Buying a house in Negative Equity

2013Lara

Hi!

Just wondering what other peoples experiences have been when buying a house in negative equity? Time frames etc?

Were 8 weeks sale agreed on a house that is in, according to EA, about 100k of negative equity.

There has been little or no movement so far, contracts were sent out quickly and within two weeks of going sale agreed they were with our solicitor and the pre contract queries were raised.

Nothing since. No answers to letters sent to the vendors solicitor. Were getting worried.

Am I right in thinking the contracts have to be exchanged before the vendor can come to an agreement with his bank?

Prior to the 8 weeks, it took about 4 weeks for them to accept our offer as it went to the bank, so its getting a bit draining now at this stage!

djimi

I would imagine that every case would be different, depending on the bank involved and the relationship that they have with the seller? €100k is a lot of NE to be dealing with; I cant imagine too many banks being over the moon with the idea of coverting that to an unsecured loan.

Lou1984

Hi 2013Lara

I am in the same situation as you, went sale agreed on June the 11th so to months now. There is no movement it seems to be the bank holding up the process. The vendors are about 120k behind in there mortgage. The estate agent did say that it would take at least 12 weeks. Its annoying as it also took two weeks or more for them to get back to us on our offer.

Another thing, our soliciator told us he has been dealing ith a similar case since December and it was only resolved at the end of July

valleyoftheunos

I would imagine that the problem is between the Vendor and their bank. Its unlikely that contracts would issue without the Bank having agreed to the sale but that may have been conditional (eg the vendor providing a certain about of cash or other capital) and that condition has not been met yet.

All you can do is wait, these sort of sales are likely to take a while and it may be worth your while looking at other properties while you wait.

2013Lara

Thanks all.

Were just worried its going to fall through. Were moving about 30 mins from where we are now and our daughter starts school down there in four weeks ish time. Were going to be renting the house until the sale closes, but the rent is 200 euro more than the mortgage will be so well be very eager to get it all wrapped up.

Fingers crossed its just going to take time and will all work out.

Lou1984

We are the same we have bought a lot of furniture etc for the house thinking it would take 3 -4 months but to months and no nothing. Very worried about it falling through also.

I will report back if i have any change but don't think it will be anytime soon.

2013Lara

Lou1984 wrote: »

We are the same we have bought a lot of furniture etc for the house thinking it would take 3 -4 months but to months and no nothing. Very worried about it falling through also.

I will report back if i have any change but don't think it will be anytime soon.

Its so stressful isn't it. The thought of starting the whole process on another house is killing us! As well as the extra cost of work already done by the solicitor, valuations and surveys.

Will let you know how we get on aswell.

valleyoftheunos

2013Lara wrote: »

Thanks all.

Were just worried its going to fall through. Were moving about 30 mins from where we are now and our daughter starts school down there in four weeks ish time. Were going to be renting the house until the sale closes, but the rent is 200 euro more than the mortgage will be so well be very eager to get it all wrapped up.

Fingers crossed its just going to take time and will all work out.

Its difficult situation alright but if contracts have been signed by both parties and exchanged you will get there in the end.

MammaMurphy

hi @2013Lara,

we are in the same situation, we sale agreed on our new house on 25th April 2013 and signed our side of the contracts on the 6th June 13, paid our 10% down the following week and only last friday (9th August 13) were we told that the vendor had finally been approved for his personal loan to cover his negative equity on the mortgage.

We are awaiting a closing date which we should get confirmation of today! We had so many closing dates and we felt like giving up, but hang in there if it is the house of your dreams and it will all fall into place.

Altogether we are waiting nearly 16 weeks to close this deal, but its the banks that are delaying everything so i know its not easy but hang in there and it will be yours.

gmisk

2013Lara wrote: »

Hi!

Just wondering what other peoples experiences have been when buying a house in negative equity? Time frames etc?

Were 8 weeks sale agreed on a house that is in, according to EA, about 100k of negative equity.

There has been little or no movement so far, contracts were sent out quickly and within two weeks of going sale agreed they were with our solicitor and the pre contract queries were raised.

