Who is a cash buyer?
A cash buyer is someone who doesn’t need to rely on a mortgage agreement or the sale of another property to complete buying a house. Cash buyers are fairly rare, and will often be investors or property companies.

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When looking into buying or selling a house, you’ve likely heard the phrase cash buyer being mentioned. But what is a cash buyer? We Buy Any House have taken some time to break down these terms across our recent articles to make things as simple as possible.

What does cash buyer mean?

A cash buyer is someone who can purchase a property in full with cash, who doesn’t need to apply for any mortgage or loan. They will need to have the full amount for the property from the moment that they put the offer in, and cannot rely on selling another property for the funds like most homeowners do. Because of this, cash buyers are seen as a huge positive for selling homeowners, as it significantly reduces the chances of a break in the chain, giving more security for you as a seller. However, as there is with any buyer in a transaction like this, there are positives and negatives to consider.

What are the positives?

One of the biggest positives of having a cash buyer interested in your property is that there are fewer strings attached to them. They aren’t waiting for approval on a mortgage agreement, they aren’t relying on a sale of their property to be able to complete on yours, and this means that there is a lesser chance of something going wrong and you losing your sale. This is a huge advantage to sellers, as the risk of their sale falling through is one of the most worrying involved when selling property.

Almost 20% of sales that fall through are because of problems with mortgage arrangements because the buyer’s lender has declined their application in the last stages. When this happens, not only do you lose your sale, but it has a knock-on effect and can mean that you also lose the house that you’re trying to buy if they aren’t willing to wait for you to find another buyer.

A cash buyer is also usually chain-free, which means even less risk. The issues with chains in property are that even if your sale goes according to plan, you can be affected by anyone in the chain that you’re in. Your buyer may be relying on a sale, with their buyer also relying on selling a property. In front of you, the property you’re buying likely can’t complete until they have bought their next house. The bigger the chain you’re in, the more risk you face when selling. That’s why a cash buyer is seen as such a great option to sellers- no chain dramatically lowers the risk of your sale falling through.

A cash buyer can also complete on your property much faster than a standard buyer who needs to wait for mortgage approval and for the funds to be released. Buying or selling a house is a long process, with the average taking around 6 months. This is an incredibly long time, especially for any homeowners who are in a rush and can’t afford to wait for that amount of time. Cash buyers don’t have the delays that homeowners needing a mortgage do, which allows them to complete much faster than the standard sale. That’s how we at We Buy Any House can buy houses in as little as 7 days, saving you time and stress on your sale.

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What about the disadvantages?

As with any decision, there are disadvantages to selling to a cash buyer. Generally, because of how fast these types of sales are, cash buyers will tend to offer you lower than your asking price. It depends on what your buyer is looking for in your property, but often, cash buyers are investors that are looking to add to their portfolio or to renovate and sell on. Because of this, they want to put in the lowest amount that they can when they offer on properties to make the most of their profit afterwards. This factor may not be as important to you depending on why you’re looking to sell; if you’re keen to get rid of the property, and have had no luck on the open market previously, then you may be more than happy with a lower offer than you may have originally asked for. You will need to take some time and see what works best for you when you decide how best to sell.

It’s also important to remember that while the risk is lower, there is still a chance that things could go wrong. Generally, in these sales, the risk is in a different area, where your buyer may change their mind about the property. There is also the chance that there could be issues found in surveys done on the house that would put them off too, so if you’re aware of any problems that a survey could uncover it’s best to either fix them before putting your house up for sale or being transparent about those issues and setting your price to reflect it.

There are risks in any way of selling your house, so the important thing is to do your research and see which has benefits that suit you most and that outweigh the risks involved.

There are more ways than ever to sell a house, from the traditional route on the open market to selling at an auction, or looking to quick sale companies to get things moving as quickly as possible. Knowing the positives and negatives of each option, so you know that you’ve made the right decision for you. If you’re looking for a quick sale and want to know more about how we can help, get in touch with We Buy Any House today for your free cash offer.

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