Buying a repossesion

[SA Gold]

Hi.
Looked at a property being advertised with a local agent that had an open day opposed to the usual making an appointment debacle.
The property has been repossesed and the agent is selling on behalf of "a corporate client - a bank".
I've found a few articles here and there stating banks often pass houses to an agent to see what they can do before going to auction.

Ive found the house on mouseprice.com so can see what was paid for it, but just wondered if anyone knows:

* If they are likely to take offers like a traditional sale
* If there is anything else that should be taken in to account - that wouldn't be required in a sale by a vendor.
* Any other tips appreciated!

Cheers!

[carol01]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Hi.
Looked at a property being advertised with a local agent that had an open day opposed to the usual making an appointment debacle.
The property has been repossesed and the agent is selling on behalf of "a corporate client - a bank".
I've found a few articles here and there stating banks often pass houses to an agent to see what they can do before going to auction.

Ive found the house on mouseprice.com so can see what was paid for it, but just wondered if anyone knows:

* If they are likely to take offers like a traditional sale
* If there is anything else that should be taken in to account - that wouldn't be required in a sale by a vendor.
* Any other tips appreciated!

Cheers!

hi i bought the house i'm in now which was a repo yes they took an offer from me.
only down side i had to complete within 28 days of the vendor accepting.
so it was kinda a rush for land regs but had a good solicitor so he did get everything sorted
first couple of years did have a lot of different dca's ref acccounts from previous tenants which after 12 years i still get
but other than that had no problems

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

hi i bought the house i'm in now which was a repo yes they took an offer from me.
only down side i had to complete within 28 days of the vendor accepting.
so it was kinda a rush for land regs but had a good solicitor so he did get everything sorted
first couple of years did have a lot of different dca's ref acccounts from previous tenants which after 12 years i still get
but other than that had no problems

Hiya,
Many thanks for this.
Interested to hear the 28 days bit. I got the impression by the open day it was all rush, rush. The agent selling it said they have solicitors who will push all this through (assuming they accept the offer) quickly, so will let you know.
May be worth getting a "not at this address" stamp then?!

[PlanB]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Hi.
The property has been repossesed and the agent is selling on behalf of "a corporate client - a bank".
I've found a few articles here and there stating banks often pass houses to an agent to see what they can do before going to auction.

. . . but just wondered if anyone knows:

* If they are likely to take offers like a traditional sale
* If there is anything else that should be taken in to account - that wouldn't be required in a sale by a vendor.
* Any other tips appreciated!

Banks pass houses to agents to sell because they're bound by regulations which say they must get the best price possible and not bung it into auction. A lender was recently forced by the FOS to pay compensation to a homeowner when they failed to get the best price

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...ears.html#cs11

The offer process is no different from buying any other property but the reason for the hurry is because the poor ex-owner is still liable for all mortgage payments which would have been due under the terms of their loan until someone else buys it and even then they can be pursued for 12 years until they pay up if the property is in negative equity

The only problem for me would be that behind every repossession is the sad story of someone who lost their property through debt and I wouldn't want to take advantage of someone else's misfortune There are over 3,000 repossessions every month at the moment

I was glad to see this man take a lender to court for underselling his property

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/m...-taxpayer.html

[LooLoo]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Some of you know Mr Loo is an estate agent (and i am sitting here working in estate agents - just on weekends)

We havent had a repo on the market for a while - but i can assure you that the house is valued at market value - sometimes you wil find with repos they are in a bad way - the owner agrived at having the house taken off them - do cause damage - so then of course this is reflected in the price.

The banks normally want a quick sale - so will be looking more at cash or first time buyers without chains - but don't be put off - as obv if there is only one person interested in the property who does have property to sell they will give you a chance.

If they are holding an open day - you might well find that there will be more than one offer - if this is case you will be asked by the agent to put forward your best and final offer by a certain date - then all offers are put to the client to make a decision - you will need to put along with your offer, your situation whether your mortgage is agreed in principal and as much info as poss so you stand a chance.

The bank will normally have a contract with the agent for say 6 weeks and if it does not sell in that time then of course (as with any property) it may well go into acution.

We have recently sold a couple of properties for the OR from a guy who went BR and both properties sold with minimum fuss and for good prices.

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

hi,
Sorry for the slow reply - the email didn't come through to notify me the thread had been updated.
Anyhow, many thanks for the advice.

They rejected the offer we made - 4K short of the price advertised. The agent advised to wait until Thursday when the property has been in the paper etc.
Although the asking price is the very limit we would offer, it will still remain on the market until the contracts are exchanged so think we need to sleep on it for a few nights and go from there.

Thanks for all the pointers; any other tips greatly appreciated!


Edit: Actually one thing i would love to know if they can use more than one agent to advertise - i guess so, but just curious!

