Foreign Perspectives

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We’re in the process of thinking about where we might move after we sell this place and one place that’s come into the frame is Scotland.

Now you might think that moving house in the UK is simple enough but in fact the house buying process in Scotland is so different from that in the rest of the UK, it’s better to think of it just as you would a move to a foreign country. That mindset means that you won’t be taken by surprise by developments in the buying process as you ordinarily would be. For instance, in Scotland there is no gazumping simply because the first contract is binding.

That single difference means that if you’re moving from another country to the UK then it’s considerably easier to time your move. At the most extreme case, in Northern Ireland there’s a considerable amount of bidding that goes on which makes it virtually impossible to time a house move there at the moment.

Of course there are other considerations than the simple legal system. For one thing, if you were thinking of moving to the Hebrides then you’d probably need to learn Gaelic and, of course, throughout much of Scotland it’s Scots that’s spoken which would be hard enough to pick up if you were used to “normal” English.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Surprisingly given the market conditions, the number of people picking up posts from the blog on real estate is growing daily.

Why is that though? Surely with a relatively depressed housing market you’d think that less people would be interested in it? I suspect that the reason is that everyone is looking to catch the market turning upwards and hence the interest is even more intense now than it would ordinarily be during normal trading conditions.

Of course, the fact that a lot of people are looking for that upturn probably means that it’s some way off and certainly the messing around on the share markets recently isn’t a particularly hopeful sign.

Popularity: 23% [?]

If you’re in the position of considering relocating to Florida, we’re drooling with envy!

After all, this is one of the states where most of us would love to live with the wide range of attractions to visit on days out, the excellent climate and so on. However, that doesn’t mean that you can just up sticks and settle anywhere in the state of course and therefore it’s good to have quite comprehensive relocation guides with information about schools and whatnot.

To find a villa for sale you’ll obviously need a realtor and for the Disney area (one of the most popular, of course) there’s a very comprehensive site in the form of Bardell Real Estate there to help you finding your home and settling in too.

Popularity: 10% [?]