OT House Buying Advice

[cidersurfer]

Hello all

Looking for some advice on pricing a repossessed property.  

It's vacant and looks like it has been for a little while. It has some minor surface damage but doesn't appear to have been given a hammering.  

The kitchen is a mess. They've taken the worktops, sink, hob, hood and bits of the units. Some units remain as do some of the white goods - all of this would probably be binned though.

Some laminate flooring has been taken from the bedrooms - no real bother.

No guarantees on any of the services as all drained down / switched off but don't 'appear' to be cut off just isolated at the boxes outside.

All light fittings gone.

Garden needs sorting out but once again it's more maintenance than a makeover.

It appears to need a bit of tlc but no real work.

So how do you price it? Is it as easy as finding last sale price (2007), adjust that for recent changes in area and start deducting money for new kitchen, flooring, decorating, gardening and reconnecting the services. Knock a bit off for the stamp duty, risk pot and hassle and bobs your uncle or is there more to it?

Of course they don't tell you it's repossessed until you ask and I think it's currently priced about £10k below market value if it was pretty much perfect according to previous data available and the Nationwide house price calculator.

I've done a bit of reading around on the t'internet and there's all sorts of nightmares of shady tactics and general awkwardness. Found out about 28days exchange rules, offers have to be advertised in local papers, have to be seen to be getting best price, etc.

I know we have few estate agents and solicitors around here. Anyone willing to give an old engineer a bit of a peek into the murky world of distressed property and how it goes?  

[SootySport]

Repo's are always obvious by their lack of fittings as you have found out. The estate agent has to tell you that it is such if you ask, the same goes for any known defects to a house.   The 28 day rule is not particular to a reoo house, it's the same rule for any house sale. You complete 28 days after exchange of contracts.

make a silly offer at first and go from there, 10k. is not much of a discount when buying these days especially if it is a Repo.

FYI I made silly offers years ago on such houses and was turned down by the Building society vendor, low and behold it turned up at an auction 3 months later and I bought 5k cheaper than my original offer.  Hopefully you are cash buying or have sold your previous house, that will put you in a stronger buying position as  the vendor will want to see a sale through pronto.    Hope it works out for you.

[JeffC]

last one I bought was a repo, 2 bed stone terraced cottage in my local villiage,  the couple gave £95k for it 2 years previous but got into debt blah blah.. It was fairly tidy but had the fireplace removed carpets were up fittings removed looked worse than what it was,I budgeted on £5k to turn it round and  I only wanted the house if I could nick it simple as that    

It was advertised via an estate agent at £85k which was about the right price as the market had dropped, I bid £50k for it and no surprise  they turned me down, it was still for sale 3 months later and it had dropped to £80k , £75 then £70k which was very cheap, strangley it had more viewings at £85k  , I put in a cash offer of £52k and was again turned down, but eventually agreed on £55k.

I wanted to complete straight away but  they wouldnt let me buy til it had been in the local papers basically to say they had an offer at £55k and anyone wanting to better the offer blah blah.....

I took some very good advice from someone on here that does this type of thing   and did the following

I put the offer in on the Saturday had it accepted on the monday, they put the ad in the paper monday to go in on Thursday,  rather than wait and get gazzumped I  instructed my solicitor to get on the case do the searches and get the money across ,  I had the house bought by Friday..

when I collected the keys on friday tea time from the estate agents they had loads of calls and  5 bookings to view the house on the saturday and were quite shocked to see me    

so my advice is bid with your size 10"s on, bid low and wait, I still dont think the property prices are on the up so be cautious      

[SootySport]

so my advice is bid with your size 10"s on, bid low and wait

Thats the way to do it, more good advice.

[cidersurfer]

Soot1e and JeffC

Thanks for your comments. I understand what you're saying. It would be a logical purchase not an emotional one...

Size 10s at the ready. Agent already starting the patter...

[JeffC]

not sure what your area is like down there but up here nothing is moving its a buyers market so bid according    and  just make sure if you get your cheeky offer accepted that you move fast and get it bought,  im pretty sure its standard practice for the agents to have to put a notice in the local paper about the accepted offer and i think if someone makes a better offer before you complete your snookered        

[Davep1]

Hi,

A couple of years ago I bought a repo for rental - all the advice above is generally spot on - but view it as a commercial venture, not an emotional one!!

The only thing I add is that my vendor wanted a very quick turn around of max 28 days which was fine by me.

However because it was a repo - the legal title to the property was a real mess and it took their side (a bank) over 3 months to be able to be in a position to legally sell it. There was nothing I or my solicitor could do - but I was in no hurry and just waited..

Go in with your eyes wide open but price is everything!!

Good luck,

Dave.

[RichUK]

If your first offer isn't low enough to make you blush, then it isn't low enough.

I've always followed that advice and it has only backfired once, where the guy literally refused to speak to me afterwards!