Buying and selling in Scotland

[Onebabyandamadcat]

Ive seen lots of threads about buying and selling but I know up here it's a bit different from the English system so thought I'd start a new thread if anyone else wants to join.

We've spent the weekend getting our house sorted to sell. Estate agent is coming tomorrow. This was our first home so I've never sold a house before so don't really now what to expect. Two houses I've loved have been put on the market and sold in the past fortnight. Irrationally worried ours won't sell and also that it sells too quickly and we don't find somewhere we like to buy 😣. Anyone else?

There's a section on here called 'Scotsnet' where you'll find lots of folk to chat to about all things Scottish.

Our flat is going on the market tomorrow!

Surveyor and photographs were taken on Wednesday and have just been trying to keep on top of the cleaning and decluttering!

This is our first time buying and selling together too :)

Good luck @elscar! Can I ask how long it took to get the surveyor sorted?

Thanks @chocolate I'll ask for it to be moved.

We're moving this thread over to our Scotsnet topic for the OP.

@Onebabyandamadcat

We instructed the estate agent on Monday and surveyor and photographer came on Wednesday! Had the home report back on Thursday evening so fingers crossed will be on the website tomorrow :)

Scottish properties tend to either sell within a fortnight or take much much longer. The usual pattern is for a flurry of viewings which will hopefully result in a few 'notes of interest'. Not strictly speaking a legal thing, notes of interest are made by would be buyers lawyers and signify that the potential buyer is potentially serious and ready to act. Once there are a minimum of 2 notes of interest estate agents usually suggest setting a closing date by which interested buyers must submit a sealed bid. Sometimes buyers make a quick offer subject to the seller accepting it quickly (and taking the property off the market)

I sold my home in the central belt in 2019. I was worried it wouldn't sell despite being on a popular street in a popular area as it was quite scruffy, but not to the extent of being a doer upper with investment potential. We got 2 notes of interest very quickly one of which made a cheeky offer. We felt one of the notes of interest possibly wasn't very serious (didn't seem in a hurry to arrange a second viewing) so we pushed the offer up slightly and accepted it without going to a closing date. But we had (foolishly) had an offer on another property accepted subject to the sale of our home before we advertised our home. We had a long time scale as the people we were buying from were moving into a new build.

Estate agent has been today. Surveyor and photos on Wednesday and hopefully on the market next week. Just need to find somewhere we want now. Nothing is jumping out on Rightmove. Oh and how to contain a toddler so that the house still looks good come Wednesday!

Where are you looking to buy? My house is going on the market next week

The main difficulty at the moment is the lack of decent houses coming on the market leading to everyone going for the houses that do
But that is in hotspots
Roughly where are you

I'm just outside Glasgow and looking to stay in this area. We'll find something - stuff is coming on every day. Good luck for your sales!

We had 2 viewers today and another scheduled for tomorrow - fingers crossed we get some more!

@elscar

We had 2 viewers today and another scheduled for tomorrow - fingers crossed we get some more!

Fingers crossed! Surveyor has been out this morning. Photos getting done this afternoon. Hopefully be good to go by the weekend.

That's the house on the market! Excited to see if we get any viewers this weekend. The for sale sign blew down in the wind last night - not a good start

That's so exciting! Fingers crossed you get lots of interest!

We have had over 10+ viewings with more to go and 3 notes of interest! So hopefully get to put a closing date on soon!

@elscar

That's so exciting! Fingers crossed you get lots of interest!

We have had over 10+ viewings with more to go and 3 notes of interest! So hopefully get to put a closing date on soon!

That's fantastic! We've got three viewing on Sunday. Hoping for more next week

Hi,

We're about to go on the market next week.

Curious as to how much over the asking price anyone's been lucky to get when pricing at "offers over"? Dreaming of a bidding war, here....

Also wondering what the protocol is for viewings at the moment? Are they limiting how many people can come into the house at one time?

Does everyone need to go for a family walk in the drizzle when the viewers come 'round?

NoMess impossible to guess, it depends on so many factors.

DH sold PIL'S house last autumn. EA had priced it to reflect their expectation of about 15% over asking (small % over HR value). It went for more than 25% over. He was gobsmacked, to say the least, as it needed quite a lot of work compared to similar properties. Good luck.

@NoMessNoFuss

We have set a closing date for ours now so will let you know after!

In terms of protocol- we have tried to schedule viewings in back to back blocks so we can turf the kids out to family for viewings

Sanitiser and masks at the front door, all internal doors open to reduce contact and use a disinfectant spray after each visit

In my experience (and I've not bought/sold for 10 years and things might have changed) most Scottish properties are not marketed through RightMove but the local Property Centre: ASPC for Aberdeen, ESPC for Edinburgh, GSPC for Glasgow. Also drive round areas you are interested in looking out for "For Sale" boards. My NDN house sold last year for 25% over valuation. We were 😮

I don’t think the GSPC exists anymore
In Glasgow and suburbs most properties are sold through the big estate agents

We are Edinburgh so on the ESPC, it's exclusively marketed there for 72 hours then onto right move and Zoopla etc

Thanks @elscar - fingers crossed for you. Getting the viewings over and done with in the same day makes sense. Thankfully school going back here so that will help!

@JamMakingWannaBe 25% over would be phenomenal ... We are moving up to Aberdeenshire fm Perthshire so are relying on aspc listings at the moment and will need to take a drive up to do some area scouting soon. Can't buy until we've sold, so will be a bit tense until then. Hoping more comes on the market soon in our (not amazing) price range.

Will definitely look out for For Sale signs now, thanks.

Not much at all on in our area for similar to ours and things selling within a week or two of being listed, so we are hoping for a quick sale and anything over asking would be really helpful for higher prices further North!

@Onebabyandamadcat how have you been getting on this week with viewings? Any offers yet?

Our closing date is tomorrow- I'm so nervous! We've had over 20 viewings so I'm hoping some make an offer!

That's fantastic @elscar! We had three viewings on Sunday and have seven booked in this weekend. Hoping someone will make an offer. I've gone from being really positive to really scared it won't go. It's a bit older and needs new windows and such but then it's priced to take that into account so guess I'm just need to be patient - not one of my strong points. Good luck for tomorrow!

@Onebabyandamadcat

We sold today! We were very happy with our offer and our buyer is flexible on entry so it's been a win win :)

Good luck with the viewings! I've been so nervous all week waiting for the closing date! X