Purchasing reposessed homes

Wee_Tinkerbell

Hi everyone

I'm new to these lands and I'm hoping you are able to help me!!

I'm considering purchasing a house that has been repo'd within the last 8 months. I have been told that all the utilities have been switched off and water drained from the system etc and that there are no guarantees on the property.

Before I put my offer in I was going to be thinking about the practicalities over the weekend. Has anyone here purchased a home in similar condition? What do you to get everything "back on" - is it a simple call to the gas dudes and water board or because its a reposession do you need to provide evidence that you are not the previous owners etc?

Also, do home insurance companies look differently upon repossed properties?

I know these sound like silly questions but I really have no idea and this house is perfect in so many ways, and the price is right. I'm just worried that its going to cost more to get it up and running!!

Thanks!!

Tinky xx

kingstreet

You get no "guarantees" with any property.

An agent advertises a "central heating system" so as to give no warranty that it is in working order.

Properties are routinely drained down in the winter when they are unoccupied to avoid the implications of burst pipes. All you do is switch the mains water back on again, checking before that all pipes are sound. Running the taps will clear the pipes of any air. The heating might need a bit more TLC. You can get an odd-job man (the agent probably had one to do the drain-down in the first place) to do it for you, if you like.

Gas and electricity are normally switched off near the meter and will simply need to be switched back on again. At that point you decide on your chosen supplier(s) giving them the meter readings from the point you took possession.

Insurance companies treat repossessed properties the same as others unless there are inherent defects.

poppasmurf_bewdley

I purchased a building society repossesion which had been empty for about five months. All services except water had been turned off.

The previous owners had ripped every radiator off the walls and punches holes in every inside door, torn the doors off all the kitchen units, and torn out every light fitting.

We had to factor to replace and repair all the above, plus we found out the gas boiler was leaking water when switch on.

We gutted every room, fitted a new kitchen ourselves, and redecorated to our own requirements.

At the end of the day, we got the home we wanted, instead of moving into a home someone else had 'designed'. At the same time, we got it at a much better price than we would have done for a house in normal condition so were able to spend the money on the house as we wanted.

We didn't encounter any particular problems with buying a reposession, with the exception of the previous owners creditors turning up every so often.

chambta

You won't be asked when taking out insurance whether the property is repossessed - simply whether you are owner, tenant etc.

dork

I've just bought a repossesion, the biggest headache was actually buying the damned thing in the first place!! Even if your offer is highest they won't take it off the market until you have completed - leaving you wide open to being gazumped in the interim! Assuming you do manage to get it; you need to find out the previous electricity and gas supplier and they will reconnect you with no hassle - same goes for water. Insurance was no issue at all - make sure you go through a cashback website and save a few extra pennies The best thing to do before turning water on is to check the water tanks and pipe work (for damage) believe me they will flood your house before you know it!! Other than that good luck.

m_13

We bought a repo with pressurised hot water and had to get somebody with the relevant ticket to come in and recommission it. The bathroom was fully drained down which was allowing thousands of flies to enter the flat from the soil pipe. They were crunchy on the floor there were so many. We get a lot of post for the previous owner mainly advertising different horse racing betting cartels.

VJ_

dork wrote: »

leaving you wide open to being gazumped in the interim!

This happened to me, admittedly we were trying to gazump someone else - the agents were advertising what they had been offered, then played us off against each other; eventually the vendor went with them even though they had offered slightly less as the paperwork had already been started.

mbga9pgf

We got a house down from 450k originally advertised, for 325K.

1 Acre, 5 bedroom (includes self-contained granny annexe).

Get a full building survey. The sort of people that get repo'ed dont typically look after their home once the money stops coming in we found.

mbga9pgf

So far, we have sorted out damp, installed internal wall insulation (average U value down from 4.2 to 0.24 including windows) ripped out and replaced the bodged electrics, had a new central heating system installed, installed a complete Wired network (house is too big for a single wireless router), gutted the kitchen, rewired, had the house replastered, and only now are we getting to the stage we can redecorate.

Its been lots of fun and hard work though!

mbga9pgf

VJ_ wrote: »

This happened to me, admittedly we were trying to gazump someone else - the agents were advertising what they had been offered, then played us off against each other; eventually the vendor went with them even though they had offered slightly less as the paperwork had already been started.

You arent in Gloucestershire are you? we had this happen and we won. we were outbid by 30K but the asset management co favoured our offer as we had a proven deposit and were ready to exchange.

VJ_

mbga9pgf wrote: »

You arent in Gloucestershire are you? we had this happen and we won. we were outbid by 30K but the asset management co favoured our offer as we had a proven deposit and were ready to exchange.

No, I'm down South, they had bid about 10k less than the asking price, we bid ~6k more than them, they out bid us again so we bid just over the asking price. They won with their bid which was still just under the asking price, but more than their original. It was more like an auction than a normal sale. My cash flow is\was fine (I had a 40% deposit ready).
I think the final decision was because they were further along with the legal work - The sale fell through just as my solicitor was starting her work, so luckily I didn't need to pay legal costs; but I'm avoiding repos\corporate sales if I can. I'm now in the middle of a private sale - the pace is much more luxurious, thank god.