Moving to Scotland

[gotoPzero]

Thanks all, some great info. We are still looking but at the moment there is not a lot for sale in the general area that meets what we want.
The house we saw the other day would be prefect and is really nice but as with all things like this nice stuff at a good price attracts a lot of attention and the agent says negotiations are under way with 3 parties, so I think that actually place will evade us. But we are still looking. Will prob go back up over the early summer to have another look around.

[hidetheelephants]

You've not outlined your budget and this is somewhat outwith your target area, but this farmhouse was posted on the property thread.

[gotoPzero]

500 ish. But something like that would be way to big for us and needs work.

We are looking for something 2500-3000sq ft with 1-2 acres. Something with good size rooms and ready to move into.
Plenty of space for cars, out door stuff etc but not too big that I cant look after it.

This is not the one we are looking at, but something like this is what we are thinking

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147231878#/...

[thepritch]

We did the move up to the NE Scot from Surrey. I’m originally from here and after 25yrs south, moved back to be closer to family. Zero regrets and won’t ever be moving away.

Not much to add that hasn’t been covered. I’d just say that there are lots of different regs / laws, so never assume what you did in England applies here. For example - planning regs, or permissions for changes to your house wiring. Totally different to England.

With the house move, we had to have two solicitors. The Scottish one we wanted to use, wouldn’t deal with our English sale and vice versa. May not be true with all solicitors but that was the beginning of our proper realisation that Scotland is it’s own country and not just a border in the UK.

Edit : connectivity? There’s no general guide. we’re pretty remote and live in a forest. Have the fastest fibre available, a lot quicker than where we were in Surrey. It’s fully dependent on the house location but don’t assume remote means slow.

Edited by thepritch on Thursday 2nd May 07:25

[lizardbrain]

gotoPzero said:

500 ish. But something like that would be way to big for us and needs work.

We are looking for something 2500-3000sq ft with 1-2 acres. Something with good size rooms and ready to move into.
Plenty of space for cars, out door stuff etc but not too big that I cant look after it.

This is not the one we are looking at, but something like this is what we are thinking

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147231878#/...

Closing date set for 10th May. In general property is selling for relatively close to home report value at the moment (which is different to list price)

However desirable properties that quickly go to closing date are still going 5-10% so depending on interest, this house could potentially sell for 625 - 650

Worth getting a local solicitor who knows the local market, who can advise on pricing

Edited by lizardbrain on Thursday 2nd May 08:05

[thepritch]

lizardbrain said:

Closing date set for 10th May. In general property is selling for relatively close to home report value at the moment (which is different to list price)

However desirable properties that quickly go to closing date are still going 5-10% so depending on interest, this house could potentially sell for 625 - 650

Worth getting a local solicitor who knows the local market, who can advise on pricing

Edited by lizardbrain on Thursday 2nd May 08:05

Our solicitor refused multiple times to help guide us on pricing. Many friends had said you should ask the solicitor but she refused to get involved.

There is a huge shortage of stock here (Deeside) , with local FB groups regularly posting ‘looking for…. If you’re considering selling’ messages. I’m not informed enough to know what offers are being made, but like you mentioned, a few I’ve heard are still over 10% valuation - that’s for individual character places. Houses on estates are more easily found.

[lizardbrain]

thepritch said:

Our solicitor refused multiple times to help guide us on pricing. Many friends had said you should ask the solicitor but she refused to get involved.

There is a huge shortage of stock here (Deeside) , with local FB groups regularly posting ‘looking for…. If you’re considering selling’ messages. I’m not informed enough to know what offers are being made, but like you mentioned, a few I’ve heard are still over 10% valuation - that’s for individual character places. Houses on estates are more easily found.

That sounds a bit odd, though 'the multiple times' suggests to me, perhaps you were expecting a bit too much. Just a general 5 min chit chat about the property's interest level, and general market conditions in the area, is more what to expect.

Edited by lizardbrain on Thursday 2nd May 10:11

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

Rampant Golf said:

Have you considered Troon? A bit outside your area of interest but great transport links, close to Glasgow for the city experience, on the coast with lots of nice scenery roundabout. Plus great golf if that floats your boat.

Troon is really nice, this is a good shout. The Doonfoot area of Ayr or Alloway also good

[grumpyscot]

Don't want to be morbid, but if you die, or you intend to make a will,l while domiciled in Scotland, the laws of inheritance are different to England. You cannot disinherit in Scotland. Worth noting, as if your will was written in England, but you die while domiciled in Scotland, even probate (in Scotland it's called Confirmation) is different.

And, of course, English bank notes are worth much less in Scotland - £5 only worth £4.50..!!! (joke!)

[hotchy]

grumpyscot said:

Don't want to be morbid, but if you die, or you intend to make a will,l while domiciled in Scotland, the laws of inheritance are different to England. You cannot disinherit in Scotland. Worth noting, as if your will was written in England, but you die while domiciled in Scotland, even probate (in Scotland it's called Confirmation) is different.

And, of course, English bank notes are worth much less in Scotland - £5 only worth £4.50..!!! (joke!)

Your not lying about the notes... Try to swap some Scottish notes in turkey and you get less than you would for the English notes..

[loskie]

gotoPzero said:

Kuwahara said:

What area are you looking at…!!

We are looking at the area between Ayr, Stranraer and Gretna in a triangle but ideally within a couple of miles of the coast.

