Buying. a house in Scotland.

[bloodylongdrive]

I regularly travel to Scotland but live in England and so my DH and I are seriously thinking of buying in Scotland we're about to exchange on a house we're selling and will be cash buyers. I've looked into the differences of buying a house in England and Scotland; in Scotland it appears you get a report with the house(s) you're considering and a guide price, I understand you appoint.a solicitor who submits an offer to the estate agent this submission may have a deadline depending how popular it is and if your offer is accepted your legally bound to purchase it i.e. you cant back out neither can the seller (which sounds eminently sensible) .

How do you know how much to offer? If for example the guide price in the report is £400 000 and its priced at £440 000 do you have to offer £440 000? Who would advise you? Can any solicitor do it or do you have to appoint a specialised solicitor? Any other thought and advise would be very welcome. TIA.

3 months isn’t always a long time - if it’s a more remote west coast location then there’s often a limited market given local wages (and it’s gone fixed price which suggests they are keen to sell).

It seems quite expensive for the area similar prices often have more bedrooms or are lusted with heaps of original features, and houses with the same number of bedrooms are often up £50K+ cheaper but to my eye hideous.

£50k can pay for a lot of updating / redecoration.

If you feel it’s overpriced for the area and it’s fixed price then I’d be thinking about offering under. Your solicitor should know the local market and be able to advise.

I’m not saying it’s £50k overpriced it has very specific attributes that other houses on the market in area don't and can’t have. But I suspect that it’s in an area where the number of people able to buy a family house for not far off 1/2 million pounds Is fairly limited

As MN says, it's only worth what your prepared to pay. If it's been on 3 months then put in a cheeky offer, depending on how desperate they are to sell you can start negotiating

@bloodylongdrive

I’m not saying it’s £50k overpriced it has very specific attributes that other houses on the market in area don't and can’t have. But I suspect that it’s in an area where the number of people able to buy a family house for not far off 1/2 million pounds Is fairly limited

I’m confused - you said the property seems expensive and other similar properties are around £50k less?

And the £300-325k that you’ve previously said it’s on for isn’t anywhere near half a million, and if other properties are £250-275k then a £50k uplift is a huge differential?

Or is the property actually £400-440k (as in your OP) in which case £50k is less of a differential?