Most guides about selling your house fast are written by marketers, not by people who actually buy houses.
I’m Saif Derzi. I’ve run Property Buyers Today since 2015 and I’m on the phone every day with sellers who’ve been put through the wringer by the open market. Buyers who vanish. Chains that collapse the week before exchange. Surveys used as a stick to chip the price.
What you’re reading is the advice I’d give if it were my own family selling.
The three routes that genuinely work. What each one really takes. The price you’ll honestly walk away with. And the bits the rest of my industry would rather you didn’t know.
Five minutes of your time, the video below covers the questions I get asked most.
- The Three Real Ways to Sell Your House Fast
- How Fast Can You Actually Sell? Realistic Timelines
- How Much Will You Actually Walk Away With?
- How Our Process Actually Works
- What Price Will You Get? Realistic Numbers
- Why People Sell Fast (And the Best Route for Each)
- How to Spot a Reputable Sell House Fast Company (And Avoid the Cowboys)
- Why Choose Property Buyers Today
- Sell House Fast FAQs
The Three Real Ways to Sell Your House Fast
Three options. They’re not equal. Here’s what each one really gets you.
Estate Agents
The slow road. Worth doing if you’ve got time and your property’s in good shape.
- Average sale time: 6-9 months
- 1 in 3 transactions falls through
- Success depends on local market, and buyers can pull out
- You’ll face several costs:
- Commission fees (up to 3%)
- Conveyancing (up to £3,000)
- Home staging if recommended
- EPC renewal if expired
A high street estate agent is the most common method people use.
Property Buyers Today
The fast option. We own the funds, we cover the costs, the price is locked.
- Completion in as little as 7 days
- No chain to worry about
- Clear benefits:
- No agent fees
- Legal fees covered
- No viewings or negotiations
- Guaranteed completion date
- Trade-off: up to 85% of market value (often closer to estate agent net once fees and mortgage costs come out)
Genuine cash buyers (like us) have funds ready in the account. Plenty of com
Property Auction
The middle ground. Quicker than agents, slower than cash, with more uncertainty on the day.
- Timeline: 3-4 months
- Exchange happens the moment the hammer falls
- Key things to know:
- Risk of selling for less than you’d hoped
- 4-8 weeks until auction day
- 28 days to complete after
- Entry fees up to £1,000
- Auction commission up to 6%
- Specialised knowledge helps
Worth reading our guide to selling at auction before committing.
How Fast Can You Actually Sell? Realistic Timelines
Here’s an honest comparison of every realistic route to sell your house fast in the UK.
Speed, price, and certainty almost always trade off against each other. No option is fastest, highest-priced, and most certain all at once.
The right option for you depends on your situation.
| Sale Method | Timeframe | Price Achieved | Fees | Fall-Through Risk | Hands-On Level | Best For |
| Cash House Buyers | 7-28 days | 75-85% | None, legal fees covered | Very Low | Minimal | Urgent sales, problem properties, broken chains, probate |
| Traditional Auction | 3-4 months | 75-90% | 2-3% commission + entry fee (~£1,000) + legal | Low | Medium | Unmortgageable property, tenanted properties, unusual homes |
| Modern Method of Auction | 3-5 months | 75-90% | 2-3% commission + reservation fee + legal | Medium | Medium | Sellers wanting auction certainty with more flexibility |
| Online Estate Agent | 4-7 months | 80-100% | Fixed fee (£500-£1,500) + legal | High (~30%) | Very High | Sellers comfortable managing their own sale |
| Traditional Estate Agent | 6-9 months | 85-100% | 1-3% + VAT + legal (~£1,500-£3,000) | High (~30%) | High | No time pressure, property in good condition |
| Assisted Sale | ~12 months | 100% (before deductions)* | Mortgage payments + refurb costs deducted from final sale | Medium | Low | Properties needing major works, owners unable to fund refurb |
The table tells you what’s possible. Your actual situation tells you which row applies to you.
Why Speed Matters More Now Than Before
Something’s shifted in the UK market over the last 18 months. Most sellers haven’t caught up with it yet.
Mortgages cost more than they did in 2023. The average 2-year fix sits at 5.84%. Buyers have less to play with.
More people are trying to get out too. Downsizers, landlords, accidental sellers. Listings keep climbing while sales are down 6.7% year-on-year.
