Are first-time buyers with a mortgage considered cash buyers?

[KitTea3]

I apologise in advance as I feel I do know the amswer to this question but need some confirmation 🤦🏻‍♀️

My partner and I are in the process of looking to buy a house. We have a decent deposit but will still need to have mortgage, we are first t time buyers, no chain

Can someone just clarify for me this does not mean we are "cash buyers" (or whatever the phrase is that I've somehow now forgotten) .

To me a cash buyer is somehow who doesn't NOT require a mortgage? I think my bf has been confused with no chain and cash buyers 🤦🏻‍♀️😫sorry for the stupid question 😫

You are correct and your boyfriend is wrong. Cash buyers don’t have a mortgage. They have enough cash to cover the whole purchase.

No, you aren’t cash buyers. Cash buyers have no mortgage.

Thank you! As I thought!!

Sorry we are extremely new to the whole house buying thing (as you can probably tell!! 😫)

Did think as much! Thank you for confirming!

Not cash buyers but first time buyers - so still a positive as no chain.

Can I ask, when we make an offer if it worth trying to negotiate as first time buyers with no chain? Someone mentioned to me it might be a small advantage? In case they want a quicker sale?

First time buyers doesn't matter to the vendor. No chain does.

Cash buyers has always suggested to me that the bank will not loan the money on the property for a mortgage. Does not always mean there is an issue with the house, but likely! Happy to be told I am wrong though!

I know it sounds strange but sometimes people don’t want quick sale e.g if they haven’t found their next house yet or have found but need to wait for it.

Cash buyers means they can buy whatever property they want to buy. They are taking the risk.

Thank you for the advice so far ☺️

God this all moves so quickly! We saw one we really wanted and before I had chance it had already gone though my sister recommended stil contacting the agent incase it falls though x

If you are approved, with everything in place yes, because you're pretty much as good as a cash buyer (when you've had lots of views who waste your time because they haven't even looked into a mortgage, you appreciate buyers who are ready to go!)

I always thought cash buyers means people who are chain free, essentially. I suppose it depends on whether there are reasons why someone would struggle to get a bank or building society to lend against a property.

Apart from being a cash buyer, being outwith of a chain means you do have an advantage. But your advantage is dependent on Mortgage approval, so you can't buy a haunted mansion with no toilet or kitchen.
Cash? It's yours. 😁

A cash buyer is someone who doesn’t need a mortgage because they already have the cash eg might have won the lottery, received an inheritance, made a mint on the stock exchange, designed a product everyone wanted and made lots on money etc etc.

It does make a difference. A cash buyer isn't going to drop their offer because the mortgage valuation came up short for one thing. That's particularly important at the moment as increasingly valuations are coming in low.

Very weird take.

I was a cash buyer for my property simply because I had the funds to buy mortgage free. No idea whether a bank would lend on it, I didn't need to find out.

It doesn't mean they are chain free.

They might be selling a house with no mortgage on it and using that money (cash, no mortgage) to buy this house. But they still have a buyer for their house, creating the chain.

I think the confusion is being caused by properties sometimes being advertised as cash buyers only. Usually as it would be hard to get a mortgage on the property. Usual example being short lease remaining

You’d think wrong.

Or they might just have already sold their previous home.......

When we sold our last house we went to B&F and had our choice of potential buyers, all of which were proceedable (which was a condition of even getting a viewing).
We sold to FTB, not because they offered the most (they didn't, they were the third highest) but because we liked them and their particular situation was best.
You are in quite a strong position.👍

We had overs over & above from genuine cash buyers but our gut feeling was that they may mess us about.
We did however make it very clear from day-one that any attempt to later renegotiate the price would result in the sale being cancelled and the house going back on the market.
We would have done it as well.

I always thought a cash buyer was someone who didn’t need a mortgage & chain free but some EAs will still call someone a cash buyer if they don’t need a mortgage but need to sell their property/liquidate an asset.

@KitTea3 It’s all very exciting when buying your first property - but very overwhelming 😅 and you’re right, everything moves so quickly at the start!
Can I ask what your current living situation is - are you renting? Living with family etc?

We were also chain free buyers when we bought our current house. They had planned to put the property to a closing date as there were so many offers but when they realised that we were chain free buyers who were in no rush to move they took it off the market and accepted our offer as they hadn’t found their new house yet. I don’t know exact figures but from what I could gather from the estate agents etc our offer sat somewhere in the middle of those that had come in - we certainly weren’t in the top few highest ones.

I would certainly mention your chain free position when offering ☺️

My PIL were cash buyers for their last and current moves because they have no mortgage and the money from their house sale paid off the new house.