Would you buy a repossessed property?

Milky_Mocha

Doozergirl wrote:

It's absolutely true. Someone has only today posted up an entire list of new build properties that have dropped in value and I know can find many examples in my part of the world. If there is enough new build springing up, the second hand stuff depreciates until the competition disapears.

In fact, there are developments in Birmingham city centre that aren't even marketing subsequent phases at as much as the earlier ones. Now that's really rubbing people's noses in it.

I think the new builds that are hyped up to make people believe they are the trendiest/higher end properties are the ones that drop the quickest in value. A good example IMO is Ingress Park in Greenhithe - I feel sorry for those who paid those prices initially. I did a search on nethouseprices recently on one of the houses up for sale there and it is now on the market at about 8k less than what was paid for it in 2004. Also it has had two previous offers rescinded, I mean withdrawn. i don't know why but I'll bet they realised the property was overpriced.

ukbondraider

I know Greenhithe well and I know Ingress Park as well as the newer Waterstone Park having viewed the properties there. I didnt buy as I too thought the prices being asked were high. However, because only 1 of the hundreds of houses in the area has sold for less than the original price, this isnt an indication that this is the norm. In fact for areas such as Greenhithe it is far from it as I would have bought at Ingress park or Waterstone park had this been the case. Houses there are now £30-50K more expensive following the completion of the second phase.

I cant however comment for Birmingham.

desperadoV2

ukbondraider wrote:

Sorry you are confusing me. Are the previous owners the first owners i.e they bought it from developers (which I assumed from your post)? If so then it will be the benchmark price. If the last owners were not the first owners but bought of someone else then yes it may be overpriced at £217K.

Yes, the previous owners were the first owners. They bought it from the developers but I think they may have bought it using 50-50 home sharing scheme but not so sure.

I'm just assuming this because the property was bought for 217K in 2004 and nobody would have got mortgage approved at the first place for 217K if they are unable to keep up with mortgage repayments, will they?

desperadoV2

Does anyone know what happens if someone doesn't keep up with payments on 50-50 home sharing property? I guess it will be repossessed but will the property be repossessed by the Bank/Building society who offered 50% mortgage to the person/family or the remaining 50% share owner (ie. government housing association)?

space_rider

I tried to buy repo but my buyer messed me about so i lost it. I offered low but they wouldn`t accept anything less than asking price. Eventually it went to auction as I couldn`t complete. the person who bought it at auction offered to let me have it at the price I was originally going to buy it for, he must have done well out of it. Had the bank waited 2 more weeks for me they would have got a higher price. Incidentally people who had it reposessed bought it at £20,000 more than I was going to buy it for. In the meantime I found another house around the corner which I paid 40,000 less than the vendors paid . That`s assuming right move prices are correct. Both houses are 18 months old.

chant1l

Buying as repo can be a bit of a lottery as the EA has to market and show it right up to the last minute, you may get last second offers blowing your surveyed/fee paid offer out. If you are lucky the EA may be happy with the first best offer and may not market it very aggressively or be helpful with viewings etc. However when all is said and done it is still a house purchase procedure, which handled well can leave you in profit. For me the essential element of success is being able to complete fast, so having funds ready quickly is the key, frustratingly it is usually the vendors solicitor who will slow up the procedure.
Incidentally your offer of £180k will be presented to the vendors mortgagee and it will usually take two or three days to get a response, where ther is more than one interested party they may go back to take full and final offers before accepting one.
It would be worth your while assessing the relative value of local flats, if they have risen to £220k/£240k, getting it for £200k is very cheap, stealing it may not be an option.

chant1l

Incidentally this may well have been bought as an investment property, loads of 2 bed city centre flats were/are sold as such, and soon became very difficult to rent out as there was so much competition.

silvercar

desperadoV2 wrote:

Does anyone know what happens if someone doesn't keep up with payments on 50-50 home sharing property? I guess it will be repossessed but will the property be repossessed by the Bank/Building society who offered 50% mortgage to the person/family or the remaining 50% share owner (ie. government housing association)?

The housing association will still own their half. The bank/ BS will repossess their half. There will have been some legals signed enabling the bank to sell the property. Whether it still has to be sold as a shared ownership I don't know.

pricedout_1

It sounds like most of you are sourcing your repos before auction. Is this true and if so how do you come by them ? Also have you bought at auction ? I am a FTB looking into this as a way of avoiding the ridiculously overinflated prices of West London ...

Bustle

I'm in the middle of negotiating on what I believe is a repo apartment.

Never been lived in (concrete floors still) and agent keeps referring to a 'corporate client' who is selling another 3 apartments.

It was on at £154950 and the buyer had pulled out so I offered £140000 on Monday, refused, upped it to £147,000 today (I know big jump but I do like the property and it is virtually buying a new, unlived in property) and agent said that was closer to the figure. He mentioned that somewhere between 147000 and 150000 would be accepted.

Don't want to appear keen but am in a position to proceed quickly as is the vendor. Will see if agent calls tmw and will tell him to ask the vendor to reconsider my 147 offer or should I increase a bit more, say £147,500? It's just that i need to move quickly as rent contract expires end of Feb.