What Does Cash Buyers Only Mean And Why Choose One?

Explaining what the term 'cash buyers only' means and why choosing to sell your house this way may be beneficial...

Selling your house looks an exciting process on the surface. You’re able to show it off to potential buyers, sell it for a great price (hopefully), and move on to finding yourself your next dream home.

But once you get past the initial excitement, you start to realise just how long, costly and stressful selling your house can be.

But does it need to be this way? Is there a certain type of buyer which can help to eliminate all the potential problems?

Yes – selling to a cash buyer!

We’re going to talk you through what it means when a house is listed as ‘cash buyers only’, why it may be better to sell your house for cash AND the different places you can look to find yourself a cash buyer.

What does cash buyers only mean?

‘Cash buyers only’ refers to when home sellers will only accept offers from buyers who have all the money available. This basically means that the buyer isn’t waiting for any further money to come in, in order to buy the property, whether this be through applying for a house repayments, work bonus, inheritance or through selling a property of their own.

If someone puts themselves forward as a potential buyer to a ‘cash buyers only’ property, then they will have to provide proof of funds, which shows that they have the full value of their offer for the property ready in their bank.

Proof of funds for a ‘cash buyers only’ property is normally shown through a recent bank statement. A cash gift is accepted, providing it’s shown the money is coming from the buyer’s account directly.

If you’re looking for cash buyers only, there are a few different sales methods you could go down, which we’re going to get onto in more detail later…

Why would someone sell a house as ‘cash buyers only’?

There are various different reasons why someone may choose to sell a house as ‘cash buyers only’. These reasons could range from the seller simply wanting a faster sale to there being some substantial issues with the property.

We’re going to explore the potential reasons why someone may sell their home as cash buyers only right here for you:

Structural Problems

Structural problems such as subsidence, roof damage or serious damp would cause a property to need a substantial amount of money spent on it to make it suitable to live in. For this reason, a property may be listed as ‘cash buyers only’, so the property can be sold quickly and potentially at a discount. This allows a cash buyer to get a property for less, making them able to spend as much money as it may need to get the property ‘liveable’.

Chain free

Another reason a seller may list their house as ‘cash buyers only’ is for the simple reason it enables them to get a chain free sale. When talking about a ‘chain’ in property, it refers to sales relying on other sales in order to go through. By this we mean, your buyer will have a buyer and their buyer will have a buyer and so on, get what we mean?

With ‘cash buyers only’, your buyer has the money readily available meaning they’re not waiting for a sale of their property to go through and therefore means you won’t have any ‘chain’ below you.

Faster sale

Listing your house as ‘cash buyers only’ will likely lead to your house getting a faster sale. This is because your buyer won’t have to get a house repayments approval or sell their house and they’re normally able to suit the moving timescale around you, as they’re ready to move when you are.

Japanese Knotweed

Japanese Knotweed is a fast-growing weed, which can cause extreme damage and harm to a property or vegetation, without being poisonous to people or animals. This weed can go through solid ground, causing damage to foundations.

A house struggling with Japanese knotweed may list their house as ‘cash buyers only’ as house repayments lenders often refuse to lend on a property which shows evidence of the weed, and so would only be suitable for a cash buyer.

Age of house

Houses which are much older than most may be listed as ‘cash buyers only’ due to the fact the condition and standard of the property may be significantly below the other properties on the market.

As a result of this, the property may need a substantial amount of money spent on it, making a cash buyer the best option.

Small property

Some properties, such as flats, are too small to be able to be house repayments, making them suitable for cash buyers only.

Location

A house repayments lender may turn down a house repayments application for a property if it’s in a dangerous or undesirable area. For this reason, if a property is located in one of these areas, it’s likely to be listed as cash buyers only, taking away the stress of any house repayments being declined.

Short lease

If a leasehold property has a short lease, generally 80 years or less, then it becomes harder to sell on the open market. There’s not that many house repayments lenders that like to lend on this type of property, making it more suitable to be listed as ‘cash buyers only’.

Also, there’s a cost of lease extension, which most who are buying a house aren’t prepared to pay. However, cash buyers are normally more prepared that the property they buy will need some money spending on it, making them more open to a short lease property.

