Anyone here used a house buying company? experiences and any recommendations

[Fastpedaller]

Needing to sell late parents property and although we have a buyer either they or the estate agent (maybe both) are playing us for fools. Just want a quick sale to end wife's stress.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Needing to sell late parents property and although we have a buyer either they or the estate agent (maybe both) are playing us for fools. Just want a quick sale to end wife's stress.

Google your query - plenty of stories will appear re very sharp practices used by these, AFAIK, unregulated companies.

 

[ktmbiker58]

I think you will get a much worse price - with estate agents and solicitors you are just 'a file in a pile' so unless you give them deadlines for actions and drive the transaction through other files pile on top, keep your transaction in the spotlight. Tell the estate agent to keep marketing it until you have a completion date, its not unusual for buyers to try to renegotiate the price after exchange.

Explore other options - can you keep it and rent it out for example, having other options puts you in a stronger position with the buyers.

 

[Fastpedaller]

Google your query - plenty of stories will appear re very sharp practices used by these, AFAIK, unregulated companies.

Yes - I've seen same, but wanted to find anyone from here (the one forum where I consider honesty abounds) as other places have many horror stories, but the companies have glowing reviews (strangely?)

 

[Fastpedaller]

I think you will get a much worse price - with estate agents and solicitors you are just 'a file in a pile' so unless you give them deadlines for actions and drive the transaction through other files pile on top, keep your transaction in the spotlight. Tell the estate agent to keep marketing it until you have a completion date, its not unusual for buyers to try to renegotiate the price after exchange.

Explore other options - can you keep it and rent it out for example, having other options puts you in a stronger position with the buyers.

My understanding is the price is fixed once exchange has taken place. They have already tried (and partially received) a drop in price before last week's planned exchange. I understand and appreciate your reference to the 'pile' ..... we have also found they need pushing. There is a chain of 2 beneath and we are the end. We have been told both parties are going on holiday soon; we think this is a pre-cursor to delaying exchange so our buyer can then re-negotiate. We have given a date we want exchange, and said they'll have to buy somewhere else if exchange doesn't happen. Hopefully that will call their bluff, but we're looking at options.

 

[lenfield]

I heard on the radio about a house buying company that kept postponing the signing of the contract. It was eventually signed after hours on a Friday afternoon when the seller didn't have time to read it. He had agreed to pay various charges without realizing it and only got about 10% of the house's value.

 

[Drago]

I got a quote from one out of curiosity when I had the old Drago Towers for sale. The initial quote a lowball offer, but ultimately only 6 or 7 grand less than I ultimately sold it for. If I hadn't sold and needed to take them up on it then it wouldn't have been too painful.

Having said that, I suspect they may have been a bit like WBAC, a moderately fair offer to tempt one in and then start dripping in the excuses to cut it. I have no proof of that, but that is my suspicion.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

Solicitors don`t understand the word `stress`. When I was selling my father`s property I had to get a bit shirty ( unlike me, but was so stressed) with them. Phoning was no good and so I went in a few times. It was always a case of we are doing that now etc etc. The sale took 20 weeks and that was with no chain. I understand how you feel, do you get any feedback with your estate agent ? It is in their interests as well, to sell your property. I wish you the best of luck, not that luck should come into it.

 

[Fastpedaller]

Solicitors don`t understand the word `stress`. When I was selling my father`s property I had to get a bit shirty ( unlike me, but was so stressed) with them. Phoning was no good and so I went in a few times. It was always a case of we are doing that now etc etc. The sale took 20 weeks and that was with no chain. I understand how you feel, do you get any feedback with your estate agent ? It is in their interests as well, to sell your property. I wish you the best of luck, not that luck should come into it.

Thanks for your comments of experience, and your good wishes.
We've had a nightmare. My late In-Laws left the wills with a solicitor, so my Wife considered it best to use him for Probate and conveyencing.
The probate forms he presented us to sign were full of inaccuracies..... Our house address written as the MIL's (120 miles away so not a simple mistake), she never lived with us, 2 random beneficiaries who were not on the will, never known by anyone, and presumably from another estate he was dealing with. This happened 4 times, and it would have been easier for us to do it. I commented 'we ought to sack him and take it elsewhere' but my Wife was against this in case he gave us a bill and we'd have to also pay someone else. We had an offer (from same person who now 'wants to buy it') but they retracted after 1 day. The solicitor had taken £300 deposit, but done nothing but said 'best not to return it because of bank fees, we'll leave it for when it happens. A few weeks later he sent a letter saying he'd retired and sold the probate work to one company and the conv work to another. The probate company said it had a min fee of 4k and his 2k bill they'd paid, so total fee 6k - my Wife agreed under duress. The probate eventually came after 1 year. The 'original' buyer now wants the property with a much lower price, which was agreed a few weeks ago. Exchange due last week, but didn't happen. They then tried to negotiate 10k off and when my Wife told the agent 2K, he laughed and said 'it's no good going back and forth, you'll have to say what your max figure is. They 'settled' at 5k. I think the(our) estate agent is working for them, not us, so he gets a sale. We have now given a deadline, and if exchange doesn't happen next week (before they go on a long holiday) I'm sure they'll chip away more a month down the line. We don't want to rent it and it's too far a way to maintain. They are clearly using this to exploit the situation. What ever happened to 'shaking on the deal' As for the 'professionals' we have to do their job and pay them it seems.

