Empty House

Maximusk1

I was wondering whether someone can give me some advice.


We are the typical can't afford to get a deposit together as we pay rent but can afford mortgage repayments, married couple and have a small baby.

We had an elderly neighbour next door that passed away over 2 months ago. Since then, no one has come to sort the house out.

We know from the other neighbour that the elderly woman has a older brother in another part of the country who is older than she was and disabled.

Apologies for sounding callus but my husband and I were trying to figure a way in which we could maybe purchase the house 'off market'. Maybe if we offered to clear the house for the brother etc for a much cheaper value. The houses are worth around 220-250k.

I spoke to my other neighbour and asked for the solicitors contact number but they were clearly not happy that I had asked and haven't given so so I would count that out. We just wanted to find out whether it would be given to another family member or going to be put up for sale.

Any advice or experience would be great. We are clinging to any hope that one day we can get on the housing ladder so we are not at the mercy of landlords deciding they want to put the rent up or reclaim their house.

Thank you

lisyloo

Well one way is to put a note through the door expressing your interest, sooner or later someone will pick up the post.

Genuine ways to get a discount are to do a private sale so avoid estate agents fees. The other way is to rake the house exactly in it's current condition so they don't have to clear it or do any work to it.
That's not going to get a you more than a couple of % off at most though.

If the executors are solicitors or a bank then they will have an obligation to get a decent price.

The only way you'll get a significant discount is if the beneficiaries really can't be bothered with any hassles (which is possible if they are elderly) and you offer to take it as is so the don't have to lift a finger.
This might work well for them, so I'd put a letter through the door expressing interest in buying the property as is. An alternative if you have the time is to ring round local solicitors. I did that once and got lucky on the first call.

ukcarper

Surely even if you can get a discount you would still need a deposit as you won't be able to get a 100% mortgage

Maximusk1

Thanks so much. I was thinking that because the brother is in his late 80's and disabled. I would offer to maybe package/ sell his sisters belongings on his behalf obviously giving him the proceedings.

I would still need a mortgage but at a lesser cost.

CLAPTON

Maximusk1 wrote: »

Thanks so much. I was thinking that because the brother is in his late 80's and disabled. I would offer to maybe package/ sell his sisters belongings on his behalf obviously giving him the proceedings.

I would still need a mortgage but at a lesser cost.

you say you can afford a mortgage but don't have a deposit.

even if you buy the house below market price, the lender will still require you to have a deposit as a percentage of the actual sale price.

jfh7gwa

lisyloo wrote: »

If the executors are solicitors or a bank then they will have an obligation to get a decent price.

All executors have this obligation. Whether it's a person named as the executor or a solicitor/etc fulfilling the role, they ultimately need to ensure they distribute the estate of the person who made the will correctly. And if there are beneficiaries involved who want the house sold (as opposed to just taking it to live in), offering convenience to clear it out should really only knock off somewhere around market rates for doing clear out, tidy up and posting on... not many thousand £££s off the asking price as a short cut. OP could only play on the convenience and "taking the stress out of the situation" really.

And then there's the additional, big issue of the 100% mortgage the OP would need to pull this scheme off, as has been mentioned.

Maximusk1

Very useful info thank you!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I bought my house as a probate sale, and got a couple of grand off asking price for taking it as seen (ie still half full of old lady junk with ancient decor and overgrown garden). The beneficiaries lived some way away and presumably thought this would be the least hassle. It can't hurt to post a letter inquiring about a potential purchase, but note that you only have the neighbour's word for the inheritance situation. There may well be other relatives, and the elderly brother may have someone with Power of Attorney looking after him.

What about the Help to Buy scheme if you're struggling with a deposit?

LEJC

I have replied to your identical posting on the house buying thread....


Ideally you should perhaps only be posting on one sub board, I'm sorry it appears you may have not got the responses you felt reflected your query on the house buying thread...but that was perhaps the better place to submit your query rather than this thread potentially