Selling to a home buyer? How to spot a diamond in the rough!
Home / News & Insight / Selling to a home buyer? How to spot a diamond in the rough!
Having worked in the quick house sale industry with Quick Move Now for 12 years and personally buying in excess of a 1000 properties I often wonder looking from the inside out why sellers make the choices they do.
But with the shoe on the other foot I recently found myself in unfamiliar territory and got a taste of how our own customers must sometimes feel.
Having decided to propose to my now wife the first daunting step was to buy the ring but having never bought a diamond before I didn’t have a clue where to start. So I headed to Hatton Gardens jewellery quarter and half a dozen jewellers later I was still none the wiser.
I then happened upon a back street jeweller, inside I was greeted by an elderly chap sat on a stool in the corner who took pity on me. He said I’m not going to sell you a diamond, I will give you the facts about diamonds and you will decide what diamond is best for you and then you must find the best deal for that diamond and sent me on my way.
With my new found knowledge of clarity, cut, certification etc. I went from shop to shop and eventually found myself back at the same little jewellers where I found the perfect diamond for me/her!
From this experience I realised that sellers are often not given all the facts when making their choices about a quick house sale so here is a bit of a guide.
The background to the industry is a good place to start, prior to the property crash of 2008-2009 the quick house sale industry was made up of 6-7 well funded House buyers (firms using their own funds to buy). After the crash all these firms either ceased trading or stopped buying except for Quick Move Now.
Some of these companies and many others entered the market acting as Brokers (agent seeking to sell property on for a fee), but most will still quote that they buy for cash. The industry is now made of 150-200 firms, with new firms continually entering and leaving.
Of these 150 + firms to my knowledge only 1 firm other than Quick Move Now actually buy every property themselves.
How can a seller identify if a company is a House Buyer or a Broker?
How long has a firm operated for- with so many here today gone tomorrow firms operating, 7 years+ trading will be an indicator that a firm is worthy of maintaining market position.