Sometimes you may need to sell your home in a timely fashion. You could be moving abroad or need the money to do some work on a new property. Before you do anything or get in touch with anyone, it is always good practice to make sure your property is clean and tidy, even if it needs a lot of work doing to it. First impressions still count when someone is looking to buy.
There are plenty more reasons why you might need to sell you property quickly. You may need to sell your property to a professional buyer for cash because your property is facing repossession or you have tenants who have the right to reside in the property and need to sell.
Read - How to sell your property quickly checklist from Open Property Group
Is there an alternative to selling fast if you are struggling with mortgage repayments?
If you need to sell your property because you are falling behind with your mortgage repayments there are a number of organisations you should speak to beforehand who may be able to help. First talk to your mortgage company or a debt agency for independent advice, such as National Debt Line or Citizens Advice.
It's also a good idea to find out what your local area is like and have a chat with agents who have sold similar properties to yours and find out how long the selling process has taken from start to finish. You can also check local sold prices on websites such as nethouseprices.com and rightmove.com. This helps you know which agents have sold similar properties to yours and what price they have been sold for in advance of someone else coming to value.
If you want to secure a professional but independent valuation, it’s worth talking to your local RICs valuation for a quick sale price.
Professional Buyers
There may be cases where you can't secure an offer through an agent or require an offer at speed (4-6 weeks). In these situations it is worth contacting a professional buyer it's important to ensure you only contact companies like Open Property Group who are members of The Property Ombudsman Scheme, this gives you access to an independent complaints procedure if you aren’t happy with their service.
Before they come out visit, ask the professional buyer what type of properties they will purchase as some will not buy those with subsidence issues, for example. It's also worth understanding how they secure their funds, some buyers claim to offer 'Quick Sales' but then take your details and sell your “lead” to someone else who you may not know. Ideally, make sure people buying your property are doing so with their own cash funds.
Another smart thing to discover is what the buyer intends to do with your property. Do they intend to sell it on? Or do they intend to keep it? The reason this is important is you may be able to get a better price if they plan on keeping hold of the property.
Read - How to sell your property quickly checklist from Open Property Group
Here are some other questions worth asking
How will the buyer value your individual property?
Can you contact them whenever you need to do so?
Will you be speaking to the person making the decision about buying your property?
Legal Costs and Surveys
We all hear about stories where people get hit by hidden costs whether it's an airline or a cowboy builder. Therefore be sure to find out whether they will cover your costs of selling such as funding or contributing towards a legal company of your choice. They may have hidden charges too, so ask for these in writing, up front. Furthermore if they are doing their job professionally, they will have a RICs survey and should be happy to share this with you. If they aren’t having a survey or refuse to share it with you, don’t sell to them as they clearly aren’t looking after you properly.
Read - How to sell your property quickly checklist from Open Property Group
Finally make sure you secure their offer in writing. Do not sign anything that restricts you to selling to the company or one individual person and absolutely don’t tie yourself into a long time period to sell, you shouldn’t have any restrictions placed on you.
If you have any companies making an offer which they lower just before exchanging contracts do call or contact us immediately, this is a scam tactic and shouldn’t happen, so call us and we’d be happy to help make sure you go to a good company.
Last but not least, if a company puts pressure on you to sell at any point or attempts to lower their offer contact us as soon as possible and we will find a reputable company for you to deal with.