The numbers tell you the rest. 23.7% of UK property sales are collapsing before completion in Q1 2026. The average time from offer agreed to exchange has stretched to 134 days. Over four months. A new record.
And 47% of homes that left estate agents’ books in March were withdrawn unsold. Nearly half of sellers giving up before getting there.
What I’m seeing on our end? Most people coming to us now have been on Rightmove for four months. Two viewings. An offer that fell through on survey.
They’re knackered.
The headlines haven’t caught up yet. Most house price stats in the Mail or the Times are based on completions, which is really a photo of offers agreed eight to twelve months ago. The ground feels harder than the news suggests.
Waiting isn’t free either. Every month on the market you’re paying mortgage interest, council tax, maintenance. Six months of that is £7,000 to £9,000 gone before you’ve sold anything.
I’m not saying the market’s crashing. It isn’t.
But the “stick it on Rightmove and wait” approach carries more risk now than a few years back. If you actually need to sell in a set timeframe, the open market is probably the worst place to try.
How Much Will You Actually Walk Away With?
The number on the estate agent’s board isn’t the number that lands in your bank. By the time you reach completion, six to nine months of holding costs, fees, and renegotiation have chipped away at it.
Here’s what that actually looks like on a £200,000 property in today’s market.
Estate agent sale: the true cost over six months
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Asking price | £200,000 |
| Price actually agreed (typical 3-5% below asking) | £192,000 |
| Post-survey renegotiation (common right now) | -£3,000 |
| Accepted sale price | £189,000 |
| Estate agency fees (1.5% + VAT) | -£3,400 |
| Legal and conveyancing | -£1,500 |
| Six months mortgage interest (£130k balance at 5%) | -£3,250 |
| Six months council tax (Band C average) | -£1,000 |
| Utilities, insurance, basic maintenance | -£800 |
| EPC renewal, minor repairs, staging | -£600 |
| What hits your bank | £178,450 |
That’s £21,550 less than the asking price you started with. And that’s assuming the sale actually goes through, which one in three don’t.
Cash sale: what you actually take home
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Offer on £200,000 property (typical 80-85%) | £170,000 |
| Estate agency fees | £0 |
| Legal fees (covered by us) | £0 |
| Ongoing property costs during sale | £0 |
| What hits your bank | £170,000 |
The gap is smaller than it looks
On paper, the estate agent wins by £8,450. In practice, that gap shrinks fast.
The estate agent figure assumes everything goes right. It assumes nobody renegotiates. It assumes your mortgage rate doesn’t shift up when your fix expires while you’re waiting. It assumes you don’t spend nine months stressed about whether the sale will collapse before exchange.
A cash sale puts a number in your account today. An estate agent puts a hoped-for number nine months away, with every bit of risk in between sitting on your shoulders.
Whether the £8,450 is worth that risk depends on your situation. Not on the headline price.
How Our Process Actually Works
We’ve created a streamlined process from form to completion.
Four steps. No hidden bits. The price you’re quoted is the price that lands.
The video below covers it in nine minutes if you’d rather watch than read.
Step one. The form.
Two minutes. Address, house type, bedrooms, condition, when you want out. That’s it. We don’t credit check you. Nobody comes round to the house at this stage.
Step two. The call.
One of our team rings you within a few hours. They want to understand the property and why you’re selling. They’ll ask about your timeline and anything awkward you should flag upfront.
You’ll get a desktop valuation on the call — same software banks used during Covid when surveyors couldn’t visit. The number is informal. Nothing’s locked in. Walk away if you don’t like it, no hard feelings.
Step three. The survey.
If the desktop price works for you, we send out an independent surveyor. RICS-qualified, completely separate from us — they don’t work for us, they work for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
They visit, they write a report. If what they find matches what you told us, the price is locked. We will send you the best price guarantee in writing.
We don’t chip. We don’t suddenly “discover” things to renegotiate. The whole point of using an independent surveyor is so you can trust the number.
Step four. Completion in seven days.
Draft contracts go out the moment the price is agreed. Your seven days starts from there.
We use our own in-house solicitor and cover the bill. If you’d rather use yours, fine — we still pick up the cost. Contracts get swapped, money hits your account, done.
