What signs to look for in a buyer
When selling you will probably get your fair share of time wasters or tyre kickers as they are sometimes called. These will be people who arrange viewings and are not entirely ready to move or in some circumstances just like going on property viewings as a hobby with no intention of ever making an offer on your property. If you are going through an agent that is established is they do usually have a way of filtering a certain degree of time wasters if it is a home mover they will make enquiries if the potential buyer has their current property up for sale if not why they haven’t yet marketed their current property and offer to market it for them a time wasters won’t have a good answer if it is not up for sale. Also the agent will ask for proof of funding in most circumstances, is the whole home move going to be funded by the sale off the existing property or is a mortgage involved to top up the amount needed if so can they provide a certificate of an approval in principal, the same for first time buyers but the agent will ask for if cash buyer proof of funding 6 months bank statements showing the right amount of money in an account. For first time buyers using a mortgage they will ask to see a certificate for approval in principle and proof of deposit as per the amount on the certificate. If you are selling privately you can asked for all this info to be provided by email before arranging a viewing with the potential buyer.
Once the potential buyer has had the above filtering then you at least have a buyer with the means to buy your property, the next thing to look for is a viewer that ask questions about the property with interest and starts probing on timescales that you intend to move by, they might even offer insight into how quickly they want to move and so on this is a good sign off a serious potential buyer. Also you do get viewers who are serious who like to keep their cards close to their chest and won’t offer much at all in the way off communication this is to give them more power when making an offer, if they have shown too much interest then you will have an edge in negotiations. The best situation is 2 plus interested buyers then you have the upper hand on negotiations as you can play them off against each other and achieve the desired price.
If it isn’t first time buyer another thing to investigate is the possibility of a long chain below them , this will add to any chain you will have above when purchasing , so it’s worth finding out the circumstances of the buyer when offers come in , it is ideal if the buyer has already sold their own property and to a first time buyer that has been verified . A buyer that puts an offer that hasn’t sold their own property is something that should only be considered if it’s a last resort or you are in no hurry yourself. The shorter the chain the easier it is when trying to get contracts exchanged and then completed, a buyer with nothing to sell especially a cash buyer is ideal.
If the chain could be potentially long then get your agent to do some research on the chain to make sure there isn’t any weak links, if there are then wait for a buyer in a better position if you can as it could all collapse at the last minute due to someone in the chain not having a mortgage and having to pull out in the final hour.
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