Nothing since. No answers to letters sent to the vendors solicitor. Were getting worried.

Am I right in thinking the contracts have to be exchanged before the vendor can come to an agreement with his bank?

Prior to the 8 weeks, it took about 4 weeks for them to accept our offer as it went to the bank, so its getting a bit draining now at this stage!

I went sale agreed in February (seller in negative equity) .....so I think you are gonna have to be pretty patient/not in a rush.

2013Lara

gmisk wrote: »

I went sale agreed in February (seller in negative equity) .....so I think you are gonna have to be pretty patient/not in a rush.

Oh God, that's long. My head already hurts and I'm only almost 9 weeks in. What's the story with your mortgage approval, did they just extend it?

gmisk

I am with AIB they did thankfully, just had to provide updated statements for savings accounts, credit cards etc.

I know how frustrating it can be believe me!...but I am hanging in as got a good deal on the house (one recently sold a few doors up for 50k more a few weeks back)....it should be done in a few months (apparently/hopefully...).

2013Lara

gmisk wrote: »

I am with AIB they did thankfully, just had to provide updated statements for savings accounts, credit cards etc.

I know how frustrating it can be believe me!...but I am hanging in as got a good deal on the house (one recently sold a few doors up for 50k more a few weeks back)....it should be done in a few months (apparently/hopefully...).

We got a good price too. Were with PTSB so I think well have to get onto them and see what the story is with an extension. Loan pack went in and within it it said we only have 40 days to draw down. While nothing has changed work wise, we haven't really been saving as have been spending money on house stuff. Well have to get back on track for the foreseeable I think

MammaMurphy

2013Lara,

We sale agreed on the 25th April 2013, and just got a call yesterday that we are closing next Thursday!

So hang on in there, it is the irish banks that are delaying everything, our solicitor got a copy of the vendors loan approval and tbh his negative equity was quite small, i taught it would have been for like double the amount. He was in neg equity of 60k and it took 4 months for his bank to approve him for that.

We were nearly pulling our hair out, but try get onto your bank/broker and let them know whats going on so that they can extend your mortgage loan approval even for another 2 months so you are not worrying about it running out.

Hope eveything goes well for you, we know exactly what you are going thru.

2013Lara

Congrats, glad your finally sorted!!

Were hanging in, 9 weeks sale agreed now, still at pre contract stage. Will let you know when we finally close, good luck with the move!

MammaMurphy wrote: »

2013Lara,

We sale agreed on the 25th April 2013, and just got a call yesterday that we are closing next Thursday!


So hang on in there, it is the irish banks that are delaying everything, our solicitor got a copy of the vendors loan approval and tbh his negative equity was quite small, i taught it would have been for like double the amount. He was in neg equity of 60k and it took 4 months for his bank to approve him for that.

We were nearly pulling our hair out, but try get onto your bank/broker and let them know whats going on so that they can extend your mortgage loan approval even for another 2 months so you are not worrying about it running out.

Hope eveything goes well for you, we know exactly what you are going thru.

caitlyn1981

Hi,

did you ever close the sale of your house in the end i was following your thread and thought it was disgraceful how you had been waiting so long would love to know how you got on.

2013Lara

caitlyn1981 wrote: »

Hi,

did you ever close the sale of your house in the end i was following your thread and thought it was disgraceful how you had been waiting so long would love to know how you got on.

Hi! Still waiting unfortunately. We'll be 12 weeks in this week. Still mostly silence from their side. Our solicitor received a letter asking for a letter to be sent to them stating that we are mortgage approved and still willing to go ahead with the sale, this was to go to the vendors bank.

Keeping fingers crossed for this week!

Lou1984

Hi all.

Finally got official word that bank have released the deeds off the house to be sold. Contracts being signed next week fingers crossed. everything should be done and dusted in 5-6 weeks . Finally there is light at the end of the tunnel, well fingers crossed anyway

facepockets

Just reading all these posts shows we be waiting a while. Our bid was accepted on the 5th September and everything is done our end. The other party is with the IBRC and is waiting on them to issue a letter of consent. I think he only owes a small sum (€20K) after the sale of the property. We are not going through a estate agent so we have to do all the running around ourselves.