 

[ianrauk]

What ever happened to 'shaking on the deal'

Unfortunately that's long dead. As we found out when we sold our last place 18 months ago. Just before exchange and completion, our buyer decided they wanted another £1750 off the asking price. They literally held us to ransom. To say I wasn't happy is an understatement.

 

[Drago]

Id have told them to jog on and would have had the house back on the market within the hour, and if they came grovelling back id then raise the asking price by the amount the buyer had tried to lower it.

Daughter #3 is pxing her house and the developer tried something similar at the 11th hour, only to be told the deal was off and can she please have her deposit back. They soon rowed back on it.

 

[Fastpedaller]

Id have told them to jog on and would have had the house back on the market within the hour, and if they came grovelling back id then raise the asking price by the amount the buyer had tried to lower it.

Daughter #3 is pxing her house and the developer tried something similar at the 11th hour, only to be told the deal was off and can she please have her deposit back. They soon rowed back on it.

Problem is that the market is so slow we've not had other offers

 

[Shearwater Missile]

Thanks for your comments of experience, and your good wishes.
We've had a nightmare. My late In-Laws left the wills with a solicitor, so my Wife considered it best to use him for Probate and conveyencing.
The probate forms he presented us to sign were full of inaccuracies..... Our house address written as the MIL's (120 miles away so not a simple mistake), she never lived with us, 2 random beneficiaries who were not on the will, never known by anyone, and presumably from another estate he was dealing with. This happened 4 times, and it would have been easier for us to do it. I commented 'we ought to sack him and take it elsewhere' but my Wife was against this in case he gave us a bill and we'd have to also pay someone else. We had an offer (from same person who now 'wants to buy it') but they retracted after 1 day. The solicitor had taken £300 deposit, but done nothing but said 'best not to return it because of bank fees, we'll leave it for when it happens. A few weeks later he sent a letter saying he'd retired and sold the probate work to one company and the conv work to another. The probate company said it had a min fee of 4k and his 2k bill they'd paid, so total fee 6k - my Wife agreed under duress. The probate eventually came after 1 year. The 'original' buyer now wants the property with a much lower price, which was agreed a few weeks ago. Exchange due last week, but didn't happen. They then tried to negotiate 10k off and when my Wife told the agent 2K, he laughed and said 'it's no good going back and forth, you'll have to say what your max figure is. They 'settled' at 5k. I think the(our) estate agent is working for them, not us, so he gets a sale. We have now given a deadline, and if exchange doesn't happen next week (before they go on a long holiday) I'm sure they'll chip away more a month down the line. We don't want to rent it and it's too far a way to maintain. They are clearly using this to exploit the situation. What ever happened to 'shaking on the deal' As for the 'professionals' we have to do their job and pay them it seems.

I do feel for you as I too had the selling of the property and the probate. Silly me for thinking that the solicitor`s under the same roof would make life easier. No way Hose`.
Regarding the sale of the property, the buyers wanted to move in as they were going on holiday, so they were stressed. At one point I was told that we hope to exchange " this afternoon" !. Of course we did`nt, it was a smokescreen to get me out of the premises. It was another two weeks before we exchanged and completed on the same day, right at the end of the month, last August. I think that they were just tidying their books at the end of that month.
With regards probate and the will. The solicitor went back on three things that they said they would do. I am sure that each time I contacted them, they added another £500 to the charges. My cousin, when she lost her mother, dealt with everything herself. She said that it was quite straightforward. I went with a solicitor as I have a brother who fell out with me and our dad years ago, so wanted everything transparent.
I think that you just need to keep your nerve, easier said than done but it will sort itself out.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

I made enquiries to a house buying company when offloading a property earlier this year. Their first lowball offer was a good 30% under the valuation so I didn’t proceed. Over the next few weeks they called every other day, raising their offer by a couple of %.

Thankfully I got an offer shortly after from someone wanting a quick move and it completed in 6 weeks.

 

[Fastpedaller]

OUR estate agent (you'd think he is the buyers agent, the way it's going) even suggested they could have a key after exchange of contracts to do changes/ re-decorate. If it all went belly-up before completion (of sale) it could be a real nightmare. We flatly refused. What if the buyer died or something?