Thinking of moving back to Glasgow. What are the job and property markets like at the moment?

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

Have namechanged for this as details could be outing.

I am Scottish and DH is French. We have been living in France for 20 years and have 2 DC who have only ever lived in France. DH and I met in Glasgow and he lived there for 4 years. We moved to France for job/weather reasons.

I have been hankering after moving back to Glasgow for years and we are seriously thinking about it. DC are 10 and 13 so it feels like now or never as soon it will be too hard to uproot them due to exams.

I've spent hours looking at property and jobs and I would really appreciate opinions from those of you lucky enough to be in this great city. From what I can make out, property has got really expensive and there are jobs but lots of people going after them.

We want (like everyone!) to live somewhere with safe streets and good schools. Used to live in the West End but doubt we could afford it now (budget about 200,000 to 240,000 depending on value of current house and exchange rate.) Have connections with Anniesland, Scotstoun and Queens Park in the south.

Thanks anyone who has any advice / an opinion on my mad notion to move from the sunny French countryside to Glasgow....

[TrollTheRespawnJeremy]

What kind of jobs are you looking for? I have to admit that I don't think the job market is particularly buoyant at the moment.

The West End is phenomenally expensive. You could get a flat there for your money if you're game for tenement living.

Southside has also creeped up £££-wise. But you'd have more of a chance of a house with a garden.

If you move out to commuter belt then you actually have a pretty healthy budget.

How long are you willing to commute/ what do you want from Glasgow living?

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

Jobswise, unfortunately we are both quite specialized. DH would probably be looking for draughtsman / design type work. I work in business travel / exclusive charter flight sales. I would be willing to do any type of admin or travel type stuff.

If it were just my choice, I would happily live in a tenement. I love their high ceilings and big rooms. DH and the DC would prefer to have a garden though. I saw a lovely 3 bed tenement flat advertised a while back just off Queen Margaret Drive which had its own entrance, a tiny private front garden and nice sized rooms (tiny kitchen though) for offers over 225K and I really liked it. Goodness knows how much it went for though.

I don't really want to live in the suburbs as I guess what I want from Glasgow living is the feeling of being in a city and having hustle and bustle.

From my researching property it seems that 3 bed tenements aren't that common, there are loads of 2 beds in places like Shawlands, Partick but that 3rd room seems hard to get. We have friends in Knightswood who have a roomy ex council house with garden that they didn't pay a lot for but it just seems so far from everything and cut off from the city vibe.

[prettybird]

If you look in Shawlands/Pollokshields/Newlands you might find some places (or conversions) in your price range - but you're probably pushing it. You might find more in your price range in Mosspark, Bellahouston, Cardonald or Kings Park if you are looking for a garden (and then put in a placing request for Shawlands Academy )

I think our place (4 bedroom upper conversion in Pollokshields with a large garden) is currently worth about £400k (friend bought a similar but smaller loft not converted one with a smaller garden along the road 18 months ago for, iirc, £330k). Lovely sandstone Victorian villas with 13 foot high ceilings

Remember some of the tenements have nice back greens for gardens and/or are close to lovely parks (Maxwell Park, Queens Park, Pollok Park, Linn Park don't know the last one personally )

[prettybird]

I know of 3 bedroom tenement flats in Dolphin Road, Waverley Gardens, Shields Road, Nithsdale road, Newark Drive and Camphill Avenue (just thinking of where friends are or where I've seen our on walks) so they do exist. Main door flats are probably your best option (although the ones on Terregles Avenue and the road opposite, on the other side of the railway line can't remember its name are, I think, mostly 3 beds, not just the main door flats).

[TrollTheRespawnJeremy]

I'd send some speculative emails up to gauge some interest. It'd be great to have a job to come up to, maybe rent short term and work out where you'd like to live from there.

For me, really, it would all hinge on jobs. I'm just not confident with the market at the moment.

[TinfoilHattie]

Property appears to be moving quite quickly - might just be the time of the year as it's a popular time to move but things round here are selling in 2/3 weeks.

[dontblameme]

Hello, I am making the move from beautiful sunny France back to Glasgow in the summer and yes, wondering if I'm crazy! Only been away three years though.

[AyeAmarok]

I would agree that property market is nuts, and job market not great. The "good" jobs are too few and far between, and either extremely competitive, or the incumbent is clinging to it.

West End tenement with three bedrooms... If you look towards the Yorkhill/Finnieston part of the West End, near Kelvingrove Park, you might find more in your budget.