Huge congrats to everyone who got closing dates!

Lou1984

Hi Facepockets

We went Sale agreed on June 11th we had everything in place the following week deposit paid, mortgage approved and solicator ready and waiting to hear.

Only last Friday the 18th of October almost 17WEEKS after did the finally get the letter of consent.
So frustrating.

facepockets

Hi Lou1984

going by your time frame it will be well into December before we get anywhere. Which makes it more frustrating is our solicitor emailed the other persons solicitor today so basically say they wont be chasing them anymore for updates until they sort everything out there end and receive the letter of consent. Dunno why we are paying them if they wont keep push on the other parties solicitor.

Luckly for us its a private sale so we get texts every now and then from the owner to say he is keeping push on his bank to sell the house.

We are prepared to wait for this house so hopefully it wont be long. We have heard that if the negative equity is with the IBRC it will take some time to issue the letter of consent and that Permanent TSB are the quickest banks to issue the consent letters

Wolfie67

We also made a bid (asking price) for a house in NE... and estate agent told us it can take awhile, Nov 1st we made an offer, Dec 7th I finally managed to get the estate on phone to have a chat about the bid, after the call we decided to offer the asking price with hopes of speeding things up, 2 weeks ago I got a call from my solicitor to say she was ready to sign off our house sale.....I told her I still had no information on house we want to buy, she said she would hold off until after xmas but the buyers might decide to walk away!!

What are the financial implications of our buyers pulling out of our house sale???
Its all very stressful......

2013Lara

Wolfie67 wrote: »

We also made a bid (asking price) for a house in NE... and estate agent told us it can take awhile, Nov 1st we made an offer, Dec 7th I finally managed to get the estate on phone to have a chat about the bid, after the call we decided to offer the asking price with hopes of speeding things up, 2 weeks ago I got a call from my solicitor to say she was ready to sign off our house sale.....I told her I still had no information on house we want to buy, she said she would hold off until after xmas but the buyers might decide to walk away!!

What are the financial implications of our buyers pulling out of our house sale???
Its all very stressful......

Were still waiting on news of our house, sale agreed mid June. Valuer out from vendors bank last week so finally a bit of movement on it. But just be warned, you could be in for a very long wait. Vendors bank is EBS.

Wolfie67

Hi
Thanks for your reply:)

What was the time scale from the time you made your bid to it being accepted....we made original bid Nov 7th and still have not heard a thing....even tho we upped our bid Dec 1st ...to see if that would speed things up...est agent was happy with the new bid...but no surprise there .....

HouseHunter13

gmisk wrote: »

I am with AIB they did thankfully, just had to provide updated statements for savings accounts, credit cards etc.

I know how frustrating it can be believe me!...but I am hanging in as got a good deal on the house (one recently sold a few doors up for 50k more a few weeks back)....it should be done in a few months (apparently/hopefully...).

Lou1984 wrote: »

Hi 2013Lara

I am in the same situation as you, went sale agreed on June the 11th so to months now. There is no movement it seems to be the bank holding up the process. The vendors are about 120k behind in there mortgage. The estate agent did say that it would take at least 12 weeks. Its annoying as it also took two weeks or more for them to get back to us on our offer.

Another thing, our soliciator told us he has been dealing ith a similar case since December and it was only resolved at the end of July

2013Lara wrote: »

We got a good price too. Were with PTSB so I think well have to get onto them and see what the story is with an extension. Loan pack went in and within it it said we only have 40 days to draw down. While nothing has changed work wise, we haven't really been saving as have been spending money on house stuff. Well have to get back on track for the foreseeable I think

wondering how it worked out for you guys?

I'm sale agreed mid june, still nothing back from the bank...

Eldarion

HouseHunter13 wrote: »

wondering how it worked out for you guys?

I'm sale agreed mid june, still nothing back from the bank...

That's insane. I went sale agreed mid May last year, I moved in August 1st. And even that was long because it was summer months and people were taking holidays. No way should you be waiting this long.

