Buying a repossessed house

[superbike]

We were in the middle of buying a house which would have been repossessed if we had not come along. Now the lender has decided to repossess it anyway so our purchase has fallen through. Can we buy it direct from the lender now or does it have to go on the general market? ( We already have the mortgage offer and the searches, survey and valuation are done - all we need to do is sign and exchange contracts...) Thanks.

[kwicky]

This scenario does not make sense. If the lenders repossessed the house they would get below the market rate for the property when they resold it and probably far below what you are prepared to pay. Are you sure the seller has notified the lender as to your offer?

[superbike]

It's a long story but yes, his solicitor has now written to ours to say that the seller has gone into negative equity and the lenders are going to repossess instead.

Can we buy direct from the lender? Has anyone done this before? How do we get in touch with the right person to make this happen?

[dzug]

I think the lender is duty bound to get the highest price he can for it. This precludes selling it direct to you without at least the pretence of an attempt to get a higher offer than yours.

[superbike]

Thanks Dzug, I thought that was probably the case. Just seems a shame that we might miss out on it after getting this far and spending quite a bit of money already. Oh well, I guess we will just have to keep our fingers crossed!