“Waste of time. Don't bother....”
2 Star Review
Nov 19,2018
By:
'Justin'
Nov 19,2018
Branch: St Albans, Suite 5 Arquen House, 4-6 Spicer Street
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Sold price: £840000
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: N12
Branch: St Albans, Suite 5 Arquen House, 4-6 Spicer Street
Sales (Prospective customer)
Sold price: £840000
Postcode: N12
3
people found
this helpful
I would not recommend using British Homebuyers for the simple reason that they are misleading.
Their business tagline is "Your Solution to Time" - turns out to be quite the opposite in my case. After great discussions with a member of their team, I was left with the understanding that their business offers two options.
1. I sell my house to them at 85% of the market value which can be completed in less than 2 weeks - My newly refurbished house is in London so this would amount to over £100k. I was not that desperate so this was not an option for me.
2. I sell my house with them at 95-97% of market value and they will find me a buyer within 2-4 weeks. I was assured that they only work with pre-vetted buyers that are in a position to move quickly and have funds in place to purchase. They charge a fee of 0.75% of the agreed selling price for this service. This was the option I decided upon.
The British Homebuyers representative checked the property value and provided me with a reduced price which I thought was acceptable due to the shortened timelines of selling. It was made clear to me that at this reduced price "We will have your property sold in no time." I felt I was in good hands and they were going to come back with an offer within the marketed 2-4 weeks - this was not the case! After 5 weeks of them marketing the property their only suggestion in all that time was to drop the price further in order to gain renewed interest - sound familiar? There are other reviews on this business that suggest the same tactic was tried with them.
British Homebuyers have not only failed to sell my house within 5 weeks, I am now left with having to find a more reputable agent 7 weeks after signing an agreement with this business. I also now have the dilemma of selling my property at its original market value - British Homebuyers advertised the property on national property marketing websites at the reduced asking price for 5 weeks so I will not be in a strong bargaining position for any future offers!
I am suggesting a score of 2 as the team were polite and friendly as most estate agents can be in order to be persuasive. Since British Homebuyers clearly were not "My Solution to Time", I would suggest their marketing and correspondence is misleading. Offers of purchase for your property at the reduced price are not guaranteed and you are not provided proof of the pre-vetted buyers. Beware!
I would not suggest using their services if your circumstances are similar to mine. I am sure British Homebuyers do manage to find buyers within the 2-4 week period in other cases. However, this is done by using the same marketing tools that all other online estate agents use at a much more competitive price than the 0.75% they were hoping to charge me.
Comment on agent fees
Good
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