HouseHunter13

Eldarion wrote: »

That's insane. I went sale agreed mid May last year, I moved in August 1st. And even that was long because it was summer months and people were taking holidays. No way should you be waiting this long.

its amazing when you want something so much how easy you get strung along...

I don't get why the bank cant just come out and say no if there is a problem at least I could move on...

where is the buying 2014 thread?

facepockets

HouseHunter13 wrote: »

its amazing when you want something so much how easy you get strung along...

I don't get why the bank cant just come out and say no if there is a problem at least I could move on...

where is the buying 2014 thread?

We went sale agreed on 9th of September. Told 4th December the bank will agree to let us buy the house from the seller. Its now the 7th of Jan and the letter of consent is sitting on someone's desk in the bank waiting to be signed. The joys of buying a house in negative equity!!!

2013Lara

Eldarion wrote: »

That's insane. I went sale agreed mid May last year, I moved in August 1st. And even that was long because it was summer months and people were taking holidays. No way should you be waiting this long.

Also sale agreed mid June, still waiting

facepockets

Laura we have been waiting 18 weeks to the day. Got call to say consent letter received and we are going to sign draft contracts early next week.

Hang on in there it will work out for the best!

Mr.McLovin

Were you guys informed the house was in NE when you agreed the purchase or was it something you found as things took longer than they should?

A friend of mine has found himself in a situation as described by people in this thread. He only found out the house was in NE after contracts failed to arrive on numerous occasions as promised. Does an EA have to disclose this fact when selling you a house?

D3PO

I don't believe they have to disclose this information but if I were in the market right now Id be asking if a property was in NE or if it had been repod etc before making any offer.

rionn

Hi I went sale agreed on a house on the 15th of October had to wait till the 3th of December before the bank agreed to the sale and now things have been sitting with the banks solicitor with no contact to my solicitor.

My solicitor has emailed/rang a few times and has been told by the solicitors receptionist that it is wit a company of 40 solicitors and she does not know who is dealing with it.

Has anyone else experienced this when we got the consent to sale from bank we thought the worst was over us but its not looking that way

markuskon

rionn wrote: »

Hi I went sale agreed on a house on the 15th of October had to wait till the 3th of December before the bank agreed to the sale and now things have been sitting with the banks solicitor with no contact to my solicitor.

My solicitor has emailed/rang a few times and has been told by the solicitors receptionist that it is wit a company of 40 solicitors and she does not know who is dealing with it.

Has anyone else experienced this when we got the consent to sale from bank we thought the worst was over us but its not looking that way

hi
I went sale aggreed 5th of August 2013 for a property in Santry - until now 16.01.2014 I am in the same state - sale agrred the contracts have not been sent out from the vendor's solicitor- - Bank of Ireland does not want to release the deeds (or is overwhelmed with the doumentations/procedure etc) and the vendor's solicitor is not very attentive at all. Do not know if to wait or look around for something elese over 5 months is a long time..... really gutted here

mimsey

In the same situation. Went sale agreed on a property in Santry on the 26th of September. As of today I've been waiting 4 months to see if the bank will release the letter of consent. At this point I have pretty much given up. The Real Estate agent stopped taking my calls. My solicitor feels its not going to happen. I even went and contacted the vendors solicitors who was helpful but really couldn't tell me if the bank would consent to the sale or not. And if they would what the time frame would be.

I only found out the situation when I started ringing my solicitor about contracts and what was the delay this was about 4 weeks after going sale agreed.

markuskon

my estate agent is better in this respect. He picks up the calls and responses to txt messages. He also advised me to look around on the market and if we find anything nice, he is ready to give back the deposit to go ahead with a new purchase. Of course right now it is difficult to step back as we have something that might be suceessful. In the meantime i found in irish independent from 15.01 that there are round 1500 such buyers like us ;-(. The problem is that banks do not know how to handla such purchaesas. I really d not know how long I can go on like this waiting in space ;-(:mad:
the most frustrating project ever

markuskon

I forgot to add: Accoring to my EA the bank expressed an oral consent to sell, the solictor has been waiting for a written consent from 13.11.2013 ;-( anybody knows how long it might take?

rionn

Feel your pain this is so hard not knowing how long this is going to take, u'd think when they made there minds up to put the houses on the market that they would have had all this sorted.. Has anyone here been threw this with the consent to sale issued but now been held back with deeds and contracts been issued.

