Scotland?

[Baroluleni]

Hello fellow Mumsnetters.
I’m asking on AIBU purely for traffic.
currently residing in the East of England with children (4) all apart from one having left home.
our youngest is 15 and still needs to complete 6th form and then University in veterinary.

We are seriously considering selling up our 5 bed country style house and therefore releasing equity and downsizing to a 3/4 bed detached more modern style house.

DH wfh but occasionally will need to go into office on outskirts of Glasgow. (Very occasionally).
We therefore have visited Scotland many times and absolutely love the amenities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Please give us some ideas on the very best locations with modern style housing, max budget £450k as want to be mortgage free and do not want structural work to do.

i have seen online Paisley seems a lovely area. But have yet to visit.

obviously want the usual and predictable, minimal criminal and honestly activity.

Glasgow and Edinburgh appeal to us, as along as within 30mins drive to either city for amenities.

I would look at the school league tables, the catchment areas, and take it from there. For a £450k budget for a modern house, look more west than east central belt.

Paisley has nice bits but is mostly a bit of a dump and not much of a town centre. The west end and south side of Glasgow are nice but you might struggle with your budget. If you want more or a village feel then Houston or Bridge of Weir are lovely as other people have suggested and within easy commute of Glasgow. I'm from the west coast so no idea what areas of Edinburgh are like. PM me if you want more info.

Thank you so much for your suggestions, amazing input and I am very grateful.

it will be a complete change for us. But so am determined to be mortgage free, hence the max £450k budget.

We are late 40s and want to retire completely by 55 and using some funds to purchase abroad also.

We adore the countryside and the coast, wouldn’t say no to an older remote property. Jist presumed we could get more for our money by purchasing modern.

We do love all the usual amenities, but not ones for getting overly involved with local bits and bobs. White private people in that regard.
just need to able to reach commutable avenues such as rail, road and flights easily.

Love the property for link above, wow! What a gorgeous place dor such little cost. Where we live (bearing in mind still over an hour from London) can’t get a 2 bed semi detached for under £280k! Extortionate.

thank you everyone with input thus far. It’s so helpful to us to be able to get honest opinions and not just through our smoked glasses.

you’d be better posting in Scotsnet.

you need to visit more and do a lot more research.

Paisley is not what you are looking for.

Dunfermline in Fife is prime commuting to Edinburgh and has the largest amount of new build housing in Europe. Nice town and excellent schools and you will get a lovely house for £450k there.

other places to consider
East Lothian
Midlothian
Stirling
Linlithgow

Im less familiar with house prices on the west of Scotland

Couple of good websites for you

https://espc.com/
https://scottishpropertycentre.net/

Paisley is a shithole. Try Kilmalcolm/bridge of Weir or Gourock

and...? is that bad?

whit's yer point @KimberleyClark

Are you looking to move before your youngest finishes school? If so have you researched the different school systems?

southside of glasgow or east renfrewshire , lovely areas , and you’ll get something decent within your budget

You’d be lucky to get a 2 bed tenement in Hillhead for £450k, let alone a 4 bed detached house.

Would you be moving before 15 year old finishes school? Worth looking at catchment areas for schools and looking at start dates - the first few weeks of highers timetables are before the summer break.

Check out Bearsden or Lenzie. They should find something within your budget. They also have good schools and Glasgow city centre is easily accessible by train.

Dunblane or Stirling would be better but not Paisley aka Stab city.

Sorry to read Paisley isn’t the nicest of areas.
see this is why so needed to ask on Mumsnet.
as we had driven round that way and liked the look of the housing.

Did you drive round with your eyes closed?

You mostly have to drive from any of them. Somewhere with a train station would be better. It’s one reason we left Lennoxtown, transport links were atrocious with one bus an hour sometimes or driving everywhere.

Not Paisley.
Bearsden, Milngavie 15 mins from city on train, Dowanhill or Hyndland in West End 10 minutes to city centre or walk in. Gorgeous properties in all but West End much more bustling.

The West End is lovely but you're not getting anything detached for the OPs £450K budget.

What about Bishopton? Loads of new builds, train station with a regular 15 -25 minute service on train to Glasgow, 8 minutes drive to train station.

I think I’ve muddled up.
i meant Hamilton is the area we thought looked quite nice.

Would be looking for when youngest finishes GCSEs, so next summer to start 6th form.

However, with how awful and slow conveyancing is in England, thinking about selling current property this summer and renting if needs be for a few months.

You have all given me some great starting points and of course will be visiting a few times before any decisions made.

Def up in August as managed to purchase Oasis tickets, and have already booked our extortionate accommodation for couple of nights 😂.

thank you also for other board suggestion to view on here, I just know AIBU is full of great posters for advice

I was brought up in Strathaven which is near Hamilton. Nice wee town. However I'd second dunfermline- brilliantly situated. You can easily get to edinburgh by train, Glasgow by bus but also Perth and north and fife coastal villages very quickly. So easy access to gorgeous scenery and the sea. Lots of modern housing.Towns like Falkirk and linlithgow might have housing etc but the countryside between glasgow and eddinburgh is not that attractive.

Paisley????? Jeez Louise, you need to get up here and have a look around based on reality not what looks "lovely" on the internet!!

For your budget you should be able to pick up a 3 or 4 bed in the areas which are always mentioned as being among the nicest places to live - Bridge of Allan near Stirling, Bearsden, Milngavie, Helensburgh, Newton Mearns, Giffnock, or heading towards the east, Linlithgow, parts of Edinburgh, coastal towns towards North Berwick.

You need to look at WHERE the office is on the outskirts of Glasgow - if it's on the east side, then Stirling or towards Edinburgh will be better than the Ayrshire coast. Also there is no "sixth form" for your 15 year old and the school system being SO different means that the transition at that age is going to be very difficult, especially when he/she is considering a competitive course like vet med.

Hang off a few years. Or move to Northumberland.

Thank you for your reply and suggestions
yup def muddled up my area 😂.
i meant Hamilton not paisley. Def know to avoid that area.

looking more small town or villages and have loads of your great suggestions to trawl rightmove for and then further visits.

Stop.

Before you get carried away with looking at houses and areas you have to seriously consider how this is going to impact your child's senior school education.

Scottish schools do not teach GCSE. Or A-levels. Although arguably the curriculum in some subjects like Maths/Biology is broadly similar, in other subjects like English or History it is very different. Children in Scotland study usually 5 subjects after 16 (depending on age as the school intake is totally different too) for a year and then apply to university with grades in the bag, rather than like the English system where they do three subjects for 2 years.

It is completely, totally, utterly different. (Unless you are planning on sending them to one of the more expensive private schools which do offer A-levels or International Bac, and I presume that if Gordonstoun fees were in the equation, you'd have mentioned that.) You really need to think long and very hard about how your child will manage uprooting from one system to one which is completely different, then expecting them to excel at a standard high enough to get into a Vet Med course.

@Baroluleni you really need to research the school system….especially if your child wants to do something as highly competitive as vet science, moving to a new system at that point of his education is extremely unwise.

Only visited when on holiday so have no idea about house prices but I rather liked Stirling and the surrounding areas. The university has an amazing theatre which has a lot of events