750....  few viewings, no offers - before finally dropping the price down to £199,950. Sadly... a few viewings, no offers - it seems to be primarily people upsizing looking around our house these days rather than first time buyers... which is a shame, since our 3rd bedroom is a bit small so not ideal for home-movers.

Anyway, Express Offers Today have sent a letter, saying they believe our property could be worth £195,751-£202,149.
On the letter, they list lots of "Promises" - including that they have a 15 year track record of ethically buying properties.

I've checked the FCA Register - can't find any trace of them. Googled them... no reviews, bar the 3 on their website.
Their company number is allegedly 08768424 - head office at ST George's House, 56 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 3NQ.

I'm extremely sceptical but would love to hear people's views also.