Buying reposessed properties from the bank in the Costa del Sol

Hi all.

I see companies advertising the sale of reposessed properties, but when I request details never seem to get a response. Is anybody aware of any available routes to purchase repos, or are they only offered to residents or "friends"?

Also if the bank have reposessed, and the value of the property is less than the outstanding mortgage, do they try to recover the full mortgage or just sell at a competitive market rate?

Anybody have any information?

Dave

At the moment every agent and his dog is advertising repos or bank owned properties mainly because it is the new watchword and as everybody considers these to be the real bargains, many agents are using them as a hook.

The truth is most of these properties are myths, not many agents get the real repos.

I have been dealing wih the banks for over 4 years now and to get anywhere near their product you have to sign many confidentiality agreements and know someone within the banking system to get anywhere near the product.

The system has evolved over the years driven by demand and volume, they used to try to sell them at market value plus bank costs, generally 12%, then they would drop them to the mortgage outstanding plus costs, now the banks are actually asking for offers across thye board.

Please consider that 75% of any bank list will be absolute rubbish but the 25% that is left is very appealing.

An agent that is promoting bank owned property should only act as a middle man and then put you straight in touch with the bank for negotition purposes.

The banks will want to know that you are in a position to act quickly and although many offer subrogation prefer hard cash to transfer toxic into liquid.

I have been privvy to many  a conversation and you would be suprised and shocked at some of the dealings withing the banking system at the moment.

So in essence take everything at face value,any agent should not be afraid to declare which bank they come form and after signing an agreement, should happily take you to them.

Thanks Georia, or is that Shaun?

The reason that I ask is that we recently agreed to purchase a property, but due to a tax embargo the owner is not able to sell. The property will most likely go back to the bank. We know what the mortgage is on it, but do not understand the impact of the tax embargo, although combined they vastly exceed the value of the property. If at all possible we would still like to buy via the bank, but I think you have outlined the difficulties of doing this. Maybe we should just move on and find something else?

Georgia

has hit the nail on the head, much advertising but little actually coming out the other end!

A few pieces or sites do come out but a lot of chaff needs to be sorted first, you should find a number of good deals depending where you are looking.

shaun/ advisor

 Hi Fultond,

Either Georgia or Shaun is fine.......

This is the problem with a lot of repo's, generally the last thing that people let happen is the for the bank to take their property back.

So, they will have mortgaged to the hilt and generally have more associated debt to the Hacienda,seguridad social, loans etc...

This creates a sale price which is more than often above it's true value let alone a bargain price.

Both the tax office and the social security will place embargos on the property as well as banks that are owed any outstanding loans.

This will have to be cleared before the property can be sold.

You are probably safer to find a property just prior to action being taken as you can negotiate  personally with any vendor that is in trouble, this sounds a little unscrupolous but such is life..........

I have just received another list from a bank and 95% of it is overpriced, not even worth advertising...

There are some real bargains out there at the moment and sometimes it's hard to see the "wood for the trees" you have just got to know where to look.

Thanks Georgia

Interestingly enough I saw an article in yesterdays Mail on Sunday, stating that the Spanish banks are starting to make properties available to the public that previously had not been, indicating that thousands of bargains would be available. I don't have the web site to hand, but it was a company working with the Santander. I logged on to the web site and selected the Malaga area. There was one 5 bedroom villa for around 800K€. Clearly still some way to go before this adds any value to the situation.

Dave

You do not need to purchase re posesed properties to get a good deal at the moment, there are thousands of people desperate to sell, one of my neighbours just sold his 5 bed villa for €200.000.  It was valued 4 years ago at €800.000. Look around as this option is much quicker and hastle free!

Joan

I am currently looking at a property which has a large outstanding mortgage and many other debts on it (tax, utilities etc).

The property is due to be reposessed at the end of the month.

If I should wait and then deal directly with the bank who is responsible for clearing the other bad debts? The bank or me?

mn

** EDITED - Spam **

That is part of the purchase agreement. You can decide on this.