Some questions on buying in Scotland

[FairyLightPups]

DP and I are looking to buy next year and quite honestly I'm very very confused by the entire system up here in Scotland.

So... the amount advertised on rightmove is probably under the home report, and under what they actually want for the house. That's right, isn't it? So then how do you find out what it's actually valued? Do they already have a home report or do you need to get your own? What if it's valued by your own less than it is by theirs and then your mortgage is lower? Do you literally just have to guess? How can you put down an offer when you don't actually know how much the house is worth in the eyes of a bank, when you don't know how much you'll need to top up?

And why don't people just put what they want for the house in the actual price, with the home report in the description of the post, instead of this ridiculous process of, from what I can see, a guessing game?

The survey system in Scotland is rubbish. The survey the seller has done is extremely basic and is likely to be skewed in favour of the seller. But surveyors are not prepared or probably in many cases competent to do a more in depth survey for the buyer. I noticed more issues than the surveyor did.

We are in the Borders and houses are listed at offers over home report value. Banks will only lend on home report value, so any extra you pay will come out of your deposit. And will increase your LTV%. Homes here are mostly going 10% over Home report but certain houses can go much higher. We had an offer at 18% over home report.

@Viviennemary

Can you just stick to the fixed price houses. Then that's more or less first come first served. Failing that do a search on sold prices in that area to give you an idea of what would be a reasonable offer.

Honestly I think I've seen one of them once in Scotland. They're a once in a blue moon thing and we can't wait that long, sadly.

I've done some sold prices searches but it can be so variable so it's hard to gauge.

@Viviennemary When we were looking we saw literally one house which was fixed price, and it was an absolute shitshow structurally speaking - part of it needed knocking down and the whole thing smelled of damp. It was on the market for about 2 years in the end, presumably until the buyers gave up or someone with a bottomless pit of money came along to turn it into a holiday let. It's really, really rare in Scotland.

@MaChienEstUnDick

www.pspc.co.uk/4-Bed-Detached-Villa-For-Sale-Findlaw-Cottage-Madderty-PH7-3PW

Look at that viewing.

Click 'view schedule'

On the very back page of the schedule, you'll see the home report value of £575.

They want offers over £575k - in other words, more than HR value.

You've said Crieff is going for 10% over HR value, so the number in their head is round about £690.

But both you and @WellNotReally want this house and you're fed up looking. So you decide to offer 15% over HR value because the person that bids the most will get the house. WellNot can't afford that, £690 is the top of their budget, so you get the house.

It isn't really complicated, just nerve shredding!

It can be more nuanced than that though.

The two houses we had offers accepted on were both in desirable areas (and where we ended up is one of the places mentioned by the OP). Vendors don't always just want the highest price - if someone makes an attractive offer very early on, then it may be tempting for the vendor to have certainty, and bring the upheaval of countless viewings to a rapid end. We were also clear that if the sale went to a closing date, we wouldn't be bidding, it was take it or leave it.

Both vendors accepted our offers, they would very likely have been able to get more with a closing date, but certainty and simplicity was more important to both vendors.

Both of these experiences were last year, when the market was maybe even more overheated.