Location Location Location viewers were left in disbelief at last night’s episode as a couple missed out on their dream home in Scotland – despite offering significantly more than the listed price.
During Wednesday’s episode of the Channel 4 property hunting programme, Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer explored family-sized homes within commuting distance to Edinburgh.
Claire and Mark were looking for a three-bedroom home after spending 22 years in Australia – ideally with curb appeal, a secure garden, and strong amenities and transport links.
Despite stringent requirements, Kirstie appeared to have remarkable luck straight off the bat – finding them a seemingly ideal home in the village of Gullane on the East Lothian coast.
With offers listed over £660,000, Claire said she was ‘dumbstruck’ by the B-listed property, while Kirstie’s co-host Phil Spencer admitted she had ‘knocked it out of the park’.
Unfortunately, the couple missed out on the sought-after property, despite their final offer being £825,000 – a whopping £165,000 over the original listed price.
Giving an update at the end of the show, Kirstie revealed: ‘For Mark and Claire, it was bad news on the house in Gullane, even though they upped their closing date offer to £825,000.’
Claire said: ‘It was a huge disappointment because the emotion was there,’ while Mark added: ‘We missed out.’
Location Location Location viewers were left in disbelief after a couple missed out on a home in Gullane (pictured), despite offering £825,000
Since the show was filmed, the home has been listed as ‘sold’ on the letting agent’s website following an auction back in May.
Traditionally, in Scotland, the ‘offers over’ system is the norm for the housing market, meaning sales often go to closed-bid auctions. This means that houses frequently sell for significantly more than the initial listing price.
Despite this, viewers were astonished that the semi-detached home had attracted such expensive competition, as house prices in Scotland are usually considered among the cheapest in the UK.
Edinburgh, however, is an exception and is the most expensive Scottish city to own a home in, with property prices 17 per cent higher than the UK average.
One gobsmacked viewer wrote: ‘Holy s***, they offered £825k and it still wasn’t enough!’
They were also surprised to see that, even for such a high sum, the house wasn’t detached. One person said: ‘Oh, it wasn’t the whole house lol, it’s a semi #locationlocationlocation.’
Others wrote: ‘Always the same type of people buying with a piffling £800,000 budget’;
‘Oh, how I’d love to move to Scotland, especially Edinburgh.’
Claire and Mark had immediately fallen in love with the home on the East Lothian coast
The popular home was immediately in demand, and to their disappointment, the couple didn’t manage to secure it
With a dog-secure garden (pictured) and great transport links, the house seemed to tick every box
Viewers were astonished that the semi-detached home had attracted such expensive competition, as house prices in Scotland are usually considered among the cheapest in the UK
Situated on the East Lothian coast, the property offered access to the great outdoors, with great links to town.
It had a bright kitchen and living space, a sitting room with potential to turn into a fourth bedroom, and a family bathroom.
The home seemed to fit all the couple’s requirements with a dog-secure garden and off-road parking.
Kirstie said: ‘Downstairs there’s a very light and bright kitchen living space they will love.
‘The location is popular and pricey, so although it is on at offers over £660,000, anything could happen. But we’d hope to secure it near their top spend of 800 grand.
‘It’s all you want from a traditional house,’ she said and, gesturing to the large and modern living room, added: ‘It’s difficult to fault this house.’
It seemed to be love at first sight for Claire, who confessed: ‘Oh wow, it’s beautiful. I’m literally dumbstruck. It’s absolutely gorgeous.’
Despite missing out on their first choice, it was eventually happy news for the couple by the end of the show.
With offers listed over £660,000, Claire said she was ‘dumbstruck’ by the B-listed property, while Kirstie’s co-host Phil Spencer admitted she had ‘knocked it out of the park’
The open-plan kitchen and dining space was light, bright and open
There was a family bathroom, while everything had been given a modern twist
It was listed as having three bedrooms, with potential to convert a fourth
After making another offer on a house on Gullane, they managed to secure it for £550,000, a significantly lower price and £250,000 less than their top budget.
Though it was only a two-bedroom home, it had the potential to increase to four beds.
Phil meanwhile was helping climate emissions manager Natasha and engineer Carl find a home in Edinburgh after living in Aberdeen for 19 years.
Both had the potential to work in Edinburgh, but had only completed six viewings in six months.
But with strict requirements – including four bedrooms, being in walking distance of a school and needing a garage for Carl’s classic car – the property hunt soon proved to be a difficult one for their £650,000 budget.
After viewing one 1950s property in the village of Balermo, a bus ride away from town, Natasha said it was ‘too small’.
Phil confessed: ‘This Edinburgh search is hard, it really is. It’s like whack-a-mole. You get the garage right, you get the schools right, but then there’s something else.’
Despite finding an almost perfect house in Ratho village, ‘almost identical’ to their home back in Aberdeen, the couple eventually decided not to put an offer in as there ‘wasn’t enough going on’ nearby.
Natasha and Carl decided they would remain in Aberdeen after all, after realising they wouldn’t be able to ‘afford’ the home of their dreams in the Edinburgh area.
Claire and Mark said they were very disappointed to have missed out on the home – but still ended the show with an accepted offer on another property
Luckily, Phil continued to help them on their house hunt, with an offer accepted on a £520,000 granite detached home in the area.
Last week, viewers criticised a couple for splashing out £350,000 on a bungalow that backs onto the M40.
Scott and Aston, who both work at Heathrow Airport as cabin crew, roped in property expert Kirstie Allsopp to help them find their dream home.
The married couple wanted a two-bedroom ‘blank canvas’ with parking for two cars, a garden, and an easy commute to the airport.
Scott and Aston – who met in 2021 – adored the pricey area of Marlow, but found that their budget of £350,000 did not stretch far.
They instead ended up putting in an offer at the maximum price of their budget for a 180 sq ft bungalow in the village of Stokenchurch, which is surrounded by the scenic Chiltern Hills.
However, they were criticised by viewers of the Channel 4 show, who questioned why they would buy the ‘nightmare’ house.
Location, Location, Location airs on Channel 4, 8pm on Wednesdays.
