Property buying companies - any experience?

[ScoobyDoesnt]

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, of selling a property to one of these we buy any house type companies?

Situation: probate sale after family death, tenants didn’t move out when supposed to (tenants were in the house to cover towards care home fees when relative alive), eviction process started and first sale last summer not surprisingly fell through.

New sale secured with a developer, subject to planning. Planning decision due imminently - but it’s not looking positive; a lot of complaints, comments etc. Developer has put in planning, not me. If planning does go through, all good, we exchange/complete in the next 4 weeks.

Tenants finally evicted 2 weeks ago, have left the house damp (clearly been drying washing on radiators, with heating thermostat on 22 degrees!). Plus burn marks in kitchen, carpets ruined in 2 bedrooms, filthy dirty overall, garden a jungle. Developer unbothered as would be ripping house apart anyway.

My issue is if sale doesn’t go through, house would need a good clean up, and then we start again with a sale process. So realistically, although it’s sold quite quickly twice, it’s deteriorated, in a slowing market. And - I don’t have the cash to pay the bills, council tax, insurance, spruce up costs on an ongoing basis.

So - to offload quickly (but clearly cheaply) - has anyone ever used one of these companies? Do they stick with first offer or knock you down? Is it as quick as they say?

The reason for considering this route is to save bills, and also save estate agent, legal costs etc, as these are paid by these companies. And it’s quick. Just want rid, so I can discharge my executor duties and get the beneficiaries (not me!) paid.

Thank you

They are likely to gazunder you just before you exchange of contracts, when the pressure to sell is greatest.

To offload quickly, find a good local EA and ask them to market the property at 10% under their considered market value.

You could probably rip up the carpet and dispose to get a better look.

Wrong thread.

They give you a price which is significantly below market value - but that's before the survey. We didn't go any further as we thought the reason they offered so low was to avoid getting a survey done but that's not the case.

Anecdotally, pretty much everyone says that following the survey they'll knock the price down a bit more.

I have also heard some people say that later on in the process, just before you exchange/complete they'll drop it again - but I don't know if this is a universal thing or just the shady companies.

It does seem fairly common to get a low price, and then get an even lower price once they've done the survey though.

I know it's tempting but honestly, I'd try to avoid them. Better marketing at % off the market value via an EA than with these companies. Just rip out the carpets etc and give it a clean. Don't worry too much about the garden. If you sell at a bargain price, someone will snap it up.

Thank you. Totally understand the price will be lower than market value, I’m just not sure I can go through yet another round of viewings and offers.

Fingers crossed planners come up trumps hopefully this week, then it’s all irrelevant anyway!

I completely understand that.

I had a thread on here last year about the options for selling a house quickly as I really didn't think I could cope with getting a house market-ready and then the inevitable stress of buying/selling and all that entails.

In the end, I did manage to power through and luckily managed to find a FTB who was about as low hassle as you could ever imagine. Viewed once and then offered, and didn't ask to come back again. I dropped my price a bit to accommodate their offer - speed was more important to me than getting top £££ - and I still got a price within the bracket I'd had in mind. Went through in about 8 weeks start to finish I think, no chain.

One of the other options suggested to me at the time was auctions. There's not the same hassle with the sale dropping out, or the problems with timescales. Sounds as if this might be a viable alternative for you than the shady house buying companies if the planner doesn't come up trumps?

Fingers crossed for you though - you'll feel as if there's a weight off your shoulders when you've shifted this property by the sounds of things!

As pp said, you could try auction ?

I think you can set a minimum price for that, and get all the beneficiaries to easily agree to that minimum price in advance.

I think the problem with selling via any property buying company is two things. One is that they tend to try to reduce their offer at the last minute. The second is it might be argued by the beneficiaries that you have not got the best price ?

I would certainly take legal advice from a solicitor before selling to make sure you are covered as an executor.

Thank you again, auction could be a possibility (I love Homes Under the Hammer!) and still relatively quick, with the right reserve price.

Beneficiaries are my two young adult DC and of course I want to maximise for them. This represents them each getting a substantial house deposit for when they need it. We are of course discussing options, as ultimately whilst I am decision maker as executor, they should have a say too. I will also speak to the solicitor who has dealt with probate to be on the safe side.

Yes, will definitely be a weight off my shoulders. If the tenants had left when they should have, in line with the s21 notice, we would have had lovely FTBs in there 6 months ago.