Advice buying in Scotland

jennifernil

Steerpike88 said:

zagubov said:

Don't ignore the rest of East Dunbartonshire, like Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch or Lenzie.

Thank you! I'm googling frantically as we speak.

Lenzie is good.

[Deleted User]

Steerpike88 said:

Yeah there's definitely pros and cons to both renting and buying, it makes financial sense for us now to settle. The landlord isn't terrible don't get me wrong. They just will ignore anything that isn't an emergency and when you have small kids you just want stuff done. Sorry to hear about your struggles in buying! It sounds very frustrating. 

I agree with you completely. I live on the grounds of my landlord's house and, despite having been here 3.5 months, there are plenty of things outstanding that needed to be fixed before I moved in. My landlord also relies on me to look after her dogs while she's at work (I work from home) which is crossing a boundary, I feel. I think having your own place makes you more self-reliant and it sounds like you and I have both come to the end of our tether with renting! The fact is, you'll get a lot more property for your money up here than in London so I hope the move goes well for you!

jennifernil

Steerpike88 said:

Thank you Deleted_User! I actually had an ex from Clarkston and it was a lovely area. Completely forgot about it tbh. I just want to avoid rough areas really, most of where my friends lived are places like Anniesland but that was mostly flats. I grew up on an estate and my parents bought a very pokey council house in a rough area so I'm just extra paranoid! 

Anniesland has become more "upmarket" in the last 10+ years, with quite a lot of new building going on, and lots of former council places now privately owned, but would not recommend it school-wise.

user1977

Deleted_User said:

Don't forget that your 10% deposit is based on the lower of the home report value and purchase price you agree. 

Quite, if you're going to be (successfully) bidding at closing dates then you'll be buying at more than the HR value, so you'll need to make up the balance from your cash - which in turn means you may need to downgrade the asking prices you're searching around

Steerpike88

user1977 said:

Deleted_User said:

Don't forget that your 10% deposit is based on the lower of the home report value and purchase price you agree. 

Quite, if you're going to be (successfully) bidding at closing dates then you'll be buying at more than the HR value, so you'll need to make up the balance from your cash - which in turn means you may need to downgrade the asking prices you're searching around

Thank you! This was what I was looking at, so we'll probably have to halve what we're looking at, or even ask for help from family. The competition seems quite stiff atm, so we'll probably have to look bit smaller but that's all fine while the kids are small. We can probably add an extension or whatever if we need or look at a less competive time. 

theoretica

You will probably get outbid several times, but at least with a closing date you hear the same day without waiting around and uncertainty.

Steerpike88

Does anyone know how long houses are typically under offer for? 

jennifernil

You can make an offer any time you like, but if there are several  viewers and several offers, it will likely go to a closing date and sealed bids.
If you like a property and are considering making an offer, ask your solicitor to register your interest and they will be informed if a closing date is set.
As said, the result of that should come the same day, but you ( or rather your solicitor) should offer subject to the mortgage being granted in case of any problems.
If only one offer then it may  say "under offer".
Once an offer is initially accepted, solicitors will start to negotiate the finer details of the deal, you will get your mortgage confirmed (or not), and the property will be marked SSTCM (sold subject to concluded missives, or something like that) 
How long it takes to move to being marked sold will depend on how long the negotiations take.  Can be days or weeks, but generally not more than a few weeks.
Once missives are concluded it will be marked as sold and you are then bound to buy the property.

Negotiations include agreeing an entry date, so you will have everything agreed well ahead of the moving date.

zagubov

Are you absolutely certain you'll be working in Glasgow itself?

jennifernil

I was also wondering about that, and about whether it is possible to get a mortgage to buy a house in Scotland while still working in London and not having a firm job to go to in Scotland.
Might be that OP would need to rent at intended destination for the first few months.
There is also the difference in wages to be considered when applying for a mortgage,  jobs in London generally being better paid than elsewhere.