Struggling with the Scottish offers over system, missed out on a few closing dates

[HettyMeg]

We have missed out on three houses at closing date in the past couple of months (we're in Scotland). It's so frustrating. We have offered 12-15% over on each of them, and we were 2nd for one.

I asked agents to be notified of new properties before they are listed but so far they haven't - they just appear on Rightmove.

I am sick of getting excited about somewhere and researching nurseries etc for it to fall through a few days later.

Are we missing a trick?

Anyone else been through the same or going through it right now? The offers over system is brutal.

On the brink of just giving up for the moment as it's all too stressful.

Fingers crossed that will put you in a strong selling position and that you get an offer accepted soon.

Thank you!

We were selling my aunts house recently, I was horrified at how cut throat some buyers were and how much over the asking price people were willing to go. It was a fixed price! We were hounded with notes through the door and people approaching her neighbours when we’d already accepted an offer on the property. A few buyers found out our business email address and were making complete pests of themselves contacting us. The family that bought it were so stressed as they’d been through this process 8 times bless them. It was a terrible experience for us selling and I can only image how awful it must be for people buying at the moment.

That sounds awful for you! I think people forget basic manners when it comes to house hunting sometimes.

How are you getting on @nonmerci99 ? We've just been to see a stinker and I'm tempted to give up on Glasgow and go and live in a village somewhere 🫠

No, don’t give up!! We are very seriously considering taking on a massive renovation project…we could live in it and do it up…lol.

The best way to avoid closing dates is to go for new build. Would you consider that?

If all the houses are going to closing it doesn't matter that you are not being notified pre-listing. It's a bit of a moot point so I wouldn't get hung up about it. If you want to offer you register a note of interest via your solicitor and get notified of the closing date and time. Your solicitors gets to know the sold prices so should be advising you on what you should offer.

Oh, exciting! We offered on one that needed a lot of work but it was mostly cosmetic. You could really make it your own

The issue is most new builds are far out of town away from amenities and public transport links, which are things we want to be close to. That's our problem with new builds, otherwise we'd consider!

It's not human nature to pay more than something's worth so I think it's a ridiculous system.

At least nowadays the seller has to have a home report. Back in the day my poor friend spent nearly £1000 getting surveys done on properties before she could put in an offer and kept losing out to higher offers. The most galling thing was that there was one local company of surveyors who were basically doing the same survey for all the interested parties and charging £100 a time.

At least that stupid system has gone.

It is so demoralising. You sound like us last year. Coming second is quite painful but you just need a bit of luck. We did miss out on a house despite being the highest bidders because we had somewhere to sell. We finally got a house by paying a ridiculous amount at a closing date and taking on a full renovation project. In just one year the house prices have continued to rise where we are (just outside Glasgow) and we probably couldn’t afford our own house. At closing date I think offer the maximum you can live with.

The thing is that property is worth what someone is willing to pay for it!

OP, you say that you think the HR valuations seem very inflated, but your experience suggests that they're actually on the low side if those properties are actually selling well in excess of the valuation. Maybe you'd have more success if you looked at properties with a lower valuation, which would give you more room in your budget for a high enough offer to secure.

Get advice from a good local solicitor
Most clients that take advice get a house fairly quickly
The system is what it is ,there is little point trying to buck it

This isn’t really true. The Scottish offers over and closing date system, due to being closed bids, ends up massively inflating house prices and really has little to do with market value since one person with a huge amount of cash at their disposable can bid 80k over the home report when maybe the second highest bidder is 40k over. You will never know what the bids are or the distribution because it’s a secret, and if that one person with 80k knew they could bid 41k to get the house, they obviously would. But they’re afraid of losing so throw all their cash at it. You can read plenty of think pieces on this by academics. The system just ends up shutting out local buyers and favouring people who are already on the property ladder and benefit from the same system.

It could come down to the fact that you’ve still to sell. Can you get yours on the market and move into rented at all? That’s a task in itself but in terms of buying and being in a good position and able to proceed with a purchase properly, it could make a huge difference. If you’ve sold, you could actually end up offering the least at a closing date and still getting the house as you’re in a much stronger position to move forward.

I've bought and sold several times in Scotland over the past 34 years. The market rises and falls. The valuations follow the market. I'm not sure what you mean about local being priced out - I've bought and sold within a fairly small area - with both sellers and buyers being local. Once I bought in the next street over and another time I bought a property I could see from my living room window.