Would love an idea of time scale as we had notified school of move for our son and gave them a date of the end of Feb but this is looking soo unlikely now .. We gave them this date way back at end of November thinking we were giving ourselves loads of time (

2013Lara

rionn wrote: »

Feel your pain this is so hard not knowing how long this is going to take, u'd think when they made there minds up to put the houses on the market that they would have had all this sorted.. Has anyone here been threw this with the consent to sale issued but now been held back with deeds and contracts been issued.

Would love an idea of time scale as we had notified school of move for our son and gave them a date of the end of Feb but this is looking soo unlikely now .. We gave them this date way back at end of November thinking we were giving ourselves loads of time (

What bank is your vendor with? Ours is EBS and have been a complete disaster, yet my sister in law works with Ulster Bank and says its quite quick with them. Our hearts are broken with it all at this stage. We have been sale agreed since mid June with contracts issued straight away. In constant contact with the vendor himself and its not him at fault, its his bank. Our mortgage has now expired and they want all of our paper work again, complete nightmare. Were living in the house we will be hopefully be buying, and the thought of it not going ahead is killing us. Moral of story, buying a house in negative equity is not easy, it's a long wait and I'd never do it again.

rionn

Just found out 2d it is a nama property??? I went down to do some weeding and a man landed to do work he said he was asked by nama receivers to board up the windows etc and clean around the place, nearly had heart failure I told him I have been sale agreed on this property since the 15th of Oct.

He rang whoever asked him to do it and put me on the phone to him when I told him that we were sale agreed since Oct and the bank had sent out the consent to sale on the 3rd of Dec he said to tell your man not to board it up.

This has left us feeling like **** don't know whats going on is the house even sale agreed.. What a nightmare!! Thought this buying a house would be an enjoyable experience but I was soo wrong

Governess

Hi Guys,

I came across this thread by accident and want to give you some feedback as I was a vendor in NE last year.

My mortgage was in arrears and we decided to put the house up for sale in November 2012. We approached the bank prior to this and they said we would need a firm offer in place before they would allow us to sell.

We received a cash offer in March 2013 and went back to the bank, verbally they said it would be ok to sell so we found a Solicitor and set the ball rolling. Deeds were with our Solicitor in 3 weeks and all was going to plan until pre contract stage.

Our Buyer's Solicitor requested paperwork from our Lender to show that the mortgage will be discharged from the property once the sale has gone through. The bank then claimed that they will need to get a valuation done and loads of additional paperwork would need to be done before they would approve the sale.

I then started emailing the bank advising that if they stopped the sale, we would not be in a position to make even interest only payments and they would have to repossess. I did this a few times a day for 2 days then a valuation was done and within a 10 days of the Bank threatening to stop the sale, my Solicitor had received the letter consenting sale and that the mortgage will be discharged.

From being sale agreed to completion, we were 8 weeks but I know this was down to having to be ruthless with the bank and bombarding them with emails.

The bank also need the Vendor to sign a letter to say the NE will be repaid. Our Solicitor advised that the Bank do pull stunts like this from time-to-time especially at pre contract stage.

I wanted to move and worked hard to ensure the Bank wouldn't stop the sale. I think the onus is on the Vendor to put pressure on the bank.

NE was 30k and Lender was EBS

I hope this helps!

gmisk

markuskon wrote: »

my estate agent is better in this respect. He picks up the calls and responses to txt messages. He also advised me to look around on the market and if we find anything nice, he is ready to give back the deposit to go ahead with a new purchase. Of course right now it is difficult to step back as we have something that might be suceessful. In the meantime i found in irish independent from 15.01 that there are round 1500 such buyers like us ;-(. The problem is that banks do not know how to handla such purchaesas. I really d not know how long I can go on like this waiting in space ;-(:mad:
the most frustrating project ever

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/banks-have-stockpile-of-1500-repossessed-properties-29917294.html
Is this the article you mean?

