Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Cash buyer or more money

34 replies

SunflowerFlower · 25/02/2022 21:23

If you were selling your house and had a few offers, would you go for more money (around £5/10k) or a cash buyer with no chain?

OP posts:
Bloodyshittystorms · 25/02/2022 21:25

The cash buyer and no chain is worth a lot !!

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 25/02/2022 21:27

Have you had an offer accepted on a future home? If so I'd take the cash chain free buyer and crack on.

Chronicallymothering · 25/02/2022 21:33

I’d take more money, because sometimes cash buyers can be flighty if they see a better deal later on.

sst1234 · 25/02/2022 21:35

Impossible to say without knowing what £10k is as a % of total value of house.

Bringsexyback · 25/02/2022 21:53

Make sure you actually want to see the proof of funds because I have heard of somebody claiming to be a cash buyer and then six weeks into the process saying yeah the cash comes from the bank ie as a mortgage 🤦‍♀️

RandomMess · 25/02/2022 21:58

Plenty of cash buyers then decide to raise funds, or want to sell another property 🙄

You need to be 100% sure of their true positions

Dougieowner · 25/02/2022 23:28

We just did it, went for the cash buyer rather than the top offer who was in a chain.
Difference was £5K.

flashbac · 26/02/2022 07:25

A lot of 'cash buyers' are anything but.

Tonsiltrouble · 26/02/2022 07:29

Fingers burnt by a cash buyer here. Negotiated £5k off asking, property may have gone to sealed bids otherwise. Within weeks had set about raising a ‘small mortgage’ and then at exchange tried to tie in sale of their house. We almost lost our sale and purchase over it. I would not consider a cash buyer better than a motivated buyer in a chain. Cash buyers can be flighty and the term is too expansive. Whilst you might think it is just ‘cash in the bank ready to go’ sometimes the term is applied to ‘doesn’t need to sell in order to buy’ which is not the same.

WhatNoReally · 26/02/2022 07:31

Our 'cash' buyer last time we sold needed a mortgage!
We're genuine cash buyers though and wouldn't need to to sell, so the only delay would be getting the cash from different savings accounts /isas. We don't dick around and could genuinely move very very fast.
Get the estate agent to get proof of funds.

ToMockAKillingBird · 26/02/2022 07:32

I'd go with more money. We had a 'cash buyer' lined up for our last house sale, he was an investor but then just before contracts were due to be exchanged tried to get £40k off the agreed price due to alleged issues on the survey.
We said no, it went back on the market and we got the asking price a week later.

It's not always a smooth run with a cash buyer.

MaizeAmaze · 26/02/2022 07:33

Whichever seems more likely to complete the sale. Who wants the house more?

Wideawakeandconfused · 26/02/2022 07:34

Go cash if you want a quick move, but do check they are using cash. We had a cash offer which after 2 months turned into a small mortgage and then full mortgage and delayed everything but 3 months.

Dougieowner · 26/02/2022 07:35

Ok, will rename.
Rather than a cash buyer let's say ready to proceed with all finances in place and no chain.
They were able to proceed at the speed the solicitors were able to do the paperwork.

SeasonFinale · 26/02/2022 07:37

Sometimes it is the agent who says they are a cash buyer when they mean a chain free buyer and they still need a mortgage so check what the agent really means! Sometimes a chain free buyer but needing a mortgage is better because they start spending money to secure the mortgage whereas as cash buyer starts all this later as they can walk away at any time and keep an eye on what else they could go for etc

Original poster
SunflowerFlower · 26/02/2022 08:01

@sst1234

Impossible to say without knowing what £10k is as a % of total value of house.
It would be £5/10k in the context of a £290k sale.
OP posts:
KleineDracheKokosnuss · 26/02/2022 08:02

More money. Cash buyers cause plenty of trouble all by themselves.

santasnothere · 26/02/2022 08:40

More money.

I've heard many times 'cash buyers' is bullshit.

1st time buyers or without a chain would be better than cash buyers who 90% seem to suddenly need a mortgage anyway!

Didiusfalco · 26/02/2022 08:42

At that value, I would take the extra £5/10k rather than the ‘cash buyer’.

TizerorFizz · 26/02/2022 08:48

I would take the cash buyer with no chain. However I would want to know it was 100% cash. Best scenario is they are down sizing and have cash in the bank. Why do they want your house? Get more info on the offer but £5000 would top it for me. Negotiate if £10,000 is too much. Are houses selling in your area? If they are sticking, take the cash and start looking.

Bouledeneige · 26/02/2022 08:58

If you have a good estate agent they should check out the cash buyer and they should provide proof of funds. I had someone whose offer I refused as it was too low drop a note through by door saying he was a cash buyer and the EA said no he's not.

I think it's a difficult one as I would instinctively go with a chain free cash buyer - it's the chain free bit that really helps streamline the process. But I would meet the buyer and see what I thought of them - do they seem genuine? There is a risk - as others have said - that they can be fickle and change their minds or make additional demands (eg after surveys etc) because they think they have locals of power. If they did that I'd ensure the EA had kept contact with the other people who made the higher offer and revert to them if necessary. It's a tough market they might not have secured another property in the meantime.

NobodysGonnaKnow · 26/02/2022 09:02

Cash buyers are huge willy wavers right now. Only useful if you’ve found your onward property and want a quick exchange. Personally I’d go for more money.

Whitney168 · 26/02/2022 09:12

More money and a buyer who seems committed. Cash buyers often aren't. Even worse if they're investors rather than someone who wants to live in the house, as they're likely to want to knock more money off at time of exchange, when they think they have you over a barrel.

RedRobin100 · 26/02/2022 09:13

More money. £5/10k is a lot of money

If if was £2k I might think differently

Starseeking · 26/02/2022 09:16

I'd go for the most motivated buyer who's not going to mess you around, cash buyers often do, as they have the upper hand.

If you opt for the cash buyer, I'd ask for proof of funds that the whole purchase is cash (not that they need to sell their house first!), and also see a time frame for exchange and completion at the outset.