24 Mar HOW DO YOU SELECT THE BEST BUYER?  

If you are fortunate enough to receive more than one offer for your property, it may be tempting to go for the highest figure or the ‘cash buyer’, but beware.  Discuss the bids with your Estate Agent before deciding which to accept.  Sometimes, what appears to be the highest bid turns out, after survey, to be somewhat reduced and sometimes the ‘cash offer’ is subject to other factors, eg. the cash may be tied up in some form of investment, or turns out to be subject to a forensic full survey, which may bring about extensive re-negotiations.  Further, a delayed decision, to have a mortgage after all, or even worse, occasionally a cynical move to reduce the offer at the last moment, when a less than scrupulous buyer considers they have a hapless Vendor, ‘over a barrel’, sometimes called gazundering.

It may be that another offer is a sounder proposition.  How do you feel about a particular offeror?   What is your gut instinct about the character and therefore future intentions of a potential buyer?  You will be giving up your home.  Would you feel comfortable about a particular family occupying it?  Your instinct has a place in this, augmented by the advice from a good and experienced Estate Agent, who will be happy to spend time to discuss the options with you.  Remember, they have seen this behaviour before, many times.

The next important stage is what happens after you have agreed a sale and more information on this, will follow in future articles.