Buying A Property For Cash

We are independent building surveyors

We are independent surveyors, which means we are not linked to or owned by an estate agent or lending institute, and as a result we are only working with your best interests in mind. Since we are solely building surveyors, we can keep our overheads down and ultimately our prices as well.

We offer quotes on building surveys and we can usually save you money on the cost of the survey. We do them quickly and we feel the quality of our surveys are one of the best on the market. We offer a reasoned view, based upon our knowledge and experience and we don't make a mountain out of a molehill.

Please free phone us 0800 298 5424 to book a building survey / or advice.

Buying with cash can be risky

However you look at it house prices are expensive. It always amazes us how often negotiations are carried out in the thousands of pounds with regard to a reduction, often in the tens of thousands of pounds, when you think of how long it takes to make that amount of money.

We would argue that often negotiations are based on reductions using the estimated costs of building work, when ideally it should be the real cost and also it should include for costs relating to the inconvenience and the time taken in managing the project properly.

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Managing a building project

It goes without saying that all building projects take longer than originally anticipated and are usually more expensive. However, we would say that with the most basic preparation, preparing a brief specification for your builder based upon what you consider to be the best way forward, but allowing them to add their ideas, allow them to price for alternatives that you think may occur and what is known as extra over costs which is where you find more of something.

There is an art to writing good specifications, which we would say over the years we have managed to perfect. We can only remember one time when things went wrong and we went over budget. It was a pub and nightclub with the Christmas season looming and the need to finish on time.

What does buying a house with cash mean?

Buying a house with cash does put you in a good position regardless of what the Estate Agents say, as from a buyer’s point of view it means that they can sell the property without being involved in any chain. However, unfortunately from an Estate Agent’s point of view, it does mean that they make a sale without also negotiating the mortgage work. You would be surprised how many Estate Agents make a very good very living on the mortgage work, in fact, most are owned by Mortgage Companies one way or another; that’s how important the work is.

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Where buying with cash can go wrong

Where buying with cash can go very wrong is often we are involved with a fairly pressurised sale as the Estate Agent is using you to solve a problem, where perhaps the person they had lined up with a mortgage has fallen out of bed for some reason and they bring you in to save the day and to save face with their client who is selling the property. Therefore you are instantly under a lot of pressure to complete and at the same timescale as was originally envisaged.

Keep calm and carry on buying in cash

However, if you keep calm and keep insisting that you are a cash buyer, that you can complete and you will have a survey carried out but will only negotiate on the main points and issues and not the minor ones. Sooner or later an Estate Agent will favour and a property comes on to the market, so make sure you act promptly.

Here are some other articles we have written that may be of interest to you:

What sort of survey should I have?

When buying with cash we believe that you should have the best type of survey going which is a full structural survey. In our opinion, don’t be tempted to have one of the cheaper surveys, where you don’t get a full explanation of the problems. Not surprising really that they are using standard key words or standard phrases and you don’t get an explanation of how to solve the problem at all, so we wonder how worthwhile a survey is which doesn’t have the solution and you certainly get anything with regard to proper estimates of costs. So we would recommend that you have the best sort of survey, being a full structural survey.

Phone us to get a quote now on 0800 298 5424.

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Compare our website and compare our surveys

Please feel free to have a look at our website to see for yourself the quality of our website, articles and building survey reports. We pride ourselves on our professional standard and easy to read reports written in plain English which we have been carrying out for many years on every era, type and style of property across the UK.

We would also be happy to email you some examples of our tailor made reports, Schedules of Condition, Structural Surveys and Property Reports. We can send you examples of Structural Surveys on, we believe, every type of property and era. Property eras are most typically Tudor and Elizabethan, Georgian and Regency, Victorian and Edwardian, War Years, Post War Years, Modern and New.

We have example surveys of every type of commercial property including shops, offices, industrial buildings, leisure buildings such as pubs, sports centres, places of worship and institutional buildings.

Our surveyors are all Chartered and are members of RICS – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and ISVA – Independent Surveyors and Valuers Association.

Our photos and unique sketches help you understand the survey

If the report, along with our photos, does not explain the problem or characteristics of a property enough then we also have a vast range of sketches, as per the examples above, that we have had commissioned exclusively for us that we can use in our reports.

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Trickle vents at top of window

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Trickle vents

Surveying articles

The above article has been written to stimulate debate and discussion. We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

The content of the website is for general information and entertainment only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be taken before making such a decision. Free phone 1stAssociated.co.uk on 0800 298 5424.

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