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Original poster

Auction - can this work? How?

420 replies

LoonyIdea · 03/07/2022 17:45

Here’s the bare bones:

I’ve seen a house I love, and it’s up for auction on July 21st with an auction house.

It’s a G2 listed house with some land.

It was previously on with A normal agent and an offer was accepted at £500k but it didn’t complete as the buyer’s solicitor wasn’t happy with a building certificate related to the underpinning. The old agent revealed that they believe the reserve to be £500k.

It is owned by MAG (Manchester Airport Group) who bought it as a compulsory purchase as a part of the A development, which never happened. They sold a lot of their portfolio but kept some with land, and this has been rented since.

My position:

I bought my husband out of my house as a part of our divorce and I now have a mortgage of £195k. My house is very saleable, on a popular estate and worth about £700 on a good day, £670 on a bad one. (Based on 3 local agents)

It was recently valued at £631 for the purposes of the remortgage as that was the figure I’d agreed with my husband some time ago.

I can put my hand on about £20k cash and everything else is in pension and in this house.

I earn £40k, PAYE.

And I really want to buy this house! How can I make it happen?

I had thought I might ask the seller to accept an offer prior to auction but if it’s ordinary auction terms then that doesn’t help me - I need more time, as it’s a cash flow issue.

I’m willing to pay a bit more for it and would go to £520 which I don’t think they’ll get at auction. The guide price is £475.

The house is uniquely unattractive to other buyers - it’s hard up against the motorway the plot is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and the majority of the land at the back has no vehicular access at all. You can get a mower or a horse in and that’s it. And the house is a (properly underpinned) wreck. I however, love it and it would suit me perfectly.

im talking to some “we buy any house” sites and they’re talking about 75-90% of market value and could complete within a few weeks.

How should I proceed? Is this even possible?

OP posts:
DomusAurea · 10/07/2022 21:22

@LoonyIdea - you wrote 'Old buildings matter. They do. They shape us and very old domestic buildings are a link back through to the lives of the people that lived there. Anything that has survived for generations is there for a reason. The beauty of vernacular historical architecture is that every last nail and board has lasted because it had a purpose. If it had served its purpose it would have been replaced, just the same way as we throw away what we don’t use. Except nowadays the consumer society doesn’t need to keep and treasure things the way that more lowly previous people might.' - I am a historian, I totally get it. Thank you for putting it down so beautifully in words.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 15:16

Aaaand I have the legal pack. It’s 221 pages long!

OP posts:
chiffchaffchiff · 11/07/2022 15:19

LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 15:16

Aaaand I have the legal pack. It’s 221 pages long!

Oooh happy reading! I'll keep my fingers crossed for no red flags.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 15:29

God it’s ginormous

help me out here, thread!

My thoughts are:

Dont bid at auction

If it doesn’t sell,

get my solicitor to look at the legal stuff. Assuming how ok or awful it is…

get my solicitor to write to them with an offer subject to survey.

Put mine on open market

Buy it.

Boom. Hey nonny nonny.

OP posts:
CamoTeaLaLa · 11/07/2022 15:55

Fuck it, why not 😎

Netaporter · 11/07/2022 17:11

@LoonyIdea sadly the reality is you can’t bid at the auction unless you have the 10% ready to go (and the auction house will make you lodge a credit card or debit card and will ring fence the funds to that amount until the auction is over) before you can bid. And then you need to have all of the funds in place before completion else you will pay compensation to the vendor on a daily rate until you do. This is an extremely unwise thing to do,

Personally I’ve never seen such a massive auction pack but faced with one I’d be looking at whatever is buried in it. Could be that vacant possession is not guaranteed, limited title, chancel repair liability, private sewage, pollution, contaminated land or no insurance to name a few. Look very carefully at the special conditions there may be hidden buyers costs.HTH and good luck!

Salome61 · 11/07/2022 17:14

I sold my listed grade II at auction, and did allow my buyer eight weeks to completion.

Good luck OP.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 17:35

Netaporter · 11/07/2022 17:11

@LoonyIdea sadly the reality is you can’t bid at the auction unless you have the 10% ready to go (and the auction house will make you lodge a credit card or debit card and will ring fence the funds to that amount until the auction is over) before you can bid. And then you need to have all of the funds in place before completion else you will pay compensation to the vendor on a daily rate until you do. This is an extremely unwise thing to do,

Personally I’ve never seen such a massive auction pack but faced with one I’d be looking at whatever is buried in it. Could be that vacant possession is not guaranteed, limited title, chancel repair liability, private sewage, pollution, contaminated land or no insurance to name a few. Look very carefully at the special conditions there may be hidden buyers costs.HTH and good luck!

Yep not bidding.

And I have an experienced conveyancing solicitor on hand for if I want to proceed - there is the underpin issue, and some questions around draining a nearby civic water facility into the ditches around it as an emergency overflow, for example. If the solicitor doesn’t keel over then I’ll get a survey done and go from there. All this is contingent on it failing to sell at auction.

