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cheery repo stories required!

Have just put in an asking-price offer on a repossessed property and now have to wait while the notices go in the papers inviting higher bids.

Reading back through old threads about buying repossessions there are lots of people saying how they were guzumped at the last minute as the property was not taken off the market until completion or they werent able to complete in time.

Has anyone had happy experiences where they offered, got accepted and happily completed without having to get involved in bidding wars/sealed bids/ etc. I need to hear a few good luck stories to balance out what I have read!

Comments

  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,660 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    The sellers of my previous house bought a reposession with no problems. They also got it at a reasonable price and were able to start work on it from exchange. It was in 1993 though!
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
  • wills7
    wills7 Posts: 109 Forumite
    I recently bought a repo, i viewed it, put an offer in the day after which was accepted, got my mortgage and moved in last week. The whole process took about 2 months but i never had any problems with bidding wars etc. and i got it at a very low price!!
  • david29dpo
    david29dpo Posts: 3,959 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    same hear. however, is perfectly reasonable for a vendor to get as much as possible. wouldn't you?
  • emg
    emg Posts: 1,390 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I dont think it's unreasonable for anyone to get as much as they can for their property --- I just want this one to be mine without too many complications!
  • Tassotti
    Tassotti Posts: 1,492 Forumite
    It can happen, as the posters above have done so, but don't get your hopes up too much.

    I offered asking price on a repo, which went to bidding war. The actual sale price was extrememly close to OMV by the time of sale (about 15K more)

    Needless to say, I didn't buy it.

    Set yourself a realistic maximum price you are willing to pay for the property, and don't exceed it if it goes to bids.
  • lush_walrus
    lush_walrus Posts: 1,975 Forumite
    There is no reason why a repossesion will go wrong in current times as the banks are now obliged to put the property on the market for its value or as close to, rather than just to recover the debt so the bargain side of them has declined and thus less chance of gazzumping. EAs are also under contract to keep the property on the market until exchange, so there is actually nothing that can be done about that. But as I say there are plenty of them that go through without a hitch.
  • Doozergirl
    Doozergirl Posts: 34,078 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    We bought one successfully at quite a bit under the asking price recently.

    We had to wait nearly three weeks for a reply and were then given two weeks to exchange, but no bidding war,and no significant reply to the notices.

    Hope it goes okay for you :) I echo other's thoughts on not going over your set price.
    Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
  • The apartment I am currently buying is a repo. Unfortunately it did go to a bidding war, but it was one where it was "highest offers by 3PM and hightest bidder gets it". Luckily I put in the higher bid, £500 less than the asking price, but still a very good price (around £5-10k less than other apartments in the same block. I dont think it went through the paper either which was good as I suspect that if it had done so, an offer for the asking price would have been put in.

    Hopefully I am completing end of this week / early next week.
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