Need Help please: offer-making strategy?

Deisler

Hi all,

My wife and I are currently in the position of making an offer for a house . We just moved to Scotland recently so the system is new to us (too complicated tbh).

In general, what is the best strategy to make an offer?

Is it good to submit a formal note of interest? My understanding is, once a NoI is submitted, there will be closing date set by the owner, which I guess would greatly strengthen the competition compared to individual offers made w/o closing date?

My solicitor told me once a closing date is set, the final price will likely be higher than the home report value. Is this true? Any statistics that I can find from www?

Thanks a lot in advance.

D

googler

Deisler wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife and I are currently in the position of making an offer for a house . We just moved to Scotland recently so the system is new to us (too complicated tbh).

>>>>>>>>What's complicated about it?

In general, what is the best strategy to make an offer?

>>>>>>>Decide what you want to bid, when you want to move in, and instruct your solicitor to make an offer on that basis. If accepted, all good and well. If not, renegotiate. If negotiations fail, move on to another house.

Is it good to submit a formal note of interest?

>>>>>>Yes, if you want to be kept informed if a closing date is set.

My understanding is, once a NoI is submitted, there will be closing date set by the owner, which I guess would greatly strengthen the competition compared to individual offers made w/o closing date?

>>>>>>>>A closing date is only likely to be set once there's competing interest - i.e. more than one or two notes of interest from different parties? There's no obligation to set a closing date. Even with notes of interest, there's no legal obligation to give all the notes the chance to offer - it's only a gentleman's agreement/arrangement

My solicitor told me once a closing date is set, the final price will likely be higher than the home report value. Is this true?

Not necessarily. Depends on level of interest, how many interested, etc.

moneyshoe

It's funny when I read posts on here about people having to deal with estate agents etc I feel glad I'm in Scotland.

We are in the advanced stages of buying just outside Edinburgh having looked in and around. My experience over the last few months is that the market is pretty flat and places are generally going for under their fixed price and often under their 'offers over' price. Very few places are going for more than their home report value in the central belt.

If I really like a place I have never seen the point of making a note of interest unless it is newly on the market. If it has been on the market for a while and there aren't any other notes (in my experience sellers will tell you about this at viewings) then I would go straight in with an offer. If it is newly on or there are existing notes then I would note interest and wait until I'm notified of the closing date.


Your solicitor should know the local market and be able to advise you on what it's like. eg. last time we bought in 1996 properties were going for 20-30% over the offers over price, this time that is not the case and our solicitor helped us to decide how much under the fixed price we could bid.

I think having a good solicitor who knows the local market is half the battle. We shopped around this time and have a fantastic solicitor who has really helped with our purchase.