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Welcome to Scotsnet - discuss all aspects of life in Scotland, including relocating, schools and local areas.

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Original poster

Buying and selling in Scotland

158 replies

Onebabyandamadcat · 07/03/2021 07:25

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?

OP posts:
StarryEyeSurprise · 27/04/2021 20:27

Do not use purple bricks!!

Original poster
Onebabyandamadcat · 27/04/2021 20:59

@Littlemissweepy

Some of these figures are eye watering.

About to put my house on the market. Any tips on what to look for in a good agent? What’s the going rate of commission and fees they charge?

I highly recommend MOMO homes if you're near Glasgow - a fairly new agent but very on the ball and incredibly attentive. They actively chased feedback and those who had asked for home reports but not viewings (a few that I've viewed with have never called me back after a viewing to see what I'm thinking).

Ultimately I'd say don't go with a national chain - independent local.agents seem to really know their market. Even as a buyer, when I call the local ones it's a small team who now know me (I'm calling a few times a week about different homes) and so have me on their books as interested in particular kinds of properties. The national chains I'm often through to a receptionist who then transfers me to someone but it's never the same person dealing with the property when I call back.

OP posts:
Littlemissweepy · 27/04/2021 22:45

I should have said am in Edinburgh.

Good point on local vs too big and national. I wonder if in this market as long as they lost on rightmove and espc that their “brand”‘doesn’t really add much and sellers will fine you anyway.

Littlemissweepy · 27/04/2021 22:45

*list

Littlemissweepy · 27/04/2021 22:47

Argh.... *buyers will find you anyway.

That second glass of red wine talking!

AColdDuncanGoodhew · 27/04/2021 22:57

Congratulations on selling OP!

We’re FTB’s, living with family, good deposit and obv no property to sell. Thought we’d be in with a shout. Viewed a house, offered 10k over the HR, went for 30k over. Thirty!!!

We’ve viewed 3, all gone to closing dates. We didnt even offer on the other two. Hope you find something soon. We’re giving up, see what things are like in a year, keep saving and potentially go for a fixed price new build if its still crazy.

I0NA · 28/04/2021 00:03

@MaryLennoxsScowl

My flat went on the market yesterday and I’m praying for lots of interest. We’ve already had an offer accepted on a bigger flat but if we don’t sell then that will fall through. But before we found ours (needs lots of work and IMO was priced very high already and we paid 8% over home report), we tried for a small house that went for 40% over! I wonder if it’s the one mentioned upthread - except I think that poster was in Portobello and this was in Leith. All the small houses seem to have gone crazy.
@MaryLennoxsScowl

I think you’ve done well to get it at 8% over HRV.

Hows it going with the sale of your own property ? Have you had many enquires / requests for HR or viewings ?

MaryLennoxsScowl · 28/04/2021 09:01

@I0NA Not yet, trying not to panic. Everyone said it was such a buoyant market for selling, our solicitor and the solicitor of the flat we’re buying had no problem with selling subject to sale, but so far we’ve only got one viewing lined up. I am hoping there’ll be a rush for the weekend. It’s a south-facing one-bed Victorian flat with a boxroom we use as an office, in a popular area.

MaryLennoxsScowl · 28/04/2021 09:03

Sorry, buying subject to sale!

Original poster
Onebabyandamadcat · 28/04/2021 16:55

We've bought a house 🥳🥳 went to view one yesterday. It's only came on the market on Monday. Seller had three notes of interest this morning so asked for best and final offers for this afternoon as they wanted a quick sale. It's a great house though to be honest my main feeling is relief rather than excitement.

OP posts:
I0NA · 28/04/2021 18:13

Congratulations @Onebabyandamadcat. You don’t hang about 😀

@MaryLennoxsScowl - hopefully you’ll get some more viewings booked for this weekend.

Original poster
Onebabyandamadcat · 28/04/2021 18:26

@I0NA

Congratulations *@Onebabyandamadcat*. You don’t hang about 😀

@MaryLennoxsScowl - hopefully you’ll get some more viewings booked for this weekend.

Thanks! I couldn't believe it when they called asking for final offers this afternoon. Thankfully I was on my NCCT time otherwise I'd have been trying to organise it with a class of P4s in front of me.

So, so excited and relieved though. After losing out on the other houses we were starting to worry that we wouldn't get anywhere.

