Cant sell, what other options do we have?

L

liger79

Registered User
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33
Hi,

We're a separated couple ( not married ) with a house to offload. Its been on the market for just over a year with not many people looking at it and no offers. There are lots of ex-rental properties in surrounding area that are about 40k less. Also the bank wont allow either of us to take over the mortgage on our own.

Do we have any other options available to get rid of the house? we dont want to rent it as we want to get this done and dusted with asap. Its sitting empty draining our monthly income and is getting very depressing.
 
i'm told the bank won't allow a sale leaving 50k debt on the mortgage.

The house is borderline neg equity. We've been dropped the price as far as we can go. Its the cheapest in its estate but surrounding areas are killing us on the market.
 
If you can't drop the price further and there are other houses close by a lot cheaper, then I'm afraid it looks like you won't be able to sell it, why nit rent it out and at least have it paying for itself, that's what we had to do with ours, and I hate the fact that we couldn't offload it, but at least it's paying for itself
 
liger79 said:
i'm told the bank won't allow a sale leaving 50k debt on the mortgage.
Click to expand...

Hi liger

Who told you that? Did you ask the bank?

Explain the situation in full to the bank and put a proposal to them in writing.

You will have to offer to convert the balance into a personal loan.

They may reject it but it's worth trying.

Brendan
 
when you say you've dropped the price as far as you can, do you mean as far as you can to pay off the loan in full? Or as far as you can to leave yourself with a few grand towards a deposit on a new place?

I think the problem with a lot of people who were trying to sell was they kept nudging the price down a few thousand even though the market was in free fall. There was a saying, when making an offer to buy a house, unless you feel slightly embarrassed chances are you're offering too much.

Don't forget that your house is worth a lot less than what you paid for it, but every other house in the country is also worth a lot less than it was two years ago.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Hi liger

Who told you that? Did you ask the bank?
Click to expand...

A friend who works for another bank told me that the banks wouldnt allow such a big hit on the sale.


tenchi-fan said:
when you say you've dropped the price as far as you can, do you mean as far as you can to pay off the loan in full? Or as far as you can to leave yourself with a few grand towards a deposit on a new place?
Click to expand...

At the moment the house is listed for sale 5k above the exsisting mortgage of €211k. We reduced it as house prices dropped but i'm sure nobody would be offering the the full asking price anyway so i'm expecting to have to pay extra into the final bill with the bank on top of solictiors and estate agent fees.
 
You'll have to ask your bank directly liger, don't go on the word of someone who works for a different bank.
 
+1. Don't take the opinion of your friend as a reason to do nothing. Make the bank make a decision, in writing. This is their problem as well as as yours.
 
Try and strike a deal with the bank.

Arrange to meet the relevant person.

Point of the realities of present day Ireland.

If there's (say) a €50K shortfall try and negotiate a deal with the bank whereby they carry the can for some of the loss.

Ensure that if you do come to an agreement that you get confirmation in writing that the agreement is a full and final settlement.

No guarantee of success but worth a try. If it was me, I'd be looking to negotiate and wave the carrot of "a customer for life" in front of them.

Best of luck.
 

Thanks for the replies folks.

Pat when you say negotiate a deal whereby the bank would carry the can what do you mean exactly?

Also the relevant person can be difficult to identify, anytime i've spoken to branch the first words out of their mouth are "You really need to deal with our mortgages centre over the phone about this" and of course the mortgages centre tells me i need to speak to a branch! I take it its best to deal with someone in person at my branch.
 

All I'm saying is that if it was me, I'd arrange to meet the bank manager, advise him of the situation and try and negotiate a deal with the bank in relation to the shortfall when you sell the property (i.e. the bank agrees to write off a portion of the €50K).

It costs nothing to ask.
 

There are loads of discussions on AAM about the bank writing off some of the debt but as far as I know noone actually has any experience of the bank doing this?? At least from what I read on AAM I didn't see anyone say this advice worked. It is a nice idea but the banks have not been doing it.
 

Agree with you 100%. Brilliant idea but the banks have not come around to accepting this proposal.

OP, its still worth asking but I just wouldn't hold my breath.

Would like to hear the reaction you get.
 
The OP isn,'t necessarilly looking to write off any of the loan, simply to sell the property and convert the difference between the sales prices and the amount outsanting on the mortgage into a personal loan.

Whilst banks are unsurprisingly very reluctant to write off debts there is no reason why they shouldn't entertain this suggestion.

OP, simply present your personal situation and your proposal, in writing, and get a formal, in writing, response.
 
Howitzer said:
Whilst banks are unsurprisingly very reluctant to write off debts there is no reason why they shouldn't entertain this suggestion.
Click to expand...

From the bank's point of view:
- mortgage is secured, personal loan is not
- don't want to trigger firesales/price reductions
 
Nermal said:
From the bank's point of view:
- mortgage is secured, personal loan is not
- don't want to trigger firesales/price reductions
Click to expand...

The bank have a problem if the value of the security is far less than the outstanding loan.

I know credit card providers are accepting settlements but I haven't heard of one in a situation like the OP's.

Has to be only a matter of time though, no?

One area which gets little mention is the level of "loan write offs" in relation to car finance. I know of a number of economic migrants who have left Ireland and literally dumped their cars leaving the finance provider (usually AIB) with an asset worth far less than the outstanding finance.
 
Nermal said:
From the bank's point of view:
- mortgage is secured, personal loan is not
- don't want to trigger firesales/price reductions
Click to expand...
True but ignoring the problem won't make it go away either.

In the OP's case you have a couple who got a mortgage. They have now split and need to split the assets/liabilities. The answer of "no, no, no" is something I would expect a child to come back with. This is a financial transaction of, presumably, well in excess of 1/4 million euros. It's madness for the bank not to explore all the options available.

The bank has risk associated with the property loan. It is secured on a depreciating asset and the mortgage is held by a couple who are no longer together. The fact that the loan is seciured on the property is worthless as the security is worth less than the loan. As such it is no better than a personal loan. The OP hasn't stated if there is a fixed or tracker mortgage on the property. If there is a fixed there are extra costs in paying off the mortgage early. If it's a tracker it may be in the bank's interest to have it paid off early.

Getting the mortgage off the books and having the difference split in to 2 seperate personal loans to 2 people who have a good credit record shouldn't overly increase the risk to bank. If anything, it may reduce it.
 
Spoke with the bank today. First off the advisor couldnt remember why i was there. Then when i reminded him i wanted to find out where i stood if we got an offer leaving us with a debt he proceeded to go thru my details and try to sell me a savings account and income protection.

Finally i steered the conversation back to the mortgage and he looked at my income details and so on, made a call to an underwriter or two and then declared that the bank would be likely allow me to take over the mortgage on my own now, that they would expect people who bought in 04/05/06 to be in neg equity and would look at ability to make the repayments and if repayments are being made now.

When he put info into the affordability system there was a shortfall of about 10k between what i need and what i could afford, i asked if the bank would be willing to write off that as they would be getting rid of the tracker mort he laughed. When i suggested that other banks where paying customers to get rid of trackers he went into some waffle about fixed rate mort holders not being allowed to break out of them without paying 7-10k.

Finally he also said i need to get a valuation done i the house if i proceed, when i asked why i needed to do that as a valuer will only tell then its worth less than the loan they are going to give me he said its just a requirement.

He printed off a couple of repayment infor and as we finished up he asks, " So will i go ahead and open that savings account for you".


Overall i found it very frustrating dealing with them as i got no straight answers about anything. The guy was more interested in cross selling.
 
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