How Companies That Buy Houses Work

Companies who buy houses can offer a Guaranteed sale

For some time now companies that buy houses have been growing in popularity. Never has this been more true than in the current housing market. After a year of so much uncertainty, many homeowners are now looking for a more secure route to sell their property. Today we hear from vendors looking for a quick house sale for many different reasons including:

• financial difficulties
• divorce or separation
• selling a rented property with tenants
• selling a house left in a will
• repairing a failed house chain
• part exchanging a house
• relocating overseas
• stopping repossession

How to compare property buying companies

As you search for a house buying company, you’ll quickly realise there’s a good deal of competition out there. And with competition from a good number of house buying websites has come a great deal of innovation. This could be good news if you’re looking to sell your property fast without the hassle of selling via a traditional estate agent. Selling via national homebuyers could mean the difference between selling in just a few weeks compared to an average of 6 – 9 months via more traditional routes.

Selling your property quickly does still mean you’ll need to make a few decisions. But once these are made the rest of the sale should progress both quickly and smoothly.

Today’s house buying companies offer the following three distinct ways to sell your property fast.

Direct Purchase


Under the Direct Purchase method a house buying company will buy your property directly from you. This will mean they’ll buy your property direct and in doing so will offer a ‘cash price’ for your house or flat. This works in much the same way as selling your car to one of the ‘we buy any car’ companies on a cash sale basis.

With a direct purchase you’ll typically receive an offer of around 70 – 80% of the open market value of your property. Any offer will be subject to two important things – the location and condition of the property. There are four other factors that also play an important part in the value of your house. You can find out more about theses factors in our recently updated guide to working out how much your property is worth. In return for selling at a reduced price you can expect your house sale to complete in just 2 – 4 few weeks. What’s more they’ll be no estate agent fees and your legal costs will be paid for you.

The direct sale route is a great solution if you’re simply looking for a quick house sale without any fuss. This could be for almost any reason you care to think of. Examples of where direct purchases work particularly well are where a property requires a good deal of refurbishment. Another example would be to repair a collapsed house chain where a buyer has pulled out and a seller needs a house buying company to step in. Finally, the direct sale route is the perfect solution should you need to settle mounting debts or worst still, need to stop a house repossession fast.

Assisted Sale

A more recent innovation, the Assisted Sale route involves the property buying company arranging a quick sale of your house to a pre-qualified property investor. Companies who buy houses regularly often build substantial databases of high net-worth buyers who are keen to buy properties quickly. As a result, you can expect an increase in the value of the offer for your property with the buyer paying between 80 – 85% of the open market value.

Assisted house sales typically take around 8 – 12 weeks to complete and are ideal for a wide range of situations. Examples of where this sale method works particularly well are where a property has been left behind as part of an inheritance. As a result of recent increases in Government policies towards landlords, we now hear from a growing number of buy to let landlords too.

Auction Sale

Some of the more advanced house buying companies now offer to sell your property via a house auction. This works by the property buying company first agreeing a fixed price with you to buy your property. The house buying company then take on all of the risk of the marketing and administrative costs. This is in the hope they can sell your property at a premium via an auctioneer’s house buying website.

Examples of where auction sales work well are where properties have either a structural defect or restrictive covenants within the title deeds. These situations make the property harder to sell on the open market via a traditional estate agent as buyers are typically nervous. Buyers at auctions are more likely to take on these associated risks as they are often seasoned investors.

Beware of unscrupulous companies that buy houses

Unfortunately, some of the less professional property buying companies can leave you vulnerable to dubious practices. And believe me when I say that we’ve seen them all! Here we list the most common practices to look out for.

Upfront charges

Beware of companies who buy houses and try to charge you for surveys and instructing solicitors upfront. This is often a way of getting you to pay for the cost of these so the house buying company do not put any of their own money at risk.

Pushing to sign a sales contract

And be very cautious about firms that offer to have paperwork sent immediately by courier for your signature. These are often the methods of less scrupulous companies that simply want to put you under pressure to sign as fast as possible. We don’t think these buyers have your best interests at heart.

We believe you should be given a reasonable time to ‘cool off’ before proceeding with your house sale. Instead, we’d recommend going for a company that offers to send a representative out to discuss the house selling process with you.

Reputable firms will be only too happy to show you how the conveyancing process works when selling your property. This will give you the time to draw up a list of any questions you may have. In doing so you’ll be able to make a more informed decision over your best course of action.

Last minute negotiations

Finally, look out for companies that buy houses for cash only to reduce their offer at the very last minute just before completion. Watch out for tell-tale signs such as warnings that an offer could be reduced in the weeks running up to completion. Once the official valuation report is received ask for a copy of this so that you can be sure that the offer on the table is a fair one. If this isn’t forthcoming it may be worth considering switching your house buying company.

These are important factors when looking at companies that buy houses.

Deciding how best to proceed with a quick house sale

Having looked at the various routes to sell, you’re probably scratching your head wondering what to do next. But don’t’ despair, we know it’s a lot to take in. After all, it’s not every day that you decide to sell your property.

Not all house buying companies will offer the Direct Purchase, Assisted Sale and Auction Sale routes to sell your property. Instead, they will often offer just one or two of these services. However, with an extensive network of national homebuyers we’re able to offer all three routes to a quick house sale. This means that we’re more than likely able to help you. Even if this is simply pointing you in the right direction.

Companies that buy houses must listen to customer needs

At National Property Buyers we take a customer focussed approach in offering a fair and transparent route to a quick house sale. Our service is based around ensuring that when you sell to us you feel that we have your best interests at heart. And by listening very carefully to your needs we can be sure to achieve the very best possible outcome. As you speak with our team of homebuyers you can expect a sympathetic ear, somebody who genuinely wants to help you. What’s more, if we feel that our service doesn’t suit your needs, we’ll let you know straight away.

As one of the UK’s leading house buying companies, we have an enviable reputation for doing things right.

Putting our cards on the table

Whilst we do buy many properties direct, you’ll understand we can’t buy every house as this would be impossible. For this reason, we have very strong relationships with just a handful of professional house buying companies that we feel offer the same professional standards as ourselves. Sometimes we may ask if you’re happy for us to share your details with other property buying companies so that we can help you.

By working together, we’re in the best possible position to help you sell your property.