[Closed] Pitfalls of buying a repossessed property

I don't think there are any 'pitfalls' so to speak. The bank is just trying to sell the place on & get their money back.

Before we moved, our neighbours house was repossessed. As sad as it was for them, it was bloody annoying for us, as it was a 3 bed semi with a garage & it went on the market for less than our 2 bed terrace. We were pleased when it sold after a few weeks. We almost made an offer on it ourselves.

If it's empty, the bank own it and there's no sign of the old owner, I think you'll be fine.

It can be a race to the line. The bank are obliged to get the best price so being gazumped is far more likely, could leave you out of pocket. You're also likely to be working to a tight deadline so possibly more stressful.

Services (electric/gas) are cut off so no opportunity to test before purchase.

Some owners strip the house of anything of value, e.g. Copper pipes before reposession

it may not have been well maintained if the people were living there knowign it was going to be taken away.

I've heard stories of wiringcentral heating etc being ripped out prior to the owners leaving.

but if it all looks ok and the price is ok then why not?

we bought our first house from M&S as they'd relocated a manager - we got it for £20k less than market as they just wanted shot of it.

Would you buy a repossessed bike?

I know its different but essentially its the same.

It wasn't you that made the house get repossessed, All your doing is buying a house that's on the market. if you don't buy it someone else will do. As Camo said if the previous owners are "squatting" or the like its more than likely they have moved on.

I would suggest a comprehensive survey is done just to make sure a bitter ex-resident hasn't tampered with anything.

None, I've bought two, and one from a bloke the week before they were going repo it. So much easier as the answer to all the BS questions about "do you have such and such certificate or permission/trouble with the neighbours/does the water make a nice cup of tea" is just not an issue. You buy the house, you know bits will be missing/need fixing and you get on with it. I'm looking at one at the minute, three bed semi, garage, conservatory and summerhouse for £61k. All the bathroom, kitchen units and copper are gone, and every inch will need decorating. Never had a problem getting them insured afterwards either, and no one has ever come to the door looking for the previous resident. If you don't mind rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck in, do it. Assume it'll take a week or so for services to reconnect, and get a sparks/Gas Safe guy on standby to give everything a once over.

I know its different but essentially its the same.

Heh.

I'm looking at one at the minute, three bed semi, garage, conservatory and summerhouse for £61k.

caravans in the local caravan park cost twice that around here for the tiny starter crap ones!

Or you could buy a house that the previous owner died in.

I know, I did 8)

as above they wont have been well mainatined but most of that evidence/damage should be obvious
You cannot test gas or electricity or water
The shits diconnected the bath tap then put the bath panel back on so when the water got turned back on it ruined the kitchen ceiling.
Otherwise just a way of getting a cheap house.

gas and eleccy was switched of fnot disconnected in my house

We bought one back in the early nineties

The only issues we had were to do with other debts that the previous owners had coming back to us all the time

This was on TV the other day: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315983/plotsummary

ended badly for the family who bought it. Probably won't happen to you though 😀

My brother bought one that someone had been murdered in. Was on the market for years so he got it very cheap

i'd buy a murder victims house! i'd spread stories about strange goings on and ghosts etc to keep the kids away.

it would only backfire if shaggy and scooby found out.

£61k, it's grim up north.

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There were some stories about getting credit at a later date - the address may flag up as somewhere where there was bad debt - not a biggy as you just have to prove you are not the owners who had the problems but it can mean you have to provide some documentation.

I had a serious look at one a while back. The things that I considered

1 - the price is normally negociable, but the bank have to put an ad out saying 'there is an offer of xx on this house, it will be final on day yy' so if you get a stunning offer accepted, you might be gazumped at that point
2 - after that point, the sale goes through very quickly as the bank are used to selling off houses quickly
3 - the meters were coin operated and were going to cost to convert over to normal meters (i think)
4 - the utilities had been disconnected and had to pay/arrange for reconnection
5 - if the owners didn't pay the mortgauge, what else (maintenance, roof, etc etc) did they skimp on - less of a concern as I was after a fixer-upper
6 - is is the kinda place where the neighbours are going to do the same, and thus be generally shitty neighbours in other ways?

I'd always lived in rental accomodation prior, so the odd chase for unpaid bills (not mine) was always something i'd had to put up with, so didn't bother me. Having moved into somewhere that the last owner lived for 60 years, its nice not to deal with it.

I'd uncovered a large dark/brown deep puddle in some floorboards (not paint) and on the stairs under the carpet- hair and matted brown stuff!

oh, maybe see if you can get the details of previous occupiers to see if they did anything nasty\there was anythign they should know about. They may have a grudge against the bank but not you as just another person

i do a fair amount of work in repossesed homes. tbh there no worse than any other you might buy, sure your not going to get a welcome bootle of wine or a bunch of flowers. take it as you see it. get a spark and a gas safe punter in the first thing you do let them guarantte it safe and your home and dry. many are repossed as the previous occupiers litterally ran off, the notion of someone been dragged out by thier finger mails i've yet to see..
with any house purchase i throughly recommend getting a gas safe engineer in to provide a safety certificate, they are a true picture and a great tool for price negotiation.

midlifecrashes - All that for £61k. 😯 Out of interest where in the country is that? That'd only get you a parking space down here.

£61k, it's grim up north.

Or you could buy a house that the previous owner died in.

As long as they didn't die of asbestosis...

Or in a gas explosion. 😆

😯

I'm in Doncaster. House prices at the lower end of the market have been falling for two years, or stuff has come on the market and sat doing nothing. Folk at the wages who would buy these places haven't had time to save deposits yet since the banks made that a requirement a couple of years ago. I'm looking to buy to let as a self invested pension, so we have four places on the go. Here's the repo we bought three years ago at £60k, it brings in £500pcm. Needed approx £5k of work to make it how I wanted it.

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sobriety - Member
As long as they didn't die of asbestosis...
Or in a gas explosion

On an Indian Burial Ground.

On a cliff prone to erosion beside the sea.

Next door to TJs house.

Doncaster? Surely houses there are 10k a pop and you get a free one with your morning paper? 😆

We drove through Donny a few weeks ago (the posh part down towards the Wildlife Park) and even the big houses there were dirt cheap.

So are these properties not listed at your normal estate agents then?
Best place to look?

Thanks for all the advice etc, we are going to take a sparks builder type bloke with us for a second visit and also check out the history, don't want an Indian burial ground to rise up one night, while im out in the workshop building a winter bike up or something. Besides I need to leave room for a local chav burial ground in the garden (just in case 😉 )

Worked in 2 repo homes, the first lovely house, sadly the floors upstairs, as they had urinated all over the floors and they where soaked in urine,and it really stunk,when you opened the door, thats chip board floor for you, the electrics where faulty, the door locks needed replacement,the front garden was ful of nails etc, all over the lawn, and the same on the rear lawn, needed new turf.

Second house the electrics had been cut or re wired so switches didnt work or switched something else on, gas boiler made faulty , by bits being broken or nicked.

If you want a cheap home, and some diy then repo is the way to go, but beware of the visitors you may have chasing debts from the previous owners.

£61k, it's grim up north.

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it's pretty grim down south, too

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£35k, Jaywick... still get to london with 75 minutes, though.

http://www.findaproperty.com/searchresults.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&areaid=5811