I am into another mortgage offer from AIB...last one in December.....very little sign of any movement...I have had a few false dawns at this stage.
My solicitor is insisting on putting a deadline to close the deal...but I am very reluctant to lose the house at this stage.

facepockets

we have been sale agreed since 9th September. We got call the 4th December to say the sellers bank IBRC finally were issuing the letter of consent. On the 5th of Jan 2014 we were told the letter was sitting on someones desk in the IBRC to sign.
13th of Jan we signed draft contracts and now waiting for a closing date.We have a provisional date the 1st March but hoping to be in before then.
Its terrible to wait the amount of time we all did. Only thing is to keep the pressure on and if its meant for you it wont pass you by.

HouseHunter13

sale agreed 22nd of June, I have been told consent has been given for the sale but still waiting for it to be issued.

I would seriously recommend anybody in the market for a property to ask if the house is in negative equity. I'm not out of the woods yet and there is still no guarantee that the purchase will be completed 7 months after I handed over the deposit.

murphy2

gmisk wrote: »

I am into another mortgage offer from AIB...last one in December.....very little sign of any movement...I have had a few false dawns at this stage.
My solicitor is insisting on putting a deadline to close the deal...but I am very reluctant to lose the house at this stage.

Hi gmisk,

Just wondering if you've had any update on your house yet?

We went sale agreed in November and were told last week it could be at least another 6 weeks before the letter of consent will be released but not really holding out any hope on that. The Vendor's in our case are going through a divorce and there is around 200k in negative equity that needs to be agreed, another complication is that they are hoping to make use of the insolvency act. Our mortgage offer will run out in 5 weeks.

Was gutted for you to see you've been waiting since February, hopefully you'll have an update soon.

gmisk

Nope very little movement, I found out the vendor is in negative equity with AIB (only months after being sale agreed) and there are questions going back and forth between vendors solicitor and vendors bank (still!).

In my case EA has actually been quite good, lots of phone calls and emails, but not much he can do (He says he has one other house in similar situation with KBC as lenders...that has been going on 11 months).

I renewed mortgage offer about a month ago...so have another 5ish months to close things....so we will see...I am not under massive time constraints myself which is lucky I suppose.

If I was you I would really consider running for the hills....unless you have a great deal and you think there is a good chance deal will be OK'ed by bank.

I wouldnt in a million years consider bidding on another house unless the vendor has ok from bank to sell....which this person evidently didnt have!

murphy2

We just got a phone call today from our EA to say that the title deeds have been released and being sent to our solicitor. There is still no sign of the letter of consent though and they couldn't give us any time frame on when this may be released.

What stage are ye at? Have any deeds been released even?

We are currently living with my parents so its not costing us anything having to wait but just afraid at the end of it all that the sale may not go through and that house prices may rise in the mean time. Also there are very few houses for sale in the area that we are looking at.

Our vendor had verbally been given the consent to sell but I don't know if that means anything!

lukesmom

We went sale agreed on our house 7 months ago at the start of summer. Only yesterday did our solicitor receive the letter from the bank to say the property could be sold. So it has taken 7 months to get the contracts which we sign tomorrow morning. I was worried it wouldnt come through and we had paid a deposit. We are cash buyers and I thought this would have sped up the process but it didn't.

HouseHunter13

Has anybody completed one of these NE house sales yet?

Entering week 33 here and my mortgage is to expire next week just to add more stress, I'm starting to think it will never happen.

2013Lara

HouseHunter13 wrote: »

Has anybody completed one of these NE house sales yet?

Entering week 33 here and my mortgage is to expire next week just to add more stress, I'm starting to think it will never happen.

Just gone through a full New mortgage application so I feel your pain. Going to get on to them again today to see where the situation stands. We've been approved the mortgage again, so actively house hunting again to be on the safe side. Complete nightmare.

HouseHunter13

2013Lara wrote: »

Just gone through a full New mortgage application so I feel your pain. Going to get on to them again today to see where the situation stands. We've been approved the mortgage again, so actively house hunting again to be on the safe side. Complete nightmare.

Keep us posted on your progress!