Originally Posted by
camelspyyder
- houses are cheap but the Scottish sealed bid system frustrates many English on first aquaintance.
Not all sales are on a sealed bid basis. Some are on offer-acceptance basis. In the latter case, at its simplest, you can offer say £250k and the vendor can say I accept. That is binding on both parties.
The canny buyer would have caveatted with "subject to a satisfactory survey and my getting a suitable offer of a mortgage".
The canny vendor will then say "I accept provided you put down a £1000 reservation fee while the house is off the market and you make a final acceptance within 28 days."
I bought my house on that basis from an English couple. He had moved down south and she was left to sell. The deal was done on her doorstep and subject to her husband agreeing; he did and we moved in within 4 weeks.