My brother's house is being repossessed...

The thing is, he doesn't own it yet. He's had an offer accepted on a property, only the current owner has defaulted on their mortgage (quite spectacularly, I suspect), and it's being repossessed on December 2nd. Does anyone have an inkling of what this might mean for my brother?

Presumably the mortgage company will want to sell the property on?

If the bank is aware there is an offer, I believe they would want the sale to go through because they would be made whole at the closing. Otherwise, your brother would have a chance to buy the house for much less at the public auction. (if this is in US, and depending on each state's rules)

I think he would do best to have his solicitor contact the mortgage company and make a (reduced) offer for a quick sale on completion of the repossession. He ma have to delay a little while but like NickB says the bank will want the property for as little time as possible.

Just spoken to my brother; the vendors don't only have a mortgage on the property, they also took out a loan using the property as collateral (is that what I mean?), so there's TWO companies with a stake, not just one - their debts on the house are more than the house will be selling for. They've apparently been shredding all their final demands for months and not paying anyone. Wow.

The mortgage company will get first dibs, but this could take a while to unpick so he can wait a while, and it could be a long while, and purchase the house at a discount from now or walk away and get somewhere else. Either way it will be the other side of christmas before he moves anywhere, I would think. Prices are dropping so he should check the market and see what is available.

I had a client whose son was in a similar position. or something similar. the son also put an offer on another property but wisely had put "if sale of own house doesn't go through, this won't go through" (not exact same words but something along those lines). she claimed if he hadn't done it, he was basically fucked.

They will probably strip the house of every fixture on their way out the door. Taxes will not have been payed.