Real Estate question - date on contract

[Scouse]

Following on from What do I do with my 'collection' now?, we've been looking at a few properties over the last couple of weekends.

One that appeals so far is a mortgagee possession & appears to have been vacant for quite a while.
The agent claims that it's been empty for only 8mths but I was sent a copy of the contract today & it seems to be a lot longer than 8mths.

At the top of the contract is the vendor details & it reads:
XYZ Bank Limited as mortgagee of ### & ### exercising power of sale persuant to Mortgage regisitered AD735### dated 28 December 2007.

I'm thinking that the date 28/12/07 is when the bank took possession of the property &, therefore, has been empty for over 2 years.
Would I be right?

[THE BOOGER]

Isnt that the date the mortgage was registered

[Narangga]

Isnt that the date the mortgage was registered

Without seeing the doc that's what I would have said.

[d2dave]

Isnt that the date the mortgage was registered

That's also how I read it.

Dave.

[Mick_Marsh]

I concur.
One other possibility is that date may be when the bank started repossession proceedings.

[one_iota]

I support those above on the basis that the bank (the Mortgagor) becomes the co-owner with the Mortgagee and it is the date that the deal was done and not when the Mortagee defaulted and towit the Mortgagor exercised its rights of possession.

The date is the date of the mortgage registered with the Titles Office....

.....but I'm a bush lawyer

[Fendy130]

Following on from What do I do with my 'collection' now?, we've been looking at a few properties over the last couple of weekends.

One that appeals so far is a mortgagee possession & appears to have been vacant for quite a while.
The agent claims that it's been empty for only 8mths but I was sent a copy of the contract today & it seems to be a lot longer than 8mths.

At the top of the contract is the vendor details & it reads:
XYZ Bank Limited as mortgagee of ### & ### exercising power of sale persuant to Mortgage regisitered AD735### dated 28 December 2007.

I'm thinking that the date 28/12/07 is when the bank took possession of the property &, therefore, has been empty for over 2 years.
Would I be right?

Hi Scouse

Although I am a lawyer and prior to that I had a career in banking, I am not familiar with NSW property law (and nor am I registered to practice in NSW) so the usual disclaimers apply. In my experience, 28 December 2007 would be the date that the current owner signed the mortgage documents over the property. A mortgage is usually registered at the Land Titles Office (or the NSW equivalent) on the day that the settlement for the purchase of the property occurs, which is usually the same day as settlement or a few days later. For a mortgage, the owner is the Mortgagor as the owner is the one that owns the property and is pledging the property as security for the bank loan, whilst the bank is the Mortgagee as the bank is accepting the property as security for the loan - which makes sense in the context that you describe as it is a Mortgagee (bank) possession. Hope that helps.

Regards

Rhys

[Scouse]

OK, so it looks like it's the date the mortgage was taken out.
They must have refinanced because the previous owner bought the property in 2003 &, according to the estate agent, moved out around mid 2009.

Judging by the lack of landscaping & general condition, they really struggled to pay the house off, let alone do anything else to the joint .
That's somewhere I don't want to end up. Mind you, they paid just short of $1,000,000 back in 2003 .

[Fendy130]

Scouse, I agree that if the date the current owners purchased the property was in 2003 and the mortgage is dated 28 December 2007, it is likely that they refinanced and re-mortgaged the property. If you are serious about the property, paying a solicitor or a real estate agent to do a title search of the property should confirm the date that the current owner purchased the property and the date that they mortgaged/refinanced the property (as the case may be).

[Scouse]

If you are serious about the property, paying a solicitor or a real estate agent to do a title search of the property should confirm the date that the current owner purchased the property and the date that they mortgaged/refinanced the property (as the case may be).

I've had a friend of a friend do that already - that's how I know how much they paid for it . Actually, I think I now know how much virtually everyone in the whole suburb/town paid .

I can't say I've been in the house market before like this but there seems to be a lot of mortgagee possessions in this area.
Out of 4 places that we have really looked at, 3 are now owned by the bank .