Scottish property purchase advice please

sheramber

My son has just sold his flat in Edinburgh. he accepted an offer 25% over the asking price. lat went on the market on Friday and offer accepted Tuesday. 

he had 20 viewers and the EA suggested a closing date but he decided to accept the offer already made rather than risk losing it, if the person chose not to place a  closing bid.

theoretica

Scotland really doesn't do bidding wars in my experience.  Do you want it at 5% over the home report value (which will be the mortgage value too)?  If so get a bid in first thing tomorrow. 

MovingForwards

I had worked out how much I would spend, cross referenced against local similar sold prices before viewing; each block of tenements or old new builds had a key difference which would alter the value from another and the difference was upto about £60k
I made an offer via the EA, subject to my terms and the usual ones up here, a couple of hours after seeing it. A few quick calls by the EA a price was agreed as the seller had said what they were after, which was still less than the HR and what I thought it was worth.
I emailed my solicitor instructing them to make the official offer, confirming the terms I had included.
Emailed my broker to get the mortgage sorted out and the property was valued at my offer as even the surveyor struggled with cross referencing prices.

Goes to show the difference looking further away from the city; totally out my budget to buy in the city I work.

Taking into account commute costs I wouldn't spend the difference between city prices and my flat even if I worked for many years into state pension age.

If ever I buy again I would do it exactly the same way, but would first check there's no hint of anything virus related in another country, although a lot has changed since my purchase a year ago.

Greymug

Peterrr said:

Hi all - seeking the wisdom of those familiar with the Scottish property market game... We have viewed a city centre flat that we are very keen on and don't know the best approach to take with this "offers over" process. It only came on the market this week and we viewed it straight away. the owner was actually the person to show us around and was very amenable, so I cheekily asked if he had a price for which he'd immediately agree a deal and remove it from the market - he gave me a figure 15% above the advertised "offers over" price and 5% above the homebuyer's report valuation. 

5% over home report valuation for a flat in the city centre of Glasgow is quite a good deal in my opinion.

I've read somewhere that houses in Scotland last year went for 4-5% over home report valuation on average and this figure takes into consideration all those properties in less desirable areas that go for way less than the home report valuation.

I would expect for a flat in Glasgow city centre to potentially achieve a sale price 10-15% above home report valuation. Especially in this circumstances. I live in Edinburgh and a lot of people I know are moving to cheaper Glasgow and buy properties there now that they can work from home.

Many people have said already that a bidding war in Scotland doesn't normally happen, but actually it kind of does. It just happens differently: if there are more than 1 notes of interest, the property goes to a closing date, and almost every time your solicitor will advise you to put in the highest offer you can afford to. So, even if you don't take part in the typical "back and forth" bidding war, you still may end up offering as high as you can go.

Ask your solicitor how many notes of interest there are already on the property, which might give you an idea of how tough the competition will be. The more there are, the more appealing the flat is, the higher the price it will go to.

Peterrr

Thanks all. Got a solicitor and put our best offer in this morning. If it’s declined then we’ll look at other flats (perhaps being advertised at a slightly lower price)

Peterrr

Thread update: We reached a deal and the flat was taken off the market today. Massively relieved and absolutely delighted (despite going above our predetermined budget, but then I imagine so many do). 
Thanks again for all the advice