Finding A House Buying Company You Can Trust
It’s no secret that cash house buying companies have a reputation for messing people around and reducing their offers at the last minute.
The companies to avoid are the ones that promise the earth but deliver nothing but disappointment in exchange for your time and patience.
Fortunately you can avoid these scammers if you know what to look out for as we explain in this article.
How to avoid the scammers
Carrying out thorough research on any company that you are considering selling your house to is a must – if you don’t then you could find yourself the next victim of one of the dozens of companies that are looking to take you for a ride with their underhand tactics. Two of the most common practices of these companies are;
The bait and switch – Companies using this tactic will entice you in with an appealing cash offer, which they have no intention of every paying. They will then sign you in to an exclusivity agreement and try to sell your property to an open market buyer in the background at full price. If they manage to sell it before the agreement runs out they pocket the difference, if they don’t you are back to square one. It’s a lose lose for you as a seller, you either have paid tens of thousands of pounds for a service that an estate agent could have delivered at a fraction of the cost or you have to start back at square one, no closer to selling your house.
The last minute offer reduction – Again companies using this tactic will make you an attractive offer and get you to sign a contract meaning that you can’t pull out of the sale without having to pay them excessive ‘abortive costs’ which usually total thousands of pounds. They will then string you along until the very last second, usually on the day the sale is going to complete, you will then get a phone call from the company with some excuse as to why they can proceed with the sale but only at a greatly reduced price. You are left with a choice of either accepting tens of thousands less or starting again, circumstances force most to take the first option.
Fortunately companies that use these tactics leave some tell tale clues that, if you know what to look for, will help you avoid them like the plague and find a company that you can trust to deliver on the fast, certain cash sale that you need. You can find all of the information that you will need in our detailed ‘step by step guide to finding a legitimate house buying company‘ which outlines a simple step by step process that you can follow to vet any company before speaking to them and falling into any of their traps.
You can get the guide by entering your email address below.
3 Simple steps you can take to avoid shady cash house buyer practices
Beyond reading the guide there are some simple rules to bear in mind when dealing with any cash house buying company, what we call our ‘3 golden rules’.
Follow these and even if you find yourself dealing with a disreputable company you can protect yourself from falling foul of their scams.
- Don’t trust offers that are too good to be true – if saying yes to an offer is too easy then that is usually a sign that the offer isn’t genuine. Generally you should approach any offer much over 80% of the full market value of the property with extreme caution.
- Never sign a contract – this is the single best way to protect yourself from the worst practices, scammers rely on one sided contracts to get away with almost anything that they please. A true cash house buying company will never ask you to sign any agreement with them.
- Never use a companies solicitor – some companies will recommend solicitors that they know can deliver on a fast sale, this is perfectly acceptable but if a company insists that you use their own in house solicitor then the alarm bells should start ringing and you should walk away while you still have the shirt on your back.
The easiest and fastest way to get a cash offer you can trust
Using the step by step guide, and following it’s process on any company before you speak to them is a great way to find a company that you can trust to make you a genuine offer and see it through all the way to a fast completion but if time is of the essence and you really need a firm, fair cash offer that you can trust in a hurry then you can use our buyer matching service using the ‘find a buyer’ button below.
You will be asked a few straight forward question about your property and then you will be given an estimate of what an offer from a genuine cash buying company would look like, if the offer is something that you could work with then you will be asked a few more questions so that we can match you with the best house buying company for your property and circumstances so you can get the best genuine offer on the market.
All of the companies that we recommend are vetted by us and are trusted house buying companies with a proven track record of delivering an excellent service. There is no cost or obligation and never any contracts to sign so you can get a genuine offer in complete peace of mind that if it doesn’t work for you at any point you can walk away.
Get An Estimated Cash Offer With Our Free Calculator
Answer a few simple questions to find out what a cash offer from a genuine buyer might look like by clicking the ‘cash offer calculator’ button below or if you want the gurus help finding the best house buying company for your property you can use our buyer matching service by clicking on the ‘find a buyer’ button.
Answer a few straight forward questions
Get a realistic cash offer
No personal information needed
It only takes takes a couple of minutes
Find out if a cash sale is right for you
“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted house sale”
