Selling to a property company

[MrsMontyD]

I'm very inexperienced at buying and selling houses (bought my current house as a FTB without it going into the market) and some advice would be appreciated.

I'm not looking for advice on whether we should sell to a property company please, just on the process./risks.

DP and myself have a house each to sell and we're looking to buy one between us, as soon as possible. We have offers from a company that brokers for property developers/landlords, for both properties that are pretty much the full market value, especially when you consider there would be no EA fees and they pay legal fees.

This works potentially for DPs house because he can move in with me and it gets us quickly to the position of having one house to sell and one to buy. They've sent us both an agreement to sign, with a date in for completion in 3 months, subject to contract, which isn't necessarily an issue for DP because frankly the sooner he moves in with me the sooner we stop paying two lots of utility bills etc.

Am I right in thinking that this agreement is effectively just a formal acceptance of the offer so they can undertake the survey etc.? Is it usual to sign an agreement at this stage in a house sale?

The offer for my house is also at a price I would accept but we haven't even viewed any properties to buy yet and I'm just concerned about the process and potentially having to move out before we have somewhere to go to, despite assurances that the completion date is fluid and it's on the agreement as 3 months because they have to put something. Any advice on the process and legal implications appreciated.

Op you describe yourself as “very inexperienced” at buying and selling and the very fact you are considering a company buying property when they are utterly notorious is buying way below market value (their market are those desperate for immediate release of funds) would indicate you are barrelling into this with little thought.

do you have any family or friends input on this?

I don't have young children, my DD is 18 and will be off to university next year.

I've been living on my own with her for a lot of years, I haven't rushed into living with DP, she's very comfortable with the situation.

We are giving it a great deal of thought, no commitment has been made. We're getting DPs house valued and taking legal advice.

I have life insurance appropriate to my current situation, of course it will need to be reviewed, as will DPs along with wills, death in service benefits etc.

Not necessarily.

This is how I sold my flat.

He made an offer, I rejected it. He increased the offer and that was that.

Everything just fell into place for me at exactly the right time.

I know it's not like that for everyone, but I just wanted to point out that it can work out very well, and without any games being played.

@excelledyourself It must work for some situations, like yours, or they wouldn't be in business.

The offer on DPs house is £10k more than a house a few doors away, in better shape, went for in the last 12 months, so about 7.5% more and £38k more than the house next door in a similar condition went for two years ago so about 34% more, so it's a good offer for a relatively quick sale. I can't see him getting much more on the open market, especially when you factor in estate agent's fees and legal fees. But we are getting an estate agent in to do a valuation anyway.

If they drop it after the valuation DP will just pull out.

@excelledyourself

ehat your the reason you didn’t sell on the open market?

Op

2. Does the offer seem unrealistic?
If a quick sale company claims to be able to buy your home in record time for anything close to 100% of its market price, be sceptical.

You can expect a quick sale company to offer you a price discounted by around 25% of the amount you could get by selling through the conventional estate agent route.

Some unscrupulous companies have been known to offer a high price, only to then substantially reduce the offer just before completion.

very good website here

www.quittance.co.uk/conveyancing/advice/selling-a-property/selling-through-a-quick-sale-company-what-you-must-know

Basically if they’re not offering 25% below market price - it’s probably a con

Laziness, if I'm honest

At the time I was starting to finally make some sort of plans to move, a friend told me they had been interested in her area, but she wasn't going anywhere. She gave me the details and I emailed them, skeptically.

Within 48 hours they had made me an offer which was in line with what I had already decided I was happy to accept, based on my area.