How we skip the searches
Normal sales wait 30 to 90 days for Local Authority searches to come back. We don’t.
We use an indemnity insurance policy that covers the same risks. It’s standard practice for properly funded cash buyers and it’s fully legal. That single change shaves up to three months off conveyancing.
Why having our own solicitor matters
Most cash buyers use outside firms. Those firms have dozens of files on the go and yours sits in the pile.
Ours only handles our sales. Your file is at the top, every day. That’s the actual reason we can promise seven days. Most of our competitors can’t, because the bottleneck isn’t their cash — it’s their solicitor.
What Price Will You Get? Realistic Numbers
No two properties land at exactly the same percentage. But there are patterns. Here’s roughly what to expect based on what you’ve got and where it sits.
Try the calculator below for a number on your own house.
Urban houses under £250,000
Typical offer: 80-85% of market value.
These move quickly when we resell because the buyer pool is huge. Plenty of comparable sales nearby means we can value confidently. Decent transport links and local amenities push the offer towards the top end.
Houses over £250,000
Typical offer: 75-82%.
Higher price point means a smaller buyer pool and longer resale timelines. Stamp duty also bites harder above £250k, which thins out the second-time buyers who’d otherwise be interested. Location and condition matter more at this level than they do further down.
Rural and semi-rural properties
Typical offer: 70-80%.
Fewer comparable sales to value against, longer average resale time, narrower pool of buyers. Condition matters more out here because rural properties tend to need more work — and finding the trades to do it isn’t always quick.
Flats, apartments and leasehold
Typical offer: 70-80%.
Leasehold throws more variables into the mix: lease length, ground rent, service charge, cladding status, how long the management pack takes to come back. A short lease under 80 years has a big impact on the offer.
We can still get deals done where most buyers can’t — cladding problems, freeholder disputes, the awkward stuff. We just price it in.
What Actually Moves the Number
The valuation isn’t a black box. Here’s what we’re looking at when we put a price together.
- External condition — roof, walls, structure, damp. The expensive stuff that needs a builder, not a decorator. (typically 5-20% off)
- Internal condition — modernised or tired? Kitchen and bathroom age, electrics, boiler, heating. (3-10%)
- Location and demand — how fast similar places are shifting in your postcode right now. (can swing 5-15% either way)
- Lease length — only matters if it’s leasehold. Under 80 years bites. Under 60 years really bites. (5-15%, more at the bottom end)
- Tenant situation — if it’s let, we look at whether the rent’s coming in, the tenancy type, any arrears. (0-10%)
- Title and legal — restrictive covenants, title defects, rights of way, ongoing disputes. (3-8%)
None of these kill the deal on their own. We buy properties with short leases, problem tenants, title issues, all of it. They just feed into the final number.
| Scenario | Offer range |
| Worst case: leasehold flat with subsidence, problem tenant, title defect | 60–65% of market value |
| Typical: average condition house, no major issues | 75–82% |
| Best case: modernised freehold house in a strong area | 82–85% |
Why People Sell Fast (And the Best Route for Each)
Most sellers land here because something changed quickly. Job offer abroad. Parent in a care home. Court date pencilled in.
The eight situations below cover almost everyone we speak to.
Moving abroad
Visa dates, job start dates, shipping vans. None of it waits for a slow estate agent sale. And currency swings can quietly eat your money while the sale drags.
Selling from overseas is hard work. You can’t show buyers around the property. You can’t sit on the phone chasing a solicitor in a different timezone. When the chain wobbles, you’re 4,000 miles from being able to fix it.
A cash sale takes the headache away. We’ve done plenty of these for clients moving abroad — paperwork by email, signatures online, money in your account on completion day. Auction works too if you’ve got more time on the visa side.
Age or health-related moves
Care home moves. Downsizing because the stairs aren’t working anymore. Releasing equity to cover care fees. These sales need to happen quickly and they need to happen gently.
Most of the time there’s family involved, sometimes power of attorney. We can talk directly to whoever’s helping with the sale — solicitor, son, daughter, attorney, whoever. Nobody traipses through the house. Nobody puts pressure on. Pick a completion date that works around the rest of what’s happening.
Stopping repossession
Court dates don’t shift. Eviction notices don’t pause for a chat with the bank.
