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Using cash buyers to sell your house quickly
A cash property buyer may be able to help you if selling your house quickly means selling within three months. Or with a high degree of certainty. Sometimes speed and/or certainty are essential to a house sale. Hard to imagine? There are many reasons why you may want
a quick sale. Also, for some people, cash buyers come into their own in a slow property market. Read on to find essential information about:
In a hurry? Start by reading our Six Top Tips for using a homebuying service to get a certain, quick sale.
Cash buyers can buy your house in a matter of days. Between seven and twenty-one days from start to finish is pretty typical (we can do it in fourteen days). A verbal offer? It's possible to get a firm verbal offer in as little as 48 hours. Also, they sometimes buy property for cash but not always. As they usually operate with some form of pre-approved or pre-arranged finance in place they can buy property quickly. So, are you thinking, is that it? A cash buyer will buy my house, just like that? There might be a bit more to it than that, but before you find a cash buyer it's worth pausing for breath because it is also true to say, there is generally a trade-off between speed and certainty of sale and price.
Examine why you want to sell your house quickDo you have a surplus property or is something else driving your house sale? We wouldn't be behaving responsibly if we didn't at least raise the issue. There may be times when a quick sale is not the best thing to do. It all really depends on your circumstances. Take time to reflect on whether you have explored all your options. Way back in 'Plan to Sell' we asked you to consider carefully what you want out of your house sale. Here we're saying it again. It's that important. Take real care with equity release services.
Facing more persistent financial difficulties? Then your focus is probably working out how you can sensibly clear debts to get a fresh start. You will nearly always have a range of options open to you.
From here on in, whatever your motivations for seeking a cash buyer,we'll assume that you have explored your options. After all, you're reading this because you want to sell your house quick. So let's move on, and we'll tell you a bit more about property traders/cash buyers.
What can I expect from a cash buyer?
Broadly speaking a cash buyer is typically a property investor or property trader. Not heard of a property trader? Property traders usually make a living out of buying and selling properties - much like a motor trader. Property traders are often (but not always) developers and/or investors too. What's involved? You can anticipate a three or four stage process when selling to a cash home buyer. It is also true there are different types of property buyers. So its worth taking time to find out about the different kinds of cash buyers. To stick with the car analogy for a moment: Property traders tend to buy property at 'trade' rather than retail prices - although not always. Car dealers, if you think about it, operate in much the same way: Buying cars at trade prices then marking up the price before selling them on.
Finding cash property buyersYou can find cash buyers or traders in your area by logging onto the internet and searching using Yahoo, MSN or Google. Which search terms are the best to use? You have many options to choose from. You can start searching along the lines of: This kind of searching, and all the other variations you’ll be able to come up with, should give you a number of options to contact. If your search terms include a place name don’t be too disappointed if your search results don’t immediately throw up companies located near you – local searching on the internet is still a bit hit and miss. When using one of the major search engines, depending on the results that come up, you can then decide to opt for one of the links which appear under results for your search in the main part of your screen or one of the ‘sponsored’ links (for example in Google these are on the right of the page).
The sponsored links are essentially advertisements. The web sites which appear under 'results' are likely to have more pages for you to browse. This is a plus or minus depending on how much research you're intending to do. An alternative is to look in one of the many online directories focusing on the UK. For example, we are listed in Splut as are other companies who specialise in either buying houses quickly or finding cash buyers. It's well organised so easy to find your way around. Why not have a look?Alternatively, you’ll find cash buyers advertising in the Yellow Pages under Estate Agents, Property Development and Property Investment. Also try local newspapers in the Property Wanted section. The advantage of looking for cash buyers on the internet is that you can find out more about them and more easily compare one company's approach with another before you contact them. You'll probably want to avoid companies who spend more time talking about themselves than what they can do for you. At the other extreme a company who only has a couple of pages on their web site is clearly not making much of an effort to impress you. A large number of companies also don't provide clear details of their trading address.
Once you have found three or four likely suspects you can start contacting them. But you'll need to know more about what's involved in approaching cash property buyers to get the most out of your initial contact with them.
Selling successfully to cash buyersIt is true to say that some companies offering a 'quick sale' service have received a bad press in some national newspapers, primarily for taking advantage of 'distressed sellers'. It's really a case of 'seller beware'. The cash buyers we know offer a good service – they live or die by their ability to come up with a way to help you sell your house so you can get on with your life. They have nothing in common with the type of companies providing newspapers with column inches. But the press need their headlines... So when dealing with any company for the first time some common sense rules apply. Perhaps more so in this case as you're dealing with your most important asset. 
Our advice is to:
Foremost in your mind is likely to be the question of how you get your hands on a fair cash offer. After all, you probably believe that a cash buyer will be tempted to take advantage of your situation. A bit of scepticism is a good thing. A house buying company solution may or may not be your best alternative. Ultimately, it all boils down to one question. Do you need a quick house sale or not? Does your reason for selling outweigh your need to get best price? If so, using cash buyers may be your solution to getting a quick house sale. And finally..if at any stage you hear a promise from cash buyers that sounds too good to be true..it probably is. Tips and Guides
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