Has anyone used Property Saviour - a cash house buying company before?

heckmondwike06

I am an Executor trying to sell an inherited house.  After the house had been sitting on the market for well over 1 year, 3 months in, we changed agents and had two sales agreed, but buyers couldn't get mortgages as the property needed a lot of updating.

Hasn't been touched for almost 40 years.

One of the beneficiaries suggested we approach these cash-buying companies, so we went with one, and after agreeing on a price, they dropped 3 months into legal.  Their lending facility won't fund it - when we thought they were cash buyers?

We have a Grant of Probate, and the property is registered with the Land Registry.  

I then came across an ad from Property Saviour, and they promised not to drop their price. They have made an offer which we are thinking of accepting. They also gave us a copy of their bank statement and solicitor's details confirming that they are cash buyers.

Before we go down this route (again), has anyone used them before? Reviews look good, but I thought I'd ask here.  They are claiming to complete in 10 days.

SDLT_Geek

heckmondwike06 said:

I am an Executor trying to sell an inherited house.  After the house had been sitting on the market for well over 1 year, 3 months in, we changed agents and had two sales agreed, but buyers couldn't get mortgages as the property needed a lot of updating.

Hasn't been touched for almost 40 years.

One of the beneficiaries suggested we approach these cash-buying companies, so we went with one, and after agreeing on a price, they dropped 3 months into legal.  Their lending facility won't fund it - when we thought they were cash buyers?

We have a Grant of Probate, and the property is registered with the Land Registry.  

I then came across an ad from Property Saviour, and they promised not to drop their price. They have made an offer which we are thinking of accepting. They also gave us a copy of their bank statement and solicitor's details confirming that they are cash buyers.

Before we go down this route (again), has anyone used them before? Reviews look good, but I thought I'd ask here.  They are claiming to complete in 10 days.

I wonder if the previous owner, for whom you are an executor, lived in the property as their only or main home within the last two years?  If so, then a company which buys property in order to resell them without spending a significant amount on them, can get a complete relief from stamp duty land tax (assuming the property is in England). https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm21040 

It would be worth checking with the estate agents that they are aware of these rules and whether they have companies like this to whom they can put the opportunity.  

FreeBear

If the property is struggling to sell via an estate agent, you would probably be better off sticking it in a conventional auction (not the Modern Method of scam Auction). Completion will be fairly quick once the hammer drops, and you won't get any last minute attempt to drop the price.

Been watching a property myself that needs some serious amount of work doing to it. It was originally with a local EA pitched at a price comparable to neighbouring properties at £285K. Is now going to auction next month with a guide price of £220K.

heckmondwike06

An auction is a good option. The trouble is we don't know which auctioneer to pick.

We've started getting letters from an empty homes officer, and to be honest probate bills are starting to mount up.

I'll ask beneficiaries if they are willing to pay for a legal pack and report back.

DullGreyGuy

heckmondwike06 said:

Before we go down this route (again), has anyone used them before? Reviews look good, but I thought I'd ask here.  They are claiming to complete in 10 days.

Not used them, or even heard of them, but have dealt with the type back when developing websites. 

I would discuss and plan with the beneficiaries what to do when they do drop the price at the 11th hour. Their promise not to pre-contract is worthless and inevitably they'll find some "undisclosed issue" which makes them re-evaluate. 

The person I dealt with had no issues with giving over 100 good reviews from various names for the yet to be launched business. Some of these buy the properties themselves, more are a market place for others... basically had the website launched, you'd have given details, he'd have contacted you and agreed a price. He may have bought the property himself if it fitted his portfolio or it goes up on a second website with bare bone details and a £1,000-£5,000 fee for people to access the full details. To buy the details you had to be a cash buyer, able to complete in 10 days and be honouring the sellers request in terms of sale or sale and rent back etc and you paid a monthly fee in addition to the per property lead fee. 

They paid for my access to a similar site someone else was running so I could see the functionality... property leads rarely lasted a day on the site before being marked as sold. If you read the copy of the sellers and buyers websites they were almost mirror opposites in terms of promising a fair price and reasonable rents to one and dirt cheap properties from desperate sellers and opportunities to escalate rents on the other.