A repossession sits on your credit file for six years and locks you out of any future mortgage. The good news: even if the court process has started, you can often still sell before the hammer falls. But cash is the only route fast enough at that point.
We can exchange in 48 hours where the situation calls for it. We’ve also been known to forward a cash advance before completion if you need to clear arrears immediately. If you’ve got a litigation solicitor defending the case, we’ll work alongside them.
Downsizing
You want to free up cash for retirement, travel, helping the kids onto the ladder, or just a smaller place that costs less to run. The house is usually in decent nick — it’s just bigger than you need now.
If the move is urgent, cash makes sense. If you can wait, an estate agent or auction will likely net more. Halfway house: we can rent you a property through our lettings side while you decide what’s next. That gives you the cash now without the rush of buying somewhere immediately.
When your estate agent can’t sell
You priced too high. The survey came back ugly. The chain collapsed. The market shifted under you. Whatever caused it, the result is the same — you’re stuck.
The longer a property sits on Rightmove, the more buyers assume something’s wrong with it. Most sellers ring us after 3 to 6 months of getting nowhere.
A cash sale resets the whole thing. Auction can also force the result if you’re not in a rush. Either way, you stop bleeding money on a property that won’t shift.
Probate sales
Inheritance tax deadlines, empty-home insurance complications, family pressure to wrap things up. The pressure piles up fast.
The other thing about probate properties: they’re often miles from where the family lives, and they usually need work. Bringing them up to “ready for the open market” standard takes months of effort nobody wants to put in.
You’ll need probate granted before we can complete, but we can agree the offer before that. No chain. No viewings. Doesn’t matter what condition the property’s in. We deal with executors and solicitors directly so you’re not the messenger.
Rescuing a broken chain
Your buyer pulled out. The seller of the place you’re buying is getting twitchy. Every day of delay risks losing your onward purchase.
We can step in within 48 hours and replace the broken buyer. Quick exchange, the chain holds, you keep moving. We’ve saved more than a few onward purchases this way.
Tenanted properties with problem tenants
Rent arrears. Tenants who won’t leave. Section 21 headaches. Damage you don’t want to deal with.
Normal buyers can’t touch these because banks won’t lend on a property with a sitting tenant in arrears. Most estate agents won’t bother. Most auctions say no.
We buy tenanted properties with the tenant in place and take over the rental ourselves. You walk away clean — we deal with whatever’s going on with the tenants.
How to Spot a Reputable Sell House Fast Company (And Avoid the Cowboys)
The cash buying industry has a real reputation problem. Hidden fees, fake cash buyers, last-minute price drops. Here’s how to vet any company before you sign… including us.
| What to check | Cowboy buyer | Reputable buyer |
| Where the money comes from | “Cash buyer” who needs 8+ weeks to complete because they’re finding a real buyer behind the scenes | Owns the funds outright. Provides proof in their company name within 24 hours |
| Regulation | No memberships listed, or just logos with no proof | Signed up with TPO, NAPB, AML-compliant, ICO-registered |
| The offer at completion | Drops the price days before completion (“gazundering”). Vague “subject to survey” wording with no clear rules | Price agreed after RICS survey is the price paid. Written confirmation provided |
| Fees and lock-ins | Marketing costs, admin fees, withdrawal penalties. Option agreements that lock you out of other buyers for 3–6 months | Zero fees. No hidden fees ever. Legal costs covered. No lock-ins until contracts are signed |
| Proof of funds | “We’ll send proof later.” Or proof from a third-party firm you’ve never heard of (means they’re using investor money) | Sends bank statement, solicitor’s letter, or accountant’s letter in their company name on request |
| Reviews | On-site testimonials only. No Google or Trustpilot presence. Recent complaints about price drops or missed deadlines | Verified independent reviews on Google, Trustpilot, or Reviews.io. Bad reviews answered properly |
| Track record | “We complete in 7 days” with no examples. Brand new company with no history | Named completed sales, hits promised dates consistently, sellers willing to vouch for them |
Three questions that catch out most cowboys:
- “Can you email me proof of funds in your company’s name today?”
- “What would make you drop the offer between now and completion?”
- “What was your last 7-day completion? Can I speak to the seller?”
A reputable buyer answers all three without hesitation. We’ll send you proof of funds today, the price after our RICS survey is the price you get, and we’ve completed over 500 sales since 2015 with named references available on request.
