Buying a repossessed house

TheMoneyMan

OMG what a drama! From an original asking price of £187,500 we finally exchanged and completed today and I ended up paying £207,000! They decided to sell to us even though some1 offered 210,000 but had to wait for a mortgage. So pleased it's all over.

Still a good buy as the previous owner purchased it for £350,000

Would never buy a repo again.

karenthemummy79

Really glad you got the house!!! :j Was wondering how you were getting on!!

What a nightmare having to pay that much extra when you were SOOO close to completion!!!! Sounds like it is still a good buy though so well done!!!

We exchanged contracts on Monday so it is all systems go now getting the work done that needs to be done before completion.

johnson293

We are still in the process of buying a vacant repossessed house (didn't specifically target a repo, just found out when we went to view) - but, not at the kind of figures mentioned above though - we were accepted at £100k.

We have our mortgage agreed, and the survey was carried out yesterday, and as long as that was fine, we were told (by the mortage adviser) we'd go straight to offer. I paid for solicitors searches to start early last week, so hopefully they are (almost) done as well.

Yesterday was 21 days since we had our offer accepted, and everything seems to have gone ok so far (touch wood), but I am bracing myself for the possibility of a late call to say they've had a higher offer - in which case we would have to sit tight and try and call their bluff, as we can't go any higher than we offered.

However, the house was on the market a while, and lowered a few times before we went in with our offer(s), so hopefully it just hasn't generated the interest.

The buyers for our current house have their formal mortgage offer now, so there haven't been many hold ups on their side either.

I'll post back if/when we get to exchange, which I'm hoping might be within the next 7 days or so.

karenthemummy79

Good luck Johnson!!! Glad that you have braced yourself for a higher offer coming in at the last minute because it definately seems to be a regular thing with these repo's!! I exchanged after lots of heartache on Monday.

Let us know how you get on!

TheMoneyMan

karenthemummy79 wrote: »

Really glad you got the house!!! :j Was wondering how you were getting on!!

What a nightmare having to pay that much extra when you were SOOO close to completion!!!! Sounds like it is still a good buy though so well done!!!

We exchanged contracts on Monday so it is all systems go now getting the work done that needs to be done before completion.

Yes it's definitely a good buy for the size of the house. Thank god you exchanged. At least the worry of being gazumped can go away! Hope it all goes well.

Johnson, fingers crossed but likewise as karen says be prepared for a 'higher offer' as they seem to turn up at the time of exchange. Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

luvinlaffin

been trying to purchase repo house, we offered over the asking price my bid is £8000 over home report valuation £2000 over asking price! my offer was refused. The EA is writing a letter to the lenders to recommend us as we are ready to move and can do in 3 weeks , any advice and does it look promising for us, thankyou

johnson293

Well to coin a phrase, it's 'squeeky bum time' just now!

Just had the estate agent on the phone who I'm buying the repo from - thought it was gonna be the increased offer call, but they were asking for an update on progress as its the 28 day deadline tomorrow, though they thought it was today.

Anyway, been in touch with my solicitor and he is ready to proceed with my purchase, and is just waiting to hear back from my buyers solicitors, to see if they are ready to proceed - last I heard they had their formal mortgage offer, and their solicitor had been sent the draft contract.

So, hopefully we may be in a position to exchange in the next day or two.

Will post back again when I know whats happening..... :cool:

GDB2222

TheMoneyMan wrote: »

OMG what a drama! From an original asking price of £187,500 we finally exchanged and completed today and I ended up paying £207,000! They decided to sell to us even though some1 offered 210,000 but had to wait for a mortgage. So pleased it's all over.

Still a good buy as the previous owner purchased it for £350,000

Would never buy a repo again.

Why wouldn't you buy a repo again, despite the hassle? You say it's a good buy, and it's 41% off what the previous people paid (although maybe they had some incentive payments stuck in there?).

Most repos sell at very approximately 5%-10% below market value. On a £200k house, that's a saving of £10k-20k. Surely, that's worth some hassle?

johnson293

Well, another update of sorts...

Our buyer has been away on business, and only returned yesterday (though he was due last week) - while he and his solicitor have the formal mortgage offer, the buyer hadn't formally instructed his solicitor - so he is doing that today - returning all signed paperwork so his solicitor can start doing searches, etc.

So while my solicitor is ready to go with regard to my purchase, we are now faced with what looks like at least another week before the buyers solicitor is in a position to proceed.

I am told the vendors for the repossession property we are buying will be ok with this depsite the 28 day exchange deadline being today, as everything is in place and I am ready go with the delay is out of my hands - but all the time, it just extends the chance of someone potentially coming in with a higher offer.

Its so frustrating, as I instructed my solicitor to proceed by phone, and paid an advance fee for the searches by card over the phone - so why couldn't my buyer have done the same, so that everything was in place/almost done on his return from business.

I hate having to wait for other people... I'm so impatient!!

GDB2222

I wonder if you are being set up for a gazunder?