How to sell your house fast in the UK: what cash house buyers don't tell you

Cold open

Expert: Okay so — you know what actually annoys me? When people ask "what's the catch," like it's some kind of trick question. It's not a trick question. It's the correct question. I wish more people asked it before they picked up the phone to anyone in this industry, not just us.

Host: Go on then. What's the catch.

Expert: Alright — so, we had a landlord call in last week, first thing, and he just went, completely deadpan, "you're not charging me a fee, so where's the money coming from, are you skimming it off somewhere I can't see?"

Host: Fair question for 8am.

Expert: Right? And the honest answer isn't some big reveal, it's actually pretty boring once you say it out loud — but nobody says it out loud, that's the problem. Every "how to sell your house fast" video just tells you the steps and skips past the bit that made you suspicious in the first place.

Host: So that's today, basically. All of it. What these companies actually are, how it really works step by step, how it stacks up against an estate agent, how they make money — properly, not the vague version — tenants, probate, negative equity, mortgages, the lot. And where people actually get burnt, because they do.

Expert: They do. Let's just — yeah, let's get into it properly.

What a Cash Buying Company Actually Is

Host: Okay, basics first, because I think people genuinely conflate this with an estate agent.

Expert: They're really not the same thing, no. An estate agent finds you a buyer and takes a cut for doing it. A cash buying company — we, or companies like us — are the buyer. Or we arrange one specific buyer we already know, directly.

Host: There's a "we" and an "arrange one" version there — that's two different things, isn't it?

Expert: It is, and honestly this is where I'd want people to slow down, because it gets glossed over constantly. Some companies buy with their own money, full stop — nobody else involved, nothing else to fall through. Others are basically running a list of investors and matching your house to whoever on that list wants it. Both can be completely fine. But if you don't know which one you're talking to, you don't actually know what you've agreed to.

Host: So how do you find out?

Expert: You just ask. "Are you buying this yourselves, or is someone else?" And watch how long it takes them to answer. If it's instant, you're probably fine. If there's a pause and a bit of "well, it depends"— that's information too.

What Actually Happens, Step by Step

Host: Alright — someone rings today. Walk me through it, actually, not the brochure version.

Expert: So, day one, someone gets on the phone, we ask about the place — where it is, what it is, roughly what condition it's in — and if it's something we're interested in, you'll usually hear back with a preliminary number within a day or two.

Host: That's genuinely fast.

Expert: It is, but — and I always say this bit twice because people skip past it — it's preliminary. It's not the number. Then someone actually comes out, usually a chartered surveyor, has a proper look, checks nothing structural's going on that wasn't mentioned.

Host: And if there is something?

Expert: Then the number can move. Usually down, if there's damp or subsidence or something nobody flagged. And look — I get why that feels like a bait-and-switch to people. It's not, if it's done honestly. It's just an estimate becoming an actual valuation. The bit that would be dodgy is if a company does that when nothing's actually changed about the house — we'll get to that.

Host: Okay. Say it all checks out. How long till there's actually money in the bank?

Expert: This is the bit people get wrong constantly, because they think "cash buyer" is one product with one timeline. It isn't. There's genuinely three different shapes this can take.

Host: Go through them.

Expert: If speed's everything — no chain, no mortgage in the way, nothing left that can collapse — that's a straight cash sale, and that can complete in 7 to 21 days. You're typically around 80% of market value for that one.

Expert: If you need to move even faster than that — there's a route called Fast Cash, where a cash advance can land in days rather than weeks, with the full sale typically wrapping up within about 3 to 28 days depending on legal readiness. That sits more like 80 to 90%.

Expert: And if the number matters more to you than the raw speed, there's a fixed-price route — you agree a figure up front, up to about 95% of market value, matched with a buyer who's actually put a deposit down. That one takes longer — typically 4 to 8 weeks to get the sale agreed, then another 1 to 3 months of conveyancing on top before it completes — but you're nowhere near the same discount.

Host: So it's not "fast versus slow," it's actually a proper decision with three different trade-offs.

Expert: Exactly, and honestly, if a company doesn't ask what matters more to you — speed or price — before shoving you toward one option, that's a bit of a red flag in itself. That should be the first question, not an afterthought.

The Estate Agent Comparison

Host: Let's actually put real numbers next to the open market, because I don't think people clock how long it genuinely takes.

Expert: So, valued, photographed, up on Rightmove and Zoopla, and then — you wait. Viewings, offers, back and forth. And if it's not moving, the agent's go-to move is "let's drop the price a bit," which — I mean, sometimes that's the right call, but it's also just the easiest thing for them to suggest, it doesn't cost them anything to say it.

Host: Slightly cynical.

Expert: A bit, yeah. But it's true. Anyway — agreeing a sale, one to three months typically, longer if the market's slow. Then conveyancing on top, another two to three months — searches, mortgage valuations, solicitors waiting on each other. So realistically, three months if everything's smooth, up to seven, sometimes more, if it's not.

Host: And that's assuming it doesn't fall over entirely.

Expert: Which — yeah, that's actually the number that should worry people more than the timeline. About 1 in 3 agreed sales on the open market collapse before completion. Chains break, mortgages get declined, someone just gets cold feet three weeks before moving day.

Host: So you can do the whole six months and still end up with nothing.

Expert: You can do the whole six months and end up back at square one, yeah. "Sold" isn't sold. It's an accepted offer. Those aren't the same word, even though everyone treats them like they are.

Back to the Cold Open: Where's the Money Actually Coming From

Host: Right, so — the actual question. No fees, no commission. Where's it coming from?

