distressed house selling

albiorix

Hi - due to a perfect storm of awful events, I need to sell my property fast as a distressed property - there are lots of "we buy any house" companies online but I have no idea how to work out who is reputable/solvent etc. Does anyone have any experience? or knowledge on who to go to for advice? (a solicitor? my mortgage company? - I really don't know where to start to find out which are real, follow throuhg on sale without issues) - aware I'll take a substantial equity hit, and the offer will be well below market value dependent on various parameters, but needs must so my first priority is a trustworthy real company IYSWIM?

any help gratefully recieved

valueman1

I would sell through a property auction company, allsop are the biggest, then you know you are getting the market value.

daveyjp

Auction is the quickest, but as any sale will take a few weeks, it is always worth getting  board up and the property on Rightmove at an attractive price.  You can withdraw prior to auction if it sells before.

FreeBear

I'd suggest going to a reputable auction house that uses the traditional method. Once the hammer falls, the buyer is committed to completing within a set time frame.

These "we buy any house" outfits will string you along and invariably mess you around as you get closer to finalising a sale. And certainly do not go anywhere near a Modern Method of Auction.

albiorix

thanks all, I'll cetianly look at auction, as a paralell investigated, but if anyone does ahs experience, or an idea of the sort of professional who can give me independent advice on the "buy any house" companies as well, I'd be really grateful

tacpot12

I don't know of any professional who would advise you, but you can do a certain amount of due diligence via Companies House. Get information about a company - GOV.UK

You want a company that has been in business for at least three years, and ideally much longer. Check out their accounts that are available on Companies House. Check out their Directors via Facebook and LinkedIn.

fourmarks

albiorix said:advice.

thanks all, I'll cetianly look at auction, as a paralell investigated, but if anyone does ahs experience, or an idea of the sort of professional who can give me independent advice on the "buy any house" companies as well, I'd be really grateful

I suspect the only professionals who will give a ringing endorsement for the 'we buy any house' brigade are the professionals working for the "we buy any house brigade'. They will, as previously stated, string you along the sale route and then, as you enter the final stages, slash the purchase price. If you do the mathematics, how else will they turn a healthy profit.

Take FreeBear's advice.

Grumpy_chap

AIUI, the house buying companies often try to simply "flip" the property so that they complete on your purchase the same day they complete on a sale to the next owner (in return benefitting from the profit).  I assume they must advertise the house on the regular channels to find that "next owner" without needing to actually commit finance to the property.

As others have suggested, auction (traditional) is an option and / or list via a regular EA on a "priced to sell" basis.

silvercar

Speak to an established local estate agent. They may well have buyers that are always interested in keenly priced properties.

BonaDea

As others have said, it's best to avoid the 'we buy any house'-type companies.  But if you want to look into it, this might be of interest:
https://www.theadvisory.co.uk/sell-house-fast/cash-home-buying/

GDB2222

albiorix said:

thanks all, I'll cetianly look at auction, as a paralell investigated, but if anyone does ahs experience, or an idea of the sort of professional who can give me independent advice on the "buy any house" companies as well, I'd be really grateful

How quickly do you need to sell?

An auction will normally specify a 4 week completion date. So, if you start now, the whole transaction could complete in 8 weeks, say, depending on when the next auction takes place.. You might expect say a 10% price hit with an auction compared to a normal sale, although you might get lucky.

If you need significantly faster than that, you need to find someone/a company with enough cash to buy your property. Realistically, you can expect a 25-30% price hit. Plus, you don't really know whether they are stringing you along.