19/01/2016 By property

Inheriting property

When a family member owns a property, chances are that you may find yourself inheriting the property upon their death. Despite the sad loss of the relative (previous owner), the idea of inheriting property may seem an exciting expectation. Then again, it can come with some frustrating and nasty surprises. If the property has been left sorely to you, then this can make things a little easier as the responsibility lies entirely with you as the new owner. When you inherit the property jointly however (perhaps with another sibling); then you will all need to come to a mutual agreement regarding the future of the property. You could opt to get a fast house sale and split the profit. At times, one or both of you may wish to live in the property. Such an action may trigger disputes between the involved families. Even better, you could choose to live in the property or sell your home, you could choose to rent it out thus providing you with a long term rental income, among other available options.

Unfortunately, if there be any outstanding debts attached to the property, they will have to be settled before any assets such as property can be distributed to the heirs by the executor of the will. Once you have gained ownership of the property, there are potentially many obstacles. For instance, if the property inherited has been rented with existing tenants in it. The will may outline that the current occupants can remain in the property leaving you with a limited choice. In such a case, it is advisable then to talk to the tenant and come to an amicable agreement regarding the future tenancy or your wish to sell the property.

In other cases, the property may be in a state of disrepair. This may force you to make essential maintenance to it. If you cannot afford these repairs however, then you may be left with no alternative but to get a fast sale before it deteriorates further. Another alternative is to get a mortgage on the property to cover the cost of repairs. In this case, you will need to register yourself as the new owner with the land registry. If the owner who left you the property still had a mortgage outstanding on their home then unfortunately you will also inherit the debt that comes with it and be responsible for the remainder of the mortgage payments. You can however, look to change the type of mortgage held on the property, which may make it more affordable. If you cannot afford the repayments, you could be at risk of losing your home to repossession so it is important to get advice wherever possible. If you own it jointly with another person, you could opt to buy their share of the property, and likewise they could also buy your share making them the sole owner of the property.

14/01/2016 By property

Quick House Sale companies

Quick house sale companies are also known as property buying companies, house buying companies etc. They are the latest trend to sell your house fast. The traditional way of selling through an estate agent wasn’t always practical for people’s needs and this has led to the fundamental growth of companies in the industry.

There have been concerns over the past few years that homeowners could be misled and lose out financially if they don’t use a RICS approved company to represent them to achieve their quick house sale. In essence, there are advantages for quick house sale companies as they offer to purchase your property fast (or the unregulated property buying companies may find you a third party buyer but this is never guaranteed), pay cash but the disadvantage is they pay a discount to the market value.

The purpose of this blog post is to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of property buying companies so that homeowners are fully aware of the property buying process and what’s involved. It would be quite easy for us to say that there are only advantages, but this isn’t the case. There are several factors to consider and it’s up to you as the homeowner to consider your cards when you need to sell your house fast. You need to have considered the following:

Found your dream home and need to sell your house fast
You need to relocate to a catchment area for your kids
You are emigrating
Divorce
Inherited property and want a quick sale Retirement
Downsizing
Financial problems
Problem Property or neighbours

What are the Advantages of Quick House Sale Companies?

Like we have already discussed, there are a number of advantages for people who need a guaranteed quick sale. Barry Home Buyers as a regulated company can provide a number of advantages to homeowners and can help in the following cases:

PROs:

Regulated companies can help you avert repossession, clear debts and address any financial problem you have.
An inherited property can be easily translated for cash.
When you need a quick sale for health reasons like retirement, a guaranteed sale can be secured with Barry Home Buyers.
If you are struggling with a divorce or relationship breakdown, the advantage of quick house sale companies is a sale can be completed within 7 days.
If you are looking to emigrate or moving owing to job relocation, a house buying company can assist by providing a cash offer for your property so a quick completion can take place.
If you own a problem property (e.g. problematic tenants, short lease, structural problems etc.) and you can’t sell your property through an estate agent, a quick house sale company will buy any type of property regardless of condition or problem!

What are the Disadvantages of Quick House Sale companies?

