250k in South Manchester gets you a small detached house or medium semi. You are never far away from Chavsville and quit simply, it's $hit.

On the other hand 250k in Scotland getsTHIS Can someone in Scotland please tell me what the catch is, because my house is sold and I'm going to take a look.

De@no.

 

"Offers over" mate.

IMHO, you won't get it for anywhere near that figure, but you never know.

Why not table a bid?

But I know what you mean, the other day there was a programme on and it featured a 3 bed mid terrace in Brighton for £325,000!!!!!!!!

Up here, you'd get a cracking 5-6 bed detatched pad with double garage and huge grounds for that!

Not to mention our roads!

 

Supply and demand - although they say it's within commuting distance of Aberdeen, there are a lot of other places a lot closer! And you won't get it for £250K. Don't know what the property market is like up there but in Embra you start thinking at about 20% over the asking price - and the sky's the limit!

G

 

Knowing some Scots, they'd probably make you feel very unwelcome.

Don't know about up there, but prices in Edinburgh are just silly. On £300K houses, they can easily go £50-£75 over the asking price.

Stefan

 

£50-£75 over, is a bargain!

Most house go for thousands over the asking price.

And the Scots are the most welcoming and generous folk you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing.

 

Yes, offers over can mean anything. A lot of the houses we went for sold for way over 50% above the offers over price. Oh, and these were plain old ordinary houses. Nothing that seemed "a bargain" at the offers over price.

Examples?

1) o/o £190k. Valuation was £240k, sold for £350k (84% over)
2) o/o £190k. Valuation was £220k, but needed £70k of work. Sold for £350k (84% over)
3) o/o £350k, sold for £870k (148% over)

All the above are real examples that I experienced when buying under the offers over system in Scotland.

So, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is! My mate lives within "commuting distance" of Aberdeen (30 miles), and his house is a large detached modern house (5 bed?) but fairly plain - nothing as unique as this one, and I suspect his would be worth not far off that amount.

Given the uniqueness & size of this, I reckon on £350k+.

 

Is that true??? When ever I'm up in Scotland there is no trouble, in fact people seem to go out of their way to talk to you...


It's not like I would drive round with a George cross out my window

 

I may add, it is now standard practice in Scotland to abuse the offers over system when it comes to house sales

ie, while it invites offers over £x amount, offering £x+£1 would be laughed at generally - ie, it is priced low to attract more interest than normal - ie, people whose budget is perhaps only £30k over the offers over price may be drawn in, and increased interest only helps to help the blind bidding frenzy!! Of course, the downside is that people with HIGHER budgets may not even entertain looking at the house as it is way below their budget....

It's all really wierd to be honest. You need to go through a few failed offers to 'learn' how it all works, and you soon 'learn' what you can afford and what you can't.

The house we eventually bought had 48 notes of interest (people who had registered interest in buying it with the solicitor) and 16 blind-bid genuine offers on the day of the closing date.

It's hairy scary stuff

 

Deano,

I'd also add, that £250k in SCOTLAND often gets you no more than what you are getting in south manchester, often less

eg, in Edinburgh, £250k doesn't even get you a 2 bedroom house in the area I live in

 

I see your point, but the plan is to move away from the city life to somewhere quiet near the sea. Banff and the surrounding area's are high on my list.

 

That's fine. I just didn't want you to be under the misconception that all property in Scotland for £250k is that big.

Perhaps your original post could have said "out of the way rural area in Scotland"

 

Dumfrieshire is another area worth considering then. Still behind in price growth terms compared to other areas of Scotland, and some nice large country houses there....

Not quite as remote and harsh as the NE coast. Have you experienced a winter in the North East of Scotland before? Ouch

 

The catch is......its Aberdeen........horizontal rain,u"ll get snowed in........& in the summer the midges will eat u alive.

 

 

Looking at the Met Office web site shows that compared to Manchester Airport, Aberdeen is on average 2 degrees cooler, has 15 hours more sunshine per year and 6 days less rainfall. You will find there is no midge problem. That is on the west coast.

As far as house prices go, you do have to reckon on bidding 30-40% over the asking price. It depends on the desirability of the property. Period houses in good locations attract the highest bids.

 

even if that place did go for somewhere near the offer price (which seems unlikely), it's still in the *rse end of nowhere. North East Scotland is an aquired taste. I was born there, and lived in and around aberdeen for several years. it has its good points, but there simply aren't the same employment opportunities as, say, the midlands. remember, a deep fried pastry thing filled with pasta and dayglo cheese is fine cuisine in this place.