What this whole process has taught me though, is that it’s possible to raise finance relatively easily so long as you’re willing to pay for it.

OP posts:
Roselilly36 · 11/07/2022 18:36

OP has already said a few times she isn’t going to bid, she is hoping the property doesn’t sell at auction and would then make an offer subject to survey etc.

I hope it works out for you. In my area property’s are selling well at auction and for way over guide. But who knows, if it’s meant to be yours it will be. Good luck.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 20:06

Thankyou. It’s getting slightly “cancel the cheque” isn’t it?!

Theyve delayed until end of the month now. Pfft. Apparently this was because it took so long to get the legal pick out.

OP posts:
Netaporter · 11/07/2022 20:20

They’ve delayed the whole auction or just the lot you are interested in? Unusual, but might work in your favour? Fingers crossed!

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 20:36

The entire auction of about 50 lots

OP posts:
Bollindger · 11/07/2022 20:40

Go and ask about a bridging loan.
You have the assets and if you put yours up for sale now you could go with an offer so wouldn't need it for long.
If you don't ask you will never know.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 11/07/2022 21:00

Did that last week! It is entirely so-able and I could even roll the payments into the total amount rather than have to service the borrowing from income. However, this house is SUCH an unknown quantity that I need to know what I’m dealing with. Even if I got it, and sold my own house at full market value there’s a chance I could be stuck with a property I can’t mortgage against in order to repair it.
it needs a survey, there are a number of issues I’m concerned with from the legal pick, not least of which is a Schedule of a works which absolutely hasn’t been completed - if it was then it wouldn’t be so knackered right now, and I’m trying to work out if the pack contains the planning permissions for those works. Every action on the house and land is subject to both Listed Building Consent and Scheduled Ancient Monument consent, so it isn’t like I can get works done quickly either. And if I balls up the works, it’s not an easy house to fix.

Added to that, all of the previous works have required both an archeological survey and a biodiversity report. It’s likely that the archeology wouldn’t have to be repeated as nothing was found. As soon as you touch the earthworks and water course though, that all would need doing because they’re untouched since, well, ever.

It was tempting to put every penny in and I can see why some people would do it on a house that would have an intrinsic value immediately, but it would be very hard to realise that on this particular property.

So if the property gods are looking favourably then it will come my way.

OP posts:
AppelFrench · 11/07/2022 21:15

You can pass the legal pack around us & we'll read it. Line up everyone for 10 pages each..Grin

AppelFrench · 11/07/2022 21:16

You could get a mn renovation crew together... Anyone fancy ditch-digging with me? Grin

Andifin · 11/07/2022 21:26

I am fascinated by this house. Would love to know more. I know we have to wait.

StartupRepair · 11/07/2022 22:37

Good call not to bid. Fascinated to see what happens next and admiring of your courage.

Geneticsbunny · 12/07/2022 08:13

I am definitely up for a working party weekend as long as there is naice pizza and plenty of tea.

Geneticsbunny · 12/07/2022 08:14

No developers are going to touch it with that legal pack and it will put most other people off completely.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 12/07/2022 09:12

Geneticsbunny · 12/07/2022 08:14

No developers are going to touch it with that legal pack and it will put most other people off completely.

i think so too. I just have to hope that there isn’t another peri menopausal single mum with a nerdy interest in old buildings…

OP posts:
Geneticsbunny · 12/07/2022 11:57

I tick all those boxes but I already have my money pit and they will be carrying me out of it in a box.

Original poster
LoonyIdea · 12/07/2022 17:50

small update:

This morning I spoke to the lady who did the conveyancing on my mortgage, about the ginormous legal pack. She said that they very rarely got any packs that big but that it would be £450 plus VAT to have a look.

Then my personal trainer told me his client is a listed building surveyor and said he could send the details to him. I’d already heard of him as he is a bit of a legend so I’m going to ring him.

Then I had a megaton of caffeine and a quiet sit and decided to ring the man at the company which currently own it. I was BRICKING it. He was very nice but also v professional and directed me back to the agent and the auctioneer.

I have asked him will he consider delaying the auction - he said no.
I asked was there any flexibility on the terms if I was to bid on the day (deposit, completion) and he said he didn’t know and he would have to seek advice about it.

But he said he knew the property well and they wanted the right buyer for it who would be a custodian. THAT IS ME!!!!!! IT REALLY IS!!!!!!

omg.

OP posts:
StillCuriouser · 12/07/2022 18:14

I am crossing my fingers and toes for you @LoonyIdea I hope this house is meant to be yours!

Catsdrool · 12/07/2022 18:22

You described the house so beautifully and eloquently I’ve fallen in love with it too so I can’t help but root for you. Got my fingers crossed for you

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