Can those who have relocated long distance to Edinburgh give me some tips please??

[tricot39]

Hi

From searching through old threads, I know a few of you have moved up from down south with your families. We are beginning the process of planning a similar move for the middle of 2013 - but it just seems so complicated! Can any of you offer some hints and tips?

It was so easy moving away from home 15 years ago, but now I'm heading back with a DH and 2 dcs. To move we need to sell 2 businesses, get me a job, sell our house, buy a new house and start DH's business anew. Luckily we have preschoolers so that's a bit easier, but everything seems to depend on everything else.

We need the business money to put into the new house. DH hopes to work from home in the future. We can't leave them running without DH, but he started the process of looking for buyers last year - so fingers crossed that works out reasonably soon.

Up until 2 days ago I thought I would have no chance of a job offer until very close to our move. But an aquaintance has suggested I come in to see his boss...... If I am really lucky they might be open to an agreement in principle ..... but of course there would be no guarantees of an income until much later.

We are coming up for a week in may to try the city out for size. Hang around outside schools and visit playgroups etc. Would primary schools let us visit? Our son is 3 so it would be 2 years until he starts school, so would they expect us to wait for some open day or other? For some reason I have the idea that there are a number of school open days concentrated in October - is that right?

So that's the business, possible job, schools sort of underway. That leaves somewhere to live. We wouldn't want to leave our current home unsold and rent it out, so that presumably leaves a tricky window where we might not have a house and I might not have a job? I've got a 3 month work notice period just to complicated things.

Presumably we put our place on the market if I get a job offer in principle and then hand in my notice at current job when we get a buyer?

How did it work for you? We would probably need to rent in Edinburgh for a little while, but that is tricky if the housing market takes off. In England the minimum rental period is 6 months - is that the same in Scotland?

Has anyone any idea on how things are in the housing market at the moment? ie Are houses with fixed prices more common? or are things still going for an "offers over" premium?

After sorting all that lot out, we then have to move with a 4 year old and a 2 year old in tow. How on earth does that work?! Does it cost the earth to have a removals company pack for us? and store things until we buy somewhere? Do I book an English or an Edinburgh company if I need storage??? Aargh...

I'm sorry for all the questions! My head is buzzing and it's a bit of a relief to write it all down! If you can only answer one of them that would be fantastic!

Thanks in advance

Welcome to the board

On the subject of removal companies, a local company to you will usually travel to move you. My brother works for a removals company and is often away on over night jobs.

Houses are all over the place at the moment. We've had a house in our street for 2 and a half years who's under offer sign went up on Friday.

Hope others can help you with your other queries.

Hi Tricot
I am in the process of moving... My husband and I decided to move from London to Edinburgh around 2 years ago. We have now been living in Edinburgh since last summer(via 3 months in Glasgow). We put our London house up for sale a few weeks ago, and hope to be properly settled by the end of the summer (the English conveyancing process permitting!)

Our initial attempt (2 years ago) involved nearly buying a wonderful house in Edinburgh, the plan being me working from home and my hubby commuting on a weekly basis until he found a job up here. But that all fell through when the mortgage company (santander) refused us the mortgage on the basis that it was too far for my hubby to travel. :-(
So, we found that my hubby had to find a new job before we could do anything.. After a slow start over the summer period, and convincing employers that he wanted to move :-) He ended up being offered 2 jobs, both of which wanted him to start within the month. This meant that there was no way of us coordinating any kind of buying /selling with job start, so we had to rent first.

My advice would be to take it slowly. You will be making really expensive purchasing decisions that will effect the rest of your lives :-)
Tbh, the renting has been a bit of a pain, but has made it much easier for us to readjust /decide where we want to live / explore the market and whats happening with house prices etc. Moving from London where we were used to small terraced houses, means we have gone through a bit of readjustment looking at city centre apartments (or part villas) in Edinburgh. We want to live in the centre, and Edinburgh is much more like a European city of apartments than the English suburban model. In other words, actual houses with gardens are Huge in comparison to London, but also relatively expensive.

Like someone else has answered, the fixed price / offers over really does depend on what you are looking for and what location. Prime properties in prime areas are going over, ususally within a month or so, and others are taking years to sell on a fixed price. I think a lot depends on the sellers willingness to take reasonable offers.

