Buying in Scotland-advice?

Carys84

Just viewed a property, loved it. I need it in my life. Problem: our place isn't on the market.

We've been 'ready' to move for a while but just never got around to it, but having seen this property, it's motivated us to get things rolling. We've contacted the solicitor and are having photos/valuation/home report done this week to be put on the market for Monday, I contacted the bank and have an appointment to chat about increasing the mortgage.

However, I have a horrible feeling that this property is going to go quickly. We've not seen anything like it for the price in the 1+ year we've been casually perusing. I'm not completely au fait with the Scottish system so am looking for a bit of advice.

Should we put in a note of interest even though ours isn't on the market (hoping for a quick sale-solicitor says its a buoyant market, yadda yadda)?

Should we just go in with our best offer (over the valuation) and ask that it's not put to closing date?

Should we just keep quiet and hope that no-one snaps it up and ours sells quickly?

When we bought our current property in 2009 we went to sealed bids and we won with 5% over the asking price. We were expecting to have to make up that difference (since the mortgage amount was based on the valuation in the home report) except our bank then asked for ANOTHER survey (it was right when home reports were new and I don't think non-Scottish banks quite understood), which came back with a higher valuation at the price we'd offered, so we didn't need to make up the deficit. Am wondering if we offer 10% over on this current one if we could play the same game and get a second survey & valuation on the hope that it would come back with a similarly higher valuation...? Or was that just a fluke?

All suggestions welcome :beer:

MrsSmith2013

I would definately put in a noted interest, it costs nothing and will keep you updated on any progress with the house you love while you get your own one on the market.

You could always ask the seller how much it is they are looking for price wise and see if its anywhere near your best offer? I used to ask sellers when we were viewing before we bought our current property.

Hope someone else has some advice for you re the offer, and good luuck - if its meant to be, you will get it!

Mrs S

Carys84

Thanks Mrs S.

Can we put in a note of interest even if we're not in a position to put in an offer, officially?

I mentioned to the seller when we were viewing it when she needed to be sold (moving away from the area) and she said she was moving in with her parents for a bit anyway while she looks for somewhere so I interpreted that as potentially she doesn't need the money in the bank ASAP so... we could offer something 'interesting' with a longer completion date giving us the time to sell ours (with the option to bring forward completion if ours sells quickly). Risky though. Our current property was under offer within 2 weeks of it being on the market so hoping it will sell equally quickly, but you never know.

Glastoun

You can put in a note of interest for free, but it must be done via a solicitor, preferably the one you think you would end up using to buy the property through eventually. It doesn’t commit you to anything, and it’s very unlikely you’ll be asked whether you’re in a position to offer.

You can make an offer subject to sale of your own property, but if they receive another offer where the buyer isn’t sale dependent then chances are they are going to accept that one. If you price your property low enough you could sell it within days, depends on how much you would like/need to get for it.

And no matter what you read, on this site or any other, even if you have an offer on a property accepted you’re not then legally bound at that point. It’s only when the missives are concluded (which seems to be the equivalent of exchange of contracts in England) that there are any penalties for withdrawal. We had an offer accepted four weeks ago, are due to get the formal mortgage offer this week, and we could still withdraw from the sale without penalty if we wanted to (not that we would want to). A solicitor generally wouldn’t conclude missives without ensuring you had funds/mortgage in place.

Carys84

Ah so the 'legally binding once you have made an offer' thing isn't true?

My issue with putting in a note of interest:
If the seller has already recieved one or 2 notes of interest, could my note of interest push them into the position of asking for a closing date because they think they will recieve several offers? I worry that my note would push them over the edge for sealed bids before we're ready. Now I'm getting into the psychology of house selling which is not somewhere I want to be...!

I like the idea of offer subject to sale but guess we would really need to up our game with the offer ££ to make it really appealing.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Carys84 wrote: »

Ah so the 'legally binding once you have made an offer' thing isn't true?

Offers in Scotland are considered to be binding, subject to the caveats contained in the offer.

ie.... subject to survey, subject to mortgage, etc

Following conclusion of missives you're locked in.

You could, technically speaking, pull out in the early stages of the exchange of missives without penalty.

However your solicitor would frown on it, unless there was a very good reason, and if you tried to do so frivolously you'd need to find a new solicitor. And still need to pay your old one for work done to date.

It's an effective way of discouraging the idiocy we see in England.

Also bear in mind that the exchange of missives process can move very quickly in Scotland.

I moved into my last house within 28 days of first seeing it online.

Carys84

SLight stumbling block. Seems the property was as popular as I had anticipated. Closing date of next Wednesday. Ours will be on the market Monday.

!!!!!!.

Offer without selling ours and subject to sale and throw as much money as we can at it and hope for the best?!?!