Estate agents will market your house to others on your behalf, making sure it’s advertised in all the right places like Rightmove and Zoopla. In return for doing this, they charge a fee of around 1% of the purchase price. This is to cover the cost of advertising, staff cost for viewings and of course their profit. Typically, and even more so in today’s market, an estate agent will convince you to use their service by telling you that they think your house is worth more than it really is, so they can secure your business. Then usually after a few weeks or a month goes by, they’ll suggest reducing the price to encourage viewings (this is usually to the correct price of the house).
For the average house sale in the UK, it takes 85 days and 19 viewings in order to accept an offer on your home, with a further 70 days until completion usually takes place. That’s 5 months and 19 viewing from first advertising until the whole process is done, adding to this the fact that 1 in 3 sales will fall through before completion it’s no wonder that selling your house can be one of the most stressful things you can ever do.
The purchaser will typically want a discount on price of around 8%-10% otherwise they feel like they’re not getting a good deal.
Then you also have to consider legal fees, dealing with conveyancing solicitors. Who do you choose or trust? You may know a good solicitor, but you have no control over who the buyer uses, this can be a battle on its own.
Then there’s the dreaded experience of dealing with the buyer’s surveyor, they are literally hired to find any imperfection in your home and report on it. It’s their legal duty to do exactly that and carry liability insurance to protect them at a great expense. These imperfections are reported back to the buyer (and mortgage company) which allows them to reduce the price they’re willing to pay for your property. It’s a vicious cycle that’s never-ending.
Finally, the costs involved. Conveyancing solicitors typically charge between £750 and £1,500 in order to complete the legal requirements of selling your property (aswell as an upfront fee) aswell as the estate agent wanting around 2% of your sale. This alone can be in the thousands of pounds, it’s definitely not cheap.
The typical scenario……
Day 1 – Your Estate agent:
‘Your house should be advertised at £110,000, we have people waiting to buy.’
1-month later:
‘We think you should reduce your asking price to £100,000 to get people interested in the property.
3-months and 19 viewings later:
‘We’ve had an offer on your property which we think you should accept for £90,000.’
2-months later: (If you’re lucky enough not to be the 1 in 3 that falls though, the surveyor has not found any defects, the solicitors have done what they’ve been paid to do and the purchaser’s mortgage has been agreed).
- Timeframe: 155 Days
- Sale of the property £90,000
- Estate agents fee £1,800
- Solicitors fee £1,200
- Money left for you £87,000
How we work.
Your property is worth £110,000 if refurbished to it’s maximum potential based upon our viewing and looking at comparable properties in the area that have sold recently. It would take £15,000 for us to achieve this as assessed in our viewing. Our offer would be £85,000 to accommodate these costs and all the other costs we incur to be able to do this, as well as paying all legal fees! You could receive your money in as little as 14 days and the price we offer you, is the money you receive. We’ve never had a sale fall through! So we’re as safe as it gets!
- Timeframe: 14 Days
- Sale of the property £85’000
- Estate agents fee £0
- Solicitors Fee £0
- Money left for you £85,000
Is it worth it?
Only you can answer that question. If you are not in a rush to sell, are happy to allow multiple viewings and happy to deal with the legal issues yourself then we’d probably advise you to use the more traditional route of using an estate agent. That’s the thing with us, we’re honest about who we can help, and if we think you have a better option, we’ll let you know! We have excellent working relationships with various agents (as we buy properties from them also) and happy to put you in contact with someone suitable for your area.
Who should use us?
- Sellers who don’t want the headache of dealing with multiple agencies.
- Sellers who are tied in a chain and waiting to buy their dream home but are stuck and in fear of losing that home.
- Families selling through probate.
- People selling due to an unexpected relocation.
- People who can’t afford for their sale to fall through.
- Sellers with property issues such as subsidence or Japanese knotweed.
- People in a sticky situation needing to ‘sell their property quickly’.
There are countless reasons why you should consider using a cash buyer as opposed to a ‘traditional’ estate agent, but mainly because you’re looking for a fast, hassle-free, and guaranteed sale.