"Drew" wrote
| The Scottish system tends to be favoured by sellers and hated
| by buyers.

For buyers it has the advantage of removing almost all risk of gazumping
early on in the process. (Apart from first-time buyers and second-home
buyers) buyers are usually also sellers, so removing uncertainty helps
everyone. Did you see that English programme about house chains earlier this
week, where the cash buyer (a lawyer!) threatened to bring the whole chain
down if he didn't get a discount?

The Scottish system works well where there is a fairly even match between
properties and buyers with only a few buyers putting in bids on a property.
It starts to fall down when 15 or 20 buyers are all chasing the same 2-bed
flat.

Not all property is sold o/o, the slower moving stuff is sold fixed price to
help move it quickly.

I know it's fashionable to denigrate lawyers (see above) but the Scottish
system, being led by solicitors in a small country, has the advantage of a
small legal profession, most of whom will know each other and have to work
with each other in the future, and all of whom are responsible for paying
for each other's professional indemnity fund. Sharp practice will not be
viewed with favour.

Owain