buying repo house

ja_salford_blue

Hi, this is my first post on this site so please bear with me,

me and my partner (first time buyers) are in the process of buying a repossesed house.

The house had been up of 5-6 months for £110k, we had an offer of £105k acepted.

I applied for a mortgage and appointed a Conveyancing Solicitor. The mortgage was approved and the Building society's valuation was approved for the £105k, and I have recieved my official mortgage offer. The Conveyancers searches also came back fine and we were expecting to complete next week.

However this morning I rang the Estate Agent to say I had my offical mortgage offer and valuation report, & he told me that another offer has been made for the asking price of £110K and can I match it. He also said that as it was £5k more than mine it will proberbly be acepted.

There is no way I can lend anymore, I really dont know what to do! as I have already paid the mortgage fee and some solicitor fees

Plans_all_plans

Hi ttocs

We are looking round a repo on saturday. It's in good condition (I have been round looking in the windows and in the back garden already) and is on at a fab price.

Having read up about buying a repo a little bit I am worried about making an offer at all, however nice it is. The reason being that once you put an offer in, you get given 28 days to complete BUT the estate agent has to keep on marketing the property and put a notice of your offer in the local paper. The articles I've read have said that at the point the offer is published in the local paper, the "property hounds" (their description, not mine!) can swoop in and make a higher offer on the 27th day and they get the property. You will lose out then as you will already have paid out for solicitors fees and survey etc.

It really depends on how much this bothers you though. I am quite risk averse and would be devastated if we lost money this way, even though the potential gains are attractive i.e. getting cheap house.

If we like the house, we might wait to see what someone else offers though and then attempt to "swoop in like a property hound" :rotfl:and outbid them. This course of action wouldn't sit well with me either though! It all depends on what you're like I suppose! Good luck with it. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will be along in a while.

Edited to add: I hadn't read ja salford blue's post before posting. That is EXACTLY the reason I'd be wary of going for a repo. Hope you're situation improves salford blue.

Plans_all_plans

Hi again ja salford blue,

I think you will lose the solicitors fees, but if you dont need the mortgage anymore then can you get the arrangement fee refunded? I'm honestly not sure you can, but it might be worth ringing the bank's mortgage advisor to find out. Again it might be worthwhile asking the solicitor whether they will refund the fees, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope.

Also, ring the EA and just say you cant match the higher offer and see what happens. It is most likely you will lose the property and money you have already paid out I'm afraid.