Case Study: Repairing a broken house chain in 48 hours

Imagine this:

• You decide it’s time for a new, bigger home.
• You're lucky enough to find your dream home, and you get your offer accepted on it!
• You manage to secure a sale on your own home as well, so everything’s going perfectly!

... But what happens when you get the phone call to say that your buyer’s pulled out?

Not only will you lose your sale, but it likely means you’ll lose your purchase too – your dream home...

Today's case study is about Anna, a customer I dealt with a few months ago who found herself in this exact position.

But instead of risking losing her dream home, she used an alternative, little-known service to repair her house chain in just 48 hours.

This kept her onward purchase on track, and she moved home just 3 weeks later.

Read on to learn how she did it. Alternatively, if you want to cut right to the chase and repair your broken house chain in 48 hours (like Anna did), use this free quiz I’ve designed for you:

1. How to repair a broken chain quickly

Anna used a genuine house buying company to fix her chain.

1. They made her a cash offer within 24 hours, which she decided to accept.
2. They were ready to complete the purchase of her house 14 days later.
3. She wanted a bit of extra time to arrange her move, so she chose a completion date another week after that.

It was a dramatic turn around from the moment she received that phone call to say her buyer had withdrawn. In this case study I'm going to share what happened at each step along the way.

First though, is it an option that could be right for you? 

1.1 Should you sell to a house buying company?

If you find yourself in a similar situation, a house buying company can get you back on track.

It isn't the right option for everyone though. So I designed this free 2-minute quiz to help you see if it's an option you should pursue.

Hit the button below to go to a new page and get started now. (It's totally free, and the recommendations and advice I give are tailored to your responses).

2. Background

I got a call from Anna on a Saturday evening.

Earlier that day, she'd had the call from her estate agent to say that her buyer had just pulled out. They were apparently worried because the property showed some signs of subsidence.

Anna was going to have to get her house back on the market, but she knew this would have other knock-on effects...

She was in the process of buying another property - which she described as her "forever home". And she thought she was probably going to lose it.

Several other buyers had all been interested in it when she originally made her offer, so she knew the sellers were likely to move on to someone else now that she couldn't proceed.

She didn't want that to happen, so was looking for alternatives. She came across my article about the fastest way to sell your home, and reached out for advice.

2.1 Our first call

Whenever I speak with a homeowner about selling to a house-buying company in order to repair a collapsed house chain, there are a few things I need to know: 

• If the property's been on the market, how did it perform?
• If any sales have fallen through, why? 

Marketing history

Anna listed her property for sale on a Friday in June. By the following Monday, she'd had 12 viewings, and 4 offers.

The estate agent negotiated the offers up over the next 24 hours. By Tuesday evening, she had two offers: £160,000 and £166,500.

She went with the higher of the two.

Sale fall-through

However, several weeks into the sale the buyer withdrew. With house sales in England & Wales, buyers can pull out of a house purchase at any time, and for any reason. (This isn't a rare occurence either. According to our 2022 study, around 31% of house sales fall through).

They weren't forthcoming about exactly why they were withdrawing, but the word "subsidence" was floated around. (Selling a house with subsidence is difficult, and sales fall through easily if there's a suspected structural issue).

The property had shown some cracking over 10 years earlier, but the cosmetic damage had been repaired and it never reoccurred. So they didn't think there was a problem.

What price did Anna need? 

When you sell to a house-buying company, you get a fast, certain house sale. But the downside it that you'll achieve a lower price.

House buying companies usually offer 15-20% less than the property's full value.

I discussed these rough figures with Anna, and she indicated that an offer around that level could be acceptable if it meant moving quickly, and securing her forever-home.

It was Saturday evening still, but I assured Anna she'd have a cash offer by Monday afternoon.

3. Getting Anna a cash offer

I've worked in and around the "quick house sale industry" since 2012. I know many of the major players, and there's one company I trust above all the others.

I reached out to them with the information Anna had shared with me, and their valuation team began working immediately on producing an offer for her.

Because of the tight timeframes (Anna didn't want to risk losing her onward purchase), her valuation was prioritised. So by Monday afternoon, they were able to call Anna and present their formal cash offer.

3.1 How much did they offer? 

The company had some concerns about possible structural issues, but were happy to make an offer of £130,000. (Around 20% less than her last sale).

They explained what would happen next if she accepted their offer, and that they'd work with the other parties in the chain to reassure them that things would move quickly.

This is key in a situation where a sale's just fallen through. The people Anna was buying from could easily have gotten the wrong message and decided to look for another buyer.

So the house buying company's proactivity in speaking with everyone else in the chain is key. Because house buying companies are quick-moving chain-free buyers, other parties in your chain will be delighted to hear that you've helped break the chain.

Anna had hoped for a higher offer. But along with her partner, she decided it made sense to go with the lower price if it meant getting the sales done quickly, and not letting their "forever home" slip through their fingers.

4. Progressing the sales

After Anna accepted the offer, the house buying company produce what's called a "Memorandum of Sale". This document outlines: 

• Who they are as the buyer,
• Who the seller is,
• Who each of their solicitors are,
• The address of the property that's changing hands,
• And the agreed sale price.

The document is sent to each of the solicitors, and a copy was sent to Anna for her records.

Copies were also sent to the estate agents mediating the other sales in the chain, so they knew what was happening too. The house buying company also called the estate agent Anna was buying through to set up a line of communication with them.

