Advice on buying a house that has been repossessed?

Premier_2 · 15 August 2008 at 1:00PM

claire1978 wrote: »

what a coincidence

EA says that they will be putting it to auction if not sold before begining of October hmmmmmmmm

That good knowledge to have! It would probably be in your interests to wait and buy it at auction if it goes for the right price. At least then you'll know the property is yours when the hammer falls, rather than sitting servously over an offer that will then published as a public notice inviting further offers

To ensure the EA is not pulling your leg, hoping to pressurise you into buying, ask them for details of the auction it has been entered into. If they can't provide that, the chances are it hasn't been entered yet and so is unlikely to be in one in about 6 weeks time.

lynzpower · 15 August 2008 at 1:05PM

smaller but immaculate houses in the same estate are marketed at 102 to 115

and this is on for 120, plus needs 10 spending on it to get it immaculate too? agree with Premier- wait for auction!

claire1978_2 · 15 August 2008 at 1:09PM

see your point, might be better to wait, could put a low offer in see if they bite, if they dont wait for the auction?

bozzy_2 · 15 August 2008 at 1:28PM

I disagree - dont wait for the auction as you may risk losing it to other bidders.I bought a repo last year which has been on the market for 5 months (market price £320k). I offered 260k which was rejected and I went back with a new offer of 262k and this was accepted on condition that the house remains on the market, EA publishing the notice in the local press that an offer has been made and that we complete within 30 days. we moved fast and completed in 10! I believe what swung them in our favour is the fact that we were getting on so well with the EA (she ignored all queries from other prospective buyers), we had no chain, mortgage agreed upfront and solicitor on standby. point out to them that the lender would lose more money if the property went in the auction (commission fees etc).give it go - try an offer of 100k and work your way up.Our repo also needed refurbishment and we had token meters too which we had replaced within a week or so. we called the electric and gas on the day we moved in and they were extremely helpful. we had the plumbing and electricity checked as they were disconnected. the house had to be rewired.with new windows etc we spent about 30k but all in all it has been worth it as we have a beautiful home at a bargain price! it is worth a lot more than what we paid for it (including the refurbishment costs).there are various grants you could look into for assistance with refurbishments (we were not entitled to any due to our financial circumstances but you may be).you would need a surveyor to get the mortgage approved - you may end up forking out for nothing if you lose the property and that is a risk we took and we do not regret it!hope this makes sense.Good luck.

bozzy_2 · 15 August 2008 at 1:29PM

good luck and let us know how you get on

silvercar · 15 August 2008 at 1:32PM

If you really want it, make a ridiculously low offer and ask the estate agent to get an indication of the amount the lender will accept.

It may be that nearer October the lender becomes more realistic on offers.

trej · 15 August 2008 at 1:37PM

Hi just thought id chip in here as im going through a very similair situation as you Claire however we have already put several offers in.

One thing I will say is dont expect much of a discount. The property were looking at is on the market at 165k. It has been on the market for 7 months now and has been reduced several times down from 190k.

It also needs a lot of work, similair to your situation. So we put an offer in at 150, got rejected. 153 got rejected.
We were then told the vendor would accept a min of 160. We tried 157 rejected again..Personally I dont think its worth more than 157, and given the state of the market its a fair offer

It appears to me that in these situations the repo company have a price which they will stick to and just arent willing to negotiate, which is very frustrating!! What makes it worse is that they take up to two weeks to decide whether to accept the offer or not! Are you also finding this?

claire1978_2 · 15 August 2008 at 1:40PM

thanks for the advice and encouragement, :beer:

if im going to do this (long chat with the other half first) I now know what i need to consider thanks to you guys, put everything in place before i make an offer or wait for the auction so that i can move quickly if its accepted and be prepared to hold on tight it could be quite a ride:eek:

will keep you posted

lynzpower · 15 August 2008 at 1:41PM

I believe what swung them in our favour is the fact that we were getting on so well with the EA (she ignored all queries from other prospective buyers

totally unacceptable, and not something that should be celbrated. When the EA refuses potentially higher offers from elsewhere you know not to sell through them, as they will mosre-as -likely stuff you over.

mlz1413 · 15 August 2008 at 3:47PM

claire1978 wrote: »

spoken to the estate agent, he said that he valued it at 105,000 when they first put it on market in december last year, but the motgage company insisted on over 120, 000

I bought my house in same estate 2 and a half years ago, slightly smaller for 100,000

i think it will take 10 grand to make it ok, now considering the recent price drops im not sure what a true valuation for the property is and how cheeky to be, then again they can only say no i suppose?

thank you for replying to me btw!

Can I ask why you want the repo house? I'm assuming bigger but you think can get for same price as your smaller one - but your renting out your smaller one as can't sell?

If this is the case I would be very careful, what if you can't rent / have voids. What if market slumps to 50% of current values - you will be in negative equity with 2 houses.

On the house front this house has probably had loads of offers put in that the mortgage company have rejected (probably due to debt owed being around £120k) so they have probably decided to auction after summer holidays to off load before prices fall further.

please don't bankrupt yourself trying to buy a bargin.

Advice on buying a house that has been repossessed?

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