Pros
It’s by far the fastest way to sell a property
With a quick cash home buyer you may not get the full market value of your property, but you’ll sell it very fast – usually in just two or three weeks. A typical estate agent will take 6-9 months, and a sale at auction can take two months or more.
Some cash buyers will offer you a sale in as little as fourteen days or even less if you need to move fast.
A fast home sale to a cash buyer appeals to many people as a way of side-stepping the long and laborious process of selling a home. It’s also a great way to avoid repossession, clear debts or sort out urgent financial issues, and a quick way to dispose of inherited property, split the profits in a divorce or relationship breakdown or change homes fast if you get a new work opportunity.
There’s no extra costs to get you home ready to sell
Quick home buying companies will buy your home as it stands, whatever condition it is in, even if it has problems. That means you can skip the elaborate and expensive pre-sale prep, such as repairs, redecorating and refurbishment. You don’t have to keep your home viewer ready for months on end, and you don’t have to suffer the indignity of strangers criticising your home.
Your cash buyer will buy your home as is, saving you time, money and stress with a simple, swift sale in just a couple of weeks.
Your sale will not fall through
As many as one in three home sales fall through before contracts are exchanged. Buyers get cold feet, surveys come back with problems, mortgages get refused, or a better property comes along. This not only costs you money, but also means you have to start all over again, delaying your sale by months.
Even listing a property at auction does not guarantee your home will sell. Even the best auction houses fail to sell one in five properties, and most are even less effective.
A quick cash home sale is guaranteed. Once your cash home buyer has committed to buying your home, the sale will go through in just a couple of weeks, with no delays and no change of heart. It is the most certain way of selling a home.
There’s no commission, no legal fees and no hidden charges
If you sell a property via an estate agent or at an auction, you’ll have to pay a significant sum in fees and charges, often for very little input on their part. It can take thousands of pounds of the money you eventually get for your home.
You’ll also have to go through a ton of paperwork, form filling and red tape, including surveys and safety certificates, and often have to renegotiate several times along the way, losing money every time.
With a legitimate quick home buying company, there’s no commission to pay, and many buyers will pay your legal fees too, or at least make a significant contribution. Plus their service is fee-free, so the price you’re quoted is the price you’ll get, with no deductions.
It’s a better deal than it looks
Getting just 80% of the market value of your property may seem like a bad deal, but a cash home sale is better value than it looks.
Once you take the expensive estate agent commission, legal fees, the cost of redecorating and renovation off your open market sale, you don’t get as much as you think. What’s more, spending six to nine months selling your home means six to nine months of mortgage payments, council tax and other bills, plus six to nine months of interest on your debts.
When you consider all the costs involved in an open market sale, the price drop of a quick cash sale can work out very good value.
You can set the timescale
While a cash buyer can often buy your home is as little as fourteen days, most will also be completely flexible on the timescale.
Unlike an open market sale, where you’re fitting in with a chain, with a cash sale, you can set the pace to suit your circumstances, and move when you are good and ready.
This avoids any inconvenience or extra costs of finding somewhere to stay if you are forced to move quicker than you want to by a chain. With a cash buyer it’s your move on your timescale.
Cons
You won't get the full market value
Most genuine quick cash home buyers will offer you around 80% of your home’s value, depending on how fast you want to sell and how legitimate the quick home-buying company is.
This may seem like a low price for your home, but you need to consider some of the savings you make too. There’s no estate agent’s commission, no redecorating or renovation costs and often no legal fees. Plus, with a quick sale you won’t have to pay your mortgage or other bills for more than a few more weeks.
There’s often a last-minute price reductions
If you use a dodgy cash home buyer, then chances are they won’t pay you anything like what they originally offer – and you may not find out until it’s too late to back out. These companies offer you an attractive high price to tempt you in, then they reduce the price by 15-30% at the last minute when you are locked into the deal.
A genuine offer may appear to be a little lower at first, but it will always be worth more in the end than an empty promise that is only used to tempt you in.
You can get conned into a contract
Some unscrupulous companies will ask you to sign a contract with them. This will always work in their favour and such contracts should be avoided at all costs. You wouldn’t ask a prospective buyer on the open market to sign a contract, so why sign one with a cash buyer.
Contracts can tie you in for a long period of time, and if you leave before then, you have to pay a cash penalty, often around £1000. Some companies make most of their money from these penalties, without any intention of buying your home.
If a cash buyer is genuinely interested in buying your home in two to four weeks, why would they need to lock you in for six months?
You can get hit by hidden charges
Some cash buyers claim to have no legal fees, but insist that you use their solicitors. And there’s no prizes for guessing who’s side these solicitors will be on. Others will have hidden charges, which you won’t find out about until the deal is done and less cash arrives than you were expecting.
PSW carefully screens companies for this type of con, and we will only recommend companies that pay what they say with no hidden fees or charges.
You’ll be a target for scammers
Sadly, the unregulated cash house buying sector attracts more than its fair share of scammers. These companies know that you’re vulnerable, even desperate, and they set out to take full advantage of the situation by promising you everything but delivering very little.
Many have no intention of paying the price they initially offer, and some have no interest in buying your home at all. These companies will broker a deal in the background, or simply relist your property on Rightmove, and delay ‘buying’ your home at a discount until they have their own buyer at full price.
You’ll have no support or redress
Because the industry is unregulated, you are largely on your own unless the company does something illegal – and you can be sure they know exactly how to stay just inside the law as they rip you off.
The more reputable companies will be members of The Property Ombudsman, giving you support and mediation if you feel you have been mistreated. If a cash home buyer doesn’t volunteer for this independent redress scheme, you need to ask yourself why.
Get the best possible price for your home
There are honest, high quality home buying companies out there, if you know where to look. And with the independent, expert advice of the Property Sale Watchdog, you’ll learn exactly where to find them, and just as importantly, where to avoid!
It takes a great deal to gain the approval of the Property Sale Watchdog. Only the very best make the grade. That’s why choosing one of our recommended cash house buyers gives you the best chance of selling a home fast for cash.
We’ll help you see past the flashy websites and empty promises to find out the truth about the worst and the best cash homebuying companies to give you complete confidence when you need it most.