Speaker: Christine
Christine: Hi, My name is Christine, and I'm here to tell you about our experiences of dealing with the House Buyer Bureau. We originally put our house on the market in July 2023. In November 2023 we accepted an offer. Unfortunately, the buyers pulled out in February 2024 just before we were due to exchange contracts. On the 24th of June so almost a year after we'd first listed the house for sale, I had my first chat with Suzanne, who explained the process. They would give us 80% of what they'd valued the house at, based on the principle that they would price it to get a quick sale. On the 25th of June, we received an offer based on the reasonable asking price, which was just under the offer we'd accepted the previous November. On the 3rd of July, we had the survey, and the delay, to the 3rd of July was due to our availability. On the 9th of July, we received a revised offer. It's been reduced based on the valuation from the Surveyor and also the feedback from local estate agents based on what they could sell it for quickly. It's worth noting that the market in Pembrokeshire, where we were selling the house was actually very volatile and was actually changing quite rapidly. So we thought through the timescale needed if we were try to try to sell it at the revised valuation and decided given our previous experience of a buyer pulling out it would take at least 3 to 4 months with no guarantees. So we accepted the revised price for a quick guaranteed cash sale. It's also worth noting that there are no estate agent or solicitor fees to pay. HBB pay all of those. On 19th of July we exchanged contracts and we asked for a 2 week gap between exchange and completion to allow us time to clear the house. On 2nd August completion happened with the money being paid into our bank account that day. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about using a house buying company. You hear horror stories all the time. This was a good experience. It all went through very smoothly and very quickly. Communication from HBB was excellent and they were very proactive in chasing up solicitors. If you want a smooth, quick, hassle free cash sale then I recommend the House Buyer Bureau. Thank you.
