We Buy Houses for Cash: Choosing the Right Buyer for Your Home

Have you seen the ads and signs: We Buy Houses for Cash? What does this mean? Is it legitimate? And how do you know if a property buyer is the right buyer for your home? Often, you can find all of the information you need from one great resource: the company’s website. Here are some “green flags” to look for when researching potential cash buyers.

We Buy Houses for Cash

Who is “we”? Cash house buyers are investors, or more likely, groups of investors, who purchase homes quickly. They do so in order to:

• Renovate the home and sell it
• Retain it as an investment property
• Develop it with new builds (if applicable and allowable)
• Turn a property into rentals

Whatever the reason, these companies specialise in quick home sales. Now, it is vital that you choose a buyer that meets all of your needs. When you research them, start on their websites. Look for:

• Clear explanations of who they are, what they do and what their process looks like. All information should be easy to understand and designed to answer any and all questions you have about the company and their specific processes. If it is vague, difficult to comprehend or purposely “muddy,” then it is highly advisable that you go elsewhere when seeking a buyer for your home.

• Helpful information. As you go through the experience of selling your house, you understandably have many questions. Reputable companies do not try to sell you their services or make a hard pitch. Rather, they provide you with the information you need to make a decision that is best for your personal and financial needs. They should provide how-to guides, tips and help as you navigate this process.

• Easy to use forms and a streamlined process. Nothing is more frustrating than wanting to get a simple cash offer and not being able to find the form or having the form be so long and complex that you want to throw up your hands and walk away from your computer or phone! All forms should be as short and simple as possible. Ideally, you enter your postcode, address, name, email and phone number – and just hit Request Free Cash Offer. It should be no more complicated than that.

• Easy (and easy to find) contact information and methods. On a related note, it should be easy to contact the company via email, phone or through a form. If you have to search and scurry around trying to find a telephone number, for example, think how “responsive” this buyer will likely be to your needs going forward.

• Customer reviews. Reviews and ratings are social proof of a company’s level of service and results. Always read these reviews, which should be posted as-is on their website. You may also look at third party reviews platforms, such as Trustpilot.

• Membership to industry organisations and associations. The website should indicate whether the cash property buyer is aligned with major industry organisations, such as Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) and the Property Ombudsman. This indicates that the buyer operates under a strict code of conduct with the highest ethical standards.

• Clear explanation of services and any fees. The buyer should explicitly tell you how their process works, what services are included as part of your selling experience and how much you will pay for everything. Now, ideally, the cost to you for selling your home should be… absolutely nothing. That’s right. Be wary of companies that charge fees for services or who require restrictive contracts. This is a big red flag.

You can find a great deal of information on the buyer’s website. It is important to take the follow up step of verifying through other resources. We mentioned Trustpilot; you can also Google Reviews, reviews.co.uk, NAPB (you can see if the buyer is a member in good standing) and others.

As always, you should feel free to reach out and talk to the company directly. If you have any questions… ask! This is your home, this is your process and you are in control. Always do our due diligence before working with a cash property buyer. There’s no better place to start than with their website.