Are there any good cash offer companies or is it a scam?

EnquiringMinds

My apartment has been on the market since November and so far only 2 people have viewed it, we even reduced the price in January.

It's in a nice, quiet commuter town in the SE and is fairly priced... I am surprised it has not generated interest but I cannot afford to drop the price any lower to get things moving.

I've received a lot of letters from companies offering a cash sale with timelines on your terms etc, but if something seems too good to be true then it probably is... I've already heard some of the horror stories. 

So my question is simply, are there any reliable/honest cash offer companies I should consider getting in touch with? 

user1977

In short, no. See other current thread here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6421853/national-home-buyers-etc#latest

and umpteen previous ones on similar lines.

housebuyer219

No , unless you are not worried about how much you’ll get for it . We are in similar position and our offer was around 85k lower than what we are on for …

propertyrental

Neither.

Not a scam but not a sensible way to sell.

steampowered

It's not a "scam", it's just the reality that you would need to sell at a massive discount if you used one of these companies.

The UK property system with its conveyancing costs, stamp duty and conveyancing time to execute does not really suit the business of model of flipping houses very quickly so these companies need to have a massive discount to be profitable.

london21

Maybe try auction. 

theartfullodger

Legal but in the opinion of many a daft way to sell.  You'll not get fair value.

eddddy

EnquiringMinds said:

So my question is simply, are there any reliable/honest cash offer companies I should consider getting in touch with? 

You probably need to look at this from a different perspective.

Companies and businesses exist to make money.

How would a company make money by buying your house at it's current asking price, when nobody else is interested in buying your house at it's current asking price?



House buying companies make money by buying houses for a low price and selling them for a higher price - almost always using back-to-back sales.

So for example...

• Say your house is on the market for £300k

• The house buying company might reckon it would sell within 7 days if the price was £250k

• So they offer you £200k

• If you accept, they start looking for a buyer who'll pay £250k

• If they find a buyer, they'll buy from you at £200k and sell for £250k - all on the same day (and keep the £50k profit)

• If they can't find a buyer who'll pay close to £250k - they won't buy your house. They'll walk away.

(In this example, you'd be better off lowering the price to £250k yourself for a quick sale. Then you'd get that £50k instead of the 'house buying company' getting it.)

pinkshoes

EnquiringMinds said:

My apartment has been on the market since November and so far only 2 people have viewed it, we even reduced the price in January.

It's in a nice, quiet commuter town in the SE and is fairly priced... I am surprised it has not generated interest but I cannot afford to drop the price any lower to get things moving.

I've received a lot of letters from companies offering a cash sale with timelines on your terms etc, but if something seems too good to be true then it probably is... I've already heard some of the horror stories. 

So my question is simply, are there any reliable/honest cash offer companies I should consider getting in touch with? 

They are business that want to make money so will offer low so they can sell on for a profit.

Or... they will offer nearly what you want, you accept, then just before exchange when they know you're desperate and all packed up to go, they drop their offer.

Either make plans to stay put, look into renting it out, or drop the price.

Why can you not afford to drop the price?

goater78

I sold a house via we buy any house. Was ok but not a great experience. Wouldn’t use them again. 

EnquiringMinds

If the price drops further I will not have the funds to secure a mortgage on the property we need.

Sadly, there's no way to rent it out without paying off the mortgage (looked into this having believed it to be an option).

I had a feeling the offers would be too good to be true, thanks for letting me know how their businesses work.

I'd not begrudge a company profit for convenience, but had hoped they might be speculating on long term prices... Flipping makes far more sense.

Quite depressing really but good to know.