"Offers Over"

[JRCT]

You clearly don't get the system then.

In Scotland, you make an offer. That offer can either be accepted or rejected, sometimes the vendor may opt to go to bids and batcher described.

What is a damn site fairer is the fact that the legal offer to buy normally includes the conclusion date. That is a material part of the offer and the exchange takes place on that date. None of this 'in a chain' tulipe where you buy a house and have no idea when you can move in or can be gazumped or gazundered after the deal has been concluded.

I do understand the system. And I'm not suggesting it's not fair because I didn't have a winning bid. That's not the point I was trying to make. I bid what I thought it was worth to me.

The system isn't fair, because I think people who are in a desperate situation won't apply all of the logic that everyone's suggested here. They will, and do, bid more than they can afford and the consequences of that are spiralling debt and an inflated housing market.

Desperation can cause you to do silly things, and desperation is what the offers over system thrives on.

[Underscore Pt2]

Have any of you bought, or tried to buy, a property in Scotland on the Offers Over scheme?

I attempted to, and failed, this week and what an incredible system. It perpetuates greed from the vendor and it takes advantage of often desperate buyers who bid way over the value of a house just to ensure they get it.

I've got friends in Edinburgh who have paid £30/ 40k over the odds for a property and I've heard some ridiculous stories even worse than that. When people lose out 2-3 times on the trot, they become desperate and they end up bidding way, way over just to get somewhere.

Bearing in mind that any mortgage is only secured on the value, not the bid. So often these people are way in debt before they start.

I never realised how horrendous it was until I had a go. So much for a fairer Scotland.

Mortgage is secured on the larger value (purchase price or valuation)

I live in Edinburgh and it used to be the norm to pay 10 -15% for the offers over but unless its prime property you are very unlikely to pay more than the valuation.

[TestMangler]

I do understand the system. And I'm not suggesting it's not fair because I didn't have a winning bid. That's not the point I was trying to make. I bid what I thought it was worth to me.

The system isn't fair, because I think people who are in a desperate situation won't apply all of the logic that everyone's suggested here. They will, and do, bid more than they can afford and the consequences of that are spiralling debt and an inflated housing market.

Desperation can cause you to do silly things, and desperation is what the offers over system thrives on.

If that's your experience then fair enough, but it's certainly not mine.

Would much rather buy and sell via the Scottish system than the England/Wales one.

I've bought and sold around 9 houses in my lifetime, some on offers over, some fixed price (or the other one, 'offers around').

It's similar to an auction situation. Some people won't be able to control themselves and some will. It's not as if the Scottish housing market has thousands of people chasing one house. At certain times in the market cycle the seller will have the advantage, at other times, the buyer will. The good thing about is that once you have agreement with the seller and exchange offers and acceptances, the deal is done and you can't get butt****ed by the seller when you think everything is sorted.

[Underscore Pt2]

If that's your experience then fair enough, but it's certainly not mine.

Would much rather buy and sell via the Scottish system than the England/Wales one.

I've bought and sold around 9 houses in my lifetime, some on offers over, some fixed price (or the other one, 'offers around').

It's similar to an auction situation. Some people won't be able to control themselves and some will. It's not as if the Scottish housing market has thousands of people chasing one house. At certain times in the market cycle the seller will have the advantage, at other times, the buyer will. The good thing about is that once you have agreement with the seller and exchange offers and acceptances, the deal is done and you can't get butt****ed by the seller when you think everything is sorted.

Exactly...you buy what you can afford. Im not aware of many people going into panic mode and bidding miles over the value. If they are more fool them.

[TestMangler]

Exactly...you buy what you can afford. Im not aware of many people going into panic mode and bidding miles over the value. If they are more fool them.

Exactly. unless you're a mega-cash buyer, you're not going to go too far above valuation, if at all.

[SpontaneousOrder]

It perpetuates greed from the vendor...

Greed?! Lol.
And I suppose that you don't see bidding less than you would theoretically be willing to pay - in order to get it cheaper than you otherwise might - as greedy too?

