In what way do notes of interest 'help' buyers?

glasgowdan

That was the chat being given by an agent at a viewing recently. As far as I can tell they simply negate the negotiation step and encourage the sale to go straight to a closed bid closing date. i.e. completely NOT helping buyers.

Am I missing something? What sort of steps can a buyer take to maximise success with trying to buy a house when there's a lot of competition and everything's being snapped up right away?

Do any sellers get an offer and reply with counter offers (i.e. "negotiate") any more?

davidmcn

Noting interest just means you get kept up to date about any closing dates being set.

Most sellers will want it to go to a closing date if that's at all possible. So for the most popular properties, you're only likely to avoid that by making an early, and good, offer, and hoping that the seller is in a hurry (rather than wanting to wait maybe only a couple of weeks longer to achieve a similar or higher price).

On the other hand, making an offer risks the seller thanking you very much and deciding to wait until they have a closing date before making any decisions.

Thrugelmir

glasgowdan wrote: »

Am I missing something? What sort of steps can a buyer take to maximise success with trying to buy a house when there's a lot of competition and everything's being snapped up right away?

Do any sellers get an offer and reply with counter offers (i.e. "negotiate") any more?

If properties are being sold at asking price or above. Then far easier to cut to the chase and ask for best offers. No need to negotiate. Seller can accept the offer they want.

sheramber

A note of interest is exactly that. It is not an offer so does not entail paying a solicitor to submit an offer( in Scotland offers need to be submitted by solicitors)

If someone else then places an offer or the sale goes to a closing date you are informed and can then decide whether or not to put an offer in.

So you don't need to commit to making an offer or keep checking on whether there have been any offers made.

How the sale progresses depends on the people concerned.

After we viewed our current house we asked the seller what they were looking for. No way were we prepared to offer what they said they wanted so made an offer of the asking price.
The seller rejected the offer but indicated what they would accept which we were prepared to pay.

Previously when we have been interested in buying a house noted as 'offers over' we have asked the seller what price they were looking for. We were happy to pay that so offered that amount and it was accepted. That has worked for us and saved solicitors fees for making offers,

However, some sellers will not enter into any discussion over the price and would rather wait and see what offers come in.

googler

Knowing the NUMBER of notes aids buyers in judging how keen competition will be at a closing date.

They aid buyers by keeping them informed should a closing date be set.

What can you do to maximise your success? Be ready to make a written offer quickly on your selected property. If such an offer is acceptable to the seller, and they don't want to wait a week or so to close with other offers, they may well accept yours straight away. Helps to be with a solicitor who doesn't charge for unsuccessful offers.

agrinnall

The "note of interest / closing date" system was pretty much de rigeur in most locations in Scotland before the financial crash. At that time buyers had to get their own survey on properties they were interested in so noting interest meant that could be put off until the buyer was confident that they wanted to go ahead with putting in an offer. With the introduction of the HBR that's less of an issue these days, which is one reason why a lot less properties now go to a closing date, it's really only popular properties in popular areas.