Selling your property for cash is only a good idea if you need to sell you property quickly. Property-for-cash buyers are after a discount anywhere between 10% and 30% below market value. These investors will naturally want to buy at below market price, otherwise there would be no reason to buy your specific property in weeks, if not days. Without such a discount a buyer might just as well buy properties from estate agents. But from your perspective a 10 to 30% discount on market price is a huge discount, and going ahead with a deal like this should not be considered except in the extreme circumstances.  

Think about it. If your property has a market value of £200k, which is currently the national average, you are effectively giving away between 20 and 60 thousand pounds. Just think what that kind of money could do for you and your family. Admittedly to assess the true cost of selling at such a discount you have to consider the relatively small costs that you will be avoiding. These cost savings include a commission to an estate agent of about 2% of the sale price, the legal costs, and the valuation costs. On a property of 200k, this amounts to a total saving of approximately £6k, which is very little consolation indeed.

A good reason for making a decision to sell at a discount is if you are about to have your home repossessed., and even then there are other options that you should consider first. Lets have a look at some of these options more closely:

1)         Firstly consider calling your mortgage lender and asking for your mortgage to be changed to an interest only mortgage, at least until you’re back on your feet. Admittedly this means that for the period that your mortgage is interest only you will not be repaying the capital part of your mortgage, but if you are on the slippery slope to repossession then this is the least of your problems – and doing so will reduce your mortgage payments substantially - perhaps by up to one third.

2)         See whether you can cut your personal and household bills. Martin at www.moneysavingexpert.com offers you a complete financial overhaul, all of which you can do for yourself. The full process of overhauling your finances can take you between 8 and 10 hours, but can cut your monthly outgoings by up to 30%! Would this mean, in addition to making your mortgage interest only, enable you to pay your mortgage? By the way: you can find Martin’s financial overhaul page at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/money-help .

3)                  Should the suggestions above not be sufficient to keep your home, why not try speaking to your mortgage provider. It really is in the bank’s interests to keep you in your home, and keep you paying your mortgage. Lay your situation on the line and be totally open and honest. You may be surprised how flexible they might be. Faced with the prospect of repossession what have you got to lose? Speaking to your lender, and keeping them up-to-date with your circumstances is the best way of slowing your progression to repossession. On the flip side of the coin, ignoring your lender, or your other creditors for that matter, is the quickest way of ensuring that you face legal action and the eventual repossession of your home.

4)                  If all else fails why not try applying for an Individual Involuntary Arrangement (IVA). To do this you will need to have an Insolvency Practitioner act on your behalf. This arrangement is between you and your creditors, with an agreement for you to pay back at least part of the money owed over a period of time – normally 5 years. The advantage of entering in to this agreement is that all interest will be frozen, the repayments will be appropriate to your income, and up to 65% of the debt will be written off at the end of the repayment period. The arrangement also ensures that whilst you adhere to the terms of the agreement, you will not be hassled by your creditors. Naturally, entering in to this arrangement will affect your credit rating for the duration of the repayment period, but then again, why would you want to apply for even more credit in these circumstances. For more detailed information about applying to an IVA and whether it could help you, visit http://www.iva.co.uk/what_is_an_iva.asp

If all else fails and you are about to lose your home then selling your property at a discount may be the best option. If your home is repossessed it will likely be sent to auction by your mortgage provider where their priority will be to sell it to recover the money that you owe them. They will not be concerned to get the best price for the property so you may be left with no money from the sale whatsoever.

This is where we can help. Just tell us about your property and the percentage discount off market price that you are prepared to offer, and we will refer you to the property buying company that can give you the best deal. Of course, the general rule of thumb is, the greater the percentage off market price you are prepared to offer the faster you will be able to sell your property. Fill out the form below and we will be in touch in no time:

Please include here any information that is not captured by your property type selection. This is where you might say that your property has a conservatory, swimming pool, double garage, etc, or be totally up front about the state of your property.