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

Thanks for all the suggestions am looking places up. It does come down to jobs really - we have a good set up at the moment so it would be foolish to throw it away. My main concerns are how the children would adapt, schools and jobs. So sort of everything!

Housing doesn't have to be the West End, I like plenty of the South side (your conversion sounds lovely prettybird) but it seems to be coming up in price (and if it wasn't for the schools, would happily live in Dennistoun). I heard that Finnieston is becoming trendy but maybe it is still relatively cheap. I know we could get a 3 bed semi in lots of places like Bishopbriggs, etc but don't want suburban living.

Dontblameme, good luck with your move! You aren't crazy. I would move back in a heartbeat if I could be sure about jobs and my DC being ok with the upheaval. Don't have a crystal ball though! Do you know where you are going to live yet?

So much to think about. I change my mind every 2 minutes about what to do. I feel anxious about the fact that if we don't do it now we will be stuck but will my children hate being moved from the warm French countryside and their friends - it's all they know.

[dontblameme]

Thanks. I am buying a wee flat in Anniesland. The market does seem a bit crazy - the good places sell in a week. I'm lucky in that I'm flexible as no kids to fit into the equation.

What do you think Glasgow can offer your kids that France doesn't? What do you not like about France after all this time? I'm just missing my family and friends, I do have friends here but not close ones. I can imagine it's quite the opposite for your kids.

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

Enjoy your wee flat dontblameme

I don't know if Glasgow has more to offer my kids - it has something different to what they have now though. We live in a small village outside a not very interesting medium town. The countryside is lovely but not much goes on. If our children want to go to uni they will need to move quite far away.

France is great in lots of ways - the health system, the socialism, etc. I do feel settled here but I just miss home and city living. I think I need to face the fact that I don't really have a good enough reason to uproot my children, especially with the job market being difficult back home. I'm not ready to face the fact that the chances are, I'll never live in Scotland again - I think we may have missed the boat due to our children's ages and the price of property compared to where we are now. Anyway, thanks everyone for your helpful comments, they have helped me realise that my urge to move back just isn't very realistic.

[dontblameme]

Thanks and bonne continuation for the time being! And never say never... if and when it's right for you, doors will open.

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

Thanks dontblameme. Wise and comforting words. Bonne continuation for you too :)

[prettybird]

Maybe depending on what happens your kids could consider coming to Scotland for Uni. If they're having to go a long way away anyway....

Bonne chance!

[WankersHacksandThieves]

Why don't you make a concerted effort to see what jobs come up and think about it then? Obviously it's easier nowadays with it mainly being on-line rather than having to get someone send you the jobs pages from the paper every week :)

You could also widen your horizons - there are other cities in Scotland that would perhaps give you the lifestyle you crave if job/s came up. You could look at the school position of your DC at that time and see whether it would work.

There is another obvious window maybe when your DC1 finishes their exams and DC2 hasn't started.

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

Wankers, that's a good suggestion. We have been looking at jobs online for a while now and from where we are it looks as though there are possibilities. We both speak 3 languages and it feels as though that should offer up some work.
I am considering contacting some companies that I think I could work for in order to test the water and see what might be on offer.

I think realistically at least one of us would need to have a job offer before we could responsibly consider the big move for all the family. Probably one of us would need to move first and get the ball rolling for the others to then follow. Some days that feels like a mountain to climb and other days it feels ok enough.

If it were just me and DH it would be easier. I don't want to get it wrong for my DC though...

I've looked at the job market in Edinburgh and Aberdeen and there are possibilities in both for us too and we have links with Edinburgh but housing is soooo expensive.

I can't make my mind up but I can't quite seem to let go of the idea of moving back.

One issue that is in my mind is the DC's language levels. They speak good English but French is by far their first language and I don't want to make their lives hard by making them move at a key time in their lives. Life is hard enough for youngsters nowadays without making them suddenly swop cultures.

Aaahhhh we can't decide but not deciding is a decision in itself.

I think I expected to hear from this thread that the property market is bonkers but the job market is pretty good - and it seems that that is not the case.

We would consider other places but not in England - we have no family or friends really there and I would prefer to stay where we are than make a move that cuts us off from both sides of our families.

Keep changing my mind every time I see a job ad for something we could do or a flat / house we could afford initially in an ok place.

Really don't want to be in the position of moving into rental accommodation in an area we can't buy in and then having to change the children's schools again. I don't think it would be fair on them and I think they would struggle with that.

