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Original poster

Pick nice family buyers or weird cash buyers?

80 replies

LongLiveGoblingKing · 02/05/2021 14:09

We have two offers on our house for the same amount. It's an amount we're happy to accept and will give us what we need to buy the property we like.

Offer A is a family with small children who looked around, were lovely, asked a few normal questions and then put in an offer later that day. They are selling their house to first time buyers.

Offer B is a couple who viewed a week ago and initially dismissed the house for a few reasons, but then wanted a second viewing and have made an offer. They are cash buyers.

On paper you should accept from the cash buyers, but my gut is telling me that they will be very hard work! They asked so many questions. Some were as you'd expect (how old is the boiler) and others were a bit intense (wanting to know the function of each pipe visible on the outside of the house).
I might be being really unfair but I just get a PITA vibe from them. I think they'd really pick a survey apart.

Would I be unreasonable to go with offer A? Are the advantages of having a cash buyer worth putting up with a possibly difficult buyer? Does anyone have any stories where they wish they'd followed their gut in a similar instance?

OP posts:

teddybears55 · 02/05/2021 14:46

Go with ur gut. I dunno from what ur saying I'd be scared B would pull out at the last minute or be cheeky enough to say they want money off or something.

tara66 · 02/05/2021 14:47

Tell people like cash buyers asking lots of questions to get a surveyor's report so they can get information from someone qualified.

ChequerBoard · 02/05/2021 14:48

This need to be a head not heart decision. Cash over chain every time.

The family may be twinkly eyed lovely people but you have no idea how stable their chain is. Their buyers might be awful gazundering bastards and if their sales falls through you will be left high and dry.

Babygotblueyes · 02/05/2021 14:53

Go with your gut!

Original poster

LongLiveGoblingKing · 02/05/2021 14:55

The people we are buying off have not found anywhere yet. We will not make the stamp duty deadline and have accepted this.

Just to be clear I don't want to sell to someone just because they are a nice family. I'm very much a 'head over heart' person when it comes to business transactions and would accept the cash buyers over the family were it not for these reservations.

OP posts:

chocolateoranges33 · 02/05/2021 14:59

I would pick the family not the cash buyers as I'd be listened to my gut that was telling me there's something not quite right with the cash buyers.

Bancha · 02/05/2021 14:59

We had a similar situation. In our case it was two offers with mortgages, one offer higher than the other. The highest offer was from someone who had been really rude when they viewed the house and we didn’t realise it was this person who had offered so we accepted over the couple who made the next highest offer. This person was a nightmare from start to finish, and ended up paying less than they initially offered (though still a little more than the lower offer). I have always felt they were looking for a reason to lower their offer and never intended to pay what they’d initially offered.

If I’d known it was that person I would have thought twice about accepting their offer as they were so unbelievably rude about the house when they viewed it (and it was a lovely house in a very desirable area). I had put a lot of love into that house and brought it back to life so I wanted to sell it to someone who would love it. I also thought they would have been a nightmare to deal with on the basis of their behaviour at the viewing, so wouldn’t have accepted the offer if I’d realised it was them as it just felt so strange.

We didn’t realise for a few weeks that the buyer was this person who had viewed the house. Predictably, it was a major headache dealing with their crazy demands the whole time. We nearly put the house back on the market at one stage. The estate agents and solicitors were all appalled by their behaviour. If I’d known all this before, I would have without question gone for the couple even though we would have ‘lost’ a couple of thousand pounds overall. In my experience it definitely makes a difference to sell your house to people who have honest intentions and who are generally reasonable.

CagneyNYPD · 02/05/2021 15:02

Go with option A. I would be v concerned that your cash buyers will be problematic to the extent that they pull out further down the line.

scoobydoo1971 · 02/05/2021 15:14

Property developer here, bought and sold loads since my 20's. Cash buyers can be difficult and use their capital position to make demands. I always check out neighbours and all aspects of the property before an offer as that comes from experience in housing. I go there at night too to see who lives around the address, noise levels, parking etc. The family are in a chain and that is high risk. They may not be able to borrow as much as they thought...I've had a few like that, or unexpected situations arise. Get yourself a no-complete no-fee solicitor to reduce your costs, and if it were myself, I would go for cash buyer with a firm deadline on completion. Don't let it drag on for months and months just because they bring cash. Cash sales are supposed to be quicker as no mortgage administration involved. Good luck whatever you decide!!

IEat · 02/05/2021 15:21

Wouldn’t it be the people who put the first offer in?

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/05/2021 15:22

I’d go with the family if you’ve got good vibes from them.
When a dd was buying her first house - a probate sale and very dated but had evidently been loved - there was apparently a slightly higher offer from an investor who was going to rent it out.

The daughter of the former owner went with dd, since she was a FTB.
Nice to know there are still such people about.