Whilst there are a number of benefits to selling your property quickly to house buyers, there are always going to be some disadvantages:

CONs:

As discussed, if you have made a rash decision and not chosen an NAPB approved company, unregulated property buyers may charge additional fees due to unclearness. Regulated companies don’t charge ANY fees so if a company starts trying to charge you fees just ignore them.
Another disadvantage of companies is that unregulated companies tie homeowners into contracts sometimes for up to 12 months! This doesn’t happen with regulated property buyers so be cautious when you read the contract and make sure you aren’t tied in for long.

How to evaluate a property buying company

As you can see there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to property buying companies. We thought it be prudent to provide a property buying checklist for homeowners. If you need to instruct a property buying company we suggest you follow the below criteria:

We would recommend you get an initial valuation. By understanding what your house is worth you should be able to establish the type of offer a company will make.
Check the company’s credentials. This blog makes this point perfectly clear, make sure that your property buying company or property buyers are regulated! Quick House Sale companies should always be a member of The Property Ombudsman.
Get your offer in writing. Don’t just accept a verbal offer, get the offer in writing and for your records. Barry Home Buyers follow this process on each house transaction.
Never be hasty. Take your time! Selling your house quickly to a property buying company is a daunting prospect if this is your first time. Take all the time you need to make the right decision and chose the best property buyer for you.
Read your agreement through and through. If there is anything in the agreement which you don’t understand clarify this with the property buyers, or further still speak to your own legal adviser.
Avoid lengthy tie-ins for contracts. Estate agents contracts are usually around 12 weeks, a quick house sale companies should be around 3 – 8 weeks, certainly nothing longer (unless the homeowner requests this).

Guiding Questions to ask Quick House Sale Companies

Barry Home Buyers recommends asking the following questions to property buying companies:

Is the company or an investor buying your property?
Will it be a cash transaction or will you require a mortgage? Seek for evidence of proof of funds.
What guarantees do you have that the transaction will take place?
Will completion of your property be accurate in terms of timescales?
Confirm who will be valuing your property, and the process to be undertaken.
Is the offer subject to a RICS valuation?
Ask for the company to confirm fees from the outset and get this in writing.

We hope you have found this blog insightful regarding the advantages and disadvantages of property buying companies.

12/01/2016 By property

Sell and Rent back, What ever happened to it?

When homeowners are struggling to pay their mortgage they may consider the sell and rent back scheme – this is a way in which you can sell your home to a private firm and then rent your home back from them as a tenant. It is normal that you may sell your home to this firm at a lower price than you would expect to sell it out right.

A private firm that may be willing to buy your property from you and then rent it back to you could be a company, a broker or a private individual. This was an extremely popular option for many homeowners tha t were struggling with mortgage repayments for their homes but now it is less common and in this article we want to explain why.

Previously there was no government or system looking over the sale and rent back scheme, this meant that there were risky private firms setting up and the sale and rent back schemes that were being created were not always in the best interest of the homeowner struggling with mortgage repayments, however the deals were very much in favour of the ‘not so honest’ private firms, companies, brokers or individuals.

By around 2005 the buy to let market had reached a boiling point where hundreds and thousands of ‘inspired amateur investors’ were pouring into the buy to let market as they had been sold the dream and hype of becoming millionaires over night with ‘no money down’ financing and instant remortgages.

However this is no longer an issue when it comes to Sell and Rent Back Schemes, if you want to be a ‘private firm’ for the scheme you now have to apply for FSA permissions to allow you to conduct a sell and rent back scheme business, also known as a SARB business.

For more details on sell and rent back be sure to see what rights you have.

We feel it’s great that this sector is now regulated as it means it is a win-win situation for the homeowner struggling with mortgage repayments and the private firms buying and rent back the properties.

If you have any queries about the Sell and Rent Back Scheme then why not give us a call, we are always happy to office free and impartial advice.

07/01/2016 By property

Sell Commercial Property with Ease

Looking to sell commercial property. The directors of Barry Home Buyers started their careers in the commercial property sector and are specialized in Industrial, Office, Retail, Care Homes and land investments. Barry Home Buyers’ chartered surveyors have over 40 years combined experienced in buying commercial property investments fast and efficiently.

The Barry Home Buyers will buy any commercial property investments within the UK. But how does one know if he/she needs our help?

Here are a few guiding questions:

Do you require a quick cash property buyer for your commercial property?
Is your commercial property (whether it be land, office, retail, Care Home or an industrial property) located in England or Wales?
Do you require a quick property sale for your commercial property, typically within 2 – 3 weeks?
Do you need a cash offer for your commercial property?

