can someone explain why sellers are advertising 'cash buyers only'?

[queenrollo]

we're looking to buy somewhere at the moment and i am being frustrated by finding just the right property and then seeing it is listed as 'cash buyers only'........why?

Maybe they are looking for a quick sale and think that buyers needing to arrange finance might not be able to meet their time frames? or maybe they have been burnt by someone's finance falling through or not being approved before.

No mortgage complications. With lenders being more cautious some people may find it harder to get sufficient finances together - or there is/was something structurally wrong - like subsidence - which may mean the lender will value under the asking price or stipulate a large retention making it harder to progress.

No chain usually means much quicker sale.

Cash = no problems with mortgage to hold up/stop sale.

If you have cold hard cash and make an offer, I think the assumption is you are much more serious too, not spending billy banks money in some homes and gardens fantasy.

the one i saw this morning does need renovation. There is no problem with us getting a mortgage, dp has a secure job and the mortgage would be well below what we could borrow IYSWIM. Because we've been looking at renovation properties we've found mortgage companies who lend specifically against this kind of property.
I guess it would be a worth a call to the agent to see if the vendor would be willing to change his mind?

we're not in a chain either as we are renting at the moment.

It probably means that the property is unmortgageable. It is probably a freehold flat or of non-standard construction (ie made of wood or something)

Sometimes they say cash buyer, when what they actually mean is 'buyer with nothing to sell, and a very firm mortgage offer who will get on with it', rather than 'buyer who has a flat to sell that needs the lease extending and may take 6 months to sort out' or 'first time buyer who is on a recurring contract so mortgage is tricky'

Call and ask - explain your situation, and if you have any docs to show that the mortgage companies have accepted you in principle, offer to send them

we're going to look at another property with the same agent at the weekend so we'll ask about it then.

As well as structural problems there may be other issues which mean that the property will be difficult to mortgage. We brought our house 12 months ago, but couldn't get a mortgage as there was an outstanding boundary dispute with a neighbour, we got around it by dividing the plot with the land registry so that we brought the bit of garaden with the boundary dispute outright and the mortgage is held on the bit with the house.

Also, if the house is less than 10 years old then it would be assumed that it would come with a NHBC warranty or equivalent. If it was a self build then it may not have this and finding a mortgage will be difficult.

It makes no difference if you have an offer agreed in principle, they can withdraw the offer at any point if something crops up that they don't like.

thankyou, it's great to have all this info in advance.

i'm not starting a whole new thread, i'm just going to grumble in here.......

three properties i have tried to arrange a viewing on i can't view because they are 'under offer' and 'there's a sale progressing' .........so say so on your bloody website then.......

They want you to ring up so that if the sale falls through, they have potential buyers to contact. Or alternatively they can say: "I'm afraid that house is under offerbut we have a house nothing like it around the corner."

well one we phoned about have had two sales fall through and have taken our details in case it happens again.
It's just so frustrating when everything you phone about you can't actually view......