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Moving the thread would not affect subscriptions, as you subscribe to the the thread which retains the same (thread/post) number at all times.

I suspect you forgot to add a subscription when you created the thread...

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

FP - Thanks for clarification, one would assume they would only pay the one agent to advertise considering they want to salvage everything they can from it.

FP and Nidd - I was subscribed to the thread and it did come through, but didn't spot it - quite a few i am subscribed to were replied to today!

[PlanB]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Edit: Actually one thing i would love to know if they can use more than one agent to advertise - i guess so, but just curious!

There's a code of practice for lenders when selling repossessions which obliges them to use estate agents and advertise in a newspaper. This demonstrates that they have at least carried out proper marketing in an attempt to get the best price possible

Maybe this is why the agent wants to wait until the ad comes out on Thursday before finally accepting or rejecting your offer so they can't be accused of any funny business. Either that or the agent is saving it for one of his developer contacts who is paying him a backhander in a brown envelope to acquire the repo at a knockdown price. That happens a lot

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

There's a code of practice for lenders when selling repossessions which obliges them to use estate agents and advertise in a newspaper. This demonstrates that they have at least carried out proper marketing in an attempt to get the best price possible

Maybe this is why the agent wants to wait until the ad comes out on Thursday before finally accepting or rejecting your offer so they can't be accused of any funny business. Either that or the agent is saving it for one of his developer contacts who is paying him a backhander in a brown envelope to acquire the repo at a knockdown price. That happens a lot

That's interesting to know that they have to advertise in the paper too.

Yeah, although wouldn't we be offering a higher price than a builder/developer would be prepared to pay? We want a home, rather than a profit. Any way we would know if they have actually put forward our offer? I got the owners details from the land registry but not sure if they would answer to Joe Public and also it would show a lack of trust on our behalf and the agent i guess.

Thanks for your help!

[SXGuy]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Builders offers arnt always set in stone so dont worry about that too much.

A lot of builders buy houses with money they obtain through a sale of another property or housing development etc.

Sometimes when they make an offer, they havent actually got the funds yet, can take months for the whole process to go through.

So if you are seen to be in a position where the sale could move quicker, they could decide your the best option, even if the builders offer is higher.

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Builders offers arnt always set in stone so dont worry about that too much.

A lot of builders buy houses with money they obtain through a sale of another property or housing development etc.

Sometimes when they make an offer, they havent actually got the funds yet, can take months for the whole process to go through.

So if you are seen to be in a position where the sale could move quicker, they could decide your the best option, even if the builders offer is higher.

That's a very good point, thanks for raising it! Speed seems to be of the essence with this, so guess a higher bid where funds aren't on the table so to speak doesn't count i guess.

Just a thought, but does anyone know how, or if, i would know if my offer has been put forward? Sounds skeptical, but the agent will be on a percentage fee for final sale i guess?
Also, i was told the offer was declined. So, i assume they will expect a higher offer to be put forward and not "oh go on then" at a later date.

Thanks again!

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Thanks FP - all valid points
Fingers crossed - i'll keep you all posted.

[LooLoo]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Hi Missy

sorry been up to my eyes at work - thanks for your message.

All I can tell you is my expereince from my partners estate agent.... a local independent set up.

Firstly all offers - no matter what they are - have to be put forward to the vendor - and then it is their choice.

Most of our property is adversties on our own webstite and right move - we still do have pages in local papers and a local magazine - but you find by the time the property gets in there it is all ready under offer.

You will normally find that the agent will have agreed the % with the bank or lender - and it would make no sense for the agent not to have put your offer forward.

Also you do tend to find in this day and age there is not huge margins for devlopers or builders to take on projects.

I agree with FP - if the get no other offers they may well come back - are you in a position of offering higher or is that your final offer?

Also with our agents we are very ethical and once an offer has been made and accepted we take it off the market for a period of time - however please note that some vendors and agents do like to keep marketing the property up until exchange............

Please ask away any more questions and I will happy to tell you what i think and i can alway run things past Mr Loo for you - however you must remember that different agents and different companies work in very different ways!!

Good luck

x

[SA Gold]

Re: Buying a repossesion

Hi LooLoo,
Many thanks for your post with great advice

I feel the agent has been open and honest about the way these things work. They said we are in a good position with the mortgage in place, proof of heavy deposit and nothing to sell.
They think our offer was rejected because its just come on the market and as already pointed out; the vendor must advertise at a reasonable level to ensure they accept the best offer, opposed to the first one.

They did say its not a builders house because there isn't enough profit margin in it and if it were, they often don't have the money on the table.
They also described two people i spotted on the day who said they are investors and know they can pay in cash but they want to let and thought it was closer to the city than it actually is, so haven't made any contact on it.

They advised to sit on it and wait which is all we can do!

Thanks again!

There is another property we are interested in so just worried that we could have neither as a result of waiting for one!