OP posts:
Callisto1 · 28/04/2021 18:59

Congrats @Onebabyandamadcat! It's such a nerve wrecking processes. Takes a while to sort of sink in it has actually happened Smile

ChocolateDeficitDisorder · 28/04/2021 19:19

We've got a cat so rental would be difficult and then we'd be tied into a rental contract.

Just for info, there's no longer a minimum rental period in Scotland. Renters can give 28 days notice at any point in their tenancy right from day one.
scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/renting_rights/renting_from_a_private_landlord/the_private_residential_tenancy

ProseccoThyme · 28/04/2021 19:38

That may be so, but LL prefer longer term tenants so best to say you're looking to stay for at least 8-12m.

LoopyGremlin · 29/04/2021 09:57

Great news @Onebabyandamadcat

geezahoose · 30/04/2021 20:21

@Onebabyandamadcat

We've bought a house 🥳🥳 went to view one yesterday. It's only came on the market on Monday. Seller had three notes of interest this morning so asked for best and final offers for this afternoon as they wanted a quick sale. It's a great house though to be honest my main feeling is relief rather than excitement.
Congratulations! The relief must be immense!

Our place is under offer and we've so far lost out on 2 other houses, one of which needed total renovation (not just superficially either) - not sure how people can afford paying an inflated price + the cost of renovations. Makes me despair about our chances of getting anywhere soon.

ShowOfHands · 30/04/2021 20:36

I hope you don't mind me asking a question on here, you all sound like experts!

I'm planning to move to Scotland in 12-18 months or so and am so baffled by the valuations. Can you tell me what the home report is? What does the figure mean and how do you know how much to bid over it?

I have a feeling the only way to do the move is sell here first, rent in Scotland and then buy because it can all fall through here, with days to go and in Scotland you're locked in.

Wishing you all smooth purchases and moves. I can't bear moving and the idea of England to Scotland is just another dimension of worry.

Grumpycatsmum · 30/04/2021 20:55

Sellers in Scotland have to provide a survey when marketing their property. This is the home report. This includes the surveyor's assessment of value at the time if the report. It will also usually be relied on by the buyer's lender and their assessment of loan to value is based on this number. So paying over home report value means paying over the professional assessment of the value of the property. it's why paying something like 20% over seems (to me) crazy. To confuse matters more lots of properties are marketed as" offers over x," and x is usually a number less than home report. it all makes it very difficult to compare values of houses.

Original poster
Onebabyandamadcat · 30/04/2021 21:46

Thank you! It is sheer relief I feel rather than excitement. We'd also lost out on two with our house under offer. We got this one mainly cause the sellers wanted to move fast so we were only up against two other people. We've still paid eye-watering amounts over home report.

My new fear is that the bank don't uphold our agreement in principle. We managed to negotiate a 5% deposit by staying with our current lender which gave us a bit more to throw at the house. I'm now terrified they go back on it and we're stuck as we've put just about everything into this offer.

Fingers crossed for you - it's just horrible!

OP posts:
randomsabreuse · 30/04/2021 22:07

We've just had the land registry map through and one of the boundary lines is wrong by a chunk. Other one is missing a kink. How much of a nightmare is this going to be, my only knowledge is the English system.

I'm getting very sick of our supposedly temporary rental which is overfull with furniture and stuff which will be fine in our long term house.

I0NA · 30/04/2021 22:26

Do you mean that the walls / hedges on the ground don’t match the legal documents ?

Have you checked it’s actually the right one ? I know that sounds like a crazy question but there’s been a computer problem at Scotlis and sometimes it pulls up the wrong map.

It is correct on the online system ? ( you can check for free)

randomsabreuse · 30/04/2021 23:11

It's the right one, the free online check corresponds to what we've been given and the house is in an obvious location and is an obvious shape. The OS map shows some basically invisible (historic) features which don't line up with boundaries and the title map has followed the invisible features rather than the visible walls/fences also on the map.

It puts the boundaries basically touching the house when it clearly isn't on the ground. Hopefully it won't take too long to resolve - it looks like a lot of boundaries are a bit odd!

I0NA · 01/05/2021 07:26

Bummer

JudgeRindersMinder · 02/05/2021 17:36

We just moved into our (well my 😂) dream house on Friday after a stress free buy and sell.
My one piece of advice, USE PACKERS. We did it last time we moved 20 years ago, and again this time. Worth absolutely every penny.