So many dishonest people in the world

[Batcher]

Depends on how risk averse you are :-)

Most of my deals have been, find a house, make an offer, put current house on market immediately and I've never been stuck on bridging finance at any point but I know people who have. You can verbally agree the conclusion date with the vendor before the legal offer is made.

Also, worth bearing in mind that not all 'offers over' sales go to sealed bids. It depends a lot on the seller and the popularity of the house. When I sold my last one I used this 'American style' agent who advertised at a pretty low price and invited offers at viewings. We were looking for offers 15-20% above and ended up getting 40% but that was 2005 at the cusp of the bubble. I just accepted the first offer I was happy with rather than going to bids. As batcher said, most money doesn't always make winning bid. For example, if you were in a hurry, you may accept a bid from a first time buyer rather than someone who wanted a date far in the future to give time to sell.

WTMS.

I've won bids on two houses in the past before putting my own house up for sale. This isn't recommended and your solicitor is duty bound to warn you against it. I live in a small village which is very desirable so I was confident of making the sale both times and both times it sold with the dates matching up so no bridging loan required.

[JRCT]

Greed?! Lol.
And I suppose that you don't see bidding less than you would theoretically be willing to pay - in order to get it cheaper than you otherwise might - as greedy too?

So many dishonest people in the world

In some circumstances, yes. I don't have anything against some form of negotiation, haggling or bidding for a house, but an open and transparent system would be better than this, surely?

I know ultimately, it's a game. And you have to pick a number and we can all have anecdotal proof of how it's worked for an indiviual or how it hasn't, but I think from a governmental/ general society trying to do the right thing by the people point of view we should have a fairer system, surely?

Imagine going to the pub for a pint and being charged £8. "But it was only £4.50 yesterday". "Yes, but that guy over there was desperate and he paid way over the odds for his pint, so now the price of all pints in this area, I mean pub, have gone up accordingly. Oh, and that guy couldn't actually afford to keep up repayments on his pint, so he only got to drink half and we had to take it back from him and kick him into the gutter".

I think I'm going to stand in May.

[TestMangler]

In some circumstances, yes. I don't have anything against some form of negotiation, haggling or bidding for a house, but an open and transparent system would be better than this, surely?

I know ultimately, it's a game. And you have to pick a number and we can all have anecdotal proof of how it's worked for an indiviual or how it hasn't, but I think from a governmental/ general society trying to do the right thing by the people point of view we should have a fairer system, surely?

Imagine going to the pub for a pint and being charged £8. "But it was only £4.50 yesterday". "Yes, but that guy over there was desperate and he paid way over the odds for his pint, so now the price of all pints in this area, I mean pub, have gone up accordingly. Oh, and that guy couldn't actually afford to keep up repayments on his pint, so he only got to drink half and we had to take it back from him and kick him into the gutter".

I think I'm going to stand in May.

Fairer how exactly ?

Lets say house is on the market for O/O 195,000.

You look at house and say to vendor, will you accept an offer of £196,000 or £200,000 or £191, 000 or whatever you feel you want to pay. Seller accepts or rejects your offer. What's unfair about that ?

In your pub analogy, you would move on to another pub. you would do the same with houses if you couldn't get to a mutually acceptable position.

[JRCT]

Fairer how exactly ?

Lets say house is on the market for O/O 195,000.

You look at house and say to vendor, will you accept an offer of £196,000 or £200,000 or £191, 000 or whatever you feel you want to pay. Seller accepts or rejects your offer. What's unfair about that ?

In your pub analogy, you would move on to another pub. you would do the same with houses if you couldn't get to a mutually acceptable position.

There's nothing unfair about that bit.

The unfair bit is when you have 3 people who put in a note of interest and you all have to put in a blind bid to secure. So you might be so desperate that you bid £240k because that's the most money you can get your hands on and you're desperate. The other 2 could have bid £200k.

At least at an open auction, you know what you're bidding against.