Empty houses

anoneemouse

I notice these days that there are a substantial number of properties where the owner has clearly left (ie no furniture, etc). In the case of obvious OAP bungalows - I presume they've died or gone into a home.

However - there are ones "modern" enough in appearance/style that the previous owner isnt obviously an old person.

Any thoughts on this? Maybe a few are repossessions - but some of these houses look reasonably okay. Thus, I am assuming that they aren't. I imagine vendors have to say somewhere if the house is a repossession or put them up for sale on specialist "repossession websites" (rather than ordinary estate agent lists).

Mrs_Arcanum

Often the only way to get £0 council tax. Some will only discount empty unfurnished places. Alternatively they could just be service personnel properties.

slkh

Just because their empty does not mean there is anything wrong with them! It maybe that the owner's have moved to another area due to employment or be nearer family, it could also be that the property has been rented out in the past and the owner has decided to sell it. Personally buying an empty property would not put me off more than buying one that's still occupied. When it's empty you can see it for what it is and the room size's clearly! If you make sure all survey's are completed and are fine then there's no problem.

go_cat

It could be people have relocated / emigrated already
They could have got fed up in waiting for the house to sell and moved out into new home
It could be a seperation meaning the house has to be sold
it could be repossesion

It could be any number of reasons

megzmam

the house we're buying is un-occupied and i'm pretty sure the couple moved out into a bungelow for medical reasons. i found it easier being empty when looking round cos you can appreciate the size of the rooms better and can try to imagine where your furniture will go and if it will fit

Idiophreak

anoneemouse wrote: »

Maybe a few are repossessions - but some of these houses look reasonably okay. Thus, I am assuming that they aren't.

This is an interesting chain of thought. Say I lost my job in the recession and could no longer service the mortgage. The bank were going to repossess my property. Would I automatically go crazy in the head? Start smearing the walls in my own excrement, smashing the windows, setting fire to the garden?

I'd have thought it was quite possible to have a repossessed house look "reasonably OK"...

tyllwyd

anoneemouse wrote: »

... I imagine vendors have to say somewhere if the house is a repossession or put them up for sale on specialist "repossession websites" (rather than ordinary estate agent lists).

I don't think that the listing for sale has to specify that the house is a repossession, and they are advertised alongside other properties by high street estate agents, so it isn't necessarily immediately obvious. But there are often clues, particularly if the only photos are of the outside of the house.

ilikewatch

My house is probably just like one of the ones you've described, - in good condition, having been renovated and decorated to a high standard.
I've long ago moved in with my partner in another town, but the house is in huge negative equity and my mortgage provider won't give me permission to rent it out, so it just sits empty - hopefully in a few years time I will be able to sell it for enough to pay the mortgage, but until then it will sit there empty.

mufi

If it's stuffed full of (sometimes badly done) laminate floors/contemporary bathrooms/kitchens et al, could be a property developer.

hazyjo

Hubby's flat sat empty for ages after he moved in with me. Viewed a couple of empty houses too - each time, it was empty as someone was in a relationship and living elsewhere.

Jx

dizziblonde

We had two of these in our street until fairly recently. One had been bought by a couple who fancied a quick Homes under the Hammer job and pocketing huge wadges of cash and selling on... market crashed, and they inconveniently only had money to do laminate floors and the lounge and then magnolia the rest leaving a diabolically small kitchen, at least one rotten window etc etc... you get the idea - surprisingly it wasn't selling. Finally shifted late Summer having stood empty for a good couple of years. We actually rented next to it and had seen the "work" going into the "extensive rennovations" and weren't impressed - think the couple who'd bought it originally didn't quite get their property development dreams come true on that one!

The other one standing empty we know the full story behind (cos we ended up buying it after renting down the street). Guy (with wodges of cash) had bought it for his daughter to live in while at uni, daughter had moved on for the bright lights of London and he'd bought her a flat down there, leaving this one standing empty on the market - meant we could view it with a fully clean slate (bare white walls even), see exactly what went where (although having moved from an almost identical house we kind of had an idea what would fit) and not have anyone breathing down our necks... the neighbour had been keeping an eye on the place and doing odd jobs of maintenance/keeping the heating ticking over while it just stood on the market - and the agent hadn't been making much of an effort marketing the place, it's only that we knew full-well the potential of the house and how good the street was in terms of community that made us see past that and make an offer.

The one I thought indicated a repo (from stuff on here) was things like "Do Not Use" tape over the toilet etc as the utilities are disconnected?