Cash House Buyers

[Deleted User] · 15 November 2019 at 3:07PM

I am just wondering if anybody can offer any suggestions/info - will try to be brief.

My siblings and I are in process of selling our late mother's house. Have got Probate, all Deeds handed to Solicitor - no problems with boundaries or anything. No other claims on it, no problems with neighbours.

Only problem is it is old fashioned and could do with a full modernisation programme, hence we set the asking price accordingly (a good deal below similar house prices in area).
A viewer offered a price of a further £38,000 less than our reduced asking price. They said they were cash buyers so we negotiated an increase of £8,000 on their offer which still left £30,000 less than our original - much lower than average asking price in that area.

They got a building survey done which confirmed the property was sound and wanted to continue. We handed the Deeds and all other information to our Solicitors. Answered all the questions, signed all the necessary. It was confirmed that the house was registered etc.

This was 12 weeks ago - since when we have heard nothing so I asked our solicitors what was going on (bearing in mind we agreed the reduced price because it was an alleged 'cash' deal.) They chased it up and now we have been told that in two weeks time somebody is going out to check the boiler? They say this is standard practice but my question is Am I being ridiculous in thinking this is just a stalling technique? Why would they not have had this done before now? Incidentally there is nothing wrong with the boiler, Central heating works fine but is not new and has never been claimed to be.

My siblings think I am just over reacting and these things take time but I am not so sure, I have niggling doubts that the 'cash' buyer simply wanted us to remove from market and secure at a much reduced price. Anybody experience this?

eddddy · 15 November 2019 at 3:27PM

Are you selling through an EA? If so, did the EA ask the buyer for evidence that they had the cash ready in their bank account?

'Cash buyer' often just means they don't need a mortgage. It isn't necessarily an indication that they are able to move quickly.

For example, are they developers? If so, they may need to complete the sale of a previous 'project' before they can proceed, or they may need to get cash together from their investors.

(Or I guess it could even be something more worrying, like they're not sure whether they want to proceed with the purchase - and they are looking at other options.)

Ask the EA to chase the buyers to find out what the situation is.

davidmcn · 15 November 2019 at 3:30PM

"Cash" buyer is meaningless after 12 weeks - anybody else could have sorted out a mortgage by now anyway. Certainly not "standard" to wait 3 months before deciding to look at the boiler.

[Deleted User] · 15 November 2019 at 3:32PM

'I'm a cash buyer'. over the years i have heard people say that when they actually were:

Cash from selling a property
Cash from remortgaging another property
Cash from mum taking out a mortgage on her house
Cash from an inheritance with probabte not being granted yet.

Hopefully your estate agent did their job and found out they were actual cash buyers

[Deleted User] · 15 November 2019 at 3:33PM

davidmcn wrote: »

"Cash" buyer is meaningless after 12 weeks - anybody else could have sorted out a mortgage by now anyway. Certainly not "standard" to wait 3 months before deciding to look at the boiler.

Agreed, the only benefit i would put on a cash buyer is if i thought the property couldnt get through mortgage survey or they were going to bypass searches and move quickly.

AdrianC · 15 November 2019 at 4:36PM

Tedber wrote: »

A viewer offered a price of a further £38,000 less than our reduced asking price.

Is that 50% of the asking price, 10%, or 1%?

They got a building survey done

OK...

We handed the Deeds and all other information to our Solicitors. Answered all the questions, signed all the necessary. It was confirmed that the house was registered etc.

So the draft contract has been sent. How long ago?

This was 12 weeks ago - since when we have heard nothing so I asked our solicitors what was going on

I'm surprised you waited this long.

They chased it up and now we have been told that in two weeks time somebody is going out to check the boiler? They say this is standard practice

Their survey - whatever level it was - will have said "I'm saying nothing about the boiler, if you want to know about it, get a specialist."

What did your property information form say about the boiler? When was that sent to the buyer?

but my question is Am I being ridiculous in thinking this is just a stalling technique?

I have no idea. It might be. It might not be. But it's costing them money to get a boiler engineer out.

Why would they not have had this done before now?

Heating engineers are busy at this time of year.

Incidentally there is nothing wrong with the boiler, Central heating works fine but is not new and has never been claimed to be.

Getting it checked seems like a wise precaution, then. But if it works fine, there's nothing to worry about, right?

My siblings think I am just over reacting and these things take time but I am not so sure, I have niggling doubts that the 'cash' buyer simply wanted us to remove from market and secure at a much reduced price. Anybody experience this?

Lots of people have. But, equally, lots of people haven't.

Do you know what sort of "cash buyer" they are? Chain-free, or simply no mortgage needed? If there's a chain, the delay may be down to that. Or it may be down to them taking a while to liquidate whatever investments the purchase money is currently within. Or they might have been on a really long holiday or in hospital or...

G_M · 15 November 2019 at 8:31PM

So you priced it low due to its condition.
Then you accepted an offer way below your asking price (though unclear if that's 5% below or 50%!).
Presumably because your expectation was that the sale would be both smooth (no haggling over condition/price) and speedy (cash buyer).

Now it seems the sale is neither.
Put the property back on the market.

GSingh · 18 November 2019 at 7:20PM

12 weeeks?? Cash buyer I think not. My mortgage was sorted and from viewing to completion in less than 8 weeks and I was in a chain!

Doozergirl · 18 November 2019 at 7:29PM

You are right. Any benefit of their being a cash buyer disappeared weeks ago.

I'd re-market.

How many viewings did you get? At what price and over what period of time? You really do need to know where that 'cash' is coming from as the EA should have verified it, as others have said.

The answer to those questions would be the difference between setting them an ultimatum to exchange within 7-14 days (14 being more than generous) or me just sticking it back on the market tomorrow.

Cakeguts · 18 November 2019 at 7:35PM

It doesn't sound like a cash buyer to me. It sounds like someone who has to sell another property to get the cash. That isn't a cash buyer. A true cash buyer has all the money to buy the property in the bank ready to pay for it. They don't have to sell anything to get the cash.

Time to remarket the property or to enter it into a property auction.

konark · 19 November 2019 at 9:44PM

Deleted_User wrote: »

'I'm a cash buyer'. over the years i have heard people say that when they actually were:

Cash from selling a property
Cash from remortgaging another property
Cash from mum taking out a mortgage on her house
Cash from an inheritance with probate not being granted yet.

Hopefully your estate agent did their job and found out they were actual cash buyers

Don't forget;
Cash from the bank if they accept our application for a mortgage which we're sending in next week.
Cash from a lottery win- we've got a ticket for tomorrow's draw.

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Cash House Buyers

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