Property in Glasgow, help!

[felkov]

We're trying to buy a house at the moment and it feels like the market has gone a bit crazy recently. e.g. we've lost out on 2 places that went to a closing date and another place went under offer the day before our viewing was supposed to take place. We saw a nice house on Tuesday and made an offer (at the home report value) yesterday. Today the agents have said the vendors "want to wait till after the weekend" which I assume means they have other viewings areanged and will try to make this go to closing date as well.

I feel like we're never going to get an offer accepted unless we go waaay over home report value which seems madness! Anyone else going through this??

I'm sure you're right, it wasn't high enough . Also your vendors may not be under time pressure, and the others might have been . You never know, they might come back to you on Monday, or you might get it at closing .

If the market is moving fast, you need to move faster and arrange a viewing immediatly, not in 5 days .

And you need to know the magic number ,to make the vendor take it off the market

I know it's expensisve and stressful

Knowing the magic number would be very handy!!

We have seen another nice house today although the catchment school isn't as good as the first house. But now we have to decide whether its worth paying more for a smaller house but with a better school. Tricky!

Have you made it clear in the offers you have made that you can complete without a mortgage? I think that would make a difference.

Just as a general observation, it is not always the case that an offer is automatically accepted on an unqualified basis. It might be that there is some toing and froing on the missives before they are completed. It took over 6 weeks to conclude ours on our first purchase in Scotland. But obviously the seller might accept your first offer

In Glasgow area school catchment is very key particularly at secondary
What areas are you looking at
If I put in an offer for a client that is not accepted I always ask if there is a figure that the seller would accept
Then try and negotiate between the 2 figures

Does not always work In hot spots like West End they will probably fix a closing But it is always worth a try
Some solicitors are more proactive than others when advising on level of offers
Can help to use a very local one Glasgow is a big place with various markets within it

In fact it is very unusual for missives to be concluded on an unqualified basis by return

Missives routinely take weeks to conclude

Not being in a chain is a very relevant factor and should be stressed to the agents
Won't get you a house if someone else is willing to offer a lot more

But if offers are close you will have the advantage

Good luck
Have never had a client who didn't get a house eventually
to the agents

Thanks Rangirl that is interesting. I will have a more upfront talk with the agents about what price the vendors are hoping for. It can't hurt to ask anyway!

will also ask our solicitor to make it clear we've got cash available in case that would make a difference.

i guess it does come down to price though in the end. i just worry that by going a lot over HR value we would basically be doing a bad deal because I've seen some houses on the market now for much less than what the current owners paid in say 2007/2008 and I don't want to be in that position in future!

You absolutely do need to submit "odd" numbers if a house goes to closing. We got ours apparently by the "difference of a wallet". Our bid was something like £137,111 (Pollokshields, 16 years ago ).

Re the schools, you'll be surprised at what the schools are really like, once you get below raw stats.

I've raved on here often enough about Shawlands Academy. Ds was a placing request (5 minutes further walk than Bellahouston, the catchment secondary). To date, they've never had to reject a placing request.

Mixed demographic - which it is very proud of as it is an integral part of its inclusive ethos - but still gets good results. Ds (in S3) is currently away on his bronze DoE expedition (could take it up to Gold if he chose to) and will be doing 8 Nat 5s next year and 5 Highers the year after (fully expect him to get 5 x A especially if he drops French as he hates it )

I wish I had known that a few weeks ago prettybird when we were putting an offer in at closing date. was a lovely house in great location and on a street that some friends live on. The solicitor knew the estate agent quite well apparently and said he thought it would go for "up to" 10k over the home report. so that's what we put for our offer. i wish we'd gone for something that wasn't a round number now... i keep waiting to see when the sold price comes up on zoopla so i can berate myself over how much we missed it by

It's also worth talking to the vendors and getting a feel for what ballpark over the asking price they are looking for. We've always done that. Of course, you need to take it with a pinch of salt - but you can get a sense of whether they're being greedy or unrealistic. And if the other interested parties have asked the question, then they have an advantage.

Dh pre-me once shook hands on a deal: he and his 1st wife asked a vendor what they were actually hoping for, said that he would offer it and shook hands. Following day, the estate agent called and said that it was going to closing and would they be putting an offer in. Dh said No somewhat emphatically

Guess what? They didn't get what they wanted at closing and the estate agent came back and asked if dh prepared to put their offer back on the table. Dh said No.

The place we eventually bought we offered up to stamp duty plus a lump sum for 'fixtures and furnishings'. DH somehow picked up that this would work out of the small talk about why the previous offer couldnt get finance. I wasnt paying attention, as I was worried about DS breaking something in her lovely, single person with money and white furniture with proper Art decor.

It had just gone back on the market, and been added last minute to our already scheduled viewings in this 'popular west end neighborhood' on Thurs pm. Our solicitor was putting in a note on Fri, and was told if we intended to offer, we might want to do so before the 12 viewings scheduled on the weekend. We did. She accepted within the hour. So I think we were the only viewers after the failed sale.

She then jerked us around on the exchange date, but whatever.

I am not sure a closing date means much. Last winter, i would see homes listed with closing dates already past. And this was in G12.