Offers over is traditional, and certainly in a hot market - which Glasgow seems to be at the moment - you do have to offer over valuation to be successful at closing. The OP has lost out 3 times in two months, so that suggests that it's a pattern rather than a one-off of someone offering a huge amount over to secure a property. That does happen, but more usually people are offering within a fairly tight range. And if it's close, then the seller might opt for the offer with an entry date that suits them better. I secured a property on that basis one time.

When the market cools, fixed price becomes more common, and even if people are still looking for offers over, it's possible successfully to offer under valuation. I've done that successfully as well - making a verbal offer first then putting it in writing. Going to closing is a sign of a hot market. When the market is slow, then sellers will usually simply accept an offer that works for them.

OP - it might be worth looking at different areas within the city. About 25 years ago, when the prices in the West End were rising sharply and going for at least 20% over, I looked instead to the South Side and bought there for a lower price although it still went to closing.

If you aren’t offering in a market like Glasgow, with all due respect, your experience isn’t terribly relevant.

Well, my experience isn't exactly up-to-date, but I have bought and sold in various different areas of Glasgow in 1992, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2021 and 2024.

Edited to add: my most recent purchase was of a flat which was clearly over-valued. I had viewed one nearby which was the same but superficially more appealing - more recently decorated, nicely furnished - although it was missing a kitchen wall which the estate agent didn't seem aware of, and which wasn't mentioned in the HR. I made a verbal offer the morning after viewing - was advised it was going to closing. Within an hour I was viewing the flat I ended up buying. It was unfurnished with tired decor and horrible carpets, but otherwise the same. Its HR valuation was higher than the first flat - £145k v £125k. It was clearly overvalued and I said as much to the estate agent - he agreed with me (terrible agent!). By the next day I had bought the second flat for £130k, £10k under the valuation. The first flat, with lower valuation went to closing and sold for £156,500. I think I have a fair idea of what I'm doing and how the property market works - and there's nothing particularly special about Glasgow, btw. The same principles apply across Scotland.

Hang on in there, more will be coming on the market now we’ve had Easter. If you’ve not got yours on the market yet do that asap as it will likely be factored in to decisions vendors are making.

Couldn't re-edit. Re post above - second flat was valued at £140k, not £145k.

You need to hone in on your area and start looking at recent sold prices which come out after three months, it's a frustrating system but you need to see it for what it is, what are people prepared to pay for houses of that ilk in the area and are you able or prepared to pay that? then all you can do is go in with your best offer based on local data. Some areas of Glasgow go way over the home report, bearsden and east Renfrewshire are seriously over, look at sold prices and take your guide from there, nothing can stop the unfortunate position of losing our by a few thousand that you were prepared to pay but you have to draw your line in the sand and if you are making reasonable offers based on market info on property you really want you will get something. It also helps to be in a position to move quickly and I've known people who offer slightly less than top but have sold to be looked on more favourably by sellers, but of course there's a risk of ending up between houses if you sell and still haven't bought. It's not easy. If your own house is market ready and in a decent area and has been prepped by estate agents that might mitigate some of that, for example if I was selling to someone who had a home in East Renfrewshire that was ready to go it wouldn't worry me they hadn't sold yet as demand is so high, as others have said it's estate agents who give sellers info on that score. I know a lot of people who have pulled their children from private schools or have changed their mind about sending their children in future and that is putting pressure on better catchement areas too, especially right now as it's last chance saloon to get organised for August starts. In East Renfrewshire you will not get your child registered until you have completed purchase and paying council tax, I've know people who owned and were renovating but wouldn't get a school place until they had all the evidence to fully show they lived in the property so things are at their most frantic right now.

Of course there’s something special about it — it’s a highly desirable city and as I said has an overinflated property market due to the Scottish system. Your past successes buying property don’t discount this, or disprove anything I’ve said here. You’ve actually completely ignored my points while narrating your life purchase history. As I said… not terribly relevant.

In case anyone is interested! https://www.glasgowbell.co.uk/how-not-to-buy-a-house-in-queens-park/

We shouldn’t complain, though, because at least we aren’t living in Dublin… https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/my-crazy-house-prices-page-hears-the-voices-of-a-hopeless-generation/41385601.html this piece is a few years old now but he’s got a great Instagram page.

I would be interested to hear about how people are finding the market in Edinburgh compared with Glasgow. I am surprised properties are still going for so much over asking price in Glasgow as I thought the market was really flat at the moment and closing dates were much less of a thing , certainly in Edinburgh. Edinburgh has always had a very buoyant market but don’t think this is so much the case currently.