Has anyone used one of those ‘we buy any house’ type companies?

[icebearforpresident]

Our house is on the market but getting ittle interest - I am actually an estate agent selling through my own work so the house is being marketed well and is well priced but in my area all anyone wants at the moment are rural properties, and I’m in a mid terrace on a busy road. The market will pick up eventually I have no doubt and under normal circumstances would probably have had a lot of interest.

However, DH and I have the opportunity to purchase a house off market from a family member. We are also both expecting to receive an inheritance, from my mum & his uncle, which between them could be a fairly significant amount of money. With that and the sale of our own house we could potentially but the new property outright or with a very small mortgage.

The family member will give us some time but can’t wait indefinitely. If you’ve used one of these companies what was your experience like? I fully expect they won’t offer full market value but we don’t owe a lot on our current mortgage so likely could afford to not get that but at the same time we couldn’t afford to lose 25/30% either. Was it as quick at they make out?

Their strategy is to offer below market value in exchange for a "quick sale" - fair enough. However they are rarely much quicker than going to market at a realistic price and they often drop their offer further on exchange, then walk away if you don't accept it.

I inherited a property recently that wasn’t near where I live and really didn’t want to market it particularly in these difficult COVID times.

Could you not have engaged a local estate agent and had them do all the local legwork for you - and done the legal stuff online or over the phone? Either way, it sounds like it worked best for you and your very sad circumstances, so glad to hear it

90% isn't bad at all - they're not leaving themselves much leeway in case the market dips or if they have trouble finding a buyer willing to pay the full value, though - they could easily find they don't break even, never mind making anything for their trouble.

Yes I could have done that but first of all I had to extend the lease which was more cash than I have plus a lot of fees. Or market the property to only cash buyers with the short lease. So the combination of these things, plus the distance and the pain of keep returning to my late father’s home And the responsibility of having an empty property miles from my home meant that for me a quick buying selling company was the right decision. I posted on this thread because I do actually have first hand experience of using such companies . I approached five companies and liked the sound of the one went with.

The sale went through in 13 days.

I sold my mums house last year. We had three offers of full price within days so I picked the buyer who had agreed a cash sale with we buy any house. They had gone down that route for a quick sale.
The EA checked it out as far as possible and all seemed legit. They then dropped their original (already low) offer to our buyers by 50%.
My EA then marketed our buyers house and sold it within a couple of weeks.
It still took 5 months to complete though!

Tier10

Under the circumstances, I think you did the right thing. These companies aren't the best fit in many scenarios, but it sounds like your scenario was indeed one of those.