The bid

Deciding to “take it” isn’t very simple due to the stupid Scottish bidding system. In England you decide, make an offer and, if it meets the sellers asking price, it’s yours. In Scotland the ‘offers over system’ makes the decision to 'take it' much less important (most people will make this decision 3 or 4 times before actually owning somewhere) you have to win in a sealed bid system.

The way it works seems to be like this: the seller decides what they want for their house/land, they then knock off 10-20% and say offers over this price. Then people seem to bid 20-30% (perhaps the average as of 2006) over that price. It is a bidding system rather than a first come first offer system like in England.

The good thing is that the seller gets 'market value' the bad thing is that the process can overinflate house prices, cause delays and a great deal of dissapointment and frustration.

The bid was made on the bid deadline of 31st March 2006.

It was accepted and we won. We were delighted.

Jackie and Dave are buying the whole thing; it is being sold as a package and not as two separate entities, then they will sell the land to us. The completion date is 15th August 2006.

There is an interesting aspect of this transaction. My sister Clare and her American husband Paul live in Edinburgh but have been looking for a house with a garden in Portobello too. They have been long term admirers of Jackie and Dave’s existing place – a beautiful ground floor Victoria garden flat – and so when it came up for sale they made an offer and won! Again in the crazy offers over system. So now I am in a chain with my whole family!

I will be next door neighbours with my cousin and within 5 minutes walk of my sister. Weird? Maybe.

(Paul is a well known tatooist with his own shop, Red Hot and Blue Tatoo, in Edinburgh)

* edited March 2009 to remove the costs