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Has anyone sold easily to an investor or is it best to avoid them?

14 replies

CatAndHisKit · 14/11/2020 02:19

My second buyer seems to have gone AWOL, an investor who seemed serious about buying, discussing some options intially and then afetr a month of solicitors sending drafts and waiting for theirs, agent strated chasing him. So last week he said he as hugely busy buying other properties, but he will be buying, so we asked to just instruct his solicitors as that's not time consuming, is it?

Well, no reply to any contact for a week and now agent thinks he's gone. They also now found out that he s ben flakey with others.

My 1st buyer also never proceeded, after two months, she just said she couldn't get the finance.

Both sounded confident and the 2d one said 'I'm definitely buying it, no need for alarm' before going AWOL for a week.

THe irony is, I accepted lower offers from both because the've promised a quick sale and there is no chain (I can't afford waiting for many months).

Do they all just lie? Did anyone have positive experiences and if I get yet another offer from an investopr how best to handle it so they don't just feed you fibs?

Agent thinks puttng house back on the market might push him into action - does this work? I'm not looking forward to more viewings, to say the least, looks so bad when house is going back on twice (due to no fault with the house)!

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SilkieRabbits · 14/11/2020 03:50

I sold my first flat to an investor in the end after first sake collapsed after 2 months, took 5 months to go through - he just said it wasn't a priority to rush it through for him. I'ld try the put it back on the market and see if he's serious.

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cabbageking · 14/11/2020 04:06

Your agent should have been checking their position re finances etc when any offer comes in.

Letting you know if there is a mortgage in principle, rent to let or if they have funds for the additional stamp tax or deposit etc. This all goes towards your decision to accept an offer or not.

Sometimes you refuse a higher offer when there is no prospect of any mortgage, their home is not on the market yet and go for a lower one that has checked out what mortgage they can get.

Have a word with your agent to find out what questions they are asking and what financial evidence they are requesting to ascertain they are dealing with genuine buyers.

Once an offer is made they must get proof of finances anyway. You shouldn't be in that position two months after an offer

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wirldsgonemad · 14/11/2020 04:23

There's a chance he's chasing the best deals and pulling out of less attractive ones. Hedging his bets.

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FurierTransform · 14/11/2020 07:54

Your always better off selling to someone who is emotionally as well as financially invested in working towards completion. I wouldn't consider selling my main home to an investor, while I'm reliant on achieving a certain price/timescale & part of a chain etc.

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jujuball · 14/11/2020 17:47

I'm a property solicitor with several regular investor clients. None of them have ever been flakey or pulled out of any purchase I've dealt with for them. They're all always super eager to get it done ASAP and never really care what I tell them about their search results/title etc., they just want to complete Grin

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CatAndHisKit · 15/11/2020 03:10

They're all always super eager to get it done ASAP and never really care what I tell them about their search results/title etc., they just want to complete
That's exactly what I was hoping when accepting his somewhat lower offer vs a pricate buyer who has just put her house on the market (but in an area where they sell fast). The agent also pursuaded me further. I find it hard to believe that you never had a customer selling and investor pulling out, though. Maybe your regular investor buyers are different - but you wouldn;t know of some flakey ones as they never come to instruct solicitors - like mine!
But yes - I thought an investor in unlikely to fuss about minor surbey findings or doing all the searches - but the point is, they aer just not as commited (at all) as buyers who like the house, especially in an area where there is a lot of choice for investors, evn though mine was an especially good value for that price and to let out.

cabbageking they have checked! Habing already had a buyer no.1 who couldn't arrange finance, this time they did check his credentials, he's a cash buyer and does genuinely buy - but he's also known as it now turns out, to pull out whe nit suits hi,. I still blame hte agent for not finding that out sooner (from their other branch in differnt town where he's based).

Furrier that's what I;m now thinking, I just pray that a private buyer who likes and commits to the house, isnt a in a long chain!

I wonder if I should even go with the investor if he does come back - how to make sure he's not off again at the last minute, even if we start.

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WattleOn · 15/11/2020 03:23

In your shoes, I would accept offers only from buyers who can exchange in, say, two weeks and complete in six weeks.

Back in day, (that would be late ‘90s, early ‘00’s) I worked in the London property market. It was not unusual to exchange and complete at the same time. The shortest time frame I dealt with was 10 days, a lot were done in 2 weeks, most probably around 6 weeks, and one particularly complex transaction took 3.5 months.n

I miss those days!

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WattleOn · 15/11/2020 03:26

I think a lot of the people who call themselves investors these days are not serious businessmen/women.

There is one bloke in particular that I know of who boasts about his portfolio worth millions of pounds but I think he makes more money selling investing seminars to people on Instagram. And those poor people think they can have his Instagram life but I don’t think it will work out like that.

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Anordinarymum · 15/11/2020 03:35

The house next door to me was sold to an investor because it was not selling at all after many months of being on the market. They accepted a well below the market cash offer which pissed me off slightly as I had bought my house six months earlier and paid a lot more for it.

However, i found out the seller had been in the house since it was built and had done nothing in the way of improvements apart from putting a porch at the front.

Inside it was like a 1950's house and needed gutting and refurbishing. So the bargain price paid was not a bargain after all.

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catfeets · 15/11/2020 04:03

My buyer has 'sold' to an investor and I fear this is what will happen, that the investor will just go awol. Haven't heard anything in weeks.

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Caeruleanblue · 15/11/2020 04:31

House buying/selling is something people do seldom and they have emotion invested in the home they have improved or decorated.
But try to be businesslike. For the buyers it is a huge investment/stress/worry. Even the nicest person can get difficult due to that. There's too much money involved. Don't do favours, just deal with the facts.

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CatAndHisKit · 15/11/2020 19:15

In your shoes, I would accept offers only from buyers who can exchange in, say, two weeks and complete in six weeks.

Well that's why I went with him, he promised 4-6 weeks to completion, I even said 6-8wks would be better for me. Now 3 wks after contracts been sent, nothing.

Caeruleanblue well yes, but what a nightamare for a seller especially as I'm downsizing to release funds! I'm not emotional about my house - I ve bought three times in the last 15 yrs, I like the house but want it sold, and did accept a lower offer (just a smidgen more from what I paid 6yrs ago).
He boasted how quick he can do it and chased me for a next day answer - I went for it for the sake of speed. It shouldn't be that difficult for him as he's investing his own cash and my house is about a quarter of al lhis invetsnent (tes he boasted how much he's got to the agent!).
So not sure how else can I be businesslike? I want to deal wurth facts but the system is such that you have to rely on someone's word for weeks!

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CatAndHisKit · 15/11/2020 19:16

*nightmare

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CatAndHisKit · 15/11/2020 19:18

sorry for other typos too.

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