Steps to purchasing a distressed property.

sockey

Hi all,
Recently we noticed a house that has been vacant since Christmas. When I enquired with friends of mine, who are neighbours of the vacant house, they told me they recently saw the previous tenants packing up the last of their stuff. They were told by the tenants that the house would be sold in the next few weeks by the bank.
Where would I enquire to find what bank owns the property as I would hate to miss the opportunity to purchase this house as we've been approved for mortgage and the property is also in a good location.

Help would be greatly appreciated as I would like to move on this asap.
Thanks,

TheDriver

Any property like this is either sold by EA or auction. If its the latter you may want to give it a skip.

BookBook

As TheDriver says they have to be sold in a certain way i.e. if by Estate Agent then property has to be on sale for at least a specific number of weeks and I think with at least a certain number of viewings and they record who viewed and when.

Then if you look at the other threads on buying a house in negative equity or buying a repossessed house it seems once you are sale agreed it is normally a long painful road to getting the keys.

Good luck.

TheDriver

With a receivor, it should be straightforward as they make the decision to sell. The long wait is when a bank,is selling as no,one wants to make the final decision. Worse again is neg equity as an owner is trying to make a deal....

BookBook

TheDriver wrote: »

With a receivor, it should be straightforward as they make the decision to sell. The long wait is when a bank,is selling as no,one wants to make the final decision. Worse again is neg equity as an owner is trying to make a deal....

Sorry to go off topic but TheDriver can I ask how would you know if it is a bank sale or receiver sale?

I ask because EA said a recent property was a bank sale and that it is repossessed already and tenants currently living there so no worries re 'Consent to Sale'. They said tenants would only get their 4 months notice when officially instructed via buyers solicitor insisting on contracts stating 'subject to vacant possession'. I wondered if the EA's terminology was wrong?

sockey

TheDriver wrote: »

Worse again is neg equity as an owner is trying to make a deal....

So the previous owner could still have a say whether to sell or not??

TheDriver

Its difficult to know unless you ask specific questions. However in a bank sale, bids generally must be accepted by the bank each time which can take a while whereas a receiver will say yes or no based on reserve price met.
Neg equity is a different story. The owner doesn't have to sell but is choosing to do so and hoping (maybe) to get a deal on the gap between sale price and mortgage. Of course, they might simply want to put it as a personal loan but banks don't want that either. Whereas a bank sale is the house already taken off the owner and they are gone.

The house you went to see BookBook sounds strange, 4 months notice is a lot. They should be getting their possession now.
In bank and receiver sale, once price is agreed it should progress quickly after that as there is no impediment to contracts. Neg equity is different because many sellers agree a price and then start to discuss things with the bank...........which can be a while.....