Highest offer or cash buyer when choosing between final offers?

[kerstina]

Our house had only been on the market a week and it has gone to final offers as four people wanted to buy it . Any advice on whether it is best to go for the highest bidder or the cash buyer. What are the pitfalls either way? Would prefer it to go as smoothly and stress free as possible so would that be the cash buyer even though it is much less than highest bidder but still over asking price.

I have always heard that cash buyers are liars. They never have the cash..

Highest bidder provided they have the mortgage in place.

Highest offer. Your agent should be able to tell you where they are with their own sale.

Verify the position of both. If the highest bidder has mortgage in place and a solid chain, then its fine.
cash buyers need to prove funds.

What are the circumstances of each.
scope of the chain? need to move or desire to? mortgage in principle?....

@Crucible ooo who is jealous. That is simply not true. Occasionally perhaps, can also be applied to other aspects of selling - eg saying house offer accepted and it isn't yet being marketed. Making sweeping statements like that when somebody is asking advice is not helpful.

@kerstina check the basis of the cash offer: is the situation they are selling, buying with the funds and won't need a mortgage? or are they in rented / staying with family and ready to move? Are they moving back from abroad? Cash buyers can mean different things.

Yes we do know positions in chain and other details . Estate agent says all are in strong positions.

Not enough information to call it but on the limited information you’ve given, highest bidder. They want the house and are motivated, lock them in. Cash buyer is looking to trade off speed against price offered. Are you sure they are a cash buyer? What proof have you seen that they aren’t loan/mortgage dependent? And both purchasers have to go through the same searches & conveyancing process so they have limited control over how long that takes. Other factors: Are either or both in a chain? Are you?

Cash offer gifted . Which I can well believe. It is a lovely house in a lovely location for first time buyers.

Considering the downward trajectory of house prices I would go cash and get it done asap. You must be in a popular area or have priced right to get 4 offers so quickly. Well done, so many threads on this and other forums at the moment from people struggling to sell.
Its really important that you satisfy yourself of proof of funds though - as posters have already pointed out - people lie. Dont be afraid to insist to your agent that they must provide full proof. If they really have the money they will be happy to do that but may suggest its through solicitors - which is fine.

We did , sold our house , was renting in new area so cash was in the bank and new house was cheaper than what we sold for anyway .

Last time we sold a house the cash buyer turned out to not actually have the cash, but had to raise the money from his rental investments to buy the house. It took months and months. Unless there’s a bank statement with the cash actually waiting buyers account id be very cautious

Whoever is in the best position to move forward quickest if that is essential otherwise you take high offer

There hopefully wouldn’t be a chain our end as have got our eye on a holiday let.

I would go for the highest offer. I sold my rental house to first time buyers with a mortgage in December last year and it took 9 weeks from offer accepted to completion.

Oh my gosh Canyon , I honestly thought our house would be on a while because of the markets being wobbly. I can’t believe how fast it is happening. Trouble is we are needing a mortgage ourselves for the next house .

Cash buyer but get agents to check proof of funds first.

OP, I bought my house for cash after I got divorced. It all went through very quickly - but it was a while ago now. More recently, my sister put in an offer on a house but was turned down in favour of another couple, who then failed to get their mortgage. My sister was good to go. They came back to her, but by then she’d offered on another property so they lost the sale. Just establish that the proposed buyer actually has everything in place.

When I was a cash buyer I had to show proof of funds.

Yes estate agent has already seen proof.

Well then that’s all good. I would go with them

What kind of cash difference are you talking about OP?

Proof of funds is good but also check (speed of) accessibility of the “cash”. They may have it, but not in an instant access account.

But how much more is the higher offer? And what’s their position? A mortgage is no worse than cash really, and if it’s a lot more then I’d probably go with that. Cash buyers can be notoriously flakey and request last minute reductions.

We went with the third highest.
All were proceedable (they didn't even get through the door if they weren't) and the B&F offers came from buyers with finance already in place and cash buyers.
In the end it was down to personalities and who we thought would complete the process the quickest.
The highest offer came from a couple who had already annoyed us so they were eliminated straight away. The third highest offer came from a couple who had moved into a rental just up the road so we knew they were keen and ready to go.
Worked ok.

I would still be wary of where the cash is. A gifted amount of cash (parents or family, I'm guessing) is possibly not in the form of a bank account with that sum. If it is, then great, but proof that the estate agent accepts may not be the same as sufficient proof for you to trump a good higher offer from someone with a mortgage in place. With such strong interest, you are justified in being extra annoying and requesting more information to satisfy yourself.

I’d give your estate agent very specific questions. On the cash buyer have they seen proof of cash in the bank for the full amount etc.
We recently bought a chain free house- the day after we put in the offer the seller started looking at properties and lo and behold we were in a chain. Luckily the sellers were really on it, and their purchase was ready before us- but it wasn’t chain free as advertised. People lie all the time.