Buying a house thats not for sale?

Smalltownhypocrite

caprikid1 said:

Based on what you say struggling to understand the prices.

I would suspect a knock on the door for a house purchased 3 years ago at auction is probably not going to sell at 20% more.

Do you have photos of it from auction ? It may have had in excess of £30K spent on it.

I'm confused by your post, I dont really understand what your trying to say. 

The prices are straight forward, it sold for the same price as the other houses on the street it was in no way a doer-uper, it looked like a very well kept family home.

It went on the market during lockdown, I'm assuming the family that had lived there years needed to move suddenly due to the world circumstances and it hit online auction due to lockdown effecting the market at the time (lack of viewing etc... since no one could leave their house).

I highly doubt it need 30k of working doing, our current rental needs that much doing and its pretty obvious.

Soot2006

It's worth a try for sure - if it's tenanted or if the current owner-occupier was thinking about moving anyway, then they might be interested.

Marvel1

I would definately consider it but add not reducing following survey.

ProDave

Slightly related, I did manage to buy a building plot that was not for sale.

I met the owner and asked if he would sell it.  He said no.  Then each time I met home over a period of time, I made it known I still wanted to buy it.  He still said not for sale.  Then eventually I had to buy somewhere so found another less good plot and had almost decided to buy that instead. So out of courtesy I phoned the guy to say I could wait no longer and was going to buy this different plot.  "Give me 24 hours" was his answer and next day he phoned back to say I could buy it.

theoretica

Why only ask about this one property?  You could put a note through every door of similar properties on the street.  (I would say no, on reflex to anyone who knocked - a note or at least a note first would give time to think.)

Murphybear

I wouldn’t be happy if a total stranger knocked on my door looking to buy my house.  If someone left a friendly note with all their details including whether they were a cash buyer etc I’d probably take it more seriously.  It might be worth mentioning that it would save them Estate Agent fees as 

MultiFuelBurner

I couldn't care less to be honest either a knock or a note.

Just goes to show the divide of opinion so not sure really what the OP is looking for as there is no definitive answer unless said house owner happens to be on this forum and is identifiable.

AlexMac

Theoretica makes a good point above…
but as regards writing to this (possibly tenanted or empty…?) house, have you checked who owns it; only a few quid from Land Registry?

PixelPound

Auctions are usually cash buyers. Shortly after we bought our house 8 years ago, a similar house down the street sold for just under £70K. The guy who bought it did improvements and sold it for £130K a year later. Spoke to him a few times as I'd walk past on most days and he said he was aiming for over £110K to make a profit.

Really does depend on who bought it and their intention. Owner-occupier, developer aiming to sell, property company aiming to add to rental stock.

Given the market at present, it might be worth a try, but how willing are you to increase your offer to sweeten the deal?

Jolinar

I did this when I was scouting for houses for my parents, I knew the property had been on the market a few months previously and had not sold.  I stuck a note through the door and they called a few days later to say they were interested.  In the end my parents bought it.  It's all about timing and if you don't ask you'll never know!