Potential Downsizing

[SandyK166]

We’re hoping to put the house up for sale late Spring and moving to a different area with lower prices so that we will be mortgage free.
Im aware that estate agents ask for a mortgage DIP for viewings to prove that you’re serious and in a position to buy, but what do you do if you are cash buyers?
thanks

Not at all. Many people view houses without a DIP in place. That's not a sensible route anyway for credit files and so on, it can take years to find a house.
It tends to be HNW that want proof of funds before a viewing.
As a cash buyer you are a cash buyer. If an agent is difficult (never personally come across that and moved a lot), don't view the property. There are thousands more!!

I am in the process of doing this - I told the EA for onward purchase it was a cash sale from the sale of current house. When I made an offer the EA for the onward purchase, as one of their checks rings my EA to confirm the house is under offer. The main check is your solicitor where under AML rules you have to declare where the money is coming from - they then run their own checks.

At some point you will have to show 'proof of funds' but not usually at the viewing stage.

You aren't actually a cash buyer if you have to sell a house to fund your purchase.

We've purchased our last five houses using the proceeds of the sale from each preceding one with no mortgage involved and never had an EA be difficult regarding this. As @Gunz said, at offer stage the EA marketing the property you hope to buy can easily check your position by contacting your own agent (although last time we sold - in 2024 - we had issues with our EA not checking our buyers' proceedability for ages 🙄)

We were in a similar position in the autumn. Some agents woukd let us view properties as soon as we said ours was about to go on the market whilst others wouldn’t let us view until our house was under offer. It didn’t actually make much difference because we had offers on our house off market within ten days, but it then took us a couple of months to find the right house.

I am always a cash buyer. In a hot market they want to see the money in the bank at offer stage. I was UNDERBID for a property by £10k but he had the money in the bank, whereas I was two weeks away from completion. I lost out.
But it’s a cool market now. You can view for sure, but as a seller I still wouldn’t entertain an offer unless YOU were under offer. The advantage of being a cash buyer is speed and proceedability, which you won’t have til you’ve sold. So I’d do some desktop viewings, but don’t go out there until your house is under offer in case you fall in love and can’t proceed. Sure there are sellers who may wait, but I wouldn’t.

I‘ve never been asked for a DIP at viewing stage - they’ll ask you questions about your position but you aren’t obliged to answer.

You only need the proof if you’re going to proceed with an offer.

You can't consider yourself a cash buyer if your purchase relies on the sale of an existing property. That's just daft, you don't have the cash.

If the money is not available immediately, you are not a cash buyer. It really means cash in the bank. Any money in a property that has not completed, is not cash. It’s in the house!

Yes you are as the cash is available as soon as the house sale completes. It’s the difference between a buyer who needs a mortgage and one who doesn’t. A cash buyer isn’t subject to the whims of a mortgage company so is always preferable than someone who is.
We were cash buyers for our current house because we paid cash.

What is a cash buyer?
Being a cash buyer means you can afford to buy a property outright, without a mortgage or loan. According to the UK House Price Index August 2021, nearly a third of all sales that month were cash buyers.
However, the definition of what is a cash buyer is often misunderstood. A cash buyer must have the money available to purchase the property when making an offer and not rely on money from selling another property.