Moving back to Scotland

[SnappyOP]

I Live in the south east of England and I've been away from Scotland for 30+ years. I now want to move back prefererably to the Creiff/Comrie area. My question; Has anyone bought a house without seeing it other than estate agent pictures? I have seen a few houses I like but a 14hr round trip means I cant just pop along and view them. Has anyone done this? Is there a specialist lawyer that deals in this sort of purchase? Also I don't want to sell my house down here and find myself homeless while I try to buy a house in Scotland. What is the procedure now for buying a house even if it was a cash purchase/ short term loan till I sell mine

When we made the move, our solicitor advised against buying unseen, particularly as we were looking at historic properties. Sellers were also unwilling to accept a buyer in an English chain (the market was particularly hot at the time, and they could afford to be fussy).

We decided the to rent initially (there is no minimum or fixed term on rentals in Scotland) as we needed to be close by to both view properties and to meet with the solicitor as needed during the process.

The letting agent wouldn’t even let us rent unseen, we had to call up a distant family member to do a viewing for us!

We bought in Scotland without seeing the property. A member of the family went to look for us, and I had viewed a house two doors down the week before. I knew the area too. The sale went through fine, we were in rental in England. Trouble is, I have never liked the house and we are moving next year.. I really advise against buying without viewing , preferably twice. The only way to do it really is either keep coming up or rent in the area. It's a pain but you are spending a lot of money, make sure you're doing the right thing.

Aim to rent in Perth for 6 months first?

The only people I know to have ever done this were the buyers of our last house.

There aren’t chains like there are in England so the process of buying is a lot quicker.

Not sure why you think there aren't chains? Friends have just lost their house as their buyer pulled out so they had to pull out and so on. Said friends also bought sight unseen and wouldn't recommend it.

Definitely chains in Scotland. Massive pain when one person pulls out.

Hmm… we’ve never had a chain.

Of course there are chains in Scotland! Otherwise everyone would be cash buyers or first time buyers!

I did, but a family member viewed for us and facetimed us in. Do you have anyone who can do it for you?

Even with that said, my in laws viewed a house for us and we put in a good offer which was rejected as they didn't want to sell to anyone who hadn't even seen the house. Their choice. (I was sad at the time but glad now!)

I used https://www.harpermacleod.co.uk and they were fantastic. I explained we were FTBs coming with no knowledge of house buying, from the SW England, and ours was amazing from start to finish. (I can tell you who we specifically used if you PM me) She gave brilliant advice on houses we viewed over FaceTime, and helped us with making the right offers etc, couldn't recommend more.

I agree it's hard to pop up there (impossible for us at the time) but don't know how you could do it without someone seeing it. We did second viewings entirely over FaceTime with estate agents on 2 houses though, but the first viewing was in person.

I don't get the no chains in Scotland comment, first time buyers buy from those buying a family home, they then buy from someone who is moving to downsize in retirement.
The most basic of chain but a chain none the less and how most houses in Scotland are bought and sold

Some of the letting agents in Perthshire insist you see a property in person.

Personally I wouldn’t base one of the biggest financial life decisions on a few pictures or video walk around. You’re going to have to bite the bullet and move to a rental or at least come up for a couple of weeks and house hunt?

Scotland used to feel much more of an "offers binding" environment but that has changed and chains now exist in the same way as they do in England. Scottish-only chains are less prone to breaking down though, and houses don't send to sit on the market for long so I personally would be very reluctant to accept an offer from an English seller (and when we sold two years ago I was aware of several local sales that had fallen through due to English buyers being unproceedable 4-8 weeks later so would have definitely not at that point).

I'm assuming solicitors, etc won't let you buy sight unseen because of the risk that you ask to see the house 6 weeks later, prior to conclusion of missives and then pull out - creating massive delays and additional costs for everyone else in the chain... I think if you claimed to be a cash buyer some estate agents/solicitors might demand proof of that.

Plus - unasked for advice - I wouldn't buy sight unseen because we've seen houses where it has been issues invisible from photos that have really put us off such as exceptionally steep stairs or smells from neighbouring properties. Lots of estate agents overexpose photos (and videos) to make houses look better than they really do. The house we bought was absolutely filthy, but you wouldn't have known that just from the photos...

In Scotland once the offer has been accepted, you are not allowed to view the house again.

Do you have a friend/family member that could do a video tour for you?

I would rent for a bit. Are you really ready for the weather? Both crap summer and likely cold snowy winter in Perthshire. I'm being serious - we are thinking about leaving because we've had enough!

I was on holiday when mine came up. Ea wanted me to view before accepting offer but they accepted my dad going. I know the area and the type of house is common here. It was nicer than the photos and video when I finally saw it. It was pretty much as I expected.

I think you really have to sell in England and get to at least exchange first. The difference here is that it all moves far quicker so we usually go from offer to moving in around 8 weeks. No one would want to be held up by a long chain from a buyer in England.

Yes don’t underestimate the crap summers. They are really depressing.

That's not true, we went back to the first house we bought a couple of times to measure up for furniture etc. Granted the buyers had to give permission, but there wasn't an issue. I know that's not the same as viewing, but I'm sure it wouldn't be beyond any buyer to come up with a reason to visit the property before completing. Frankly if they'd refused, I'd wonder what they had to hide.

I'm in Fife not Perthshire but we hardly had any snow last year. Is Crieff really much worse?

Crieff gets more snow than Fife but Blackford gets more snow than Crieff.

Last winter was ok. This summer was miserable.

I was told that once when we had an offer accepted. We later pulled out .

I got through my first Fife summer and it was fine, I don't like the heat really anyway but it was bright and sunny most of the time. I'm freezing now though!

it's absolutely the norm not to do further viewings between offer and conclusion of missives but like lots of other things that people state as "fact" it's really just standard practice rather than any kind of actual legality/rule. it is ultimately up to the seller.

I live in Scotland and moved last year. The ideal position is definitely renting and ready to jump when the house comes. It sucks.