buying a re-possessed house

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justAl

New Member
Hi all, does any body know of any advantages / disadvantages of buying a re-possessd house? The obvious advantage in the house I'm looking at is it is cheap but needs work. Does the purchase work in a different way to the norm for example. Any help appreciated. Thanks, jA
 

ChrisKH

Guru
Location
Essex
Not that I'm aware. House is now the property of the bank and they will want to sell it quick. The few houses I have been after in the same situation were sold on a sealed bid basis. You put your bid in and the highest won.
 

Brains

Legendary Member
Location
Greenwich
Purchase should be fairly smooth, in that your are dealing with one end of the chain (the bank) and as they are a professional outfit they just want it off their hands.
It would really help if you get the name/number of the person in the bank head office who is dealing with the sale to ensure stuff is done.

The problems can start after the sale in that the property will probably be on the blacklist of every credit agency, and every time you apply for any form of credit (even buying a TV at Comet) you get the address being flagged up. You are also likely to get knocks on the door from large ex rugby players looking for the previous occupants.

You may also find that you get an entire new front door, locks, frame and surround supplied by the local boys in blue when they stove the entire thing in at 5am one Saturday morning looking for the previous occupant.

On a slightly more serious note, how much renovation is required ? Because somewhere that has had the bathroom and kitchen stripped out and all the internal doors removed by the departing party, you can also find out later have also removed all the copper piping under the floor, removed meters of wire in the walls and half sawn through floor and roof joists. All repairable, but you need to go in with very open eyes, pay for the best building survey you can afford, so that if stuff like that is missed by the surveyor you get paid for the mistake (or more the point, they pick up the tab for the first month of the builders work and materials, thank very much)
 

rh100

Well-Known Member
Brains said:
Purchase should be fairly smooth, in that your are dealing with one end of the chain (the bank) and as they are a professional outfit they just want it off their hands.
It would really help if you get the name/number of the person in the bank head office who is dealing with the sale to ensure stuff is done.

The problems can start after the sale in that the property will probably be on the blacklist of every credit agency, and every time you apply for any form of credit (even buying a TV at Comet) you get the address being flagged up. You are also likely to get knocks on the door from large ex rugby players looking for the previous occupants.

You may also find that you get an entire new front door, locks, frame and surround supplied by the local boys in blue when they stove the entire thing in at 5am one Saturday morning looking for the previous occupant.

On a slightly more serious note, how much renovation is required ? Because somewhere that has had the bathroom and kitchen stripped out and all the internal doors removed by the departing party, you can also find out later have also removed all the copper piping under the floor, removed meters of wire in the walls and half sawn through floor and roof joists. All repairable, but you need to go in with very open eyes, pay for the best building survey you can afford, so that if stuff like that is missed by the surveyor you get paid for the mistake (or more the point, they pick up the tab for the first month of the builders work and materials, thank very much)

So having a house repo'd is an indicator of being a criminal worthy of being raided?
 
OP
OP
J

justAl

New Member
Hmmmmmm, thanks Brains!!! I was aware of the blacklisting thing but pipes & wires etc is a good tip.
 

Debian

New Member
Location
West Midlands
If no-one agreed to buy a repossessed property then maybe the banks would learn not to be so trigger-happy, to lend in a proper fashion in the first place and to actually help someone who is in genuine difficulty.
 
Uncle Mort said:
But not all of these happen through reckless lending. One acquaintance of mine had his home repossessed. He wasn't a bad risk, but a series of really unfortunate events beyond his control meant he lost it. It could happen to me and I'm a financial control freak.

Yeah, house next door to us was re-possessed. Illness and misfortune were the reasons, in fact a grimly sad tale, one that is not as far away from as many of us as we would like to hope it was.
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
Crackle said:
Yeah, house next door to us was re-possessed. Illness and misfortune were the reasons, in fact a grimly sad tale, one that is not as far away from as many of us as we would like to hope it was.

Grimly sad indeed and not always the most financially sound decision. Especially if rehousing a family can result in rent benefits that are higher than the mortgage maintenance would have been.
 

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
Also when buying a reposessed property you may not get precontract enquiries answered and therefore may not know if you are connected to mains sewers or if utilities etc are connected.
 

Debian

New Member
Location
West Midlands
Uncle Mort said:
But not all of these happen through reckless lending. One acquaintance of mine had his home repossessed. He wasn't a bad risk, but a series of really unfortunate events beyond his control meant he lost it. It could happen to me and I'm a financial control freak.

Crackle said:
Yeah, house next door to us was re-possessed. Illness and misfortune were the reasons, in fact a grimly sad tale, one that is not as far away from as many of us as we would like to hope it was.

MacB said:
Grimly sad indeed and not always the most financially sound decision. Especially if rehousing a family can result in rent benefits that are higher than the mortgage maintenance would have been.

This is what I mean by helping borrowers who fall into debt through no fault of their own. Banks, umbrellas and rain spring to mind.

The Gov is quite happy to pour billions into the banking system but not into helping those caught out by it.
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
Debian said:
This is what I mean by helping borrowers who fall into debt through no fault of their own. Banks, umbrellas and rain spring to mind.

The Gov is quite happy to pour billions into the banking system but not into helping those caught out by it.


but they do, they just need the individual to hit rock bottom first, then they can sign them up for all of the self help on offer. We should all recognise that we don't matter enough and allowing us to fail is perfectly acceptable. The banks are important, though explanations why vary, and therefore cannot fail.
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
my daughters bought a flat that had been repo'd. The answer to the question is that the bank has a duty to realise as much as they possibly can. So they usually go out to three estate agents, and go with the estate agent that is confident of getting the most. Allegedly. Actually they punt it to three mates who then look over each other's shoulders and somehow it goes for a knock-down price. Uncle Mort has a point - they're unlikely to take an offer that's much below the asking price because they have to be seen to be doing the right thing - but, if memory serves, the girls offered almost the asking price which was modest.

H71 may well be right - we were in a position to make our own enquiries.
 

biggs682

Touch it up and ride it
Location
Northamptonshire
looked at one a few years back and i couldnt believe how much stuff the previous people had either ripped out or broken just for the sake of it , right down to the stair treads , and urinating all over the floor boards etc etc
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Hacienda71 said:
Also when buying a reposessed property you may not get precontract enquiries answered and therefore may not know if you are connected to mains sewers or if utilities etc are connected.
Even a sale by a mortgagee in possession has to have a HIP, which must include a local authority search and drainage search.

Not so with pre-contract enquiries, which it is standard for a MiP not to answer. Don't assume that means there is nothing adverse.

Be very aware that people who have their houses repossessed generally run up other debts first. Not all of those are over-reached by a sale by MiP, so make sure you get the conveyancing done by someone who knows what they are doing.
 
we brought our current house after repossession we definately had all locks changed but would do that whatever house we had. we have had no problems other than lots of letters after debts but we just return them with a note attatched explaining the situation .
 
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