I lived in Edinburgh 20 years ago as a student, and although it is still a great place to live, it is very different with a family.
The school catchment areas are quite large (in comparison to London anyway) so I would suggest that you take it slowly, choose a school/ area you think you can afford to buy in, and rent there first. Contracts are 6 months min (unless you want to pay huge prices for 'holiday lets') but honestly, you want to spend a couple of months looking at houses, then buying, and then you can easily delay completion for a couple of months, so 6 months will fly by!
Also there is not much on the market, so you are probably going to want to factor in longer to find that dream home.

Good Luck in your move! Go for It! we have not regretted it at all. I was a bit nervous dragging DH up here, but DH is pretty insistant that he is Very Happy and doesn't miss London one bit :-)

Tbh I would work backward from schools. Find an area and school you like, work out if you can afford to buy a house there and then rent in catchment. I started at secondaries and worked down through feeder primaries. It is a daunting task - I know I did it!

March 2008- Feb 2009 birthdays go to school in August 2013. Enrollment is Nov 2012 but, too be fair as long as you are in catchment before beginning March 2013 and do a late enrollment, you will be guaranteed a place (I was told that as long as you get in before the out of catchments are allocated you are alright). If your DC is Jan or Feb 2009 then you can get automatic deferral and they wouldn't have to start until August 2014.

P1 places are full in lots of schools this year and will be next year too.

what everythingtodo says - when we moved to Edinburgh from Germany, we basically picked the primary school (by reputation and proximity to my work place) and worked from there. Rented until the kids were in school, then bought, which gave us the peace to look and buy something that we really liked (and could not really afford , but was also in a catchment area for a great secondary school. I always thought we would buy a house, but we have a "double upper" which works great with the slightly older kids (they were 10 and almost 6 when we bought).

Make lists, try not to panic - good luck!

25% of children in Edinburgh go to independent schools and these all have open days in october.

Morningside and Stockbridge are very nice, as is east lothian if you don't mind a short commute- you get a lot more for your money, or alternatively linlithgow which had good schools and only twenty minute train ride, also commutable to glasgow.

If you're thinking long-term I wouldn't worry about primaries and would pick somewhere near a secondary that you like, secondary school is (in my opinion) much more crucial. We picked our house years ago when DD1 was a baby, thinking we had years till secondary. However, we still live here and don't like the local secondary...

If you're going private they have open days in October, or you can arrange a visit at any time. If you're going for a state school the primaries don't do open days (not sure about secondaries) but you can usually arrange a visit.

thanks for all your replies!

we are focussing on south edinburgh as it is my old stomping ground and the secondaries seem ok/stable. hopefully it is nice as a non student - which would make me err away from a flat even though they are fab and luxurious!

we have booked visits to 3 primaries when we are visiting in may. they seemed fine even though ds might only start in 2014.

We cant afford private which is one of the reasons for moving from london.

if we are feeling cheeky we might go to see a couple of houses to see the over priced / flawed places that are hanging about on the net! we need to get an idea of what we can afford although i am not sure if this will help....

Anyway thanks for your thoughts. It is reassuring that we seem to be on the right track

Glad to hear you are seeing schools - we went to 4 primaries and it is invaluable. Dont go just by reputation imo some of them are totally outdated!

I had a criteria: house not flat, driveway to park in, garage, didnt want to fight on street for permit slots, houses had to be affordable, wanted a school in good physical cindition as council cash strapped, wanted a school with good outside space. For edinburgh this is a strict criteria and ruled out lots of areas for us. I would recommend you make your own list as i found it helped decision making hugely.

Your part of town sounds nice - am curious to know as our wishlists sound similar!

Also is it ott to visit secondaries? We thought we might hang out at the gates at hometime but would prefer a visit if it is not ridiculous.......

Have a look at Juniper Green- outstanding primary school in brand new building with very strong head teacher and brilliant staff. The related secondary is Currie High which is one of the best state schools in the city. For JG you need to be in catchment or you have no chance of a place as it is oversubscribed due to high standards and reputation. Houses in the area are good value for the city and nice "village" feel to the community. It is a bit of a trek on the number 44 bus in to town though if you have to do a daily commute ~ 45 mins in rush hour.