If your answer to the above questions were a “yes”, Barry Home Buyers and chartered surveyors are here to help you sell your property quickly. Commercial property buyers purchase properties promptly for cash, covering all of your seller fees (inclusive of your legal fees).

Since the market crash in 2008, the commercial property sector was hit significantly with some regions seeing commercial property values decreasing by nearly 50% of its value.

This subsequently led to banks and building societies withdrawing funding from commercial property investments and developments. This step unfortunately led to the severe downturn in this sector. Though the economy has picked up of late, the commercial property sector is still playing catch up and commercial property returns are still nowhere near the peak of 2007-2008. Commercial property rents seem to be on the increase across all regions, the issue however is investment yields and selling commercial property quickly is now not that easy.

Barry Home Buyers is a reliable fast commercial property buyer that have a wealth of experience acquiring all types of commercial properties in the UK quickly (industrial, retail, office, Land, Data Centres, care homes etc.) There are a number of cash property buyers who claim to be able to buy your commercial property fast. Barry Home Buyers however stand out with an extra quality as a regulated chartered surveying firm. Whilst there maybe a number of property buying companies who claim to be able to buy your commercial property quick, only a handful of these property buyers are a chartered surveying firms. Most are unregulated organisations and are not trustable. If you need to sell your commercial property fast, contact the commercial surveying team at Barry Home Buyers to receive your free no obligation cash offer.

Sell My Commercial Property Quickly For Cash

Like we have all witnessed over the last 7 years, commercial property investments have taken a knock and sales have slowed down dramatically. Commercial property returns are substantially lower than the peak of 2007-2008.

The selling of commercial property is no longer an easy task. This is because a large number of pension funds have reduced this type of asset class in their clients’ portfolios. This is where Barry Home Buyers can help by providing a quick and stress free cash property sale.

Some of the common reasons that cause people to sell property quickly include:

Inheritance
Financial problems
Retirement
Ill Health
Repossession
Commercial Business Rates unaffordable
Negative Equity
Emigration
Relocation
Divorce

If you want to receive a guaranteed quick commercial property sale, Barry Home Buyers is the surveying partner which can help. We buy any commercial property quickly, purchasing your property for cash in as quickly as just 2 weeks if required. Barry Home Buyers comes equipped with over 40 combined year’s commercial property surveying experience, an expert legal team and a property buying service and a business model which retains the highest regard in the surveying industry.

05/01/2016 By property

Selling your property quickly, Tips to consider.

Selling your property quickly in this competitive market is not always a walk in the park. This could be owing to the following main reasons:

The property could be located in a remote area.
Sell property quikly
The local property market is subdued.
Controlled demand for certain types of properties e.g. 3 / 4 storey townhouses, non-standard construction properties etc.
Property’s inability to be mortgaged.
Property may have neighbourhood problems/issues
Your property may suffer from damp / structural movement
You have a sitting tenant

There could be a number of reasons why your property is not selling quickly, the above being the most commonly encountered. Most home owners feel stuck if their property isn’t selling quickly, however there are now options to sell your house fast if you have a problematic property.

If My Property doesn’t Sell Quickly, what options could I opt for?

Nowadays homeowners no longer need to rely on estate agents when their property fails to sell as prospected. This is because there are various easy options to make it sell today than in the past.

One such option now available to homeowners is to consider selling their home to regulated property buyers. Property buying companies started to become popular about 10 years ago when homeowners wanted a different solution to sell their homes quickly if their estate agent(s) was unable to do so. Today, the several property buying companies battle to present their services to buyers. Sadly, on matters of house selling, trust becomes a key issue before trading. That is the reason why you can have more trust in proficient and trustable companies like the Barry Home Buyers.

When your property does not sell quickly, and you are running out of options, contact a trusted property buying company like Barry Home Buyers to receive a guaranteed cash offer.

Barry Home Buyers remains the largest and most regulated property buying company in the UK and is run by qualified chartered surveyors.

Looking for more details from the experts.

Property Not Selling Quickly – Need Help?

In conclusion, this blog highlights a little-known solution if your property is not selling quickly, and that is to use a regulated property buyer like Barry Home Buyers.

For any help you may require don’t be afraid to ask.