Just out of interest, in Scotland, if a house is for sale for offers over 300K pounds does this mean that if you don't offer 25% over that you won't be considered. Is there a reason why the house doesn't go on the market for 375K pounds in the first place?.

I'm with you chrystal this "offers over" thing just sh*ts me to tears, how are you supposed to know how much.

And another thing is these job ads with no salary - that is also very annoying

As I said, currently the margin looks like it is now considerably less than 25%, but yes, in Scotland if it says "offers over", it generally means the opposite of the rest of the UK - you offer more than the asking price, rather than less.

You do find some houses in Scotland advertised as "fixed price", and then it is more like the rest of the UK - you offer close to, maybe a little less than, the advertised price.

Another good/bad thing in Scotland (depending on your perspective) is that an offer to buy, once accepted, is much more binding in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. The knock-on effect of this is that you really need to get a survey done BEFORE putting in an offer ... so when the market was strong, you might end up paying for a survey on several houses before you would get an offer accepted ... brutal.

Yikes, that is handy to know, I have a lot of research to do.

There is a banner on the GSPC that says all properties listed after 4 December need some report done - is that the same as a survey or something different?

I think it is analogous to the HIP that's used (or not, as the case may be) in the rest of the UK. It at least gives more information to buyers than the usual fairly superficial pack you get from estate agents.

One underlying purpose of the HIP (Home Information Pack) was supposedly to separate the time-wasters (sellers who are just testing the waters and therefore wasting buyers' time) from serious sellers. The HIP is not cheap. It was originally going to include something like a home inspection, but eventually that was taken out.

When the Government was rolling out the idea of HIPs, a lot of people spent a stack of dosh training as HIP inspectors so when they were first of all reduced (survey part removed), and then the requirement for having a HIP before putting a house on the market was removed, all these people are without work.

In the current housing market, it's taking so long to sell a house that the information contained in a HIP could be outdated by the time a house is sold.

It was supposedly also going to save buyers money (because it would contain an extimate of the home's value), but I believe most lenders are requiring their own valuation anyway.

The whole Scottish "offers over" house pricing thing really caught me out because there I was looking at houses thinking "Not too bad, 120k", but in reality these properties were selling at 160k+ ... I didn't realise until it was too late (i..e, I was already committed to coming here). I'm trying to get back to the US but now I'm a bit worried that if I find a US job (increasingly unlikely as state schools are in a state of financial crisis and many are freezing job searches and hires) I may not be able to sell my house and therefore not be able to move.

A few informative Web pages on HIPs:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/selling_hips.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7609414.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7538327.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7390315.stm

Try this site, there are some good deals here:

www.propertysnake.co.uk

Sans, why did your container take 20 weeks fom Canada??? I'm scared now, ours only took 3 weeks to get to Canada from UK, thought it would be the same on the return journey!!!!

Mine only took 3 wks to get to Vancouver going over...... I used a consultant who supposedly finds you the best company for the best price
And she was recommended to me by my realtor It just echo's our whole experience about being in Canada....Unfortunately. Once theyv'e got your money they are not interested.

We was told if we wanted our stuff to arrive it had to be packed a day earlier then originally planed, which ment we had to book into a hotel for 2 nights.
So on the 24th of June my stuff was packed and left.
Instead of it going straight to Montreal it made it to a warehouse in Vancouver and their it was left..........Till i rang up after 14-15wks to find out where it was
The consultant brushed me off and didn't want to know and even had the cheek to ask why i was asking her:curse: seeing as she was the one who i paid, she was my first port of call.

After a wk i received an email from the shippers saying my furniture was sat in the warehouse in Vancouver and somebody had been sacked????
They said they had arranged for it to be taken to Montreal and had booked it on a ship...to leave on the 12th of October and arrive on the 19th in Southampton.
Half way through that wk i emailed and asked if my stuff was now half way across the Atlantic.
I received an email with the Bill of Laden which clearly said it wouldn't sail till the 19th and arrive on the 26th:curse: So obviously i emailed back and they said their had been a problem with the container

I have not in any way had so much as an apology from these people.....infact.... i have found them pig ignorant to deal with.
Like i said they got their money, customer care isn't in their vocabulary

Others have used other shippers and not had my problem, if you want to know who i used PM me