Hi. Thanks. I know juniper green and the commute quite well so would prefer to be a bit more central. However affording a nice place might mean reconsidering a commute!

Regarding Secondary visits, I've visited a couple as dd is moving to high school after the summer. 2 we missed the visits for, so the heads was happy to show me about during school time for us to see the school. We had a change in catchment high school and the head was at a couple of parents night and he has always said that anyone was welcome to arrange a visit to see the school, chat to staff and pupils.

My advice is to focus on your finances for now and worry about the rest later. Be as flexible about who/when/where you make your move as you must to ensure you always have at least one stable income and no conditional debts (i.e don't commit yourself to anything on the assumption that your house/business will sell until it's actually sold.)

If you're financially grounded, then Edinburgh will, I'm sure, give you and your family the fresh start you're dreaming of. You know the place and all it has to offer--it hasn't changed much in 15 years!

Definitely rent until you're no longer dizzy--property prices aren't going anywhere anytime soon. You're at much higher risk of making a rash buy than missing 'the one'. Prices are quietly declining (certainly in real terms), though family homes are, for now, holding up better than buy-to-let 1 or 2 bedroom flats. www.espc.co.uk is the best property portal and has monthly (or is it quarterly?) house price analyses.

You've got enough time to rent for a while before you need to get into school catchments, so make those decisions later. I'm afraid I don't know the standard contractual commitments when taking on a lease, nor which letting portal is best, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get out early with a month's notice and some penalty fee?

Last thing--you might want to consider long term storage for a lot of your stuff. It may give you space to make good decisions without the encumbrances of 'stuff'. If you can move yourselves with a van, a weekend and willing babysitters until you're finally settled for the long term, it may make your lives much less stressful. Besides, you'll learn that you don't need most of that stuff, though it'll be mightily lovely when you're reunited with your beloved soup terrine!

Be dexterous/flexible, and as canny as a scot.

Thanks for that advice.
Yes I suppose that the good thing about the recession is that house prices have stalled - it would be very worrying to have to do this in rising market!

House prices may have stalled, but as there is less on the market, when a good one comes on it is still manic! Cue recent house here - went to closing 9 days after going on - a least 4 offers and they got a great price!

25% of Edinburgh children are at private schools- seriously, are you sure, scarletsmummy?

Read it in the daily telegraph a couple of years ago. There are at least seven or eight large private schools so entirely possible!

Wow. I wonder what they defined as 'Edinburgh'? I wouldn't be surprised if that was true for the more central areas, but one you start adding Leith, Craigmillar and so on, I find the figure surprising. I'm from elsewhere in Scotland, though, so Edinburgh seems unbelievably affluent and posh to me..!

I'm surprised it's not higher. Masses of private school places.

OP, we were probably at Uni together - I never left I loved it here. My advice would be to rent. Children start school at five not four here so if your eldest is four then you have some time to look around at schools when you get up.

Newington, Marchmont, Bruntsfield are all lovely (still!) but if you are looking for garden and off street parking then they can be quite expensive compared to other parts of the city.

It's true, 25% of children in Edinburgh are privately educated.

Hi - we went through all this almost 5 years ago, with 3 children then aged 11, 9 and 5. We moved to Edinburgh from the north east. Despite initally being clear I wouldn't live in a flat we realised quite quickly that we really wanted to be central. We looked at 3 secondarys- Trinity, Boroughmuir and Gillespies - and based our decision on where to live largely on on this . Opted for Gillespies so found a rental flat in the catchment and then phoned round the feeder primaries. Luckily Sciennes primary could offer all 3 girls a place, despite us not being in their actual catchment. We put most of our furniture into storage (national removals company who stored it in the NE then brought it to the Scottish depot prior to delivery), brought only toys, clothes, lamps and pictures and rented for 9 months to get a feel for what there was to buy. And despite me saying I couldn't contemplate a flat we've ended up buying a lovely big 5 bed flat overlooking the Meadows. 10 mins walk to Princes St and fab views. Sciennes has been great - we've been very pleased with it for all 3 - and both the older two are now at Gillespies and very happy. If you plan to state-educate all the way through then I would definitely pick your secondary school first and then find a primary/home to rent in the relevant catchment before you actually buy. It'll be worth it all in the end! If I can help at all with anything else just let me know.

