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Matching developers/ would- be owners with empty properties

Submitted by katesherolli on 22 February, 2012 - 15:14

Hello,

I am just wondering whether anyone has any sort of  process to bring together owners with developers or other people who may have an interest in purchasing their properties. If so, I'd be grateful for further information.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

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Hi We have two avenues we use

Submitted by Luke Taylor on 22 February, 2012 - 16:46.

Hi

We have two avenues we use for this, if people come to us saying they have seen a home and want to know if they can buy it, we will write to the owner and enquire.

Additionally people complete an interested party form on the website, and we then keep a list of potential purchasers which we email details of homes which are for sale. These tend to come from our action, or where homes have come up for sale and the owners agree to allow us to send out the property details.

We tried a system where we advertise the properties for sale on our website but there wasn't a massive amount of uptake. It seems to be more beneficial to send out the property details directly as they arise.

Thanks

Matching developers/would-be owners with empty properties

Submitted by ElizabethGreen on 8 March, 2012 - 16:11.

We have a paragraph in our standard empty homes letter that states:

 "If you are unable to return the property to use and want to sell the property the Council is often approached by private investors interested in purchasing empty properties and I would be happy to provide you with contact details for investors who have expressed an interest in purchasing property in the (insert postcode) area."

If an owner expresses an interest in selling their property I email investors to ask if they would be interested in purchasing an empty property on that street then give the owner a list of those investors interested in purchasing the property and their contact numbers/email addresses. It is up to the owner if they contact everyone from the list or no-one, their details are not given to the investors unless the owner specifically requests it is done that way. We do not take any part in negotiations but I advise them to contact as many investors as possible to get a better chance of getting a good price. I remind them that they do not have to accept any offer and suggest that they seek advice from a surveyor, estate agent or solicitor. I also provide them with a copy of the RICS leaflet "a clear impartial guide to selling your home".

Sometimes the process of matching the owner with investors can encourage them to carry out the works themself or sell the property another way such as through an estate agent.

During the enforcement process sometimes it has been an option to encourage people to sell - for example I served a building act notice on an owner who had moved out of the area 10 years previously, paid her mortgage every month and apart from that tried to forget the property existed. I matched her with some private investors one of whom completed the works to comply with the notice while the sale was underway.

Attending local landlords meetings is often a good way to meet investors both looking to buy and sell. We have a local NLA branch that meets every 2 months.