[Anonymous]

My wife and I have been looking at properties off and on for six years. We had identified one style of property on a specific complex. Unfortunately it was out of our price range. I have now seen one advertised as a bank repossession, at a greatly reduced price. Before we plan a trip to see it, I thought I would ask you whether it is possible to make offers on bank repossessions or whether you just have to accept the price the bank has fixed?? I did speak to the agent, who said there was no flexibility. But thought she might just be protecting her percentage. Anyway, any advice gratefully received.

[Anonymous]

Which bank is it, do you know? It might be advertised by various agents and one will be the bank one. Bank repo sites have different names than the bank, casatua is Banesto etc. Go and speak to the bank manager of the local branch and make an offer. Agents obviously want their commission…..;)

[Anonymous]

In theory you can haggle with the bank but in practise they will not budge but this may have changed because they have more preassure on them now. I have little insight in how it works right now. If you make a low ball offer what usually happened a couple of years back is that you will never hear from them again.

They usually have meetings where bank managers meet up in regional meetings where these sort of offers are brought up and decided on. This is what my relative who is a bank manager at a small caixa on Mallorca.

[Anonymous]

I have enough material to do a Phd on the subject. Besides ego issues. I had been told by the Banks that my offer was an insult, when I told them that was my offer & frankly the price that they were asking was an insult to me & the other prospective buyers. Further I have the cash and I am the King and they can make a counter offer. Sadly they lack commercial maturity.

You can make an offer they will not come back to you with a counter offer. In so far as the pressure to sell, I am not sure if this is the case as they would all be transfered to the bad Bank, lock stock & barrell and knowing the Spanish they will sell it a lower price to a Bad bank etc. If this protects their ego !!!!.

Advise to buy from the Bank & not the agent is a sound one. Atleast in theory the commission that the Bank has to pay to the Agent can be built into the price that they will have to consider to accept or not.

Please keep in mind that the tax authorities may not accept the price paid and charge you a deemed price plus the penalty and where the block & its gardens etc have been ignored. The buyers have to pay for them at some date to bring upto standard. Ofcourse this could be in 000’s

[Chopera]

Some banks are inviting offers on some properties while others aren’t. My personal experience is that they are more likely to negotiate if it’s in an area with a glut of reposessions/empty properties. If it’s in more of a prime area then they might try to hold out.

If you know which bank owns the property then go to them directly- the agent might have been contracted to handle the property by the bank anyway, but they might just be chancing their luck. If you know the area well and you know what you are buying, and if the price is say 50% off peak then personally I’d consider buying at their price. You could wait a few more years and maybe get it at 10% or even 20% less, but you’d have to weigh that up against being able to enjoy the property now. Also if it’s a new build that’s been on the market a while then I might consider asking them to knock 6% off the price to compensate for the increase in VAT.

[Anonymous]

@chopera: Agree with your first para.

You can only talk to the Bank if they even reply to your emails. Besides they may have sold the property & have not taken off the site. The branch manager will call who ever he needs to if that person is not there you can forget it as there wont be any follow up..

Please also note that if you get a discount on the selling price, they may recoup some or most of it from the margin they charge on the mortgage they offer and the opening fee in addition the amortisation charges.

[Anonymous]

All
Many thanks for your replies. I will try and find out which bank it is, but judging from your comments they are unlikely to show much in the way of flexibility. I will come back to you if the agent is willing to give up the name of the bank. Given that we always fancied the location/property style we will almost definitely make a visit in the next few weeks.
Thanks again.
Doug

[Anonymous]

The Agent will be very silly to reveal this information to you & frankly if he/she is that silly. I would be worried to deal with him/her.

I suppose if you approach a Gestor, he could check out from the land regisatry etc as to which Bank has a charge over the property, that if the property has a mortgage.

