The Challenge
Our clients owned a stunning coastal property on the Suffolk Coast, purchased at auction as a cash buyer. It was the perfect second home for their lifestyle at the time. However, due to illness and reduced visits, maintaining the property had become increasingly difficult, and mounting upkeep costs meant it was time to sell.
The property had been on the market with a couple of other estate agents spanning over several months and suffered a series of failed sales. Buyers loved the idea of a coastal property with panoramic sea views but hesitated once they understood the risks. The property was not mortgageable due to its proximity to the eroding coastline and could not be insured against collapse into the sea; factors not considered in the previous pricing advice. Attempts to market the property to mortgage buyers wasted time, raising unrealistic expectations and leading to further failed sales.
Rather than trusting the property’s standout location and rarity would achieve a sale; previous attempts leaned on assumption and hope over strategy. Though sales were agreed with ease, multiple transactions collapsed at the legal stage, leaving the sellers frustrated and exposed.
Complicating matters further, the sellers advised us that the property was on a private water main supplied by a neighbouring Ltd company (local farmer), and the access track was a permissive right of way. Despite previous sales falling through for these reasons, earlier agents failed to address them upfront, resulting in wasted months of marketing and legal costs.
These clients needed realistic, professional advice and a strategy to tackle these inherent challenges head-on, rather than relying on optimism alone.
Our Strategy
We recommended a comprehensive, transparent approach to give buyers confidence and protect the sellers:
- Seller commissioned full set of searches — including additional detailed ground and stability reports relevant to the coastal location, ensuring all relevant information was available from day one.
- Sellers commissioned a structural report — confirming the property’s structural integrity despite proximity to the coastline. This was carried out by a specialist structural and civil engineer, not a general surveyor. While a qualified surveyor assesses overall condition, a structural/civil engineer designs, analyses, and ensures the integrity and safety of buildings and infrastructure, making them the specialist best qualified for this issue. A copy of the report was provided to the buyer upfront.
- Title documents provided upfront to prospective buyers — so nothing slowed the legal process, and buyers could have their conveyancer review the title before placing an offer, giving them added confidence to proceed.
- Private water supply transparency — we collated copies of the last two years of invoices and obtained written confirmation from the neighbouring Ltd company (local farmer) confirming continued supply.
- Access plan and statutory declaration — addressing permissive access rights, a known reason for previous sale failures. We provided the access plan and pre-prepared statutory declaration from the sellers’ conveyancer upfront.
- A 2% reservation fee payable by the buyer upon agreeing the sale — with all the property information provided in advance, buyers had the confidence to proceed. The fee gave the sellers security: if a buyer simply changed their mind, they would be financially penalised, ensuring the sellers were at least partially compensated. Together, this significantly reduced the risk of last-minute withdrawals.
- Revised, realistic pricing — reflecting the smaller pool of cash buyers only.
- Shoreline management and erosion documentation — we collated correspondence from the local authority and a summary of erosion rates and protective measures from the Shoreline Management Plan, provided upfront to buyers.
- Compliance and drainage verification — we suspected that the current private drainage system was not compliant with the General Binding Rules as of January 2020, so we explained this clearly to prospective buyers to avoid re-negotiation later.
- Cash buyer verification before viewings — ensuring only genuine cash buyers viewed the property, avoiding wasted time.
- Professional marketing — highlighting the property’s lifestyle appeal while maintaining full transparency about responsibilities and risks.
This comprehensive, upfront approach ensured buyers were fully informed of all challenges before making an offer, eliminating surprises and reducing the risk of fall-throughs.
The Result
By tackling the issues head-on, the property attracted serious, verified cash buyers. The combination of transparency, realistic pricing, and strategic marketing resulted in a successful sale. Buyers were confident in what they were committing to, and sellers were protected from wasted time, speculative offers, and unexpected renegotiations.
Takeaway
Selling a property with complex risks requires honesty, experience, transparency, and professional guidance. By addressing structural, legal, and environmental factors upfront, providing full documentation, and targeting the right buyer pool, we turned a property on the market for years with multiple failed sales into a successful, stress-free transaction. The sellers avoided further financial risk, gained certainty, and achieved the outcome they needed. while the buyer secured a truly one-of-a-kind, stunning home with panoramic coastal views, a property they described as a lifetime dream come true.