I think if the seller is really ready to sell, both solicitors can help negotiate a close enough offer and get the house off the market. Yes, talk money during the viewing and listen carefully.

If they are in not really ready, they will take a chance of the closing date turning up a higher offer. I bet most end up with the differences being 'less than a wallet' but there is always the chance of a buyer determined to make a bid that cannot be bested. If I were selling, the off chance of a really desperate buyer offering a couple thousand more wouldnt be worth the effort of keeping it ready for viewings for weeks. Ugh! I would definately have a figure in mind and be willing to have solicitors negotiate a bit to see if the buyers could be nudged close enough.

There are lots of variables but it really depends on what area you are looking at and whether you are in a competitive situation or not
Your solicitor will stress things in your favour eg no house to sell ,or if you genuinely are flexible on entry

Yes ask the seller what they are looking for

As far as I can see houses in hot spots ,strongly related to school catchment ,are going for over the Home report value, houses in other areas not so much

If you are not in a competitive situation I will offer less than your too line
If they say no (they might say yes !) then your solicitor will ask what it would take to get it and the a deal can be negotiated within thes 2 figures
If you are in a competitive situation try and force the pace with a quick offer

If it goes to closing you need to give it your best shot You normally only get one chance
That's how it works generally although everyone will have a story about how they bucked the system

School catchment is very important here It probably should not be but it i

Sorry should read but it is

The catchment that is totally exorbitant is Jordanhill. We went for one house (before we got our current house, so a while ago - and before Home Reports) in Jordanhill. It was on for "Offers Over £140k". It surveyed at £160k plus the roof needed re-doing (at a cost of c£20k). We put an offer in at £160k, only cos we'd gone to the cost of a survey. I believe it went for £210k!

It was at that point we started looking Southside (we were living in Shawlands at the time and had only been looking Northside/Milngavie/Bearsden/Strathblane to be closer to my parents, dh's golf club and the Campsies) where the pricing and offers were more realistic.

We looked at a place in Jordanhill a couple of months ago but at that time were just starting to look and we weren't prepared for the competition!

I know Jordanhill school has a good academic record but is it really that good to justify the house prices round there? At the moment we're looking in Lenzie and Bearsden and we also like Giffnock ( Whole Foods Market is amazing!!) although the traffic seems really slow which puts me off a wee bit.

I'm quite evangelical about the Southside - Pollokshields, Shawlands, Newlands - despite having been brought up in Bearsden/Milngavie (and went to Bearsden Academy).

All those areas are in catchment for Shawlands Academy - or an easy placing request and still within walking distance.

Local shops/eateries, particularly in Shawlands (although I like the ethnic shops on Albert Drive too), good local transport: we have a choice of 3/4 train lines and the subway within 10 minutes of us in Pollokshields, close to the M77/M74, plenty of parks (Pollok, Maxwell, Victoria), culture (The Tramway, the Burrell Collection).

And much more reasonably priced than Bearsden/Milngavie!

I could go on.....

If you are concerned about schools in Giffnock, please check the catchement areas on the councils website . Do NOT rely on estate agents details which say

" nearby schools are x y and z "

My parents house is selling in Bearsden just now - buy that ;)

giraffe!!

Stacey yes I wouldn't bother with what the agents say in their schedules but East Ren council are very good if you call them about catchment areas they will tell you for a particular house (at least they did this the one time I called them, maybe wouldn't do it hundreds of times) and I found Glasgow city council website has a bit where you type in the postcode and it shows you what school catchment the house is in.

prettybird you should get paid for promoting the southside so well! we're going to see a few in newlands/shawlands too now

You are on the ball felkov ! I mention giffnock becauee the associated secondary for giffnock primary is woodfarm , but the estate agents will tell you that the nearest secondary is williamwood

< waves to giraffes - hi, I'm your friend from the cafe at gymmastics, I have name changed . Hope you and LOs are well >

I think you will find that pretty bird is on commission

Dh never lets me forget that I'm a Northsider - and according to him, not even really a Glaswegian as Bearsden/Milngavie are outside the city boundary . I would've liked to find a place in Bearsden/Milngavie/Strathblane but in 2 years looking, we didn't find one that met our requirements and that was a price we were prepared to pay. Started looking Southside and found our current home (upper half of a big Victorian stone villa on a quiet wide road with a lovely large garden dh calls it a horizontal semi ), well within budget, on the first night out.

The downside of Glasgow is the high council tax - we're Band G which is over £2,000 . It's not really the Council's fault: the average tax band in Glasgow is A whereas I think the usual average is Band D. That distorts the amounts that people have to pay . You need to factor that in when thinking about ongoing "running" costs. although the Scottish Government is currently consulting on alternatives to Council Tax

Don't get me started on council tax prettybird we are currently in a 2bed tenement flat and pay over £200/month which feels like daylight robbery. I dread to think how much a proper house council tax will be!! I didn't realise the average was Band A but that explains why everyone else has to pay so much. Its not like the council even does a good job with some things, we have to call them loads to get a bulk uplift from our lane.

Band G is c.£2,700

But that's 'cos most of the "posh" Band E-H housing is in the surrounding suburbs, outside the city boundary: they get to enjoy Glasgow's facilities (its Museums and Art Galleries etc) and work in the city centre, without having to contribute towards them Bitter, moi??