Offer on repossessed house

firsty

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice...

Have posted this elsewhere, but not getting many responses, so I thought i'd ask 'my own', so to speak...

When putting an offer on a repossessed house, is it best to put an offer nearer the asking price (seeing as its already at a reduced price), or to treat it as a 'normal' house offer?

We are thinking of offering 13% lower than the asking price (we're FTBs) - is that too much? (House price is a 5-figure price, and been on market for 4 months)

Any advice at all is much appreciated, thanks. :beer:

leftieM

Firstly, check out its capital value online here. That will give you a good idea of its current worth if fully done up. Secondly, get an idea of the work required if any. Redoing the electrics, plumbing etc can cost thousands and you need to factor that into any offer you make.
Thirdly, bear in mind that you are not free to offer whatever you want on a house so be wary of bidding wars. Mortgage lenders are very conservative with valuations and they will not sanction lending if they think you've overdone it on the price you offer.
Finally, good luck!

firsty

leftieM wrote: »

Firstly, check out its capital value online here. That will give you a good idea of its current worth if fully done up. Secondly, get an idea of the work required if any. Redoing the electrics, plumbing etc can cost thousands and you need to factor that into any offer you make.
Thirdly, bear in mind that you are not free to offer whatever you want on a house so be wary of bidding wars. Mortgage lenders are very conservative with valuations and they will not sanction lending if they think you've overdone it on the price you offer.
Finally, good luck!

Thanks Leftie - some good advice. It's only been up about 5-6 yrs, so nothing really needs done on it. I'm thinking now, we'd be better to put on an offer nearer to asking price, as we dont want to enter a bidding war...
Thanks too for the good luck - I feel we need it!

deirdre42c

I wuldn't go in with too high an offer at the start- at the end of the day its been on the market for 4 months and repossessed houses will normally sell for a lot lower than the market value as the mortgage comapny just want to recoup their money ( which isn't usually the full value of the house!)

I would go in as low as 20% below the asking price- at the end of the day they can only refuse. Ask also if there are any other bidders and this will give you an idea as to how far you're willing to go but 4months on the market makes it unlikely that you will end up in bidding war!!

firsty

deirdre42c wrote: »

I wuldn't go in with too high an offer at the start- at the end of the day its been on the market for 4 months and repossessed houses will normally sell for a lot lower than the market value as the mortgage comapny just want to recoup their money ( which isn't usually the full value of the house!)

I would go in as low as 20% below the asking price- at the end of the day they can only refuse. Ask also if there are any other bidders and this will give you an idea as to how far you're willing to go but 4months on the market makes it unlikely that you will end up in bidding war!!

Thanks so much Deirdre, that fills us hope... :beer:

highrisklowreturn

send me the link. Recently bought my own home for 23% below asking price from an estate agent. Prior to that I was looking at various properties in various states of reposession and can say now that 13% might still be too high. I'll give you an example. I went to look, about 1 year ago, at a flat off the Lisburn Road, a real studio apartment, top floor, in a late 1980s build. It was nice, but the lady selling it - I won't name the company or the individual - was looking 87K. At the time I would have loved to have got it at, say 78K, which privately was my max, and not knowing much about property or market direction, I thought this a good price. But I never put on an offer as the girl said someone had already offered 80K. Come 3 or 4 months down the line it was up for auction at Wilsons for 70K. I rang the e/a back ang got another viewing and offered them a daring 50K, which they put to the repo company. Regrettably it still went to auction and eventually sold for 65K.

tara747

You were lucky! A studio/1 bed flat is worthless in a downturn. :eek:

highrisklowreturn

I'm not too sure. For the Lisburn Road this is fairly cheap, and as it later went for £65000 at the auction it would have been a reasonable investment too (say £400 a month rent). My point is that the e/a essentially told a lie by feigning a market floor which didn't exist. If she'd buttered me up she could have got me to pay in the 70s for it and I would have thought I was getting a bargain. The same flats were selling in 2007 for £160,000.

KittyKaity

There are flats selling just down the road from me in Fermanagh for £22,000. They were originally on the market for £99-127k 4 years ago.

tara747

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

I'm not too sure. For the Lisburn Road this is fairly cheap, and as it later went for £65000 at the auction it would have been a reasonable investment too (say £400 a month rent). My point is that the e/a essentially told a lie by feigning a market floor which didn't exist. If she'd buttered me up she could have got me to pay in the 70s for it and I would have thought I was getting a bargain. The same flats were selling in 2007 for £160,000.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Shocking.

How long would you have intended keeping it for anyway?

Cheer up, you will be able to pick one up for £40,000 in a year or two.

joefizz

KittyKaity wrote: »

There are flats selling just down the road from me in Fermanagh for £22,000. They were originally on the market for £99-127k 4 years ago.

Whereabouts?