When your property hits the market well and your estate agent, whoever they are does a great job with presentation and marketing, there’s a strong chance you will get a lot of interest in your property, especially within the first 14 days of it coming to the open market.
So far, so good.
But (and it often happens), what do you do if you receive interest from more than one person?
Well lets rewind a little – firstly your estate agent is legally obliged to report all offers to you, whether below, above or at the asking price. All offers should be confirmed in writing too.
It’s also vitally important that your estate agent gets the full background on the potential buyer.
Agents have often heard this:
Buyer – “I’m a cash buyer”
Agent – “Great, so you have funds in the bank to go ahead?”
Buyer – “Well, I will have, once the mortgage comes through”
Agents should never just take something on face value, and neither should you!
There’s a good chance your buyer will fall into one of the following categories
Cash – the pinnacle! But get proof.
Nothing to sell but needs a mortgage – Ok, but find out what deposit they have and whether their loan has been approved
Under Offer – Probably the most common type of buyer, may or may not need a mortgage as well. In a chain of sales and cannot buy yours unless the chain all holds together. Your agent will need to investigate who’s in the chain, how far progressed it is and try to ascertain how likely it is to all click in to place.
So back to how you can choose your buyer.
Once you are armed with the information you need on their circumstances, then and only then can you start thinking about money!
Naturally everyone wants the highest price possible but sometimes that comes from a buyers least likely to actually go through. So take everything in to account rather than just the size of the offer. Consider how quickly you wish to sell and if, for example the home is empty, how much it will cost you to maintain during the sale process.
Once you factor in mortgage costs, council tax, insurance, gardening, heating costs, etc. A speedy cash offer a few thousand below another offer from a ‘chain buyer’ might still be worth considering. Bear in mind that around 30 per cent of all sales agreed by estate agent end up falling through for one reason or another. The chance of this happening is far lower with a cash buyer – many companies offer this as a service, such as House Buy Fast’s we buy any house option.
A good estate agent (and surprisingly perhaps, the vast majority of them are good!) will give you guidance but remember, ultimately the decision is yours.