Where to look for repossessed houses to buy?

CookieMon

Hiya,

No judgements about our evilness for taking advantage of someone else's situation or comments on not buying etc please Individual circumstances and all that

Just asking for a bit of advice, myself and OH currently looking at properties as FTB'ers.

At this time we are (obviously) hoping to get a bargain and we were wondering if anyone had any advice on how to look at repossessed houses for sale by mortgagees and how to look for them.

Any help much appreciated

poppysarah

rightmove. local ea. look for notices stuck in front windows/door and that do not use tape in the bathroom and kitchen.

However. Your offer is subject to public scruitiny so you might bag a bargain but lose it if someone bids more before you've exchanged.

Look in your price range at non-repos too. As likely to bag a bargain there - watch out for people who've reduced the price more than once (Get property bee installed to view rightmove with new eyes!)

CookieMon

Thanks poppysarah (almost made embarassing typo there..oops). We've been looking on right move, but didn't seem like any cheap repos came up, will have to do searches again.

Most of our current searching has been on the online variety but looks like we may have to get off our bums and do some local ea schmoozing.

poppysarah

See a repo make an offer well below the asking price.

But bear in mind it's sold as seen - so the boiler might not work (I've seen ones without meters in, rads removed, boiler gone...) so fit in your offer so you've taken into account rewiring and new boiler etc...

poppysarah

BIg thing with repos is 28 days sale - if you've waiting on a mortgage it can cause delays...

Cat695

As poppy says some will say you must complete in 28 days.....but if its not selling they will wait....I never have understoof the must complete in 28 days on some repos

Especially as you can be gazumped at anytime and as I said if your the only buyer what are they gonna do...say no

poppysarah

You should probably start looking for solicitors quotes now - get some in writing - and ask them specifically how quick they can deal with things and even perhaps if they've got holidays planned so you can avoid using them when they're not there ... Mention you're looking specifically at repos...

At least 3 quotes for a range of prices - see how they are at dealing with your enquiry too - it might indicate how good they are overall..

Hectors_House

poppysarah wrote: »

See a repo make an offer well below the asking price.

But bear in mind it's sold as seen - so the boiler might not work (I've seen ones without meters in, rads removed, boiler gone...) so fit in your offer so you've taken into account rewiring and new boiler etc...

Good advise here.

Repo properties will be advertised at whatever the EA thinks the going rates is in that area so don't just narrow your search to cheap properties.

Look for properties where there is only one photograph - a pic of the house itself and then look for the tell-tale notice posted in a window or to the door.

In our cse the kitchen had been ripped out and radiators and piping damaged so we went in at a price that took into account the cost of replacement.

No judgement here cus most properties were never truely worth what folks are trying to sell them for. And if the homeowner went on a spending spree with their new-found wealth they only have themselves to blame now the wind has changed direction.

Running_Horse

Do you only want a repossession? How much extra will you pay for one?

m_13

The majority of the repossessed properties seem to be going through the auctions at the moment. If you are too nervous to bid then many unsold repossession properties are available after the auction as a private treaty sale. The amount is usually fixed although you can make an offer.

We're currently buying a repossession after it had no bids at the auction. We had already been to the block viewing and done our homework but didn't bid because our lender and broker couldn't guarantee we'd have the funds for completion 28 days after exchange (on the day of the auction, after the hammer fell).

We made sure that our mortgage broker, the lender and our solicitor were all crystal clear about the dates before we made our offer. The offer had to outline when we were able to exchange and complete and what our offer was. It was originally turned down because somebody else offered higher but when they pulled out our original offer was accepted.

Buying repossession properties can have higher buying costs because the vendor will probably expect you to pay them back for the HIP, searches and pro-rata for anything they've paid for the year. Our vendor is also missing keys as they broke in and changed the front door lock but don't have any of the other keys. The services are also disconnected in the property we are buying. No capped gas, fortunately, but if there is then that can be pricey to reconnect depending on how it has been done.

The property we are buying is an ex-BTL that was repossessed in 2007 and has been empty since. It's now quite damp because of the lack of heating since then and the exceptionally cold weather but we've checked it all out and are happy there's nothing structural.

I probably wouldn't consider an empty new build flat in a development as the housing associations are buying many up and you might find yourself the only owner-occupier and have very little say in the running of the management committee as the HA will control it.

Which locations are you looking at? I'm happy to tell you which auction houses I've spotted selling properties in those areas.