Cash offer versus mortgage offer

[beekeeper17]

So the seller is making a decision overnight between our offer which will require a mortgage but we're ready to go with nothing to sell, and somebody else with a cash offer 3k less than our offer.

I think I know already that this isn't going to go in our favour but we're going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Should I just tell myself now that we're not going to get it rather than prolonging the agony for another day?

The seller would be an idiot not to go with the cash offer. Sorry.

I would also accept a lower offer for less hassle. The conveyancing system in this country is such that even 'simple' transaction can turn into a nightmare & mortgage lenders have conditions too which complicate things. Sorry not the answer you want to hear but you never know 3k may be enough 👍🏻

I suppose it depends on how much of a difference that 3k makes to them. 747k cash or 750k mortgage, then they'll definitely go cash. 97k cash or 100k mortgage, they might be tempted.

We are in the same position as you, but almost at exchange, and the mortgage has added at least an extra month to the process. Sorry, 6 weeks: 2 weeks waiting for telephone affordability calls, 2 weeks waiting for valuation, 2 weeks for mortgage company to send documentation to our solicitor. Cash buyers are much quicker I'm afraid.

Our cash buyer was a pain in the arse, so I don't think it's always an advantage.

That's what I was expecting to hear, I'm not hopeful at all, but was interested to hear if there might be a glimmer of hope out there! The waiting makes it worse.....

We have also previously had a cash buyer who was a pain in the arse. At least when someone has a mortgage they have to pay out for valuations etc. I don't feel happy any longer if someone hasn't got to cough up money for this. It shows a certain amount of commitment.

My supposed cash buyer was a PITA and we had to go back to market.

My friends cash buyer tried to drop the price ontbe day of exchange.

Mortgage buyers with a good deposit % and an AIP and nothing to sell can almost be preferable

I've convinced myself we'll not get it, I get the impression the extra money won't make that much difference to the seller and imagine they'll take what's seen to be the quicker and more hassle free option, even if that's not always the case in practice. Hate all this hanging about not knowing though, let's just hope a final decision is made tomorrow.

If the cash buyer is a 'business opportunity' - developer mainly, and you are someone that wants to live there, many, many people will go with you. Partly from an emotional pov, that they want their home to go to be someone else's beloved home, but also from a financial pov in that you want it, as opposed to it just being another 'turnover'. You are less likely to pull out or suddenly want to drop the price last minute.

Of course, if the cash buyer is someone who also wants it as their home, then that doesn't apply, but just to put another pov.

That's a good point @BackforGood but unfortunately the cash offer is from someone who would be moving into it as their home.

We do have a good deposit though.

I wonder do estate agents try to push the cash offer rather than the mortgage offer? Is it in their interests to do so? The seller is older and I imagine she'll be guided by them a bit.

Aarrgghh, I need to stop thinking about this, it's out of my hands!!

Have you any scope to increase your offer? 3k sounds a lot lower than say 5k, which may sway the seller. That's if you would want to up your offer of course!

Our 'cash' offer turned out to be a massive liar who actually needed to sell(!) several other properties to get the 'cash'. Bloody estates had done NO due diligence and it cost us months. So I personally would want to be very sure before I accepted another cash offer.

I agree with some of the PPs: with a mortgage buyer, you know what you are getting and they have to commit a chunkier size of money upfront. Cash buyers often turn out not to be - or are less invested in the property - so can be much more likely to pull out on a whim.

When dh and I bought our first home together, the couple we bought off (who were elderly and moving to sheltered accommodation near their dd), who had lived there 30 odd years, were determined they wanted "their home" to go to "a lovely young family"

No, seriously, for every MNer that tells you it should be purely a business transaction, I think you'll find a lot of people have a lot of emotions tied up in their home, and, for the sake of what is really a relatively small amount of money (in the scale of buying and selling houses), will often be swayed by other things that you might not be able to record on a balance sheet.

You'll just have to wait and see. fingers crossed for you.

Our cash buyer was also a solicitor pain, strung us along for months and then pulled out just before exchange. Cost us a fortune in survey fees on a property we lost (strangely, we were also cash buyers at the time!) and our property was off the market for around three months in total. Not a guaranteed path to completion at all - good luck with the purchase, hope it goes your way!

We're in the process of selling to a cash buyer and have just found the money is tied up in investments that need releasing. It's taken us less time to confirm our mortgage and we're now looking at a long delay. I'm really hacked off with the EA for not doing enough due diligence to check exact funding and if we have to put it back on the market we'll be very wary about accepting another cash offer. So don't give up hope, OP!

I know the seller's daughter is helping her sort out the sale so I just hope she's a mumsnetter and stumbles upon this thread this morning and thinks twice about the cash offer, I can but hope!!

I accepted a mortgage offer over a cash offer - the difference was £10k though. Fingers crossed for you

Tbh I have worked in Estate Agents as a mortgage adviser and I would say that the majority of house sales that fell through were cash buyers pulling at or a problematic house (damp that kind of thing). Cash sounds great, the reality is far from it.

We lost a house I really wanted to a cash buyer - we weren't in a chain and were in rented. We offered as much as we could but they went with a cash buyer who offered £5k less.

The house was in a better area (although only 10 minutes away) than the one we settled for and although we paid exactly the same for ours as we offered them it is worth £100k less now. It still annoys me.

As above, it depends what the cash offer is.
We made the mistake of accepting a lower cash offer (ie no mortgage) which then fell through when they list the buyer they needed to release the cash

Depends whether they are an actual cash buyer, i.e money in the bank ready. Or just someone with no mortgage, i.e mortgage free but cash only available when their property sells. The latter is not much more secure or straight forward than someone with a mortgage. Seems to be confusing to what a 'cash buyer' actually means these days

Where I used to work it was like this:

Cash = cash in bank
Cash on completion = when the house they own sells
Mortgage.

Any update op?