First time buyer questions

stripedbanana

I've been a forum lurker for a while but haven't quite managed to find answers to all my questions so here I am lumping them all into one post!

We are FTB in Scotland, have a mortgage decision in principle, have had one offer on a house we love rejected (which we expected - we went in early and low hoping for negotiation) and now waiting for a closing date to be set so we can go in with our final offer. The house hasn't been on the market for long and already has a few notes of interest. My questions are:

How reliable do mortgage AIP's tend to be? Can we use this in our favour when making our final offer or is the standard offer wording all the solicitor can put on the letter?

Similarly should the solicitor highlight in our offer that we are proceedable as FTB with no house to sell?

Is it preferable to offer with a date "to be mutually agreed" or to go in with an actual date? And if so what is a typical length of time to put on here? We can move with 4 weeks notice to our landlord, what other things do we need to take into account when offering with a date?

Million dollar question - we are planning to offer more than the home report value (we have the funds to bridge the gap). Would 5% over be realistic?

Thanks in advance! Hating this minefield already.

Pixie5740

stripedbanana wrote: »

I've been a forum lurker for a while but haven't quite managed to find answers to all my questions so here I am lumping them all into one post!

We are FTB in Scotland, have a mortgage decision in principle, have had one offer on a house we love rejected (which we expected - we went in early and low hoping for negotiation) and now waiting for a closing date to be set so we can go in with our final offer. The house hasn't been on the market for long and already has a few notes of interest. My questions are:

How reliable do mortgage AIP's tend to be? Can we use this in our favour when making our final offer or is the standard offer wording all the solicitor can put on the letter?

Similarly should the solicitor highlight in our offer that we are proceedable as FTB with no house to sell?

Is it preferable to offer with a date "to be mutually agreed" or to go in with an actual date? And if so what is a typical length of time to put on here? We can move with 4 weeks notice to our landlord, what other things do we need to take into account when offering with a date?

Million dollar question - we are planning to offer more than the home report value (we have the funds to bridge the gap). Would 5% over be realistic?

Thanks in advance! Hating this minefield already.

This isn’t like buying a house in England. You being a first time buyer doesn’t make you more proceedable than anyone else making an offer. You make your offer and include your date of entry same as everyone else. You could try sounding the vendor out to see if they have a particular date in mind and using that as your date of entry in your offer.

Without knowing where you’re buying and therefore the local market it’s impossible to say whether 5% over the home report value is reasonable. What does your solicitor recommend? The price you’re willing to pay also comes down to how much you want the property. Even though there are notes of interest in you might still be the only ones who submit an offer when it goes to closing.

stripedbanana

Thanks for your response Pixie. I didn't realise being proceedable was only important in England, I assumed not being in a chain would help.

The 5% is our maximum anyway so it's probably a moot point. I guess what I'm really looking for is a crystal ball! Just would hate to lose it by a small amount.

Pixie5740

We don!!!8217;t have chains in Scotland, that!!!8217;s just how the dafties do things south of the border.