Repossession Homes

happy_2008

Out of curiosity if you purchase a Re-possessed home would you also inherit the bad credit from the house? I was having a discussion with a friends and she mentioned about this which got me thinking.

Also, every single re-possessed home i have viewed so far was a complete dump! Is there some kinda of rule that states you have to destroy the property once you get it re-possessed? Ones we viewing stank, needed new kitchens and baths etc. Why cant they keep these clean?

And finally what are the downsides of buying a re-possessed property?

Running_Horse

Why would you inherit someone else's bad credit? Just return all official looking letters to sender. Inform the three main credit agencies if you think there is a problem.

If I had just lost everything I owned, then keeping my old empty house spic and span for you would be somewhere lower down my priorities than picking and eating my belly button fluff. Who are they who should keep it clean?

Are you only interested in repossessions? How much extra would you pay for one? Plenty of bargains to be had right now, and most likely in the near future.

vaporate

My parents bought one for 40k back in 1997 lol.

The house was a dump inside, the garden was a jungle and there was still a washng machine full of clothes adn pitures of kids from previous owners scattered about on he floor lol.

Same house would cost 100k now or more and its only been cleaned up to a reasonable standard and decorated DIY style.

Screwed up morally if you ask me.

vikingaero

happy_2008 wrote: »

Out of curiosity if you purchase a Re-possessed home would you also inherit the bad credit from the house? I was having a discussion with a friends and she mentioned about this which got me thinking.

Also, every single re-possessed home i have viewed so far was a complete dump! Is there some kinda of rule that states you have to destroy the property once you get it re-possessed? Ones we viewing stank, needed new kitchens and baths etc. Why cant they keep these clean?

And finally what are the downsides of buying a re-possessed property?

You've mentioned some of the downsides - the house being trashed, having to deal with mail from creditors, bailiffs visiting looking for the old occupiers.

Also it's not likely to be a place that you can move straight in as gas, electricity and water will need re-connection in most repo's.

papermoney

I am in the process of buying a repossession and it's not in a bad state really. It does need about 15/20k to do it up but it is a big property. He didn't trash the house, he left 18 months ago to go on 'holiday' and never came back, he also had tentants in the property who naturally had to leave when the bank got involved. They just took their belongings.

However, the repossession I bought back in 2000 was horrible, at the time I paid 25k for it, the previous owners ripped everything out they could (sinks, bath, rads, light fittings, carpets) they left nice messages on the walls in paint - it was awful. Between exchange and completion they smashed all the windows. Back then though it was worth it to do it up as property prices were not as low as they are now.

PasturesNew

Usually, no, however, there can be some exceptions. I was watching that highly factual and very accurate programme Homes Under the Hammer one morning... and there was actually somebody who bought a house at auction and the legal pack included the line "buyers to pay legal fees of the sellers ... and auction fees ..." all the usual stuff you might expect, but one extra "... and an undisclosed sum..."

In that programme, for that house, in that legal pack, the buyers were buying a "debt unseen", they had absolutely no idea whatsoever how huge it was .... I think it turned out to be a few hundred quid in the end, but they could have shot themselves in the foot with that one.

hethmar

No, you dont have to worry about previous owners debts. You just return to sender all post, make sure you get your name on the electoral roll immediately and if anyone comes to the door, have something around to show your identity and then tell them which agent handled the sale.

I cant understand why you would be surprised the repos are dumps usually! Would you bother to clean and hoover if you were being thrown out of your home? Remember too, a lot of them are buy to lets - have had tenants who wouldnt bother about keeping the place pristine anyway.

Jowo_2

There's a flat up for sale in my block for a good price which was actually refurbished to a good standard by a property developer before he went bust.

However, when the property was unoccupied, the pipes froze and then burst which has caused some damage, plus the lazy landlord in the flat above had a leak which bought the bathroom ceiling down.

So I reckon that this type of neglect is one reason why repossessed properties are in a bad condition even if the repossessed owner hasn't set about trashing it.

The mortgage company patched up the ceiling and put it up for sale on the open market but it hasn't sold. Perhaps the water damage and repair to the boiler has put off buyers or perhaps the changes the developer made means its unattractive. For some reason, the guy decided to turn a 2 bed flat with dining kitchen into a 3 bed one with galley kitchen and installed a wet room without a bath, so it's pokey and not family friendly.

johnson293

House we bought last July (2009) was a repossession, but we only found out when we viewed - it wasn't something we were looking for.

The house condition was fine - it had been cleared, and there was no damage - we have since heard that the previous owners actually moved out a few months before the house was officially repossessed, so they obviously saw/knew it was coming. The utility services (gas, water, elec) were only off at the meters/stopcock, so went stright back on. Only needed redecoration, and the gardens tidied/cut back.

As it happens, we also viewed another repo, and that had been trashed. There was no kitchen, the bathroom needed replacing, and the walls had been graffitti'd on. We gave this one a miss, as we have a young son and needed something we could move straight into without much work, and our own house was under offer already.

As for creditors letters, we did get a few (and some phone calls, as we inherited the same number once the phone was reconnected) for a few months, but kept returning them and/or contacting the relevant people to advise the former owners had moved on - and now we hardly get anything for them.

PasturesNew

I was reading a story last night that included a repossession.

Bloke had lived in a flat with his parents, who had died. He'd taken out a mortgage and paid off his 4 brothers/sisters so he owned the flat. Then he lost his job. Lost the house.... and ended up sleeping rough. So after a couple of months he got a couple of local ne'er do wells to break back into his house. It was still full of his stuff and he gave them some drink and other bits and bobs, they left and he went to bed. But he gave them drink and they got drunk and came back, wanted money from him, wanted his bank details ... then killed him by dancing on his face while he was still in bed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-11745576

piglet25

If a house is reposessed and then sold by the mortgage provider, do they sell it for the market value or for amount outstanding on the property? Am thinking a property I know of may be repo'd soon and trying to work out if it would be plausible to make an offer on it as soon as the notice hits the mat before its advertised, or are the bank obliged to sell for as much as possible and hand over the difference to the previous owner? The property in question also has a tennent in, would that affect anything financially?