Why Choose Property Buyers Today
Here’s the honest version.
Estate agents take 4–6 months when things go smoothly. When they don’t (broken chain, dodgy survey, mortgage falling through) you’re looking at nine months or starting over. If you need to move on a fixed timeline, that’s not a route, it’s a gamble.
We’re the alternative.
We won’t pay full market value. We can’t, we’ve got our own costs and need to resell. But we cover every fee including solicitors, and the number we quote after the survey is the number that lands in your account. No chipping. No surprises.
Here’s why people choose to sell their house fast with us…
Speed
Most house sales take months, but we can buy your property in as little as 7 days.
This quick process is perfect if you need to move soon or want to avoid being stuck in a long chain of buyers and sellers. We have the cash on hand so don’t need to wait for mortgages or a chain to collapse.
Guaranteed Sale
Did you know 1 in 3 sales fall through on the open market?
We know how frustrating it is to get 6 months into a process and have a buyer pull out.
When we give you the final price for your house, that’s the amount you’ll get. Guaranteed!
No Costs
You won’t face any costs with us.
We handle all the expenses involved in buying your property, including legal fees and surveys. You get cash in your bank when the sale is complete, and there are no surprise estate agent commissions to worry about.
No Stress Or Hassle
We handle the heavy lifting from start to finish. You get one point of contact, regular updates, and straight answers to your questions. No chasing solicitors. No wondering what’s happening. You’ll always know where the sale is and what’s coming next.
Free Property Valuation
We value your house properly and we don’t charge for it. Our team looks at the property, checks recent local sales, and factors in the subsidence properly. You get an honest figure based on what the market actually pays. No obligation, no pressure, no follow-up sales calls if you decide it’s not for you.
No Viewings Required
Forget the cleaning, the tidying, and the strangers in your kitchen. We buy your house off one assessment. No open houses. No back-to-back viewings every Saturday. No nosy neighbours pretending to be interested. Your daily life carries on as normal while the sale goes through.
All Properties Welcome
Whether your house needs work or is in perfect condition, we’ll buy it.
We have experience with all types of properties and conditions. This means you can sell your house to us no matter what state it’s in.
Professional Legal Service
Our expert team manages all the legal requirements for you.
We work with experienced property lawyers who make sure everything runs smoothly, and put your property at the top of their list. This gives you peace of mind that your sale is being handled properly from start to finish.
How We Compare to Other Cash Buyers
We don’t expect you to take our word for it. Between September 2025 and January 2026, our team mystery-shopped the leading UK cash house buying companies, submitting real enquiries across upsizing, divorce, probate, relocation, and financial difficulty scenarios.
Here’s how the industry actually performs:
| Company | Response Time | Average Offer | Call Length |
| Property Buyers Today | 7 minutes | 82% | 12 minutes |
| Sell House Fast | 10 minutes | 81% | 10 minutes |
| Springbok Properties | 12 minutes | 80% | 8 minutes |
| House Buyer Bureau | 17 minutes | 82% | 9 minutes |
| Quick Move Now | 22 minutes | 79% | 7 minutes |
| Open Property Group | 32 minutes | 77% | 7 minutes |
| National Homebuyers | 40 minutes | 75% | 8 minutes |
| The Property Buying Company | 47 minutes | 87%* | 8 minutes |
| We Buy Any House | 63 minutes | 78% | 7 minutes |
*The Property Buying Company posted the highest headline offer in our study at 87%. That’s well above the industry range of 75–82% you’ll see elsewhere in the table, so it’s worth understanding what’s behind it before you commit.
Whoever you go with, ask for the offer in writing, ask for proof of funds in the buying company’s name, and ask what would cause the offer to change between agreement and completion. Any reputable cash buyer will give you all three without hesitation.
What this actually means:
- Response time tells you whether a company has the systems and staff to handle your sale properly. Slow responses mean you’ll be chasing them.
- Offer percentage between 75-82% is the realistic industry range. Anything higher should be treated with caution.
- Call length matters because longer calls mean genuine consultation. Short calls usually mean a sales script and a rushed deal.
We came out fastest, joint-highest on offer percentage, and longest on consultation time. That’s not accidental. It’s the result of running this business properly since 2020.
