FTB a fixer upper going to closing date (Scotland)

JenKKR

I am a ftb and I have seen a 4 in a block flat near to where I'm renting. I am keen to buy but I have no clue about such things. I have a mortgage in principle and a broker and around £25-30k saved.

I think i will have to offer more than the home report, currently offers over £95k but going to a closing date, and home report is £110k. It needs work. Boiler, bathroom, windows and flooring throughout. Other similar properties in walk in/ decent condition go for £130-£150k. I was thinking maybe £115/120k? Broker had priced based on borrowing £90k but im thinking if be better to borrow 95k to lessen the cash I'm putting out. My mum is also planning to gift me some money toward it.

Is offering HR the done thing? There has been a fair bit of interest in it too which is throwing me.

user1977

What advice is your solicitor giving? If going to a closing date then it's almost certainly going to be going for over the HR value.

JenKKR

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924298#Comment_81924298

Its going to a closing date as its the local authority selling the house rather than a person.

Caz3121

it is unfortunately impossible to predict. Some properties in Scotland may sell for Home Report value, some under and others over. I sold recently for 7% over HR and bought for 9% over (there was a lot of interest in property was purchasing)

Your solicitor should be able to advise you based on recent sales in the area.
The house we bought was quite unique and we knew it may have taken months to possibly find something else as forever home. Had we been looking at something more standard we may have decided to bid less and keep looking if unsuccessful but we really wanted this one

The advantage you may have is that others interested may not have sufficient excess funds to go much over HR as need both mortgage deposit plus excess over HR in cash

Good luck

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924299#Comment_81924299

You mean you don't know what sort of competition you have?

koalakoala

Where I live they all go over the asking price

If there is a lot of interest it may go quite a bit over

Solicitors are not allowed to advise you how much to offer

Make it an odd amount

user1977

Solicitors are not allowed to advise you how much to offer

Not sure where you've got that from! It's pretty routine for solicitors to give you guidance about what they're seeing in the local market and tactics at closing dates. Obviously they can't make any guarantees about what figure will be successful (and efficient).

JenKKR

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924307#Comment_81924307

Im sure it will be mostly people looking to invest and flip it rather than looking to live in it.

Herzlos

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925595#Comment_81925595

Estate agents might be able to give you an idea of whether an offer is likely to be successful or not, but it's not something a solicitor would get involved with.

How high you bid may come down to whether you can find out how many other interested parties there are, but it's not uncommont to go 10% over the home report value if it's something you want.

I also echo the odd number thing. Most people offer round numbers, so if you offer something like £115,123, you'll beat someone offering £115,000.

dinosaur66

you need some advice from a tradesman friend who will give you a ball park figure of what the flat will cost to refurbish to a £130k standard

i am guessing its glasgow or edinburgh with the price

the home report if it is all 2 s with quite a few 3s which from your description i would guess this to be the case would make me steer clear albeit i have never bought a flat but i have done full refurb flips on bungalows to know rough cost

do not bid 120k unless you are very good at diy in fact i myself would wait until something with mostly 1s with a few 2s came on the market in the area you wish to live that just needs cosmetic work rather than boiler/windows etc etc

on the flipside of my advice not to buy ,glasgow and edinburgh has had a steady capital gain since covid in flats when most english cities if you bought a flat in 2021 and 2022 you are under water so investment wise even paying slightly over the odds in 2 years you should have equity to show