Forgive my ignorance but I’m just seeking some succinct information. Say for example you view a property and you think, yeah thats it. Then what ? I have the Home Report which is interesting. I don’t dick around so any offer will be reasonable and fair with a view to sealing a deal. I assume i have to engage a solicitor to make the offer ?

Any advice much appreciated. I’m really looking forward to taking my daughter to that climbing wall at Ratho, oh errr hang on….

It depends! Some people would verbally agree a deal direct with the owner, but that won’t generally be particularly helpful. Most people would have a Scottish Solicitor make a formal offer – be aware that the vendor can accept that offer and then you are effectively bound by it. If the house is listed as “offer over” then often the solicitor just formally notes interest and waits for a closing date for ‘sealed bids’ to be placed. You should be aware however that they don’t need to wait for the closing date to accept an offer and so you can (rarely) loose our that way (or, also rarely, persuade a vendor to take it off the market immediately by making a silly offer).

Thanks, i thought that was the case so will get onto it.

engage a solicitor to do the formal stuff as above. although could be pricey (but get recommendations from friends, colleagues etc – especially solicitors from say Fife can be should be less pricey than up market Edinburgh ones) it will save to-ing and fro-ing.

I’m a bit out of the loop as far as current trends and practice – as for a while a buyers market but I suspect things have tipped back to offers over, closing dates and less of the offers in region of.

You can make an offer that you believe is reasonable, if they reject that then (we certainly did on one property) your offer can be withdrawn. Our solicitor pursed his lips at that but was probably for the best.

Not sure what the status of “offer subject to survey” is, either – as long as you can then withdraw an offer based on something in the survey fine, but to my mind it can be used for all sorts of spurious “changed our mind” / “seen something better” / “holding offer” behaviour..

I offered subject to satisfactory survey and arranging the mortgage, which was accepted, although not binding on the sellers any more than it was on me.

Thanks. Will let you know what happens.

If anyone can recommend a conveyancing solicitor in Edinburgh that would also be a help.

“Not sure what the status of “offer subject to survey” is, either “

its looked at as a bit of a joke on an offer in scotland.

we were advised to be sure the surveys were done before we offered as puttingthis on your offer generally means unless its been on the marketfor years you will be disguarded straight away.

i would be tempted to try a slightly over asking price to get it if its the house you want. sealed bidding wars get messy – i know i keep putting it out there but one we bid on went for 80k over asking – in february 2012.

in the end we got our current place off the market 3 days after it went up for 5 k over asking.

I’ve just remortgaged and the lender used YourConveyancer, who appear to be solicitors dealing solely with conveyancing. It appears they serve individuals as well as companies, and although they were engaged by the lender they also sorted out some stuff for me with the deeds (for a charge, of course!). I found them fine. Think they’re in Dunfermline mind, although it was all done by post/email/phone so that didn’t matter to me.

aye, trail_rat, that’s kind of what I thought — if I received an offer like that, it was almost meaningless. at best.
Just never heard any proper legal view on it – not, and I was wondering, how much they can be discounted. I’d imagine it depends on the market, if the seller is desperate, then the buyer has some muscle but if there are multiple bids they are viewed as you say as a joke in normal circumstances.

When we bought our only house in Edinburgh, there were no there bidders (yeah!) – on a house at end of a bumpy, private road cul-de-sac. When we sold – only one bidder – successful offer :/

Anne-Marie bought a flat in Edinburgh, she used a guy recommended – who was – as above – in Dunfermline, there was no problem there at all and he was a good bit cheaper than Edinburgh folk. Certainly cheaper than my solicitor 🙁 Guy in Dunfermline’s dead now though 🙁

That’s the thing in Scotland, there are no set rules, and whatever the established process may be it is always flexible – when I offered subject to survey the seller was happy to wait the few weeks that took because I had offered more than anyone else, but he was selling his late mothers house so wasn’t in any rush. In other circumstances it wouldn’t even be considered, as above.

Whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, use McEwan Fraser. Seriously, just don’t. Years ago I used Valente McCombie Hunter who a lawyer friend of mine described as “cheap and largely competent” – I was going to use them again last year but they never returned my calls.

I’ve bought 2 houses in Scotland. 7 years ago I made the best offer I could on an offers over property that had been on the market 1 day. Last year I offer home report value on a house that had been on the market a few months. Both were accepted inside a few hours, no notes of interest, no closing dates.

I can highly recommend Russel & Aitken in Edinburgh, ask to speak to Dianne Paterson and say it is a referral. Email in profile if you need any more details.

