WeBuyAnyHouse Scam

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Discussion

Candellara

Original Poster:

1,876 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all

Mods - Started a new thread as couldn't delete old one - House Sales Direct

To cut a long story short, we've viewed a house, spoke to the vendor and they are happy to accept our offer price.

Phoned estate agents to formalise the offer. They reject it immediately and say that they are marketing on behalf of WeBuyAnyHouse and the vendor.

Both the vendor AND WBAY have to accept the offer. Vendor is seething and will probably refuse any further offers or viewings going forward from any WBAH viewers as they wish to now re-market with a local estate agent.

Anyone had any experience of these vultures?

essayer

9,011 posts

193 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Why are WBAH involved?

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
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if you are buying off the vendor what has WBAH got to so with it?

NickCQ

5,392 posts

95 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
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Why is it a scam? I suspect the vendor has signed a contract with WBAH that they haven’t read properly.

Mandat

3,881 posts

237 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Candellara said:
Mods - Started a new thread as couldn't delete old one - House Sales Direct

To cut a long story short, we've viewed a house, spoke to the vendor and they are happy to accept our offer price.

Phoned estate agents to formalise the offer. They reject it immediately and say that they are marketing on behalf of WeBuyAnyHouse and the vendor.

Both the vendor AND WBAY have to accept the offer. Vendor is seething and will probably refuse any further offers or viewings going forward from any WBAH viewers as they wish to now re-market with a local estate agent.

Anyone had any experience of these vultures?
Where is the scam?

Never heard of WBAH but their MO seems to be to buy at below market price from sellers looking for a quick sale, and then to re-sell at market price, making a profit of the difference.

I'm not sure how many sellers end up using such a service, but I can't see where the scam is?

Candellara

Original Poster:

1,876 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Mandat said:
Where is the scam?

Never heard of WBAH but their MO seems to be to buy at below market price from sellers looking for a quick sale, and then to re-sell at market price, making a profit of the difference.

I'm not sure how many sellers end up using such a service, but I can't see where the scam is?
Well, not a scam per se but let's just say they seem to employ heavy handed sales tactics and prey on the vulnerable.

The family wish to extricate themselves from the arrangement but even that doesn't seem that straight forward.

From my understanding they provide a very low valuation promising a sale within days that doesn't materialise. They market the house for current market value and scoop tens of thousands in commission

Not a scam but not particularly ethical either from what i understand


Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Why don't you and the vendor just appoint solicitors and go from there? Estate agents aren't actually necessary, and what WBAH have to do with it, I can't really understand. If they promised to buy the house and then didn't, the contract with them is at an end, surely?

505diff

507 posts

242 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Was speaking to someone at work about this last week, a friend of his family was selling via one of these outfits, had an accepted an offer of £250k for a quick sale (market value about £270k) as they are moving abroad, two days before exchanging contracts they pull out and then offered £180k total c*nts

Candellara

Original Poster:

1,876 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
505diff said:
Was speaking to someone at work about this last week, a friend of his family was selling via one of these outfits, had an accepted an offer of £250k for a quick sale (market value about £270k) as they are moving abroad, two days before exchanging contracts they pull out and then offered £180k total c*nts
This is exactly what i've heard and why i entitled the thread "scam" - maybe wrongly so. The vendors are very elderly and seem to have been hoodwinked into this contract.


Candellara

Original Poster:

1,876 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Doofus said:
Why don't you and the vendor just appoint solicitors and go from there? Estate agents aren't actually necessary, and what WBAH have to do with it, I can't really understand. If they promised to buy the house and then didn't, the contract with them is at an end, surely?
Can't because WBAH place some sort of marker on the Land Registry to prevent any sale privately. The vendor can't seem to extricate themselves because they've been tied into a lengthy agreement.



anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
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Candellara said:
This is exactly what i've heard and why i entitled the thread "scam" - maybe wrongly so. The vendors are very elderly and seem to have been hoodwinked into this contract.
Unfair consumer contracts terms are not enforceable.

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Candellara said:
Can't because WBAH place some sort of marker on the Land Registry to prevent any sale privately. The vendor can't seem to extricate themselves because they've been tied into a lengthy agreement.
It sounds like some kind of equity release thing. I don't understsnd how a company agreeing to buy your house for less than market value can get their name on the deeds without actually buying it.

Candellara

Original Poster:

1,876 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Doofus said:
It sounds like some kind of equity release thing. I don't understsnd how a company agreeing to buy your house for less than market value can get their name on the deeds without actually buying it.
No equity release. WBAH promise to sell your house very quickly with no fees at all. So, the situation as i understand it.

Very elderly couple see advert and contact WBAH as they want quick sale. Hard sell from WBAH ensues promising sale within days etc, house valued at XXXX (£35,000 under market value) and the house is then marketed by an online estate agent who sell houses on behalf of WBAH at full commercial market value.

Viewings commence and we wish to offer. We talk about price (which they are strictly not allowed to do - engage with viewers concerning price) so we contact agent and submit an offer. They instantly reject it and won't even put it forward to the vendors. They are bound by the agreement, low valuation and both WBAH and the Vendor have to agree and accept the offer. WBAH stipulate the valuation price and any sale price over the very low valuation is their commission.

