Buying a repossessed house

TheMoneyMan

We ended up increasing our offer over the asking price now as they had 2 higher offers and they now want to exchange on friday, it was supposed to be yesterday! I've now told them I do not have anymore money and if they want to proceed I am giving them exchange and completion within 1 week of making an offer! I don't think many other buyers would be in such a good position. So hopefully we should get it on friday!

karenthemummy79

Good luck Money Man!!! The other bidders retracted their bid today so we should be exchanging in the morning!!!! yey!!

zcacmxi

seems to be a similar theme throughout a repo, right the way up to exchange of contracts:

You make an offer, they say there are other higher offers.
You increase your offer, they say they reject and want more.
You say you don't know, they say somebody else offered a bit more and it was accepted, but then they pulled out..
You say no, they come back and say they accept your offer as you're more proceedable....

Then at exchange, they pretend they've got a higher offer again.... Like they want to start from the beginning again for the sake of a few thousand!

karenthemummy79

I totally agree - that is pretty much the pattern of ours

We offered and there were apparantly 2 other offers on the same day (been on the market for 12mths though!). Ours was the highest offer but it still went to final bids and they squeezed another 2500 out of us.

Just before exchange another offer was put it and then retracted so fingers crossed that is the end of the cycle for us and we will exchange tomorrow!

TheMoneyMan

Best of luck for tomorrow! It's the most stressful and draining process I have ever encountered! I would never buy a repo again!

KellsBells

AMD1981 wrote: »

Its normally 28 days to exchange.

It's 28 days if the buyer is getting a mortgage, 14 days if paying cash. This is because the cash money is already in the bank and mortgage vals/underwriters/mortgage offers don't have to be organised for a cash offer.

Though...some lenders insist on a 21 day exchange for mortgage, and some, where possible, 7 days for cash...

zcacmxi

Seems like the best strategy is to always call the selling companies bluff on a repo...

Evidence/experience has shown, even when they say there are others to encourage you to up offer, if you don't they come back some time later and accept the lower offer saying the other offer was not proceedable.... Seems to happen too often.

Similarly, they make the rules up on the duration permitted for exchange/completion. They seem to think they can get away with tightening the deadlines if there is no mortgage.... Whilst it may be feasible, seems like the cash buyer has the upper hand here and can request a longer time between exchange & completion to get things sorted... Or else they'll sell to the long list of other buyers that they keep imagining and mentioning all along!

TheMoneyMan

We were supposed to exchange and complete TODAY! (we had to wait for the 7 day period to end after the public notice had gone in the paper). The estate agent said 'Don't worry it will definitely exchange and complete today, will call you later when it's done'. 3:30pm came and they told me someone has complained to the bank to say that they've not been given a chance to see the property and they want a chance to make an offer.

The bank have decided not to exchange contracts even though this was promised after we increased our offer to £2k over the asking price, the fact we are cash buyers and can exchange and complete in the same week of making the offer seems to have no effect on them. They keep banging on about 'they have a legal obligation to get the best price for the property' which is very well and I respect that. However, they do not know when to draw a line and be happy with an offer over the asking price and be given cash within 7 days! I don't know what else to do.

We were made so many promises and we did everything we were told to do. Our solicitor was ready to exchange within 1 day of receiving the contracts. If they wanted more money they should have had a higher asking price or gone to sealed bids. They told us to do the survey take out the home insurance becuase they were 'definitely' selling to us and now we're being messed around.

The estate agents aren't bothered, the bank aren't bothered, I'm losing around a thousand pounds (survey and solicitor costs). Who can I complain to as this is not normal practice and I feel they are not treating me fairly?

I am going to put this all in writing and send it to the bank, Financial Ombudsman service, National Association of Estate Agents and Council of Mortgage Lenders. Someone should be able to help me.

Any suggestions?

karenthemummy79

I really feel for you!!! what a nightmare!!! you have done everything they asked of you and to be ready to exchange AND complete in 7 days is a miracle!!! they should be snapping your hands off!! I am doubtful that the other people are in as good a position as you are but what they are probably planning on doing is seeing if they put in an offer then go to final bids which will force you to increase your offer!! SO cruel!!

The same thing happened to us when we were due to exchange but the other bidders ended up withdrawing their offer thankfully due to all the probs with the house that we had discovered.

On the day they told us that the other bidders had backed out, I was going to give them a deadline of 2pm that day to let us know whether they wanted to proceed with our offer and exchange that day otherwise I was going to threaten to withdraw my offer altogether.

Good luck - It is horrible that it ALWAYS happens on a Friday aswell so you have all weekend to stress about it all!! I really hope you get it on Monday xx

alipops1986

Moneyman, i really feel for your situation.

Although, nowhere near completion myself i've had very frustrating dealings with a repo house, to the point where i'm walking away, luckily to no personal cost.

Last Saturday, i put in offer of 76k on a repo house. Waited until Monday for a decision, it was a no, they want nearer the 79,950 askin price. Dad said there was no more money. She rang back TWICE to find out in an hour.

However, then EA said because i am a cash buyer [with help from my dad!] she was going to recommend the offer again but wouldn't hear until Friday.

So, we sat tight until Friday. Friday came, and low and behold a higher offer had been made that morning. EA couldnt/wouldnt give us any details so we thought we'd wait to see it in the paper next week.

However, after all the stress and back n forth routine of this week i've pretty much given up on it. If we outbid this new person, they'll probably come back and outbid us. I've had a chat with my parents and i just don't think it's worth the aggrevation in the end!

I hope your situation sorts itself out, with a positive outcome for you! However, i do understand your frustration :eek: