Comparisons between Scotland and England
#16
Re: Comparisons between Scotland and England
Buying a house in Scotland is different to England and Wales.
They generally have closed bids. Houses are put up for sale as "offers over" and usually when the estate agent has a bit of interest they put a closing date up. All parties interested in buying the house then put in their offers. This is where it gets interesting. Somewhere that's popular then you'd usually put an offer in about 10% over the asking price (the "offers over" bit). To put in the bid you need to have already paid out for a survey because obviously your bid will depend on what the survey finds. If you were to put in a bid and you haven't done your survey and you make your offer conditional on the survey, then you aren't likely to get the house you're after.
The downside of this is that you can end up paying for a few surveys (which aren't cheap) and even though you've done this you have no guarantee of getting the house. However,if you are ready to buy something quickly then you can make the offer and give the owners 24 hours to accept or not, thereby avoiding the whole bidding against someone thing. We did this when we were buying a house.
I lived in Scotland for 8 years. Loved the people - still some of my best friends. Hated the weather, the long winters, lack of daylight, no guarantee of nice weather in the summer and I had enough.
They generally have closed bids. Houses are put up for sale as "offers over" and usually when the estate agent has a bit of interest they put a closing date up. All parties interested in buying the house then put in their offers. This is where it gets interesting. Somewhere that's popular then you'd usually put an offer in about 10% over the asking price (the "offers over" bit). To put in the bid you need to have already paid out for a survey because obviously your bid will depend on what the survey finds. If you were to put in a bid and you haven't done your survey and you make your offer conditional on the survey, then you aren't likely to get the house you're after.
The downside of this is that you can end up paying for a few surveys (which aren't cheap) and even though you've done this you have no guarantee of getting the house. However,if you are ready to buy something quickly then you can make the offer and give the owners 24 hours to accept or not, thereby avoiding the whole bidding against someone thing. We did this when we were buying a house.
I lived in Scotland for 8 years. Loved the people - still some of my best friends. Hated the weather, the long winters, lack of daylight, no guarantee of nice weather in the summer and I had enough.
Sealed bids and closing dates still exist - but only when there is sufficient interest to get competition to drive up the price.
Offers are now often "subject to survey" or with other conditions which allow the potential purchaser to withdraw.
The last property I bought in Scotland - the agent would only agree to take the property off the market when they received a "clean" offer i.e. no conditions.
However, it is still better than the English system because "chains" don't generally exist and estate agents fees are lower.
The general rule in Scotland is "freehold" and I think that "leasehold" has disappeared.
#17
Re: Comparisons between Scotland and England
#18
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Joined: Aug 2013
Location: Eee Bah Gum
Posts: 4,099
Re: Comparisons between Scotland and England
We lived in Dumfries for 18 months and when we left I swear that webbing had begun to grow between our fingers. The very wet weather was really our only complaint as the folks were very friendly, doctors, primary schools and such also very good. (We had 2 small children at the time aged 3 and 4 when we arrived).
We figured we were probably just unlucky with the weather but my wife's sister and husband have lived just south of Edinburgh (Balerno) for over 20 years. They love it there but whenever we ask about the weather we get the reply "dour". We have visited them and stayed many times and only once (summer, 2013) did we have decent weather. They are now retired and one of their 2 sons lives in Balerno with their 2 children so I don't ever see them moving south to seek better weather. Their other son and his Scottish wife moved to England after graduating from Edinburgh University then to Silicon Valley about 7 years ago (Santa Clara) and when we stayed with them in 2015 they told us they planned to move back to England or Scotland in a few years after the 40 quarters of SS has been met - they asked me about the chances of receiving US SS while living in the UK.
As mentioned above university tuition is still free, plus over 60's get free bus travel, prescriptions and eye tests. (In England where we live, over 60's get the free prescriptions and eye tests but have to be receiving the OAP before they get free bus passes).
English lawyers can't practice in Scotland and vice-versa so when we bought and sold houses on our move to Scotland and back to England 18 months later we had to employ a solicitor in both countries. Fortunately it was company moves so we didn't have the extra costs, just a little extra complication.
We figured we were probably just unlucky with the weather but my wife's sister and husband have lived just south of Edinburgh (Balerno) for over 20 years. They love it there but whenever we ask about the weather we get the reply "dour". We have visited them and stayed many times and only once (summer, 2013) did we have decent weather. They are now retired and one of their 2 sons lives in Balerno with their 2 children so I don't ever see them moving south to seek better weather. Their other son and his Scottish wife moved to England after graduating from Edinburgh University then to Silicon Valley about 7 years ago (Santa Clara) and when we stayed with them in 2015 they told us they planned to move back to England or Scotland in a few years after the 40 quarters of SS has been met - they asked me about the chances of receiving US SS while living in the UK.
As mentioned above university tuition is still free, plus over 60's get free bus travel, prescriptions and eye tests. (In England where we live, over 60's get the free prescriptions and eye tests but have to be receiving the OAP before they get free bus passes).
English lawyers can't practice in Scotland and vice-versa so when we bought and sold houses on our move to Scotland and back to England 18 months later we had to employ a solicitor in both countries. Fortunately it was company moves so we didn't have the extra costs, just a little extra complication.
#19
Re: Comparisons between Scotland and England
We lived in 2 places.
The first one was teeny, tiny hamlet near Lanark, it was called Pettinain. Absolutely stunning location. Apart from Carstairs High Security Prison being 1/2 a mile away over the river....
We bought a house in Strathaven. Lovely, lovely little town. Very self contained - it has everything you'd need and within walking distance. Gorgeous scenery all around. 8 miles south of East Kilbride. I made great friends there that I am still in very close contact with.
15 minutes max and you're on the M74.
I think it might suit you. Not too expensive, nice community with good local facilities. Doctor's surgery is great.
The first one was teeny, tiny hamlet near Lanark, it was called Pettinain. Absolutely stunning location. Apart from Carstairs High Security Prison being 1/2 a mile away over the river....
We bought a house in Strathaven. Lovely, lovely little town. Very self contained - it has everything you'd need and within walking distance. Gorgeous scenery all around. 8 miles south of East Kilbride. I made great friends there that I am still in very close contact with.
15 minutes max and you're on the M74.
I think it might suit you. Not too expensive, nice community with good local facilities. Doctor's surgery is great.
#20
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,114
Re: Comparisons between Scotland and England
2) Kelvindale
3) Jordanhill
4) Bearsden
5) Milngavie
6) Lenzie
You may also wish to consider the following towns and villages near Glasgow -
1) Helensburgh
2) Cardross
3) Inverkip
4) Newton Mearns
5) Kilmacolm (NOT Kilmarnock!)