Some sort of marker on the Land registry prevents the vendor selling privately and i think the notice period is in excess of six months? There's apparently a huge amount of small print that means they can't just simply exit the agreement and place the house on the market with a normal local agent.

I personally think this is totally unethical and surely there are consumer laws to protect the old and vulnerable to getting sucked into these type of scheme?

Edited by Candellara on Saturday 24th October 16:46


Edited by Candellara on Saturday 24th October 16:47


Edited by Candellara on Saturday 24th October 16:49

Terminator X

14,921 posts

203 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Candellara said:
Well, not a scam per se but let's just say they seem to employ heavy handed sales tactics and prey on the vulnerable.

The family wish to extricate themselves from the arrangement but even that doesn't seem that straight forward.

From my understanding they provide a very low valuation promising a sale within days that doesn't materialise. They market the house for current market value and scoop tens of thousands in commission

Not a scam but not particularly ethical either from what i understand

Why did they use them vs say an estate agent who would have no say in the purchase price?

TX.

Simpo Two

85,149 posts

264 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Candellara said:
No equity release. WBAH promise to sell your house very quickly with no fees at all. So, the situation as i understand it.

Very elderly couple see advert and contact WBAH as they want quick sale. Hard sell from WBAH ensues promising sale within days etc, house valued at XXXX (£35,000 under market value) and the house is then marketed by an online estate agent who sell houses on behalf of WBAH at full commercial market value.
But in that case it's not going to sell 'within days'...

WBAH would have to buy the house at a 'trade' price first, then try to resell for more to make their profit - like a car dealer or any other middleman.

I'll buy any house too, if the price is right...

paulwirral

3,104 posts

134 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Mandat said:
Candellara said:
Mods - Started a new thread as couldn't delete old one - House Sales Direct

To cut a long story short, we've viewed a house, spoke to the vendor and they are happy to accept our offer price.

Phoned estate agents to formalise the offer. They reject it immediately and say that they are marketing on behalf of WeBuyAnyHouse and the vendor.

Both the vendor AND WBAY have to accept the offer. Vendor is seething and will probably refuse any further offers or viewings going forward from any WBAH viewers as they wish to now re-market with a local estate agent.

Anyone had any experience of these vultures?
Where is the scam?

Never heard of WBAH but their MO seems to be to buy at below market price from sellers looking for a quick sale, and then to re-sell at market price, making a profit of the difference.

I'm not sure how many sellers end up using such a service, but I can't see where the scam is?
Have the WBAH outfit maybe purchased or scammed their way into what was called an " option " back in my day . Pay a deposit and have some sort of title to the property for a certain amount of time ? I'm no expert, obviously , but it used to be the norm on commercial property when the developer would be expecting a long term planning decision

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Candellara said:
Stuff
Ok, I understand now. Thank you for the clarification. Essentially, the vendors have already sold (or agreed to sell) to WBAH, and it's them who are marketing it now. So the vendors weren't actually in a positon to accept your offer at all.

Deep Thought

35,724 posts

196 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Terminator X said:
Candellara said:
Well, not a scam per se but let's just say they seem to employ heavy handed sales tactics and prey on the vulnerable.

The family wish to extricate themselves from the arrangement but even that doesn't seem that straight forward.

From my understanding they provide a very low valuation promising a sale within days that doesn't materialise. They market the house for current market value and scoop tens of thousands in commission

Not a scam but not particularly ethical either from what i understand

Why did they use them vs say an estate agent who would have no say in the purchase price?

TX.
It seems what they do is offer a very quick 7 day sale (or similar) and offer below market value on the basis that WBAH have buyers ready to pay (and WBAH get the difference).

The seller then signs the paperwork for the sale but this includes some sort of clause allowing the WBAH 6(?) months to actually complete the sale. This gives WBAH the opportunity to advertise and sell the house at market value and take a very handsome "commission" of the difference between market value and their offer price.

Another variation seems to be they offer to buy at close to market value, but hold out and hold out until the last minute then change their offer price to maybe 25% less and rely on the seller having no choice but to sell at that point.

The scenario the O/P is describing seems to be the former though.

bennno

11,509 posts

268 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Deep Thought said:
It seems what they do is offer a very quick 7 day sale (or similar) and offer below market value on the basis that WBAH have buyers ready to pay (and WBAH get the difference).

The seller then signs the paperwork for the sale but this includes some sort of clause allowing the WBAH 6(?) months to actually complete the sale. This gives WBAH the opportunity to advertise and sell the house at market value and take a very handsome "commission" of the difference between market value and their offer price.

Another variation seems to be they offer to buy at close to market value, but hold out and hold out until the last minute then change their offer price to maybe 25% less and rely on the seller having no choice but to sell at that point.

The scenario the O/P is describing seems to be the former though.
WBAH must exchange on the house at an agreed price surely? Why else would you accept their price give them months to advertise it.

Candellara

Original Poster:

1,876 posts

181 months

Saturday 24th October 2020
quotequote all
Terminator X said:
Why did they use them vs say an estate agent who would have no say in the purchase price?

TX.
I think the attractiveness of absolutely no fees and the promise of a very quick sale at a guess