Arrierttyclock · 02/05/2021 15:23

The family. Sounds like the cash buyer is flaky and will mess you around anyway

RainingBatsAndFrogs · 02/05/2021 15:26

Would the cash buyers move in as their primary home?

A family in a chain (to the FTB) have a driver to buy. They wouldn’t want to lose their sale due to any messing about, and would not find it so easy to walk away if you refused a gazunder.

Cash buyers buying to rent it out have no boundaries, deadlines or pressures to prevent them setting conditions, deadlines etc.

On the other hand a mortgage free buyer is not going to be subject to any complications or conditions imposed by the lender. If your house is in good nick and an uncomplicated survey is expected, go with the family.

4PawsGood · 02/05/2021 15:30

@IEat

Wouldn’t it be the people who put the first offer in?

Not if more than one offer comes in within a fairly short space of time.

Gemma2019 · 02/05/2021 15:37

Every time I've had a cash buyer in the past it has turned into a massive hassle and there was always some problem with them actually getting hold of the cash within the necessary timeframe. With one it transpired that their cash was coming from the sale of their previous house, and they would be buying mine with cash, so hardly what I would actually call a cash buyer. I would go with the family here, from what you have said.

PavoReal · 02/05/2021 15:43

I had this decision to make back in Jan 2020. I chose the cash buyer and it was the wrong decision. 2 months into the process they pulled out because of market uncertainty/COVID.

LoudestCat14 · 02/05/2021 15:45

Pick the family! We had a nightmare with a cash buyer, not least because it turned out at the last minute some of their cash was tied up in investments and needed to be released and it held everything up. If your spidey senses are telling you they're going to be trouble, avoid, avoid, avoid.

Kindlethefourth · 02/05/2021 15:46

We had this years ago. Nice single Mum, offered the asking price and all going ahead and then cash offer from buy to let purchaser with all sorts of promises-that we could rent it from them for 3 months so no pressure to move etc'. As OP has said, on paper cash buyer looked better but am a believer in karma and treating people in the right way so stuck with the original buyer and all went through swimmingly.

maddiemookins16mum · 02/05/2021 15:48

Go with the family. We’re selling too and have had a cash buyer make an offer we’re very tempted by (3K below upper end of guide price), so offered us 327 when our guide is 320-330. His wife is ‘buying him out’ of their home (we’re assuming divorce) but don’t want to get stuck in the middle of divorce proceedings.

bobby81 · 02/05/2021 15:52

I’d go with A, it’s not like there’s a huge chain. I can’t stand awkward people so if you have the option to avoid B then do.

maddiemookins16mum · 02/05/2021 15:52

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

I’d go with the family if you’ve got good vibes from them. When a dd was buying her first house - a probate sale and very dated but had evidently been loved - there was apparently a slightly higher offer from an investor who was going to rent it out.

The daughter of the former owner went with dd, since she was a FTB.
Nice to know there are still such people about.

That could be me....sold my mums house to FTB from my old ‘home town’ who were renting around the corner instead of the buy to let Landlord who offered 2K more. The new owners of my old family home love that house and still send me pictures (and left the little plaque from our long gone cat at the bottom of the garden. Their cat lies in the same spot (probably cos it’s shady 😀).

Original poster

LongLiveGoblingKing · 02/05/2021 15:54

Cash buyers have sold their property and are currently living/ house sitting in a relative's house whilst they are overseas. They are looking to buy a home to move into so not landlords or anything. Potential to be pushy about moving quickly possibly but I'm speculating.

We can't really make demands about completion dates as the people we're buying from haven't found anywhere yet, so who knows what the upward chain looks like at this point.

I didn't know about the advantages and disadvantages of cash buyers so your stories have been really interesting.

OP posts:

Piccalily19 · 02/05/2021 16:09

We put our first house on the market and had 3 viewings in the first weekend. Ended up with 3 offers of asking price. First was a lovely girl, she couldn’t go any higher though (Shame as she was my fave but money wise we needed the extra), second again was a nice guy but he put in the second highest offer. Third guy I got a weird vibe from, his parents asked a tonne of weird questions and it made no sense to me why he wanted the house. His parents lived in an affordable town 30 minutes away and he also worked in that same town. Where we lived was famous for traffic too so a nightmare commute. However he offered the highest (only by 2k) and stupidly despite our reservations we went with him. 6 weeks later he pulled out with no explanation
Id always avoid anyone I got a weird vibe from ñ, unless they were my only offer

Adifferentstory2 · 02/05/2021 16:10

Definitely the family - nothing worse than overly thorough / pedantic buyers. Plus a family will be very motivated to move to get the kids sorted. Good luck

Londongent · 02/05/2021 16:13

Initial thoughts after reading your first post would be to sell to the family. But the cash buyers just seem keen to make sure they know everything about the house they can (even if it is overly keen), and they seem serious.
It's a tough call. You have to go with head. Have you accepted either offer? Maybe go to best and final and go for the highest offer.

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