Buying a flipped house?

snowqueen555

I've had an offer accepted on a top floor maisonette. I have come to find out through googling that it was bought and sold twice last year which is a bit worrying (land registry). So the current seller just bought it to flip it.

2024-07-24 £115,000
2024-03-08 £113,800

For it to have sold so cheaply, and twice tells me maybe there is some major issue with it, and I'm not sure of the reason it had to be sold at auction.

My accepted offer is around twice that, and it is still a good price (Bristol). My alarm bells have gone now because I am see it listed last year at 3 three auction houses, and had some water damage from a leaky roof meaning the bedrooms have some water coming down the ceiling and walls. I am of course worried that it may have issues that a survey would not be able to pick up. They have had repairs done to the roof to stop the leaks.

The second issue is that it is a crisscross lease so the whole insurance and sharing of maintenance sounds like a headache because you need to split everything with the downstairs neighbour. Having spoken to them recently and pointed out some issues they have said it's fine etc, so will be difficult to arrange repairs with.

I am hesitant to walk away but I am wondering if I am just being too cautious, or whether this is warranted, and just worth walking away? I have been looking a long time so this property ticks a lot of boxes, just a few red flags, buying from someone who hasn't lived there and just may have patched things up cheaply.

Herzlos

I'd get a thorough inspection done before proceeding anyway, and there's no harm in asking if they've got any proof that the repairs were done properly. 

If it's been repaired properly and there's no lasting damage then presumably it's worth the new price.

ReadySteadyPop

snowqueen555 said:

I've had an offer accepted on a top floor maisonette. I have come to find out through googling that it was bought and sold twice last year which is a bit worrying (land registry). So the current seller just bought it to flip it.

2024-07-24 £115,000
2024-03-08 £113,800

For it to have sold so cheaply, and twice tells me maybe there is some major issue with it, and I'm not sure of the reason it had to be sold at auction.

My accepted offer is around twice that, and it is still a good price (Bristol). My alarm bells have gone now because I am see it listed last year at 3 three auction houses, and had some water damage from a leaky roof meaning the bedrooms have some water coming down the ceiling and walls. I am of course worried that it may have issues that a survey would not be able to pick up. They have had repairs done to the roof to stop the leaks.

The second issue is that it is a crisscross lease so the whole insurance and sharing of maintenance sounds like a headache because you need to split everything with the downstairs neighbour. Having spoken to them recently and pointed out some issues they have said it's fine etc, so will be difficult to arrange repairs with.

I am hesitant to walk away but I am wondering if I am just being too cautious, or whether this is warranted, and just worth walking away? I have been looking a long time so this property ticks a lot of boxes, just a few red flags, buying from someone who hasn't lived there and just may have patched things up cheaply.

Run away, run fast.

david29dpo

Flipping property is nothing to worry about but auction property would be for me.
Even more of a worry would be the lease
Buy a freehold if poss

Bigphil1474

In other words:-

Somebody has bought a knackered old house at auction, quite cheap cos it needs a lot of work doing.
Somebody has fixed up the house so it is now in okay/good/excellent condition and is selling it on at a higher price/local market price as it is now worth a lot more.

Seems perfectly normal to me. The question is , as always, were the repairs done properly or did they do a cosmetic bodge job to make a quick buck. Do your due diligence checks.

ciderboy2009

Whereabouts in Bristol is it? 

Those prices (even the double that you've offered) seem remarkably cheap for most areas.

If you go ahead then make sure that you let the surveyor know what you've discovered.

Smalltownhypocrite

De-ja-vu... are you the child of the person that posted that their child just had an offer this week accepted on a top floor good value flat that looked 'pristine' and the survey now shows 'soaking' wet walls and that the management has know for years about the roof leek and refused to fix it?

The advice will still be the same... RUN.

Its one thing if you where buying a freehold house and had control of the buildings and repairs but don't pay massive amounts to move into a slumlord hole you cannot fix.

pinkshoes

So perhaps someone bought it at auction, realised it needed way too much qork so sold it on again 4 months laterm

Then the next buyer has fixed all the  problems hence the higher price in line with the market?

HelpfulLittleHelper

pinkshoes said:

So perhaps someone bought it at auction, realised it needed way too much qork so sold it on again 4 months laterm

Then the next buyer has fixed all the  problems hence the higher price in line with the market?

Have they fixed it all or have they patched/covered it up? Every flipper I see has been done to the cheapest possible standards with the prettiest possible look to hide the fact it will fall apart in a year. 

pinkshoes

HelpfulLittleHelper said:

pinkshoes said:

So perhaps someone bought it at auction, realised it needed way too much qork so sold it on again 4 months laterm

Then the next buyer has fixed all the  problems hence the higher price in line with the market?

Have they fixed it all or have they patched/covered it up? Every flipper I see has been done to the cheapest possible standards with the prettiest possible look to hide the fact it will fall apart in a year. 

I'm well aware that happens. A woman did it with my grandparents house. Painted it white, put a new boiler in and tried to sell it on 3 months later for £200k more. Buyers didn't fall for it and the surveys highlighted the many many problems!

The OP is getting a survey and needs to take a very thorough look to see what has been done!

PixelPound

Bigphil1474 said:

In other words:-

Somebody has bought a knackered old house at auction, quite cheap cos it needs a lot of work doing.
Somebody has fixed up the house so it is now in okay/good/excellent condition and is selling it on at a higher price/local market price as it is now worth a lot more.

Seems perfectly normal to me. The question is , as always, were the repairs done properly or did they do a cosmetic bodge job to make a quick buck. Do your due diligence checks.

Sold twice so,

someone bought it at auction as it needed a lot of work doing on it, decided it was too much so sold it cheaply for a quick sale a few month later for just over what they paid.

The second buyer selling for a bigger profit after "doing it up"

Now it all depends on whether they've completely fixed the issues so they are no longer a problem or merely masking it with a renovation. If you are serious, then you need to pay for a proper surveyors report, preferably find a surveyor who doesn't mind you being their as they will point out the limitations of their checks and anything you may want to investigate further.

If the second buyer has fully addressed all the problems and they are no longer an issue, then there isn't a problem with it having two cheap sales before. Indeed if you seem cautious, query this with the seller - after all they may be willing to explain what they have addressed and how the increased price is justified by the work they've put in fixing all the issues.

The lease issue could be a bigger problem, IMO. If the downstairs neighbour doesn't see issues you do, then would you be okay not addressing them as it could be difficult to get them to agree. Also cross insurance/maintenance. Does that mean you have no choice over the insurer and would this shackle you to their  year on year price increases.