[Anonymous]

As Solvia invites offers, how much would you offer initially for these

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Benidoleig-2-dormitorios/6838_1/vivienda_8053.html

or

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Benidoleig-2-dormitorios/2817_2/vivienda_3596.html

or

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Ondara-3-dormitorios/1564_6/vivienda_2278.html

I have seen these apartments last week from outside, they are OK.

[Anonymous]

@sueanddoug wrote:

My wife and I have been looking at properties off and on for six years. We had identified one style of property on a specific complex. Unfortunately it was out of our price range. I have now seen one advertised as a bank repossession, at a greatly reduced price. Before we plan a trip to see it, I thought I would ask you whether it is possible to make offers on bank repossessions or whether you just have to accept the price the bank has fixed?? I did speak to the agent, who said there was no flexibility. But thought she might just be protecting her percentage. Anyway, any advice gratefully received.

I am sure you can find the property on idealista or fotocasa and they direct you to the bank who owns the property.

[Anonymous]

Interesting one flosmichael. The first two are in the same building they equate to €463.91 M2 & €491.67 M2. Not a large difference in the bigger scheme of this but it reflects the disjointed market.

I feel that it for the local and if one is local & wants to live in the town close to ones parents, inlaws etc it should be great. I feel it not for the expat market for far to many reasons to list. I can assure that it not for reasons of living in a ghetto.

[Anonymous]

Have you searched on idealista and fotocasa to see if it’s advertised by the bank separately from the agent?

[Anonymous]

@flosmichael wrote:

As Solvia invites offers, how much would you offer initially for these

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Benidoleig-2-dormitorios/6838_1/vivienda_8053.html

or

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Benidoleig-2-dormitorios/2817_2/vivienda_3596.html

or

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Ondara-3-dormitorios/1564_6/vivienda_2278.html

I have seen these apartments last week from outside, they are OK.

I know the area quite well, they are decent Spanish towns not overrun with expats, and the properties look well built. CAM bank obviously financed the developer who must have gone into administration, hence their sale through Solvia.

That’s where the difficulties arise, firstly is everything legal with the mains services connected. Have you got neighbours? Are Solvia offering mortgage deals? Are you buying for yourself or as possible rentals? I wouldn’t advise the latter.

And the price? They look cheap, but it’s very hard to judge, and the market is definitely falling.

Caveat Emptor seems appropriate.

[Anonymous]

@Rocker wrote:

@flosmichael wrote:

As Solvia invites offers, how much would you offer initially for these

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Benidoleig-2-dormitorios/6838_1/vivienda_8053.html

or

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Benidoleig-2-dormitorios/2817_2/vivienda_3596.html

or

http://www.solvia.es/Apartamento-en-Ondara-3-dormitorios/1564_6/vivienda_2278.html

I have seen these apartments last week from outside, they are OK.

I know the area quite well, they are decent Spanish towns not overrun with expats, and the properties look well built. CAM bank obviously financed the developer who must have gone into administration, hence their sale through Solvia.

That’s where the difficulties arise, firstly is everything legal with the mains services connected. Have you got neighbours? Are Solvia offering mortgage deals? Are you buying for yourself or as possible rentals? I wouldn’t advise the latter.

And the price? They look cheap, but it’s very hard to judge, and the market is definitely falling.

Caveat Emptor seems appropriate.

I know the area quite well too. Benidoleig is a nice little town close to the mountains and sea and with a wonderful cave. Ondara is close to Denia/Javea/Oliva/Gandia and has the biggest mall in the area. I have seen the apartment buildings and there are people living there.
Solvia offers mortgages.

The question would be how much to offer? 25% less, 40% less, 50% less….

[Anonymous]

I suppose, how desparte are you to buy ?. I would make an off 50% with no requirement of a mortgage & let them come back to with a counter offer. Expect that they will first get offended with your offer as you would have insulted the DNA of the person that you are dealing & insult the corporation i.e. SOLVIA.

They, will not come back with a counter offer. If they do I will eat all my hats including the Somberero, I wore on my donkey taxi ride in Mijas.

