How we arrive at our number, and why we show you the workings.
Most cash buyers give you a figure and hope you do not ask how they got there. We think the opposite: if the reasoning does not stand up to scrutiny, the offer should not be made.
There is no version of this business where our offer is not below market value.
We take on the risk, the costs, the holding period and the work of selling the property on, and we make our money on the difference. Any company promising you full market value in cash within a fortnight is either misleading you or planning to reduce the price later.
What we can offer instead is an honest account of what the discount actually buys you, and a straight comparison against your alternatives. Sometimes that comparison will point away from us. We would rather you saw it than did not.
Every offer we make is built from the same four parts
No secret formula, no proprietary algorithm. Just four numbers, each of which we will show you.
1. What it's genuinely worth
We start with sold prices, not asking prices: Land Registry data for comparable properties on and around your street over the last twelve months. Asking prices tell you what someone hoped for. Sold prices tell you what happened.
2. What it needs spending on
Almost every property we buy needs work, which is usually why the seller is talking to us. We cost the necessary works at trade rates and deduct that figure. Necessary means sound and saleable, not a designer kitchen.
3. What it costs us to buy and hold
Stamp duty at the higher rate for additional properties, your legal fees and ours, the survey, insurance, council tax and utilities for the months we own it, and the agent commission when we eventually sell it on.
4. Our margin
We are a business buying to grow our own portfolio, so there has to be something in it for us. We will tell you what that figure is rather than burying it. It also has to cover the risk that the market moves against us.
What the open market actually returns
Before comparing our offer to an asking price, it is worth seeing what an asking price really delivers once the costs and the calendar have taken their share. This is a £250,000 house.
Asking price with a high-street agent
Negotiated down before exchange
UK homes typically sell around 3% under asking
Agent commission
1.5% of the achieved price, plus VAT
Your conveyancing
Legal fees, searches and disbursements
EPC, photography and floorplan
Running the property for five months
Council tax, insurance, utilities, standing charges
Repairs and clearance to get it market-ready
Varies enormously; this is a conservative figure
Net proceeds, roughly five months later
Assuming the sale does not fall through; around one in three do
Which is the number to compare
When we make you an offer, hold it against £230,730 and five months of uncertainty, not against the £250,000 on the listing.
That is still a real difference, and for many people the open market remains the right choice. But the gap is considerably narrower than the headline figures suggest, and it closes further when you factor in:
- A mortgage still running on an empty house
- Unoccupied-property insurance, which is dearer
- Empty-home council tax premiums after six months
- The cost of losing an onward purchase
- Your own time, and the weight of it hanging over you
The number we agree is the number you're paid.
Last-minute price reduction (agreeing a figure, letting you get within days of completion, then dropping it because you are too far in to walk away) is the practice that has given this industry its reputation. We do not do it.
There is exactly one circumstance in which our figure would change: something material emerges that you had not disclosed and we could not reasonably have known. Structural movement. An undisclosed tenant. A defect on the title. In that situation we will show you the evidence, explain the revised position, and you are free to walk away with nothing to pay.
Tell us everything at the start, and the price will not move.
What people ask about the money
Why won't you publish a percentage of market value?
Because it would be a number we could not honour on every property, and a promise we broke once would be worth less than no promise at all. A modern house needing nothing is a very different proposition from a Victorian terrace with a leaking roof and a 62-year lease. Publishing a single figure would mean either overpromising on the difficult ones or underselling the straightforward ones. We would rather show you the arithmetic for your house.
Can I negotiate?
You can, and it is a reasonable thing to do. If you think we have been too pessimistic on condition, or you have comparable sales we have missed, show us and we will look again. What we will not do is open low and expect to be haggled up; the first number we give you is a serious one.
Do you charge for the valuation or the offer?
No. There is no fee for the offer, no fee if you decline it, and no fee if you accept. We also pay your conveyancing costs on completion. If any company asks you for an upfront fee to buy your house, walk away.
Will you pay more if I do not need a fast completion?
Sometimes, yes. If you can give us flexibility on timing it reduces our holding risk, and we can often reflect that in the offer. Equally, if the property is in genuinely good order and needs little work, the figure will be closer to market value than you might expect. It is worth asking.
What about stamp duty and capital gains tax?
Stamp duty on the purchase is ours to pay, not yours; sellers never pay stamp duty. Whether you owe capital gains tax on the sale depends on your own circumstances, particularly if it was not your main residence. We are not tax advisers and will not pretend to be; speak to an accountant before you complete.
See the workings for your house.
A figure and the reasoning behind it, usually within one working day. Nothing to pay, and no pressure to accept it.