repossessed & auctioned property England

P

philboy

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Hi Everyone,

I'm just wondering has anyone here had any experince with buying repossessed or auctioned property in England (London in particular)? I hear savings of 10-40% on average off the market value of the house is possible. If anyone has any experince of this, any advice would be much appreciated.

Also,
Where is the best place to find out about repossessed houses? I read that going to indivivual lending institutions is a good idea. They don't like to advertise the house as repossessed as obviously they want to be seen as home makers not home takers.

Philip
 

In the past, I have bought a few of these through Edward Mellor and co in Manchester, but not in a long time. They used to hold an auction in their showrooms of loads of repo and derelict or semi-derelict bargain basement stuff. In the past, I bought some good value there, but at that time the auctions were attended by people in the trade and nobody went crazy. In recent times I have heard that such auctions attract "telly experts", i.e. would-be developers who have learned their craft from reality TV shows, and these buyers can tend to push up the prices to a level where profit is harder to take.
If you do a google on Mellors, they may still be doing these, or they may know who is.
 
Thanks Auto,

Found the site alright http://www.edwardmellor.co.uk/

I'll give it a look now. I tried doing google on repossessions & there is some good articles & reference material but as regards repossession listings, u just get the usual cheap looking sites asking for subscriptions & the promising to make you thousands crap.

I'd be looking for a property in London as i hope to move over there next year some time. I'd shop around till i got a good deal in a good area. I'll be looking for a house that needs rennovation & live in it while doing it up. The hope is to either sell it or rent it. I will be going in with a friend anyways so either way the risk will be minimised to a degree.
 
From what I remember of Mellors, they are about three generations in the business, long established and well respected. I always did well with them, although they may not suit your needs if you need to deal with London only. Best hope would be that you talk to somone in Mellors who can give you the name of a London company that does the same as they do in the north. Don't rely on an email, they may well try to grab a commission and not necessarily give you the best one -- they are estate agents after all! Best outcome would be a phone call, ask for the person who does their repo auctions, and ask him or her outright if they heard of anyone in London who does the same thing. If (s)he has to go away and look it up, probably won't be as good a tip.

If I come up with anyone in London who is a genuine operator in the same mould I will PM you.
 
By the way, have you contacted any of the building societies/banks to ask them who they use to market their repos, particularly the damaged ones?

Ideally, the ones you want are either fire damaged, vandalised, or wrecked by bad tenants and repossessed. That is where the potential profits are. A nice clean family home that has been repossessed will find its way to the normal market and won't provide any opportunities for you.
 
No i haven't contacted anyone as of yet.

I'm going over to London for roughly a week at the end of the month to have a look around & hope to move over near the beginning of next year. I'm just trying to get as much information together on what to do, best areas to buy, do's & dont's etc...
It's when i secure a new job & move over & get settled for a month or two that i intend to start really working on it & phoning around & starting to view some properties.

I only have mid-range DIY experience. I wouldn't chance any major electrical or plumbing jobs myself but would give most other things a try. Would it be a good idea to buy a fire-damaged or seriously damaged house that might need total re-wiring. After getting in the pro's, do you think there would still be money to be made. I can tile, put down wooden floors, would fit toilets, baths etc.. once major plumbing was in place.
 
 
On the Edward Mellor site, they have a page that lists the auction catalogue & the auction results for each auction. A really interesting indicator/feel on how the auction prices go i think. Here it is:
[broken link removed]
 
Depends on the level of damage. I have seen fire damaged houses that cleaned up at very littlecost, as long as no structural damage was done. Often its just smoke and water damage and maybe windows broken and a lot of scorch marks. Sometimes these kinds of properties are ideal for the amateur, a lot of cleaning more than anything else and just oversee the rewire and patch up etc. The decorating can also be a DIY job if you know what you are doing.
 
What are labour costs like over there? I know my cousin, an electrician wont come home as he'd have to take a major cut
 
Don't know about labour in London have always worked at a different level there. In Manchester I know it is still way below here. Material costs and things like waste disposal skips are significantly less as well.
 
I live in London and am getting an old house totally renovated. I can PM you the names of a few builders/contractors to try when you go looking for quotes (what areas are you considering?). Like Dublin, every London street seems to have at least one skip on the road so there is a lot of demand for builders at the moment.

Also, check [broken link removed]. This site (for a fee) accesses the Land Registry database so you can check the actual selling prices for properties in any given area. It is an excellent way to judge the sanity of asking prices.
 
Hi Johnboy,

Any info you could provide would be great. Are they reputable builders that you have used yourself? Do you have any experience with the whole repo/auction area in London? I don't know London at all, my friend is working over there at the moment in the Canary Wharf. I'll be looking at specific areas once i get over there and get a feel for the place & an idea of average rent etc... Are there any definite spots to avoid in London.

Thanks!
 
Cost of labour in london IMO even in good areas is below dublin. However market in london is very strong right now due to the boom in the "city".

There is a need to go to a few auctions to get a understanding, generally the discount vs buying normally has come down alot in past 5 years and the risks of overpaying has gone up.

Autos advise is the best re going direct to lenders etc and seeking moderately damaged property repossesions. Canary wharf has alot of new builds which may offer opportunities in second hand slightly unattractive properties.

IMO london property prices despite a gain of 10% this year remain below ireland by 10 to 15% plus relative to incomes.
 
here are some good auction websites for you to study:
www.strettons.co.uk
www.allsop.co.uk
www.propertyauctions.com
www.barnardmarcusauctions.co.uk
eiggroup.co.uk

ordinary property sites
www.rightmove.co.uk
www.fish4homes.co.uk
www.houseladder.co.uk

information on areas
www.upmystreet.co.uk

free information on property prices actually achieved by area
www.rightmove.co.uk
www.nethouseprices.com

there is a wealth of information here for you. was looking on www.propertyauctions.com (section on McHugh & Co) - burnt out house in Totteham £140,000 guide price) - lot 20.

have fun, i do.
 
Good call by previous poster. In particular, I have used www.upmystreet.co.uk on many occasions to give an estimate of local values -- just pop in the postcode and harvest a load of useful info.
 
Have any repossessed houses in Ireland ever been put in specialist sales here? Can't ever recall it happening. Just curious.
 
Yup! Elizabeth II 'repossessed' Iar-Connaght in 1585 through the Composition of Connaught (the chieftains gave up clan territories and received them back as Crown bequests - even though they didn't belong to them!) The ensuing conflicting claims were good business for the legal profession especially one Richard ('Nimble Dick') Martin, a merchant and lawyer, who accumulated a quarter of a million acres. The estate became Encumbered (mortgaged) over the next couple of generations to fund the Martins' extravagant life-style and a couple of unsuccessful business ventures. The family tried to auction off the estate in 1849 to pay off massive outstanding debts. The mortgage company (Law Life) snapped it up at a token price, evicted those peasant tenants who had survived the Great Hunger and 'rezoned' (rationalized the pattern of traditional 'rundale' farming methods) and thus 'improved' by elimination of the awkward sitting tenants put it on the market again in 1852. No-one was interested; there were no bids.

There is more.........much more! National Library Kildare Street is a good source for today's 'canny investor'. There is nothing new under the sun. To quote Sigmund Freud - founder of psychoanalysis - most significant insight into the irrational human mind:- "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it".
 
Before I get a reproach "Sorry Mod" - we're being seduced 'off thread' . Will Try Harder!
 
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