I live in the centre of that area (nr Kirkcudbright)
Weather is mild with high rainfall.

People are fairly decent especially the further west of Dumfries you get.

Midges aren't an issue unless you are in the Galloway forest park.

You'll have to travel for major shops, many events, airports and some hospital appointments to Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Properties are reasonably priced.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147087860#/...

I reckon you would get that within budget, upkeep will be on the high side mind.

There's some beautiful scenery and that's about it. Good for outdoor activities.
There's a steady tourist trade but tends to be a better class of person. It's NOT Blackpool.
Roads are poor quality.

Average salaries in the area quite low.

Edited by loskie on Saturday 4th May 12:31

[yellowbentines]

gotoPzero said:

500 ish. But something like that would be way to big for us and needs work.

If £500k is your top end then I'd suggest looking at properties advertised with offers over up to £100k less than that.

For example it would be quite normal for a property to have a Home Report valuation of £450k that would be advertised at offers over £420k that would eventually sell for £475k-£500k at a closing date. (there are huge variances however dependent on region, price band, type of property - some will sell for Home Report value, others 20-25% over e.g. West End of Glasgow)

I'm a mortgage broker up here - I see it every day and getting your head around the 'Scottish system' before making offers is vital.

You'll usually need 2 sets of solicitors simply as Scots and English law differs and few firms are dual authorised - some are though if you do some research.

You need to manage your timing well, as once your offer is accepted up here the anticipated completion date is typically much sooner than for transactions down South. Whenever I do one in England I can't get my head around why it takes 4-6 months in some cases, whereas up here its 6-12 weeks on average.

[loskie]

In my limited experience the market in SW Scotland where the OP is looking is far less volatile. With home report values currently being slightly over selling prices.

Glasgow/Edinburgh may be quite different

[yellowbentines]

Indeed, as I say there are huge variances - a decent local solicitor should be able to advise what properties are selling for in relation to Home Report valuation, and if not I'd seek out one that will as they are at the coal face on a day to day basis.

My comment was more to advise that the 'offers over' marketing/listing figure is not the asking price or market value, or at least it rarely is.

[sherman]

yellowbentines said:

Indeed, as I say there are huge variances - a decent local solicitor should be able to advise what properties are selling for in relation to Home Report valuation, and if not I'd seek out one that will as they are at the coal face on a day to day basis.

My comment was more to advise that the 'offers over' marketing/listing figure is not the asking price or market value, or at least it rarely is.

Yes O/O is confusing.
When I bought my current house we all knew the celling price was stamp duty at 145k.
It was on market O/O at £135k
It went to sealed bidding and we ended up paying £144501 to secure it.
We thought the odd number would help as we were sure most would go close to the £145k mark.
We won by a couple of hundred in the end. That £1 could have been the difference to tip us over the winning line when it comes down to a bidding war that you cant see.

[thepritch]

sherman said:

Yes O/O is confusing.
When I bought my current house we all knew the celling price was stamp duty at 145k.
It was on market O/O at £135k
It went to sealed bidding and we ended up paying £144501 to secure it.
We thought the odd number would help as we were sure most would go close to the £145k mark.
We won by a couple of hundred in the end. That £1 could have been the difference to tip us over the winning line when it comes down to a bidding war that you cant see.

Ha! We did exactly the same!!!! £1 over the very rounded amount. The solicitor thought we were bonkers, and hope it put a smile on people’s faces. Though I know we didn’t win the house on price - it was the ‘package’ of being very flexible on moving in dates (because we were happy to go into rented) that also really helped.

[gotoPzero]

Thanks for the last few posters this is exactly what info I was after I knew the process was different but didnt know a few things.

So, if we want to make an offer on somewhere does ours need to be SSTC first to have any hope of being taken seriously?

Also, do all offers have to go through solicitors? (I have read it does)

It kind of seems to me that chains are not so much of a thing. Which is an issue for us as we don't have 500k just sitting in the bank so would 100% need to sell our current house and then wait for the chain to progress.

As our current house is what I would call a mid life type home I doubt we will get a first time buyer so I expect we would likely get someone who is in a chain? Is this an issue?

I was kind of hoping it would be simple... but all my good ideas turn into very complicated situations!!!

[loskie]

maybe best to sell then rent and get a place for an area or areas) if it's a strange area for you.

[gotoPzero]

Its not the area is strange, its more getting into the process correctly.

It seems to me that chains are not so much of a thing?

[Blackpuddin]

Simpo Two said:

ninepoint2 said:

Public transport is a joke, roads are riddled with potholes and speed cameras. The SNP and their nanny state politics have contributed the square root of bugger all to quality of life in Scotland.

The OP is coming from England so he'll be used to all that...

Exactly, potholes are a nationwide disgrace. I thought it was just Wales and Herefordshire where we live until I went to Shropshire where it was even worse, many of the holes there would be lethal if you hit one on a bike. Trying to dodge one doesn't work as it just puts you into another hole caused by previous folk trying to dodge the first one.
Anyway, (slightly) getting back to the topic, we've just got Starlink to replace 1mb/s ADSL and so far it's been a revelation.
And getting even nearer to the topic I lived in Edin for 5 years about 20 years ago and enjoyed it bar the weather, which was cold for more than half the year. Not that the locals seemed to mind.