Whether you’re selling your home, looking to buy one, or both, everyone can agree on one thing; you want it to be as quick and stress-free as possible. Sadly, in the property market, agreeing on things isn’t that easy. Selling on the open market can be notoriously slow and deals are prone to breaking down, which is a cause of great frustration. So, if you’re stuck on a sluggish property chain or about to enter the market, you will want to make sure you’re a proceedable buyer, putting you in prime position for your next move. But what do you need to do in order to be ‘proceedable’?
In this guide, we look at what a proceedable buyer is, the benefits and how to ensure you’re in this situation too.
The term proceedable buyer may be new to you, but the difference between being one or not will greatly influence the chance of getting a seller to accept your offer. In short, a proceedable buyer is a person who meets the required criteria by a vendor to choose as their buyer and to accept their offer. Proceedable buyers can come in many forms too, a person can be deemed one if they are:
As you can see, a lot of circumstances for being ‘proceedable’ are dictated by the complicated property chain. Often people will look to buy their new home before having a buyer for their current property. While it is good to be proactive, you are not in a proceedable position to buy from the seller’s perspective as you don’t have the necessary resources available to complete a sale. Thus, you would be defined as a non-proceedable buyer and this effectively blocks any progress on a deal being agreed with the vendor.
Therefore, it is vital for you to ensure your circumstances are proceedable before you look to make an offer on a property.
Put simply, until you become a proceedable buyer, the chances of successfully buying your next property are very slim. You may be ready to move, but until you’re ready to buy you will be stuck in non-proceedable limbo which is bound to be stressful. What’s more, until you’re in a purchasing position, homeowners will not take their house off the market for you. Consequently, you could then lose out on your dream home to a rival buyer who has taken the necessary steps to make themselves ‘proceedable’. This is obviously not an ideal scenario to be in, so why would a buyer not immediately accept an offer for a property they want to sell?
While every homeowner would like to sell their house fast, they require a degree of certainty from a buyer before any deal can feasibly take place. When a seller receives an offer from a potential buyer, one of the first things they will look for is the property chain the person is in. Generally, property chains are not an attractive feature and a seller would ideally avoid getting involved in one as the deal could easily fall through, putting them back to square one. With property chains, there is also an issue of timescales, which creates unwanted uncertainty for the vendor and the offer becomes an open-ended sale. This is where somewhere in the chain there is an issue, one that causes a delay for everyone involved in the chain, whereby the sale keeps being pushed back and creating a frustrating open-ended sale. Resultantly, the buyer may be classified as non-proceedable as they do not have the sales proceeds or necessary finances in place to take the offer forwards.
If you find yourself in this situation, you will first need to find a suitable buyer for your property. This will provide the vendor with a timescale to buy and support changing their view of you to be ‘proceedable’. To further build confidence with the vendor, give as much insight into your situation as you can, and make sure you know the exact details of the property chain you’re in and how far your current sale has progressed with the legal work. During this time, you should provide proof of funds to the vendor. This evidence shows you are a reliable buyer with the resources in place to complete a sale. Show bank statements with the balance for the purchase as well as other lender criteria such as a Mortgage in Principle. Lastly, if you’re working with a cash buyer, make sure that they can show proof of funds as well.
So far we have focussed on being proceedable from a buyer’s perspective. However, if you’re selling your home as well, you should also consider whether offers for your home are proceedable, as getting a firm buyer for your property will, in turn, help you become proceedable yourself.
When you first put your property on the market, it can be easy to get carried away with the first signs of interest in your home. However, before you get too involved with a prospective buyer, assess whether they are serious about buying your property and whether they can proceed with a purchase in the near future. This can often become apparent at the house viewing stage, where you can be inundated with casual viewings from people that have not even put their current property up for sale. Staging your home for a house viewing is time consuming and ultimately these types of buyers will not result in a quick house sale.
Consequently, make sure you ask for more information about the situation that they are in, such as the property chain they are involved in and ask for proof of funds/Mortgage in Principle. It will save you valuable time, allowing you to focus on selling your home.
One of the quickest ways to become a proceedable buyer is to secure a reliable buyer for your property, one that is proceedable themselves. But as you know, when selling on the open market, extensive property chains can mean that several parties are waiting for a proceedable buyer themselves. As you can see, it can easily get quite complex, but there is a simpler method you could use.
A primary benefit of working with a fast property buyer such as Vivo is that we are not involved in any chain. We can buy your home quickly, plus, as we purchase property using our own cash, we are immediately in a proceedable position! As there are no hurdles for us to jump over to buy your property, you can sell your home fast and we can provide you with full funds within 7 days, allowing you to show proof of funds to your vendors.
Furthermore, once you have accepted our formal offer, you will have a guaranteed sale with a clear sale price. This can, in turn, benefit YOU. By having a guaranteed sale price, your mortgage lenders and owner of the property you want to buy have a strong indication of your budget (rather than a hopeful sale price) meaning that you are now a proceedable buyer! Sometimes, this detail means they could accept a lower offer for the house as you’re highly proceedable.
So, if you’re in a position where you want a quick house sale to become a proceedable buyer, maybe you’ve found a dream property you don’t want to miss out on or perhaps you’re relocating and don’t want a drawn-out sale, get in touch with Vivo today. We’re happy to have an informal chat with you and help you with your situation, whether it’s impartial advice or buying your property. You can get a no-obligation offer within a day by filling in the quick form here. We also pride ourselves on our set of ethics, so if we feel we’re not the right people to help you we will say so, whilst offering our expert advice on what you could do instead.
Vivo Property Buyers is the trading name for Potrell London Ltd, The Ashridge Business Centre 121 High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2DJ.
