MORTGAGE BROKER EDINBURGH - ANY IDEAS?

Caz3121

ESPC website also has some useful info
https://espc.com/useful-info/buying-a-property#1

As said many properties are sold by solicitors, these may appear as 'ESPC exclusive' or may also appear on rightmove, zoopla etc
Those that are sold by estate agents will not appear on ESPC

Home Reports are freely available (eg can download from ESPC ad) and you could treat these as the value any lender would use and base LTV from 
sometimes o/o prices can be much lower than the Home Report to gather a lot of interest so key to check the valuation on home report (as they will likely be expecting a minimum of that figure)

Once you find a property, if it is 'offers over' your solicitor should be able to guide you on how much over home report valuations would be necessary if goes to closing date

When we purchased in Edinburgh we had our 10% deposit but not £1k's extra on top so were keen to get a property as close to home report value as possible and things were going 10-20% over in the areas we liked. Started to look at 'fixed price' properties only but we ended purchasing off-market (word of mouth) which worked well and was a very easy transaction for both sides. Although paid 2% more than home report, they would without doubt have got more had it gone to bids on a closing date, 
As neither myself or my husband actually worked in Edinburgh, we chose to live suburbs with easy access to motorway and airport.  having a car and living more centrally previously wanted a parking space/drive (no more driving round then parking 2 streets away and lugging shopping) Edinburgh has a good bus service so easy for me into city centre in 20 mins

Being in good state school catchment areas can also play a big part in how much people are prepared to go over. I would expect a 4 bedder in the area you like is going to be pretty desirable and may result in a quick closing date and many bids. For those that state schools are not a consideration (not applicable or private educated) going to an area with less good schools will likely result less competition 

brross

Hi user1977, thanks for your comments. Are you saying that actually not all properties are sold by solicitors, or that not all solicitors advertise properties on ESPC - or both?

I'm a bit confused.

user1977

brross said:

Hi user1977, thanks for your comments. Are you saying that actually not all properties are sold by solicitors, or that not all solicitors advertise properties on ESPC - or both?

Not all properties are sold by solicitors. Almost all solicitors who sell properties advertise on ESPC. Other estate agents do not advertise on ESPC.

Basically you want to be looking on both ESPC and Rightmove.

brross

Thanks everyone. @ Da Moon, I went ahead with an appointment with Daniel McLardy at Experts 4 Mortgages, as per your suggestion. Very useful. He did an evening Zoom appointment and spent over an hour with us explaining how to approach  homebuying in Scotland, and how to avoid wasted time. He said that he meets a lot of people who get sucked in to the "offers over" way of doing things in Scotland, which often causes buyers in Edinburgh disapointment because the advertised price of a property is quite often lower than the home report value. We also did some budgeting, and looked at current mortgage rates for an amount of borrowing that would leave money left over if we need to pay over the home report value. Very useful.

I have saved myself a lot of future aggravation coming on here and getting your views, everyone. Thanks a lot.

fewcloudy

brross said:

He said that he meets a lot of people who get sucked in to the "offers over" way of doing things in Scotland, which often causes buyers in Edinburgh disapointment because the advertised price of a property is quite often lower than the home report value.

@brross

I would be interested in hearing his advice on how to not get sucked in to the offers over way of doing things, given that the vast majority of properties on the market in Edinburgh just now are at 'offers over'?  Only go for Fixed Price?

In the area you mentioned around the meadows (Marchmont), there are about 31 properties on ESPC and 6 are fixed price ranging from o/o 570k down to o/o 110k.

brross

@fewcloudy, thanks for your comments and the stats. Not sure I explained myself very well before. What he explained is that because the "offers over" advertised prices can be significantly lower than the home report values, the final price you need to offer to get a property can be much higher in popular areas. So the "offers over" way of doing it means you can be given the impression you can get a property that in reality is beyond reach. It's better to look at the home report valuation as the better "marker" and work off that. I guess it's easy to get carried away, and I have no problem with having expectations kept in check.

Fixed price properties are definitely an attractive option, because I think my wife and I will find bidding a bit nerve-racking and unenjoyable (or more unenjoyable).

We don't have our hearts set on the Meadows area particularly. That was just the area I remember from the festival. On a different board Liberton has been mentioned and it seems (from the few houses currently for sale) that we could get more for our money. On the map it looks like I could easily cycle from Liberton to where I will work in the centre.

fewcloudy

brross said:

@fewcloudy, thanks for your comments and the stats. Not sure I explained myself very well before. What he explained is that because the "offers over" advertised prices can be significantly lower than the home report values, the final price you need to offer to get a property can be much higher in popular areas. So the "offers over" way of doing it means you can be given the impression you can get a property that in reality is beyond reach. It's better to look at the home report valuation as the better "marker" and work off that. I guess it's easy to get carried away, and I have no problem with having expectations kept in check.

Fixed price properties are definitely an attractive option, because I think my wife and I will find bidding a bit nerve-racking and unenjoyable (or more unenjoyable).

We don't have our hearts set on the Meadows area particularly. That was just the area I remember from the festival. On a different board Liberton has been mentioned and it seems (from the few houses currently for sale) that we could get more for our money. On the map it looks like I could easily cycle from Liberton to where I will work in the centre.

@brross
I understand what you mean now, thanks.

Liberton is nice enough, quite high up, but tbh you'd struggle to find anywhere to live that doesn't involve an incline into town one way or the other!

My advice would be to rent before buying, and I would say that to anyone moving to a new town/city, as it can take a good while before you get the feel of a place. You could discover areas you have never heard of and decide it would be perfect.  And it's so subjective; for everyone reading this who thinks Liberton would be a terrible place to live, there will be another who thinks it is great.
I have lived here in many parts of the city, city centre and suburbs, and am happy to help via a DM if it would help you. I commute by bike too.