So for an offers over where the diff between the OO number and the home report val number is about 8% of the price – what’s expected or normal ? The valuation to me is it’s value, anything else is a premium.

i agree with you col BUT sellers dont , and with easy credit once again availible and 5% deposits becoming the norm again ……..buyers dont either.

just gotta decide what its worth to you …..and cross your fingers.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/housing_s/housing_buying_and_selling_s/buying_a_home_scotland.htm

Don’t think many people put much faith in those home reports

Get and pay for the best survey you can. Friend bought a house having paid for best survey. He got his painter/decorator brother in to do the decorating and he found all the window sill, lintels and many door frames were rotten. Took legal action against surveyors and won substantial costs to effect repairs.

It is a lot easier than being in the English “chain” system

If your offer is accepted the house is basically yours and seller has to move by agreed entry date unlike in England as my son found out!!

The house is worth what both you and the seller think it is worth. Locally cash buyers come into the area and are buying up all the bigger, expensive properties. Some are also downsizing and moving here for the lifestyle and(currently)free services for the elderly 🙄

the gap is I suppose some idea (in the sellers head) of demand (and what they’re agent has told them its ‘worth’).

The house we bought in Edinburgh was purchased for pretty well spot on valuation (but that’s an elastic science / art in itself). When we sold it it was for much the same (as in valuation there or thereabouts). The buyers’ surveyor even asked me what the asking price was, nodded, and seemed to just write that down (we weren’t going crazy on prices though).

Used to be pretty common to have a house offered up at a silly /low/ O/O price (this was Edinburgh in mid 80s) in order to get folk to have a look, confused the hell out of an out of town lad like me. You’d go into a flat and think “no way” and sure enough, ask the seller what they were looking for, it bore no resemblance to the OO price.

If it’s a nice place, and you reckon it’ll do you for years, ask them what they’d like, root around for some loose change, and go in with a pre-emptive offer..

Up here we took the cash from selling an end terrace in Edinburgh and buying somewhere that’ll do us for say 15 years, I reckon any over-bidding is negated on that timescale. Kind of like my folks did – overpaid by some margin, in 1973, mum still stays in same house..

I’d be careful about offering much over home report value. I’ve just taken my flat off the market after not being able to sell it at or slightly below home report value in 6 months. It’s a first-time buyer’s property in pretty-central Edinburgh. Looking around there are lots of similarly-priced properties that have been on the market longer than mine. I certainly haven’t seen much of an upturn in the market and I know others who have had similar experiences.

Back when I bought the flat the norm was to offer c.20-25% above the offers over price, but that price was set lower to begin with.

We’ve used Warners for our last two purchases in Edinburgh, probably not the cheapest but very thorough and the solicitor (Beverly Cottrell)spotted some funny goings on in one property we put an offer in on which meant that we wouldn’t have actually owned the garage that was being sold with the flat!

When we bought last (3 years ago) unless it was a city centre property the general trend was 10% under the home report valuation or bang on the valuation if you were being generous. We got our house (in Ratho as it happens) for less than the HR value, although some friends in new town sold for around 20% above.
The market has probably picked up since then though so probably best to ask the solicitor. You can also easily find out what the property last sold for to see if the current owners are making a quick buck and over pricing the property.

“The market has probably picked up since then though so probably best to ask the solicitor”

best advice on here – assuming your not buying from the same solicitors branch…..

its area dependant – up here friends are still being out by 4 figures at 15% over asking at the moment.

Try elp solicitors on Ferry Road, used to deal with all the major firms and they’re better than average,

Edinburgh is bonkers. I know a chap who bought a big old sandstone house in morning side, was offers over 650,000. Cost him 1.1M, and it was needing absolutely gutted. Ooft.

Final question – any practical experience of a _good_ surveyor ?

Not used them but Dixon Heaney Kean Kennedy on Corstophine Road are highly regarded,

Bought and sold with Barbara at Connor Malcom in Cannon Mills. She has been there for a good while, knows the market well and worked really hard for us.

I was trying to get an example of our home report but I cant find it….

Just remember : you pay more than home report, you find the difference from your own pocket as the bank won’t lend it.

As already said, and having bought up here before, the ‘norms’ we were told were ‘the rules’ seem to have a lot more flexibility in theses days. Missives being exchanged is the key thing, at which point you are tied in.

We are in the process of buying a place at 5% below asking price! that was already 5% below home report valuation. We sat tight while they accepted various higher offers, all of them could not follow through. We should do missives tomorrow, so sealing it all up for a completion as soon as the vendors new house is complete. It is still (mainly) a buyers market.

“It is still (mainly) a buyers market. “

it always has been in the lowlands of scotland/fife/north east of england imo… mean while in the rest of the uk

The Op did ask about Scotland….

And as well as our lowland, commuter estate buying, we have a friend who just bought a huuuuuuge pile and farm in he Cairgorms / Abernethy forest for well under asking.