FTB: Our (terrbile) experience so far...

rich-accountant

Hi all,

So here is our experience so far....

Monday 2 Feb -We had an offer accepted for a 3 bed detached, at 8k under the asking price, which we were happy with. The house had been repossessed, and the vendors were the bank/repo company.

Tues 3rd - Solicitors instructed

Thurs 5th - We apply for our mortgage with Britannia, after they gave us a mortgage in principle before the offer.

Fri 6th - We receive a letter from our solicitors saying the deadline for exchange is 25th Feb. Although we think its very quick, we press on anyway.

Tues 10th - Survey completed

Wed 11th - Estate Agent calls to say the vendors will be pulling the property from the market unless a) we exchange by Friday, or b) we pay 5% NON REFUNDABLE deposit!! (Solicitor later verifies the above)

As either of the above was never going to happen, we stall for time, saying our cash is tied up in 7 day notice accounts.

Tues 16th - Survey results received, nothing major on it, garage needs a new flat roof which we were already aware of.

Wed 17th - Solicitor informs us that the vendors have pulled the property from the market, and it will be going for auction late March, early April.
Fuming doesnt come close. We are fully committed, all the legals done, and waiting soley on Britannia for the offer.

Almost every day of the above I have called Britannia to ruch things along, however it took almost two weeks for them to review our application as they have a backlog, and dont bother to ring me when they need further info - ie. where our deposit came from!

Apparently the repo company pulled another 125 properties from the market to auction off, so I assume there are others also in our shoes. We have literally bent over backwards for them, even though it should really be the other way around!

So here we are, waiting on the B/S still. The EA and Solicitor we go back to the vendors when were ready to exchange, and surely they cant afford to turn down the offer?! As a last option we will go to auction.....

PasturesNew

You might as well go to the auction, so get the lender and solicitor wised up.

You might even get it cheaper. I watch Homes Under the Hammer and there was one on there in the last week or two that had an offer progressing and then it was put to auction ... I think they ended up buying it about £18k less than they'd originally offered.

QTPie

rich-accountant, poor you - it must be heart-wrenching

To be perfectly honest, I think that this is just a HUGE risk with reposessions (although I have NO idea why the repo company has pulled the properties for auction - I can only guess that it is because of a recent take-off in interest in reposessions...?).

Reposessions are huge risk/reward. A reposession can be gotten signifcantly cheaper (at least 10%+ than a comparable property) and, for that gain, there is also a huge risk that the sale will fall through.

Yes, it is a "buyer's market", but NOT on a reposession. On a reposession it is just whoever can bend over backwards fast enough gets the prize... better suited to cash buyers (who don't have to wait on a mortgage lender...). If you read through the threads on here, you will see someone stressing about a "contract race" for a reposession every day or two at the moment.

Good luck with it. I hope that either the repo company relent and let you have it when you are ready for exchange or you get it EVEN cheaper at auction

QT

Debt_Free_Chick

I hate to say this as I really don't blame you for what you've done, but buying a repossession is a really tough thing for an FTB to do. The lenders really play hardball and if you've no previous experience, it's a tough market to play in.

As suggested, if you can line everything up (finance, solicitors etc) to be ready to exchange within 28 days, then you just may get this property at a lower price at auction.

Good luck - you really have had to learn the hard way, but it will be great experience for future purchases.

SGE1

That is quite scary.

I don't own and haven't ever gone through the process, so I don't know what's standard - but shouldn't you have had an indication from the EA of deadlines etc? And if this is the same as the solicitor's letter about the 25th Feb deadline, how was the vendor able to pull out of this?

poppysarah

If they think they can get more for it at auction (at the same time as putting hundreds of other properties up) then good luck to them.

Set your target, don't go over.
AND keep looking at non-repo houses.

QTPie

SGE1 wrote: »

That is quite scary.

I don't own and haven't ever gone through the process, so I don't know what's standard - but shouldn't you have had an indication from the EA of deadlines etc? And if this is the same as the solicitor's letter about the 25th Feb deadline, how was the vendor able to pull out of this?

Both a vendor AND a buyer can do whatever they like until exchange of contracts...

QT

poppysarah

I did notice edwardmellor auction list a load of properties on one of my rightmove searches today.
Their next auction is 17th march
http://www.edwardmellor.co.uk/content/Auction/Dates_and_Venue_/

Maybe lots of places are sending things to auction... Got to be good for prices.

rich-accountant

Cheers guys,
I still feel quite confident at getting this house.
Although my other half is in pieces!
In my opinion, its banks needing to realise cash and therefore just get rid of anythin they have.
However, its us that potentially lose out.
Yes I may get it cheaper at auction, but I'm not sure if I can risk losing it now by not going back to them when I have our mortgage offer. Everything else is in place, so we have incurred all the solicitor bills etc!
I'd love to get it for less at auction...!

hethmar

What a shame for you. I take it you have got the solicitor to go back to them and tell them everything is in place to go ahead?

socrates

I bought my first property 20 years ago this week - I had been trying to buy a particular property for 6 months on and off. When we lost the property my OH was in bits.

However we then found another property 6 months later - the couple were getting divorced - the house was bigger had more potential and ultimately looking back it has gained more value.

My point is this if its meant to be its meant to be.

If it does not happen its for a reason.