Has anyone had any dealings with those companies that guarantee to buy your property?

[lazarou]

Any info would be much appreciated.

I posted this a few months ago as desperate to sell my house but the replies I got basically confirmed what I already thought but didn't want to hear - they only give you 45 to 70 % of current market value and are just huge rip off merchants sorry... I still havent sold but hoping market will pick up soon!

Yes, and they charge a valuation fee. I suppose it's a fallback option if it came to the worst

They charge a valuation fee of several hundred pounds which is basically how they make their money because they then make such risible offers that, if they were to be accepted, they could sell next day at a profit. Stay well away. Sorry, but that's the truth - whoever gave you the info (and I may have been one of them) wasn't kidding.

I don't think the market is going to pick up but it does mean that whatever you buy will be cheaper... so sort of

What I mean is that you would have to be mad to accept their offer so they make money from "valuing" your property, not buying it. Sorry, that didn't come out too well first time.

We don't have to sell up but on previous occasions we have had so much trouble with estate agents and time wasters that I just want it off our hands now.

We had some great advice - though it was a long time ago...

When you put your house on the market, bear in mind that there is a huge pool of buyers already out there looking. If you don't get an offer in the first couple of weeks then you will be relying on new people coming along - ie a much smaller pool.

Easter is the top time to sell.

So... smarten up, tidy everything away, your house needs 'KERB APPEAL' - most people will judge their interest in buying it when they pull up outside.

Make sure it's on for a realistic price - if it's too high you won't sell and you'll have to drop the price, which is a big turn-off for potential buyers. As soon as you see 'price reduction' you wonder why no one else wanted it.

You need to sell on the open market or you'll be losing thousands.

It had a lot of interest when it was up for sale and we nearly sold it a few times but for various reasons it always fell through. We have been renting it out to my dads business for two years and now he has to find bigger premises, we are free to sell it or rent it out again. I can't face more time wasters so that was why I thought of the quick guaranteed homebuying option. We will definitely make a profit on it if we sell it but it is such a pita.
Plus we will then be able to buy the house we are in, which belongs to my parents, so there isn't really any rush, but they will obviously need to sell this house at some point because they have just bought another house and they have had to take out another mortgage. I'm not sure if we will even get another mortgage once we have sold our place because we are only on dh's wage.

Have you thought about an auction? I posted recently on this on another thread in Property topic. If you don't want to get the maximum value, it might be worth thinking about - very little interaction with estate agents .

They are scam artists seriously.Why not just reduce your property and sell it the conventional way Even with 15% off and fees you would be better off as they only pay you two thirds max

As a part-time estate agent (although just started mat leave - hurrah!), I can tell you how they come up with the offer. We are asked by these companies to fill in very long forms with all sorts of info re the property. The important figure is the 'valuation if we had to guarantee the property would be sold within 6 weeks' - which at the mo is a short time to consider sellng within. They usually ask two or three local estate agents and take either an average or the lowest valuation. They will then offer you 10-15% less than this figure - which covers their buying and selling costs. They will then put the property on the market with usually two local estate agents - often the same ones you would have used yourself.

We always advise people thinking of doing this that if you were to consider this, you wold be much better off marketing the property at a sensible price by the normal method, or selling by auction with a sensible reserve.

The only reason these comapnies exist is to make a profit - which should be your profit - so for you the only advantage is an immediate offer - but at great expense, so if you can afford to wait, do.

Hope this helps!

would - oops!

Thanks everyone, I think I would rather go the estate agent route anyway.