Which buyer to go for dilemma??

bambi1980_2

Well we put our house up for sale last Thursday for £250k and were inundated with requests for viewing. We had 15 viewers, 3 of which offered asking price and one slightly over. It went to best and final offers and the result is, £255, £258,555, £262 and £265.

From the top two offers;

The £262 couple are cash buyers from the sale of their own property. 10th June has been agreed by their parties for sale of their house although contracts have not yet been  exchanged. They can move in with family once their sale completes.

The £265 couple are living in rented after selling their property and with finance with 25% deposit and 75% mortgage. They have a DIP in place. They have paid 6 months advance on their rent up to October. There is always the issue that their full mortgage application won't be successful or the mortgage valuation may be lower.

We are unsure whether to take a chance that there won't be a lower mortgage valuation or go with guaranteed cash buyer. 

We also feel bad as the £265 couple are in love with our house and posted a lovely note through saying how much they loved it and wanted to bring up their kids there.

What do people advice? Is is common for the valuation to be lower?

Thanks in advance

ironlady2022

If it was me I would go with £262k buyer. Seems more simple. For sake of £3k extra. Plus you already have £12k over.

If there's a down valuation by bank, they may or may not negotiate with you. So you prob end up at 262k anyway.

Posting a letter through is to pull at your heart strings, it's a business transaction at the end of the day. 

Go with your gut. 

nicknameless

Instead of assuming why not ask the mortgage folk if they would make up the difference should lender valuation not match the 265?

Cash buyers are not a certainty.  We are mortgage buyers who just stepped into a sale where a cash buyer changed their minds.

nicknameless

p.s. if they are in love with the place that much they are perhaps less likely to mess you around.  Why not chat to them and bypass agents who give scant regard to most things.

Atomix

Head not heart. £265, the £3k extra pays for the EA fees. 

hpsauce86

Taking the emotion out of it, 262 most sensible and seems most straight forward. 

265 shame as they want to make it their home, and played the emotional card. I’ve been there. They’ll be disappointed but there’ll be others. Would be nice if there was a guarantee of their mortgage being approved and it not be downvalued. It seems from this forum that most that are being downvalued are with offers much more over asking than yours, but it’s a risk! 

lesalanos

265 every time.  They have 25% deposit so even if down valued and they have no spare £ they could drop to 20% deposit 

julicorn

I'd go with the higher offer. There's still a chance that complications on the 'cash buyers' sale would leave them unable to buy your house - there's no guarantees until they've exchanged contracts. The other buyers are chain free, and it seems like you are in a strong position to stay relatively firm on price in case of a down-valuation (with the other offers you have on the table). Also, they wouldn't technically need to 'make up' a shortfall as such, just switch their mortgage product from a 75% LTV to an 80% LTV for example. 

thegreenone

How can the £262 couple be cash buyers when they haven't even exchanged contracts?

bambi1980_2

thegreenone said:

How can the £262 couple be cash buyers when they haven't even exchanged contracts?

I'm just meaning they aren't financing the purchase using a mortgage.

MFWannabe

Personally I’d go with the £265k offer 
Even if property is down valued then they could change amount of deposit / mortgage