RENTING IN SCOTLAND (EDINBURGH)

fewcloudy

Greymug said:

brross said:

Thanks Guys. @ zagubov, I would much prefer to be in Edinburgh so I can cycle to work, and enjoy the city generally. When you say that Edinburgh is overpriced, do you mean the city centre or all over the city?

I suggest you rent in Edinburgh even only for 6 months, before you consider buying. - I second this and think it is good advice for anyone moving to a new city.

I lived in Edinburgh almost 10 years and just recently moved to the outskirts and I never really understood what "city centre" means. Is only princes street city centre? If I live in New Town/Stockbridge/Bruntsfield/Morningside/Leith...is it still considered city centre? - City Centre is considered to be the heart of the business and commercial part of a city, including historical part of the city, and nightlife/shopping too I would say.  I wouldn't describe any of those areas as city centre other than the New Town obviously (as that includes Princess Street, George Street etc, and all the housing at the West end and East End)

Anyhow, a few pointers:

• houses in central areas (like the ones I've mentioned) are rarely available and cost a lot. Central Edinburgh is mainly tenement flats
• if you want a house you need to move further out. Still plenty of nice areas. Off the top of my head, there are some nice houses in Corstorphine, Liberton brae, Silverknowes, Trinity. Houses are ok but if you want to cycle, you're already talking 25-30 minutes by bike to princes street
• if you want to cycle in Edinburgh, get ready to struggle. It's not flat here, there are hills everywhere so if you're not fit, you'll struggle at the beginning
• also, as a cyclist, you'll get buses and cabs cutting you off and being abused by drivers so hopefully you have a thick skin

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Greymug

fewcloudy said:

Greymug said:

brross said:

Thanks Guys. @ zagubov, I would much prefer to be in Edinburgh so I can cycle to work, and enjoy the city generally. When you say that Edinburgh is overpriced, do you mean the city centre or all over the city?

I suggest you rent in Edinburgh even only for 6 months, before you consider buying. - I second this and think it is good advice for anyone moving to a new city.

I lived in Edinburgh almost 10 years and just recently moved to the outskirts and I never really understood what "city centre" means. Is only princes street city centre? If I live in New Town/Stockbridge/Bruntsfield/Morningside/Leith...is it still considered city centre? - City Centre is considered to be the heart of the business and commercial part of a city, including historical part of the city, and nightlife/shopping too I would say.  I wouldn't describe any of those areas as city centre other than the New Town obviously (as that includes Princess Street, George Street etc, and all the housing at the West end and East End)

Anyhow, a few pointers:

• houses in central areas (like the ones I've mentioned) are rarely available and cost a lot. Central Edinburgh is mainly tenement flats
• if you want a house you need to move further out. Still plenty of nice areas. Off the top of my head, there are some nice houses in Corstorphine, Liberton brae, Silverknowes, Trinity. Houses are ok but if you want to cycle, you're already talking 25-30 minutes by bike to princes street
• if you want to cycle in Edinburgh, get ready to struggle. It's not flat here, there are hills everywhere so if you're not fit, you'll struggle at the beginning
• also, as a cyclist, you'll get buses and cabs cutting you off and being abused by drivers so hopefully you have a thick skin

**********

In which case, if you consider city centre only the old and new town, then you can only get a house if you are a multi millionaire, and it's still probably going to be a terraced

Greymug

Oh, out of curiosity I just searched for properties in what Rightmove considers "Edinburgh city centre" and it's a larger area than I thought. I wouldn't consider that "city centre". I mean, canonmills and easter road aren't city centre lololol

fewcloudy

Greymug said:

Oh, out of curiosity I just searched for properties in what Rightmove considers "Edinburgh city centre" and it's a larger area than I thought. I wouldn't consider that "city centre". I mean, canonmills and easter road aren't city centre lololol

Yup you are probably right!

In the paper version of the ESPC property guide, I usually agree that the properties in the "City Centre" section are in fact in the city centre!  Occasionally I raise an eyebrow and think 'no way' but not often. I can't seem to do that on the website.

I would imagine that having a property described as City Centre might add to its desirability and would not be surprised to see Rightmove and other vendors incorrectly describing their properties as such.