We’ve been eyeing houses for a while, now, looking to buy before shipping everything over. Renting is an option but if we can move once and be done, that’d be great…if everything lined up to make that happen.
As it is, by the time we debate things that come on the market, they’re gone. Four or five times, now. Despite being appealing buyers (cash and no chain sale needed) as soon as we go to express interest, they’re gone.
The market in Linlithgow is rough, for what we want, and we’re very aware that we could change our preferences…but having owned two houses and rented many apartments, we know what we’ve liked and what we’d avoid.
We’re also adjusting to how property is bought and sold there; sellers deal with realtors, buyers deal with solicitors. We didn’t know when we started, so we walked into a real estate office and didn’t quite get what we needed though we did have a nice couple cups of coffee.
There’s often no back-and-forth expected in the process. A “closing date” may be set which is rather different than the US term: it’s when all offers are to be submitted by. In this scenario, you submit your best and final offer, as a buyer. Solicitors won’t know what any other bids are, so there’s no jockeying on price, discounts, terms, etc. If there is no closing date, there may be indications that higher offers may succeed.
Fingers crossed that we find and successfully bid on something soon…