Concerned about massive over-offer on house

[BeingATwatItsABingThing]

My friend has had her house on the market for a while. It’s quite a niche house so it wasn’t selling quickly and finding the right buyer was going to take a while. They reduced the price twice in hopes to sell.

They had some viewings the other day and got an offer from someone who said he buys houses on a buy to let to rent to vulnerable families. He has offered £25,000 over the asking price. No bidding war or other offers.

Initially, I was chuffed for them but I’ve been thinking and something isn’t sitting right. Why would he offer so much over the asking price? Especially if he is hoping to rent it out for vulnerable families. I haven’t spoken to my friend about this yet because I can’t decide if I’m overreacting.

AIBU to be worried about this? Is this a scam?

(I know it’s not my house and none of my business but I wouldn’t want them to be caught up in a scam.)

Weird. An investor looks to get the best price and currently not many houses are going over asking.

I had an offer of full asking the other day from a guy who wanted to rent the house from me for 6 months first, then buy it. I had big concerns and obviously said no.

Yeah, that screams no!!! to me. Who knows what he could do to that house and then pull out of buying it?!

I'd be worried he'd turn round on completion day and demand a massive discount, or he'd pull out.

Does sound strange.

Even if hed had a lottery win, wouldn't he have saved the 25k and used it towards another property to house another vulnerable family?

Are their agents comfortable with his position and offer - do they find it unusual?

This would worry me too.

There is always some sort of scam going on with this sort of offer, probably related to money laundering.

How is he purchasing the property? Cash/ mortgage?
is the solicitor able to ask of proof of where the money is coming from?

What do you mean by what he could do to the house?

That’s my thought. Why wouldn’t he save the money?

I don’t know. I haven’t asked and I didn’t want to put a downer on their excitement if I was worried over nothing.

Damage I mean.

Perhaps he’s hoping to pull a significant reduction just before exchange, knowing that they’re very keen to sell having been on the market for so long.

£25k is what percentage of the asking price?

How can he damage it before he’s bought it? At a viewing?

If he's rented it before buying it, it's not unheard of for people to pull shit like this:

I was referring to the PP’s comment about someone wanting to rent the house before buying it. He’d have been living in it for 6 months before buying.

Oh I see!

The house was on for £325k.

Ask the star agents to check his finances throughly! Before any chance of accepting an offer. Cash buyer fine, mortgage no!
Then put stipulation of acceptance as offer price only. No quibbling over surveys or under offer before exchange

It's a hook and fuck about.
High offer and then when everything is far gone and everyone invested, he will want price dropped considerably just before exchange or he will pull out

Sounds like it could be a scam. Wants the house off the market. Then has a survey then comes back with a very low offer. That's the usual script.

It seems I’m not being over dramatic with my concerns then. 😔

I would ask for a £25,000 non-refundable deposit and see what the response is.

The other thing it might be, if he is a cash buyer, is money laundering.

An experienced estate agent would be able to spot scams. I got an offer over the asking price and he said he thought it was someone who didn’t like to lose (narcissist?) and would likely withdraw his offer. The woman doing the viewing had a gut feeling about him!

Surely this is what you pay your estate agent and solicitor to check out?

Of course and hopefully they will pick it up but it’s good to be aware in case they don’t. I would hate for them to get to the last minute and lose lots of money or the buyer.

Do they not have their own concerns? Ultimately a house sale can always fall through before completion (around a third of them do, apparently).

If they've gone with this buyer then it's up to them, there is always going to be a risk - be that for legitimate reasons, or because there are people out there deliberately making a play to shave some money off later down the line.

I think it's wrong, and I think they are right to be wary just because it doesn't particularly add up that you would over offer in the alleged circumstances but I'm not sure that makes it a 'scam'. They accepted the offer and presumably the conveyancing solicitors they appoint will do the required due diligence. If the buyer makes an attempt later down the line to offer less or won't complete then ultimately that's legal, unfortunately. They would still own the home at that point and don't have to agree to the progression of the sale. By the sounds of it if he's offered 25k over and asks to drop that a bit then they'll get what they originally wanted anyway.

Their estate agent or solicitor will cover the legal compliance of the sale. Who the buyer is or their motivations isn't anything anyone can know nor does it really form part of the legalities of the process.