Question 1

What do estate agent terms like guide price, offers over and sold STC mean?

Accepted Answer

Estate agency language is designed to shape expectations, and knowing what each phrase signals is worth real money.

**Guide price** is an indication of the range the seller expects, most common with auctions and with properties whose value is uncertain. At auction it is not the reserve — the reserve is the confidential minimum the seller will accept, and it can legitimately be somewhat above the guide.

**Offers in excess of (OIEO)** signals the seller will not consider anything at or below the stated figure. It is often used to set a floor when a property might otherwise attract low bids.

**Offers in the region of (OIRO)** is softer — a target the seller expects offers around, in both directions.

**Offers invited / price on application** usually indicates either an unusual property with no clear comparables, or a seller who does not want the figure public.

**Sold subject to contract (STC)** means an offer has been accepted but contracts have not been exchanged, so **nothing is legally binding**. The sale can still collapse, and the seller can still accept another offer. Under **sold STC** a property is often still worth enquiring about.

**Under offer** is used loosely and in practice means much the same as STC, sometimes indicating an earlier stage.

**Sale agreed** is the equivalent phrase used in some regions.

**Chain free / no onward chain** means the seller has nowhere to move to that could hold things up — usually a probate sale, an investor, or someone who has already moved.

**A few things to know:** agents work for the **seller** and are paid by them, however helpful they are to you. Under consumer protection rules they must not knowingly mislead, and material information — tenure, council tax band, known defects — must be disclosed. And a property listed for a long time at an unchanged price is often negotiable.

Question 2

How is buying a property at auction different?

Accepted Answer

Fundamentally, and the differences are legal rather than atmospheric. The critical one is that you are contractually committed the moment the hammer falls. The traditional auction process: The fall

Question 3

How is buying a house in Scotland different?

Accepted Answer

Substantially — the offer becomes binding much earlier, the survey is done by the seller, and the tax is a different tax entirely. Advice written for England and Wales can be actively misleading. The

Question 4

What must an estate agent disclose about a property?

Accepted Answer

More than many buyers realise, and considerably less than they assume — the obligation sits on material information that would affect the average buyer's decision, and an agent who withholds it can

Question 5

What happens when you sell a property that is part of an estate?

Accepted Answer

The sale cannot generally complete until someone has legal authority to sell — which means a grant of probate or letters of administration — and that requirement, plus the valuation and tax steps

Question 6

What is the difference between sole agency and multi-agency when selling?

Accepted Answer

They describe how many estate agents may market your property and who is entitled to a fee — and the contract wording matters more than the label. Sole agency. One agent has the exclusive right to

Question 7

Is a mortgage in principle a guarantee that you'll get the loan?

Accepted Answer

No. A mortgage in principle — also called an agreement in principle, decision in principle, or AIP/DIP — is an indication of what a lender might be willing to lend based on information you have

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