[Anonymous]

@shakeel wrote:

I suppose, how desparte are you to buy ?. I would make an off 50% with no requirement of a mortgage & let them come back to with a counter offer. Expect that they will first get offended with your offer as you would have insulted the DNA of the person that you are dealing & insult the corporation i.e. SOLVIA.

They, will not come back with a counter offer. If they do I will eat all my hats including the Somberero, I wore on my donkey taxi ride in Mijas.

I am in no rush to buy. I am just pondering on how to possibly negociate. If they do not come with counter-offers them it is kind of waste of time…

Did anybody on this forum succesfully negociate with the banks on their repossesion portfolio?

[Chopera]

If you are considering buying a repossession, also make sure they haven’t still got the previous owners living there:

http://www.idealista.com/news/archivo/2013/01/10/0563621-los-bancos-venden-pisos-embargados-a-precios-de-chollo-pero-con-ex-duenos-dentro?xtor=EPR-76-%5Bboletin_20130111%5D-20130111-%5Bnoticias__3%5D-%5B%5D-%5B%5D

[Anonymous]

I await to see if any one on the forum or their family or friend has bought anything. I am well aware that if mortgage is not required i.e. cash buyer, when I say cash I dont mean readies. One can get a bigger discount.

[Anonymous]

The repossession websites of the banks don’t seem realistic, I think they’re all waiting to see what the Banco Malo will do when they take over the toxic assets from the other banks.

Currently, very few estate agents take on repossessions, for various reasons, some even admit they don’t want to trade on other people’s misery.

[Anonymous]

“I think they’re all waiting to see what the Banco Malo will do when they take over the toxic assets from the other banks”

That may be the current position. They the Banks have been acting in this manner before there was talk of bad bank or even the idea was floated.

“Currently, very few estate agents take on repossessions, for various reasons.”

I can accept this with my own experience it is a waste of time. Most Agent cannot rely on the whim’s of the Bank. While their own bills have to paid & the family has to be fed.

“some even admit they don’t want to trade on other people’s misery”
Now this is rich/curious one coming from Agents !!!!!!!!!!. Besides, properties previously occupied by families (even these, if one agent does not wish to sell another one will ) Where is the misery for the developers ?? & people who bought for speculation.

[Anonymous]

We had a few repossesions when I worked down in Spain and we always made sure the buyers understood that there was basicly no room to make any offers on those “units”. We didn’t sell one repossesion but other things sold like hot butter. What amazed me back then was how uninterested the banks behaved. The only time the banks seemed eager to discuss an offer was when a client that was in array or whatever it’s called and they still had possesion of the property.

I think it comes down to that as long as they could hide their real estate at inflated values they did it.

*edit itsme the impression I got of brittish sellers was that they understood the situation the market was in and was always willing to discuss things as adults. They never took offers as insults but rejected them in a civil manner. Spanish sellers could become very angry about offers being made that in all honesty was sensible ones.

[Anonymous]

Or is it that very few British estate agents take on repos either because the banks prefer local Spanish agents or more likely because British agents are still advertising way, way too high. Why would they take on a repo for 20k if they are trying to sell similar private sales for 80k? They still want their high commission and Brits still demand high sales returns.

ha ha, agents don’t want to trade on others misery….. what about the misery they caused by knowingly mis-selling??!!

I know from the repos in our block that the banks are selling them online and via printouts in the branches plus local estate agents are the ones who actually have the keys and show people round. One bank manager said to me for a couple to have a look around and then come back to her to discuss the price. Therefore the agent wouldn’t get much. Not that it saddens me at all…..

[Anonymous]

and I think to be honest the banks would love people to take on mortgages with large cash deposits more than actually paying cash for repos?

[Anonymous]

When agents go to the Bank with a prospetive buyer for a property which is not on the Banks book to discuss a mortgage for it. The Bank offers the buyer their own properties from their own portfolio. Highly unethical. Hey we are talking about Spain.

[Author]

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