thinking of buying a repossessed house

Gemma123

Hi All

I'm thinking of buying a repo house thats been on the market 6 months, its empty and its price keeps dropping was £179,950 now its £149,950, an offer was excepted through ea but for some reason its back on the market falling through.

I'm abit wary of having dealings with it as its my 1st time with this kind of property. Any advice would be welcome.


Thanks Gemma

david29dpo

Its really no different to any other sale except the danger of being outbid before exchange.

betsie

We bought a repo and didnt have any problems. Had quite a few red demand letters for the previous owners and one baliff did not at the door but was no hassel and just left when I said I had bought the house from the bank (didnt ask to see anything). I still get the odd bill now and have started to get calls on my home number for them from a debt collection place. No real hassel though.

Maybe I was a bit nieve but once the wheel got in motion with the sale (a bit slow for first 2 weeks after offer accepted - I assume that was to make sure no one bidded more) it went through fine. All done in 6 weeks from offer.

Gemma123

wertyuijhb

Gemma123

My worry is for a 4 bed detached house with double garage its not been sold in 6 months, maybe its a slow area or sign of the tI'mes I'm not sure as im not too familiar with the village or area of Leicestershire its in. I do know that 4 bed houses in that area do sell in time for more than the price this one is on for.

I think i may have answered my own doubts maybe its the area not the house?

Thanks Gemma

Doozergirl

If offers have been made and accepted and are subsequently falling through and the price keeps dropping then it is almost certainly the house. It may be unmortgageable - through it being leasehold with a short lease, title defects, structural issues etc. If it were the area and being overpriced it wouldn't be going under offer. It's also unusual to overprice a repossession unless there is an issue that they weren't aware of initially.

If you phone the agent, I'd ask them straight out what the problem is with the house. If others are having trouble securing finance then it's likely that you will as well.

Gemma123

I don't think its over priced at all i think its very cheap for the amount of house your getting, its a nice looking house with conservatory, big lounge/dinner, big kitchen, utility, down s wc, plus extra room 15', 4 piece bathroom suit & 4 bedrooms, but not a large garden

Just not sure why its not sold but will try ea again they are not very helpful.

Thanks Gemma

Doozergirl

Gemma123 wrote: »

I don't think its over priced at all i think its very cheap for the amount of house your getting

Exactly. It sounds like a problem house.

If the agent isn't being helpful then they may have lost interest in selling it. I've had fights on my hands to buy houses, despite being a cash buy because they think I won't go through with it either.

Did you view it? If they can't give you info then try speaking to the mananger.

Gemma123

Just phoned ea & they now have an offer on it, yes we have viewed it, wires ripped out of walls in lounge but on the whole not bad condition nothing that can't be sorted. Ea said getting a mortgage is not a problem on the property
I'm not getting into bidding war so will sit back and see if it goes through this time.

Thank you all for your replies they have helped

Gemma

johnson293

We also bought a repo last year.

As mentioned, biggest worry is the fact the property remains on the market until contracts are exchanged, so always a risk of being outbid until then - However, we were advised by solicitor/mortgage advisor that as long as you are progressing the sale (getting surveys done, soilicitors work, etc), with few hold-ups, then a higher offer would need to be signifigantly higher for the vendor to pull out and start the whole process with a new buyer.

We were told we had to exchange within 28 days - as it happens, we actually exchanged after 56 days - hold ups were caused by the buyers of my house, who were first time buyers with one of them working abroad at critical times when paperwork needed signing. The vendor was happy enough though, as I was doing my bit and keeping up to speed.

You do hear/read horror stories too about how the previous owners may have left the place, but ours was fine with no malicious damage anywhere.

All in all, our repo purchase was pretty straighforward, and little different to buying an occupied house being sold by its owner. As I said, the delays were caused by my buyers, not with anything to do with the repo itself, and there was flexibility in the '28 day deadline', as long as you are progressing.

Good luck, if you decide to go for it.

mrcol1000

Our house was for sale for a year. Six months as a repossession. It dropped 30% from when it went on sale first and we offered below what they were asking. We were wary as it been for sale for son long but I think a lot people shy away from repossessions and we got a housebuyer survey done which only found minor things.
The only things to watch are there is no occupier to tell you about the property or area so research it. Speak to neighbours. They often can tell you a lot. Also once draft contract has been sent out from the sellers solicitors to yours you have usually 28 days to exchange. Our solicitor lost the draft contract and it had to be sent again and so we missed the deadline but the seller huffed and puffed and we exchanged a week late with no problems. The house needed some updating but nothing more than any other house.
We got a nice house worth a lot more than what we could ever afford. You just need to be prepared to walk away if someone else gets interested and avoid a bidding war. We didn't get to that point but another property we viewed and liked an offer was made at the asking price and we lost interest as we didn't want to enter a bidding war.
Other repossessed houses we viewed were in a poor state and some the owners obviously had decided to trash the place. They obviously didn't appericate that the less the house sells for the less that goes towards their debts and the more the will have to still pay off.
But if the house and area is okay then just go for it. You could get a bargain that someone else has missed or is too scared to go for.