Thanks for all the replies!
We have just come back from a gloriously sunny week in Edinburgh.
Arrived with bags packed with winter hats/boots/jumpers etc but was more than happy to have to buy some shorts for the kids!

We rented a flat for our stay in a quiet local area and it was definitely "curtain twitching territory"! One of the neighbours shouted out the window at my DH for temporarily parking in a residents bay (out of hours)! So maybe our snobbery detectors were on high alert after that, but we started worrying about it being a bit parochial/busibody-ish. My DH is an osteopath and would like to work from home. I'm assuming in some areas, there is a chance that neighbours are not going to be keen on (quiet) commercial activity? Or am I being oversensitive after our parking incident?

Tilly we have been having the same thougts about flats as you, but houses all seem so big compared to London so I am realising that we need to have a re-think on flats and/or search area. Are there any areas with smaller/compact houses in the JGHS part of town that we missed?

We went to look around the Sciennes and sot of expected not to like it because of the size and it being short of space, but the head teacher seemed amazing and the place has such a buzz about it. We liked JGPS - really impressed with the kids who showed us around there, and Preston Street was nice too but not such a great location on that really busy road. If we go back for another visit I think we will check out the Boroughmuir feeders as we can't limit ourselves to the Gillespie's catchment if we want a house..... However I could get a job in that area and the idea of a 15 minute walk to work is very very appealling! So lots to think about...

TIA

So glad you had a good experience up here on your visit. Sorry about the parking issue - it's a shame as something like that sticks in the mind and affects how you feel. I remember we came up for a similar visit and after our long journey north, pulled in to our friends' road to see a guy drunkenly urinating up the wall on a sunny Sunday afternoon... it plunged me into a state of gloom!

Sciennes is big but we've been very happy with it. Many of those attending are university families, with a parent working either in George Square across the Meadows or the Kings Buildings at the southern end of the school catchment. If you get a map of the catchment you'll see that it's narrow and goes quite a way south of the school - alot of our girls' friends live up in Macdowall Road, Lussielaw Road, Rankin Road, Mentone Terrace and the streets up there, either in smaller housing or upper/lower villas with gardens. (The houses nearer to both JGPS and Sciennes are some of the most expensive in Edinburgh eg Grange Loan, Lauder Road, and many of the children living in them will be going to private schools).

JGPS is similar in its university family intake and I have friends who are also very happy with it. I was speaking to a friend who has worked at Preston St as a classroom assistant. It's much smaller than Sciennes and she likes it just as much in a different way - the intake is much less university based, more longterm local, which you may prefer or not. Boroughmuir feeders also great, but for houses you'd need to be looking at Morningside and then back out towards the bypass - Buckstone Primary etc. The Trinity area is nice, and has good schools too so worth looking at.

Do go see the secondarys if you can - it's fine to ask for a visit, even if you're not at that stage. Term finishes in a fortnight though so might be best in the autumn. Also, be clear which year you'll want your children to go into - as the birthday cut-off here is end Feb, not end Aug you may have a decision to make if one of yours has a birthday in Jan/Feb/March.

I haven't found it busybody-ish up here at all - quite the opposite I guess. You are entitled to park in the residents' parking out of hours, so it sounds as if it was someone a bit obsessive with a warped sense of entitlement! I'm sure none of our neighbours would have a problem with the kind of business you describe - I don't think it would affect them much. Very happy to help if there's anything else.

I'm glad you had a positive experience of Edinburgh. tillymint21 has provided lots more information for you. I just wanted to add some additional information concerning your dh proposed business. Many properties have restrictive use in the title deeds stating that you can't run a business from them so check the deeds before you rent/buy. Also if parking is tricky for you than any potential clients of your dh will also have difficulty. Not everyone is able to use public transport. I know if I was going or taking someone for treatment and couldn't park close-by then I probably would look elsewhere.

Tilly You are most certainly not entitled to park in residents parking zones out of hours - the difference out of hours is that there are no traffic wardens around to ticket inconsiderate parkers.