It feels like a big complicated puzzle that I really want to do but can't quite see all the pieces fitting together. Advice from friends and family is conflicting with some saying "you're mad!!" And some saying "where there is a will there is a way, you'll be fine".



Thanks to anyone reading my rambling about this!

[WankersHacksandThieves]

I know you don't want suburbia but you could look at one of the smaller cities, Perth, Dundee or Stirling. Stirling very commutable for Glasgow or Edinburgh and also has a very much expanding IT and technology sector (look at Innovation Park or www.thisiscodebase.com/about/.

Or a town on the Edinburgh to Glasgow line which would give a halfway house for the DC and also access to the Cities - Linlithgow maybe - not so sure on the Glasgow side towns as I am an Edinburgh girl originally so I avoid the west :o

I like Inverness too but maybe a bit far from your Glasgow connections.

[aliceinwanderland]

I wouldn't be too gloomy about the jobs market. There are less opportunities here than in the big English cities - but I know of at least one person in your husband's field who managed to find a new job in a matter of weeks.

[esk1mo]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47861577.html

3 bed flat on Woodlands road, 2 minutes from Kevingrove park, £205,000!

[squoosh]

I heard that Finnieston is becoming trendy but maybe it is still relatively cheap.

Finnieston is the hippest place in hipsterville and has been for a couple of years. Great restaurants but otherwise overrated in my opinion. If you're trying to avoid the dullness of suburbia I would recommend looking at Maryhill. Yes it is still a bit dodgy in place but it is practically in the West End and there is a lot of re-generation going on there, the canals have been transformed into a cultural hub. In ten years time it will be a very different place.

[squoosh]

To be honest even now it feels as though as though it's changing rapidly. The West End is trying to spread outwards. Understandably as there isn't a square metre in the West End left to develop.

[anotherscotabroad]

Hi cannaedecide. It's a tough one, but from reading all your posts it sounds like deep down you know it's not the right move for your family at this time.

I've moved around a fair bit, including a good few years in Glasgow as well as Europe.

Kids are very adaptable, but yours haven't been expats, they've grown up in their local system and no matter how fluent their spoken and everyday written English, the jump to studying all academic subjects in English (and not just English, Glaswegian!) is likely to be very tough. It's one thing moving kids between international schools with the same language of instruction and curriculum but another to switch when they are as old as yours. Language aside the style of instruction will be very different. A massive culture shock.

Also worth bearing in mind that however inclusive the schools purport to be your kids are going to stand out and be 'the French ones' for the rest of school, despite being half Scottish. Are they confident enough to 'own' that? IME Glasgow school kids are pretty accepting of any skin colour, but kids with any hint of a foreign accent (even an English one) would be seen as a curiosity and a target for bullies.

You also mention Aberdeen. Cannot think of a worse place to move in terms of the current job market. Shocking level of redundancies, companies going under and unemployment over the last couple of years.

Honestly though, I know it's harsh but I think your kids will hate it and resent you. It's really not so long until they will be grown and you and DH can make plans. Glasgow has excellent unis, maybe that's the time to invest in a flat there?

Is there something else you could do/change in the meantime about your job/lifestyle? With the kids being older could you get back home on your own a bit more often?

I hope you find a solution that works for all of you

[aliceinwanderland]

anotherscot - I really don't think what you say about foreign accents and integration would hold true for Hillhead. It's a very mixed school I think. The primary is certainly very accommodating for new arrivals from overseas and there are several joining my DCs classes every year - some of whom speak no English

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

anotherscotabroad, I don't think the culture shock would be so very big for my children. They often say to me that they feel French when they are in Scotland and Scottish when they are in France. They already know what it is to be a foreigner in the place you live in because they live with me and understand my life.

We visit Scotland often and they spend quite a lot of their holidays there - they have weegie family, friends and accents when they speak English. They get on just fine there and it is their second home.

What I do feel concerned about is the extra work they would have to put in to do as well in school in the UK as they do currently in France. I know they can do it. My question is is it worth them doing it. And that will be what will decide things for us.

Aberdeen is not somewhere I feel the need to live but I have looked at the job market there as an aspect of my niche speciality is well paid there.

esk1mo, that flat is great and in catchment for hillhead.

[Cannaedecideforthelifeofme]

squoosh Maryhill is an interesting one. I think you are right that it is on the up. One of my best pals grew up there and moved away in order to leave behind trouble and move on. She's thinking about moving back and I understand why. It's got great history, some great buildings, a station, near west end stuff and has the canals. Like so much of Glasgow it's a mixture of a bit dodgy but right next to leafy loveliness.