How to avoid ‘we buy any home’ scams

There are many quick house sale companies online that claim to be able to buy your house from you regardless of the condition in 7 days or less – however not all of these companies are genuine. There are many options sellers have when it comes to selling a property quickly however some house buying companies aren’t always upfront about their selling methods.

Trying to sell your property on the open market quickly can be a minefield, especially when speed of sale is your main motivation. The majority of high street estate agents take up to 6 months to sell an average property; which is undoubtably far too long if you need the cash quickly. This is where ‘we buy any home’ companies should come in and offer a service that assists homeowners who are in financial difficulty and need to sell fast. However, the industry is rife with scams, misguidance and crooks according to most industry specialists from the NAPB (National Association of Property Buyers).

Genuine cash house buyers

If you are thinking of using a cash buying firm to sell your house fast, regardless of what they say on their website you need to ensure they are genuine cash property buyers. The easiest way of doing this is to directly ask them to supply you with proof of funds. Whether it is a printed bank statement showing that they have the funds readily available to buy your home or a legal letter from a solicitor – you need to ensure they have the cash ready when it comes to buying and they are not relying on a mortgage or listing your property on the open market.

‘Lock out’ agreements

Long term exclusivity agreements or ‘lock out’ agreements are legally binding agreements that give a company exclusive rights to buy or advertise your property online for sale, costing you thousands of pounds in court fees if you try to get out of the agreement or find a buyer elsewhere.

A genuine we buy any house firm that is buying with cash should be able to complete on a sale in as little as 7 days and therefore shouldn’t need to be tying you up to lengthy contracts so this is really something any potential seller needs to watch out for.

Down valuations

Some unscrupulous cash buying companies that promise to buy any house fast agree a very high price with you in the first instance (a price that no other company could compete with and you are happy with), and then proceed to drop the offer on the day of completion.

This leaves the seller in the position of accepting the newly reduced offer or starting the entire process again with another we buy any home company.

Unregulated sale and rent back

Vendors need to be especially wary of we buy any home companies that are offering to buy a property and rent it back. Since 2010 all sale and rent back activities whereby a company would buy a property for cash and rent it back to the seller were regulated by the FSA. Further more in 2012 the FSA announced a temporary closure to the entire sale and rent back market, meaning firms are no longer legally allowed to offer or advertise this service.

We buy any house scam checklist

Avoiding scams by house buying companies offering a ‘we buy any house’ service is fairly straightforward if vendors follow simple checks and do their own due diligence on the company they intend to do business with. One independent website within the market sector has created a 21 point checklist for consumers wishing to use a we buy any house firm and still unsure how to check them out.

The vetting procedure aligns with the NAPB membership checks and offers customers full satisfaction and security they are dealing with a trusted and vetted we buy any home company.