Moving from London to around Edinburgh 23 December 2019 at 6:07AM in Scotland 14 replies 2.1K views

MSKhan

Hi all,

I am hoping to get some advice on areas around Edinburgh that I could buy a property in and move to. My wife and kids are Londoners but they've always lived abroad with me as I traveled for work. We moved to London recently but I have been contemplating moving to Scotland due to the better quality of life it promises.

Property requirements:

• Prefer new spacious builds, 3 to 4 bedrooms
• My budget is around 250,000
• Area must be very safe for my 2 young kids
• Area should have good schools
• Area must be immigrants friendly
• Up to 1 hour commute to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and good connections to station with trains to London

Fife has across as a potential winner. Dunfermline has good properties there. Am I right about this? If so, what are the "good" areas in Dunfermline? If not, please suggest elsewhere in or around Edinburgh.

I am hoping to buy in 2020. I may need to continue working in London if I can work something out with my employer in terms of remote working and coming to the office few days a week.

I look forward to all the replies :beer:

slbhill

Fife's great for commuting to Edinburgh but not so great for Glasgow. Eastern expansion is mostly nice and fairly new.

With that budget you might just about get something in Linlithgow which is very nice and on the express train line between Edinburth and Glasgow. Or failing that Falkirk - cheaper but lots of nice areas.

Ms_Chocaholic

I've PM'd you.

ANDY597

Lots of good schools in Edinburgh but you have not stated whethet you want public or private.

Try Edinburgh evening news who I think did an article on the list of rankings.

I'm sure burroughmuir ranked top in Edinburgh, Royal high was up there and maybe Broughton???? All Edinburgh council ran schools.

Dunfermline offers good value for money, as does West Lothian. Edinburgh and East Lothian tends to be a lot more expensive.
Dunfermline is very much a town surrounded by new build estates, my opinion its all a bit samey.
But if I was looking for a sizeable property for fair money then it would have to be a contender. Fife has a lot of lovely surroundings further up the coastal path.

Commute to Edinburgh and back can be difficult with bridge traffic from Fife, it's been known to be a real blackspot even with the new bridge to ease congestion.

East Lothian is lovely down the coast but areas such as Tranent to be avoided. Haddington is a nice relatively affordable town.

Hope this helps

203846930

Dulloch Park (by Dunfermline) has a lot of new builds and you would get a lot of house for your money.
Dalgety Bay down by the coast is a bit more 'up market' and you can find some really nice established housing there with good rail access.
The same could be said for Aberdour, Burntisland and Kinghorn, all with good views across the Forth.

Owain_Moneysaver

Falkirk has quite a lot of newish estates, good train links to Edinburgh/Glasgow, and Caledonian Sleeper and LNER direct services to London.

Clackmannanshire isn't quite as convenient, but can also offer good value for money. You can get into Stirling for trains, but that does put the commute a bit over an hour. Clacks is one of the hot spots for Syrian relocations and there are Syrian barbers, restaurant and patisserie in Alloa. Eg

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-85975595.html

£250k 4 bed detached, just round the corner from Alva Academy, being built now by Allanwater Homes. Plots are small though.

Can't comment on the schools, but as I understand it Scottish schools, especially outside the big cities, are much less variable than English with no particularly "bad" schools. We don't have the "placing" problems that England has - you just send kids to the local school (unless you want a Catholics school). Clacks only has 3 secondary schools anyway. It's a small authority.

Hasbeen

MSKhan wrote: »

We moved to London recently but I have been contemplating moving to Scotland due to the better quality of life it promises.

A lot of people are thinking about moving out of Scotland if the snp get independence. Some have moved already.

At moment highest tax in uk. Check what you will be paying extra. Crumbling services, Education poor, Since the police and fire services taken over they are under funded disaster. NHS poor. Councils not being funded.

If I was considering a move it would be to the Scottish borders, on the english side. circa around Berwick on Tweed, main line service. Little villages nice areas, unlike fife which is very built up. Run down areas.

MSKhan

Thanks all for the great replies over the Christmas period. Hope you all had a great Christmas break.

Please keep the replies coming. I am reading and focusing my search.

Thanks :beer:

suki1964

My friends who are Londoners who settled in Ayr now have their home on the market and plan to move back to England due to the anti English feel about the country these past few years. They said during the last vote they were ready to pack up and lose the lot then stay if Scotland got their independence

hieveryone

Burntisland or Kinghorn would be my next move. Perhaps Aberdour.

Auchertool is also a lovely little village but houses don't come up a lot.

Kirkcaldy is ideal for travelling and has some nice areas.

You'd probably get a bit of a do-er upper in St Andrews for that too.

Owain_Moneysaver

hieveryone wrote: »

You'd probably get a bit of a do-er upper in St Andrews for that too.

St Andrews has charming renovation opportunities

Do-er uppers are in Templehall :rotfl: