Martin25 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 (edited) Went to look at a repossessed house last week and was told that offers had to be made in writing by today, the house is on the market at £70k so we offered £77k. Estate agent rang today saying they had 10 offers and we were 1 of 3 who were possible candidates. They then advised if our offer is accepted, that once we had got a survey carried out there was no guarantee that the vendor would accept our offer and we could be out of pocket with solicitor & survey fees. In the meantime the house is still being advertised and will be until exchange, even though we were under the impression it was sealed bids to be in by the deadline & that was it. They did say that if we went with their agents solicitor we would only pay search fees and the other fees would only be charged if we exchanged. We havnt found a solicitor yet so would we better to go with theirs or should we just appoint our own one? Is this normal practice for buying repossessed houses? Edited July 10, 2009 by Martin25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie-eater Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Went to look at a repossessed house last week and was told that offers had to be made in writing by today, the house is on the market at £70k so we offered £77k. Estate agent rang today saying they had 10 offers and we were 1 of 3 who were possible candidates. They then advised if our offer is accepted, that once we had got a survey carried out there was no guarantee that the vendor would accept our offer and we could be out of pocket with solicitor & survey fees. In the meantime the house is still being advertised and will be until exchange, even though we were under the impression it was sealed bids to be in by the deadline & that was it. They did say that if we went with their agents solicitor we would only pay search fees and the other fees would only be charged if we exchanged. We havnt found a solicitor yet so would we better to go with theirs or should we just appoint our own one? Is this normal practice for buying repossessed houses? I would retract the offer. You're really going to risk paying for a survey only for your offer to be rejected? ****** that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shallowthinker Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I would retract the offer. You're really going to risk paying for a survey only for your offer to be rejected?****** that I agree with the statement above. Sounds either like the EA is trying to earn some money from a few buyers for not even selling a property, or they're giving you a hint it'll not go through without a struggle anyways. Be best to withdraw and see what happens if your still interested in the property. I bet its the Halifax - they seem to be real sly buggers to have any dealings with at the best of times! ~shallow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfie Moon Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Considering that we are the midst of the biggest house price crash in living memory and the worst recession since the 1930s with unemployment in the UK likely to head towards 10% (in the official stats but much worse in reality) with large amounts of repossessions to come on the market over the next couple years I would suggest that you should up your offer to at least £125,000 - that's if you want the Estate Agent to realise that you are a sensible intelligent person that can be taken seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggerthetiger Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Considering that we are the midst of the biggest house price crash in living memory and the worst recession since the 1930s with unemployment in the UK likely to head towards 10% (in the official stats but much worse in reality) with large amounts of repossessions to come on the market over the next couple years I would suggest that you should up your offer to at least £125,000 - that's if you want the Estate Agent to realise that you are a sensible intelligent person that can be taken seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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