Buying a repo

Milliewilly

Trollfever wrote: »

If you actually have the cash sitting in your bank account then you can be very agressive in your bidding.




.

In my recent experiences cash in the bank and a super fast completion does not give any advantage over a person with nothing to sell but needing a mortgage.

silvercar

Milliewilly wrote: »

Don't think because its a repo it will be cheap. In my experience it usually ends in a bidding war.

Agreed.

We recently looked at a repo (granted because we thought it was a bargain). It was on for 275k, within a week they had 20 viewings and 6 offers. The notice in the paper said that an offer of 308k had been received.

The agent then showed another repo that was on at 225k. A friend of a friend had surveyed this before it was repossessed and on the market at 270k. The garage and rear extension are structurally unsound. It is under offer at 225k, I thought it was worth less than 200k.

katehesk

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If you want the "bank" to take you seriously then offer accordingly.

As has been previously said what will the property be worth once renovated. How much will it cost to do the work?

Other people will be weighing up the property in a similar manner.

A property in the same street is for sale at 89k. That one is up to scratch and is being marketed by the same agent as the repo who said it's fab inside too (perhaps trying to trigger our interest in that one too though?).

The work is mostly cosmetic, needs a new kitchen and a good clean, gardens and driveways sorting out, etc etc.

I don't know about structural stuff because as yet we have no information on that without having the pre mortgage survey done.

My partner's dad was formerly in the building trade and has lots of contacts so we will get the work done cheap, and I am queen bargain hunter, as is my Mum, so we will get the kitchen at a good price. I think Maximum 5k on renovations, providing no extensive work needs doing to the 'building' etc (I am no expert but partner's dad said everything seems sound).

Milliewilly wrote: »

Don't think because its a repo it will be cheap. In my experience it usually ends in a bidding war.

I think this might end up being the case.
In our wider area there are houses dirt cheap, but we don't want to live in certain pockets of the town, this is first choice in terms of area for us, and probably others too, which is why we have said 65/68k and if it goes higher they can have it.

Trollfever wrote: »

If you actually have the cash sitting in your bank account then you can be very agressive in your bidding.

Nope. We have a promise for our mortgage and a deposit (I forgot to mention we are FTB's). That's all.

katehesk

greenface wrote: »

you have just said this to yourselves not to the bank :eek: prey tell

Haha nope.

Worry is that the 'bank' or whoever owns the property is also our lender, so they will know how much mortgage we have been offered (this happened to a friend of ours who was also buyig a repo) and will try to get us to up our offers that way.

The mortgage we've been offered I personally think is slightly more than we can afford in our present situation and I would much prefer to borrow a lesser amount, hence having a limit, we are not desperate for the house, we do like it though.

Save4ArainyDay

When it comes to refurbishment works work out your costs and then add on 30% and you will be well covered. This figure will then give you the maximum you can offer. Do not be bullied by estate agents, stand your ground, once they know you are serious they will treat you with more respect. I have been through this and so unemotional when I put my offer to the agent - which I always back up in writing within a few hours to show I mean business. In my letter I always say "I have a deposit of __% and with no property to sell I can complete quickly."

Hope this helps - do let us know if you are successful - and good luck :-)

katehesk

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If you want the "bank" to take you seriously then offer accordingly.

As has been previously said what will the property be worth once renovated. How much will it cost to do the work?

Other people will be weighing up the property in a similar manner.

'Offer accordingly'...

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but a friend and former estate agent's advice was to start low with our offer.

We were the first to view it on Thursday, although they had another viewing that afternoon also. Second viewing with partner's dad yesterday afternoon.

We're planning to make an offer on Monday or Tuesday.

katehesk

Save4ArainyDay wrote: »

When it comes to refurbishment works work out your costs and then add on 30% and you will be well covered. This figure will then give you the maximum you can offer. Do not be bullied by estate agents, stand your ground, once they know you are serious they will treat you with more respect. I have been through this and so unemotional when I put my offer to the agent - which I always back up in writing within a few hours to show I mean business. In my letter I always say "I have a deposit of __% and with no property to sell I can complete quickly."

Hope this helps - do let us know if you are successful - and good luck :-)

Thank you

We have our deposit saved and not much else to be honest, but we are in a position where if we do purchase the property we can take our time to get the basics done on the relative cheap with lots of support from family and friends so the renovation costs are not a big worry.

To be honest the house is probably 'liveable' but I won't live in it until the basics have been done.

Basically what i'm going round the houses in saying is, we are not 'WE NEED IT TO BE PERFECT RIGHT NOW' types and we will get everything that needs doing done at the right price at the right time, i'm not worried about that aspect of it too much.

It was originally up for sale by the owner/vendor, but ended up being reposessed, literally in the last week, because we saw the house was for sale and my nieces go to a school nearby and their mum passed the house and furniture was all still in it etc, with a notice saying 'please remove your property' and a couple of days later everything was moved out, carpets ripped up etc.

Save4ArainyDay

katehesk - you have the right attitude :-)

Take your time and get stuff only when you have the money to pay for it. As an oldie of 50 now I can tell you it is possible to live without fitted carpets, central heating, dishwasher, LCD HD TV's and "stuff". I hope you get the house and invest some time into making it a home for you and yours for your future :-)

katehesk

I had a look on Mouse Price and their estimated value is 69k. What do they base that on? Does anyone know?

Thrugelmir

katehesk wrote: »

'Offer accordingly'...

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but a friend and former estate agent's advice was to start low with our offer.

You are intending to offer initially £58k on a property, which with a budget of £5k for cosmetic remedial work could be worth as much as £89k.

The guide is £75k which seems fair.

So do you really expect your initial offer to be taken seriously?

Even at your top price of £68k you are getting a good deal.