The memorandum of sale "kicks off" the sale, and the "sales progression" phase begins. Two main things happen here:

1. The solicitors do their work, and
2. Due diligence is carried out on the property itself. (In this case, that means a survey).

4.1 Solicitors

Anna already had a solicitor, and her solicitor had already compiled most of the documents they needed for the sale.

This set of documents is referred to as the "contract pack". The pack was quickly sent over to her new buyer's solicitor, and they began working through it.

One of the ways that genuine house-buying companies are able to complete house purchases so quickly is because they take a very high-level view of properties during the due diligence phase.

They often won't get full searches on a property, and raise very few enquiries. This often shortens the conveyancing period from weeks or months, to just a few days.

House buying companies take a number of smart "short cuts" on the legal work. This makes things slightly more risky for them, but means you enjoy a much faster house sale.

So when they receive the contract pack, it only took a couple of days for the documents to be reviewed and signed off.

This meant the house buying company could confirm within 2 days that they were happy with the legal aspect of the property. They just needed the survey back, and then would be ready to complete.

4.2 Survey

The survey often takes longer than the legal process. This is because you have to rely on an independent, 3rd party company to send out a RICS surveyor, and that usually means a wait time.

The survey was instructed immediately after Anna accepted the offer, and eventually took place around 8 days later.

The report followed another 48 hours after that.

Unfortunately, it confirmed some of the structural issues that the previous buyer had been wary about. There was some cracking on an upper corner of an internal wall. Although this wasn't a sign of subsidence, it would likely need expensive remedial work to repair the damage, and to stop it from causing other problems.

An approximate cost for the work was estimated and agreed between Anna and the house buying company at £3,000. The purchase price was reduced by this amount, and everyone began working to arrange a completion date.

Are price reductions regular occurrences from house buying companies? 

I wanted to spend a minute talking about price reductions by house buying companies.

Unfortunately, reducing the price at the last-minute is a common tactic that a lot of unscrupulous house buying companies (and regular property investors) use routinely to help them get a better deal.

The company I recommend do not use this tactic as part of their normal operations though. For them to reduce the price is highly unusual. It only happened because serious issues were found in the survey, that could not be accounted for when they made their initial offer.

Offer Guarantee

In most instances, the cash house buying company I recommend actually give a guarantee to their customers, so they know the offer won't change. The guarantee basically sets out that if the price is renegotiated during the sale for any reason, then the seller can walk away and be paid £1,000 in compensation.

Because they went into the sale knowing there may be structural issues, it was agreed that the usual guarantee wouldn't apply, and they'd wait to see the results of the survey.

Ultimately when an issue does come up like this, an honest company will deal with it transparently and fairly. Anna was happy with the process and how it was handled. Most importantly, the reduction was a fair reflection of the amount of work needed to the property, and was handled quickly and professionally.

If you decide to reach out to the house buying company I work with, and assuming your property hasn't had any serious structural or other issues, you'll have the benefit of their guarantee.

5. Arranging completion day

"Completion day" is the day that a house sale officially completes:

• The seller gets the money for the house,
• The property transfers into the name of the new owner,
• And the new owner gets the keys.

When you have a house chain like we had here, it takes a little more coordination than with a house sale with no onward chain.

• First of all, each of the buyers and sellers need to agree on a moving date that works for them.
• Next, they need to get their solicitors on board. This means all the work between the two solicitors need to be completed, and each buyer or seller needs to sign their final forms.
• Finally, the solicitors need to be sure they can get any mortgage funds from lenders in time for that date.

Here, everyone agreed on a date that was convenient for Anna, and the solicitors gathered signatures ready for the date.

Because the house buying company purchase using cash funds, they didn't need to wait on a lender. Meanwhile, Anna's solicitor dealt with the mortgage for the purchase of her dream home.

5.1 Moving day

Moving day finally arrived just 3 weeks after Anna had received the original call to say her buyer had pulled out.

It was a dramatic turn-around, and shows what can be achieved when you sell to a professional, genuine house-buying company.

Anna and her family knew they'd made a compromise on their selling price. But they felt like they got value from the service overall.

Not only did they receive a first-class service, but more importantly they secured their "forever home".

It's a funny compromise to think through. On the one hand, most of us work hard all our lives to try and make money. So when it comes to these major financial transactions, it makes sense that we should try for the best financial outcome we can. This means selling your house for the best price you can get.

But the counter argument I hear sellers make all the time is basically... what's the point in having money if I'm not getting what I want? 

Anna and her partner sacrificed money in the bank, but they'll get to raise their children in the house of their dreams. It's really difficult to put a price on that, and Anna certainly felt like they'd made the right decision.

6. Is a house buying company right for me? 

Whenever I speak with people who are considering selling to a house-buying company, I really encourage them to take a step back and take some time to think. It's definitely not the right option for everyone.

But if you're in the fortunate position where you can afford to accept a reduced offer, then using a house buying company to repair your chain can be unbelievably effective.

It helped Anna totally change her situation. She went from her house sale falling through and likely losing her dream home, to getting the keys to it just 3 weeks later.

6.1 How to find out if you should sell to a house buying company

To find out if a house buying company is the right option for you, check out the free quiz I designed for you. I've talked literally hundreds of home sellers through this series of questions over the years.

And if it looks like they might be the right option, I can get you on the phone with my personal point of contact at the largest and most reliable house-buying company in the country.

Hit the button below to go to a new page and get started now. (It's totally free, and the recommendations and advice I give are tailored to your responses).