Confusion When Buying a Bank Repossession

Having just returned from meeting with a very unhappy customer, who bought a unfurnished, new occupied, bank repossession, from an agent, I thought that it would be worth explaining the process, to avoid other people having similar problems,

There are a growing number of developers, including people like Polaris, who have handed back properties to the banks, to discharge the builders mortgages, who then sell these through a variety of agents, normally at heavily discounted prices but buyers must understand the differences in this type of purchase

These properties are classed as re-sale, not new, they attract a higher rate of IVA and most importantly are, sold as seen. There is no repairs and snagging carried out by the builder, before or after you complete. What you see is what you are get and in this case I still cannot understand why some buyers do not first visit, or have a 3rd party check the property, before they complete, perhaps agents say they don't need to.

They are discounted on the basis that the buyer will probably have to spend some money getting the property checked and the defects repaired, BEFORE, they furnish and use the property. There may be damage, often items missing as the builder has probably cannibalised the property to repair other units and we regularly see, doors, plumbing and white goods missing. 

 In this case the buyers first visit was to what he believed was going to be a cleaned furnished property ready to use property which wasn't further from the truth as the property was furnished with items and lights missing, dirty including a birds nest in a wardrobe and with a long list of defects including doors not locking, taps missing, hollow and raised tiles, poor grouting, cracking on the bathroom ceiling, all items that would be part of a snagging process

The expectation of the buyer is that this is the agents responsibility to sort this out, the agents response is that the property is bought as seen, the builders response is that it nothing to do with me and that the bank should have reported any defects

There are still some defects that should be covered as part of the buildings insurance that is included with the community fees and of course the 10 years structural guarantees but making a claim on is an expensive and lengthy process 

So again, as with all of these situations in Spain get everything in writing, look at the property before you complete, take photographs, do an inventory because things can go missing and be prepared and have a budget for repairs. Ask the simple question is that a new property which can have a snagging list repaired or a resale and include any agreements with the contracts when you complete at The Notary

There are some very good bargains out there, even with the additional costs for repairs,

 We recently started to work on promoting these types of properties but, because of our background in building inspections, approached the business in a different way, providing potential buyers with a full condition report on the property, before they even view and pricing to have any works rectified by a qualified tradesman

i find it amazing the buyer was so clueless.

in uk when you buy a reposession property at auction you would expect to have to work on it.

so why would it be different in spain

This is different because the confusion is because the property is empty, unfurnished, not lived in, so the owner sees it as a new property and sometimes agents don't quite want to explain the differences

Having just returned from meeting with a very unhappy customer, who bought a unfurnished, new occupied, bank repossession, from an agent, I thought that it would be worth explaining the process, to avoid other people having similar problems,

There are a growing number of developers, including people like Polaris, who have handed back properties to the banks, to discharge the builders mortgages, who then sell these through a variety of agents, normally at heavily discounted prices but buyers must understand the differences in this type of purchase

Your first statement is a little confusing to the second one....A unfurnished, new occupied, bank repossession....then....

Like Polaris who have handed back properties...

What did they do? buy a newly built one...an unoccupied one...a bank repossession...an occupied one.

Because it sounds like at the moment they bought a new house from the builder Polaris, that was handed back to the bank, because Polaris couldn't keep up the payments to the bank, yet still expected the same rules and conditions to apply on building problems that applied to a new one direct from the builder and not the bank.

I ask because i have been offered one that was priced at 300,000€,  now i could if i pushed it get it for about 120,000€.

Apologies Baz it is an unoccupied property handed back to by the developer to the bank,  so it is a bank repossession which have never been used and was now owned by the bank

If however , and this does apply specifically to the Polaris properties, the bank have taken ownership back from the developer then Polaris will not carry out any snagging repairs or replace any missing items, they did not buy from Polaris, they bought directly from the bank

In the most recent case the pipes to the bathroom taps were missing and when the water was turned on it flooded the bathroom

There are currently, discounted properties on places like Mar Menor 2 and Terrazes and La Torre which are still being offered by Polaris and where the snagging list and repairs are done, been to MM2 today checking repairs to a new property

Apologies Baz it is an unoccupied property handed back to by the developer to the bank, so it is a bank repossession which have never been used and was now owned by the bank.

Yes i see it now, many thanks.