Stop repossession

Our final reason that a property may be listed as ‘cash buyers only’ is to stop the property being repossessed. As a cash buyer promises a faster sale, the owner of the property is able to quickly get their hands on cash for the property to pay back whatever debt they may have, without being made homeless by their home being repossessed.

Why is selling a house for cash better?

Listing your house as ‘cash buyers only’ can be seen as a better way to sell your property compared to selling on the open market. Why? Well…

• Faster sale – Selling your house to a cash buyer will help you get a quicker sale as they have the money ready and available and won’t need to go through the process of getting a house repayments offer

• No chain – Being a part of a property chain makes the moving house process much lengthier and more stressful, with the chain able to break at any point. Selling to a cash buyer removes this as a potential problem

• No risk of house repayments problems – We did just slightly touch on this but selling to cash buyers means they have the money in their bank, so they don’t need to go through the hassle of getting a house repayments. This means you don’t run the risk of your sale falling through due to your buyer not being approved for a house repayments

• No marketing/viewings – If you sell your house to a cash house buying company, then you will save time and money on both the marketing fees and viewings, as the company will buy your house from you directly

• No paperwork – Once again, selling your house to a cash house buying company will mean little to no paperwork, as everything is handled for you (nice and easy!)

• Timescale to suit you – When selling to cash buyers only, the completion time scale can be suited to your needs, as they’re sat with the money in their bank, ready to move when you are

Where can I find cash buyers only?

There are a few different methods which you can go through to make sure your house is being advertised to ‘cash buyers only’.

Firstly, you have the option of selling on the open market, with your house listed as ‘cash buyers only’. This will mean your estate agent will discard any potential buyers who aren’t cash buyers and so your property will only get viewings from those your agent believes to be serious.

Whilst this option will allow your house to be seen by many different buyers, there’s no guarantee you will be able to find a cash buyer and that, if you do find a cash buyer, the sale could fall through.

The open market is also a slow option, where selling your house can take anywhere between 4 months to over a year. Your estate agent also takes a commission of the sale price, meaning you will never get the full price and you will also need to pay your legal fees, adding further costs to the process.

You will also have to sift through all the time wasters on the open market – you know the ones who come view your house once or twice and then never hear from them again.

Another option you have to find cash buyers only is selling through auction. When selling through auction, you can, once again, have your house advertised as cash buyers only, meaning no need to worry about someone bidding who isn’t a cash buyer.

Although through auction the timescale is normally quicker than the open market, the whole process from applying for auction to completion can take up to 10 weeks, which although is faster than on the open market, still isn’t as fast as a cash buyer can be.

Also at auction, even if you do strike a deal with a cash buyer, there’s no guarantee the buyer won’t pull out of the deal. You will also have to pay the auctioneer a commission of the sale price, alongside room hire, marketing costs and legal fees.

Your final option when it comes to looking for cash buyers only is selling to a ‘fast house sale’ company. A fast house sale company are also known as a 'cash house buying company', clue in the name about why you may be interested in them…

A fast house sale company will give you a CASH offer for your house, able to complete in a FAST timescale to suit you and will cover all your fees, leaving you with not a single penny to pay.

The sale is also a guaranteed sale, so no need to worry about time wasters and endless sales falling through. All you have to do is find a fast house sale company, tell them you want to sell and let them make you a cash offer.

Now where can you find one of these companies to get this process started?

Right here!

Here at The Property Buying Company, we’re a cash buyer of houses, buying any property in any location. We will cover all your fees for you, even the legal ones, and leave you with CASH in your bank.

We will only require one quick viewing to check our cash offer is accurate, and we’re a guaranteed buyer – once you accept our cash offer, that’s the guaranteed price you will get in your bank!

We also work our FAST timescale to suit you, with our average completion time between 2-3 weeks (but that doesn’t mean we haven’t completed in 7 days before…)

Forget waiting forever on the open market, with your property listed as ‘cash buyers only’ and fill in our online form or give us a call to receive a no-obligation cash offer, allowing us to cover all your fees and have the money in your bank as soon as you want it!