Expert: Okay, honestly? The answer's not exciting, it's just — we offer you less than full market value, and that gap is basically the price tag on speed and certainty. Then the property either goes to an investor, or back on the open market later, and the difference is the margin.

Host: So it's not hidden, it's just — nobody says it plainly.

Expert: It's not hidden, it's just uncomfortable to say out loud, so people dress it up. And honestly, if someone tells you 98% of market value and zero fees and seven days — I'd just ask, out loud, on the call, "how does that actually work?" Because it usually doesn't. Somewhere in there is a cost you haven't been told about yet, or a number that's going to move later.

Host: So what should someone actually expect to lose, roughly?

Expert: Depends on the route — faster generally means a bigger gap to market value. But you're also not paying agent commission, solicitor fees, survey costs — which, genuinely, on a normal sale can be several thousand pounds gone before you've even moved. So it's less "I'm losing this much money" and more "I'm trading some of the price for speed, certainty, and not paying those other costs myself."

Host: That's a more honest way of putting it than most of the marketing I've seen, I'll give you that.

Expert: Well, I work here, I have to say something true occasionally.

The Situations People Actually Ask About

Host: Let's do the specific scenarios, because this is where most of these videos just stop.

Expert: Go.

Host: Selling with tenants still in the property.

Expert: Doable, completely. It shrinks the pool a bit, because not every buyer wants a tenant included — but plenty of investors actively want that, it means the place is already earning from day one. The one thing that actually matters: your tenants need to know what's going on, and they need to actually let people in for viewings and the survey. That bit falls apart more than people expect, purely from lack of communication.

Host: Probate. Someone's inherited a house.

Expert: Once probate's granted, you sell it exactly the same as any other sale. And I want to be really clear on this one because people assume there's some special tax angle — there isn't. Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax if it applies, none of that changes because you sold to a cash buyer instead of on the open market. What does change is the hassle — for a family that's already dealing with enough, taking the logistics off the table is usually the actual value, not some tax trick.

Host: Negative equity — mortgage's bigger than the house is worth.

Expert: This is genuinely the one where it gets hard. If a sale wouldn't cover what's owed, most companies in this space can't take it on — not because they don't want to, the maths just doesn't work for anyone involved. I won't pretend there's a clever workaround here, because generally there isn't. (Worth flagging — this varies by company and situation, so this is one to actually ask us directly rather than assume from a video.)

Host: Mortgage on it, but not negative equity.

Expert: Completely normal — mortgage gets paid off out of the sale proceeds at completion, you get whatever's left.

Host: Paperwork — what does someone actually need to dig out?

Expert: Honestly, nothing weird. ID, proof you own it — title deeds — and the usual conveyancing paperwork. If anyone asks you for something unusual on top of that, that's worth a raised eyebrow, not a shrug.

Negotiating, and How the Number Gets Decided

Host: Can you actually push back on the number, or is it take-it-or-leave-it?

Expert: You can push back, genuinely. But go in already knowing your number — what you actually need to walk away with — because otherwise you're just reacting to whatever figure lands first, instead of negotiating from somewhere solid.

Host: How do you land on the number in the first place?

Expert: Comparable sales nearby, an independent valuation, and an honest look at the property itself. And — slightly cheeky thing to say about my own industry, but — some agents will over-value your house at the start, purely to win the listing, and then a few months later they're the ones asking you to drop the price. A cash offer tends to be closer to reality from day one, mostly because there's no listing to win, there's nothing to flatter you into.

Where People Actually Get Burnt

Host: Right, this is the bit I actually want people to remember. What goes wrong?

Expert: Two things, really. One — a company that isn't genuine at all, just wastes your time, was never going to buy anything. Annoying, but recoverable, you just haven't lost much.

Expert: The second one's worse. A company offers a fair-looking number, lets you get all the way to exchange — you've told your landlord you're leaving, maybe booked removals — and then the number drops. Because they know at that point you're stuck, you're not going to walk away and start again from nothing.

Host: That's genuinely horrible.

Expert: It is, and it happens more than it should. So — concretely, what to check before any of that: are they regulated, membership of The Property Ombudsman is the one to actually look for. Are they in the National Association of Property Buyers? What do the independent reviews say — not the ones on their own website, Trustpilot, Google, allAgents — and are there thousands of them, not eleven from last month. And how long have they actually existed — years, not months.

Host: And if you're already halfway through and something feels off?

Expert: Trust that. Genuinely. A company with nothing to hide isn't going to push you at exchange. If the number moves and the reason feels thin, that's exactly the moment to stop and ask hard questions, not the moment to just go along with it because you've mentally already moved out.

Alright, Fine, Let's Talk About Us

Host: Let's actually run us through that same checklist, since we just told everyone to do it.

Expert: Fair. Go on.

Host: Springbok Properties. Since 2012. Over 19,000 UK homeowners sold with us in that time. 11,700-plus independent reviews, spread across Trustpilot, Google, allAgents. Regulated by The Property Ombudsman, members of NAPB, and we've been featured in the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and The Guardian when they've covered this market.

Expert: And the "who's actually buying it" question from earlier — our Cash Sale and Fast Cash routes are our own money. Not a hand-off to a third party and a hope it works out.

Host: If any of what we've talked through today matches where you are, there's a free, no-obligation offer on the site — postcode, a few honest questions, real numbers back within 24 hours.

Close

Expert: And honestly — if this isn't the right route for you at all, that's a completely fine answer too. The point of this wasn't to talk everyone into a fast sale. It was so that whichever way you go, you're not walking in blind.

Host: That's the whole guide. If there's a scenario we didn't cover, put it in the comments, we actually read them, might turn into its own episode.

Expert: See you next time.