Looking for flats in Edinburgh - what price range to look at?

[FrozenFlowers]

Hi - I have posted this in both Edinburgh Local and Property/DIY.

We're about to start flat hunting in Edinburgh. We are seeing a mortgage advisor on Monday, but are reasonably sure that (all being well) our ceiling price will be £175k.

Basically - I don't know which flats to look at! I am assuming anything fixed price that is £175k or under is worth considering, but other than that I'm just not sure. I don't want to be looking at things that are on for, say, offers over £170k and then finding that actually people are expecting to get £185-190k for them. Conversely, I don't want to find out that I could have been looking at flats on for offers around £180k or £185k and having a decent shot at getting them for £175k!

I know this kind of thing is quite local, and I hope once we've got a solicitor he/she might be able to give us a steer, but does anyone have any advice until then? I'd like to know what I can be looking at on the Internet to start with!

It's a lovely area, I've moved out of Edinburgh now, but loved staying there, so quiet but so close to town, walking home after nights out doesn't take long, straight down the mile, and you have so many things on your do it step. Have lived there as car owner and bus user, never a problem.

I will remember mumsnet in a couple of months when we need to finally move on from our (lovely, but 2 bed) flat to a 3 bed affair somewhere for not much more money! (Dh wants a 4-bed in Dunfermline, I'm somewhat about it).

Abbeyhill great location, I agree.

I'm another Edinbugger who has looked at buying recently

I'd consider areas like:
polwarth
bellevue
chesser
corstorphine/gyle
the maltings
newington is an option - the wall between beds 2 and 3 is almost certainly a stud which could be very easily removed to give a lovely big room

Slightly less vibrant but I have viewed these flats and the area is lovely and you could stay put for longer if you have children - ravelston

Dunfermline used to be nice until the area has been tarnished by the huge development known as Duloch. There's no community spirit now, just lots of new builds that all look the same. A friend of mine's was told by her father that they are not good quality houses, in that they're knocked up a super fast speeds. Lots of snags come with these houses. You also don't get much house for your money now...

Ah, I wonder is that the same bit they call 'the eastern expansion' on the espc website?
Thanks for that info. don't want to move to Fife anyway

Yes, Duloch is basically the Eastern Expansion. We were warned to stay well clear of it (but never had any intention of buying a property there anyway!).

Oh but the joy of a family room/en suite/spare bedroom - all unobtainable to most in the city!
I was driving through Colinton, Currie and Balerno, all looked lovely (the snow helps!) but very expensive I imagine. May have a rummage on the espc tonight

We couldn't afford a property in Currie, though we did view a few semi-detached ones a few years back in that area. Bedrooms were very pokey.

Portobello !

m.espc.com/?saleType=Sale&beds=0&locType=text&area=Portobello&radius=0.5&longitude=0&latitude=0&house_type=&min_price=&max_price=&search=Search&sort=price-ASC&p=3&propref=315332&cs=1

We bought a flat in December and were advised that we should look upto ten grand more than we could offer. But also if we really loved somewhere to mak cheeky offers. We bought our flag for bang on what they were asking.

Would reccomend the centre for independent mortgage advise on leith walk. Greg'll walk you thru the whole thing , as cool as a cucumber! X

This one has a fantastic kitchen-www.espc.com/properties/details.aspx?pid=316720&sid=3735020375 (although second double bedroom is windowless and I don't know what the road is like to live on).

How strange! Though I think I would write it off because of no window, ds's room is in almost constant darkness due to his blackout curtains - maybe would be fine!
For a couple, it could be a cool tv room/junk room/sex dungeon.

Definitely the one in Porty, Regent street, tis lovely in Porty. Also the Cornhill Terrace one would be worth investigating, there is one on Ryehill Terrace for offers around 175 as well. Good time of year to be looking.

Good thinking 13Iggis!

I would love the view from this one but I think having a lift might bump the factoring fee up quite a bit.

This is nice too, maybe too pricey though.

We looked at a place on Coburg Street in Leith yesterday, but today our solicitor said he doesn't think much of that street because "until a couple of years ago that's where the hookers hung around". A bit of research suggests that it was the site of the prostitution tolerance zone, but that was over a decade ago, and it was then moved over to Salamander Street. So I'm not sure whether to set much store by that opinion. Lots of people I speak to seem to absolutely hate Leith (although interestingly none of them live there) - I've always thought it seemed fine, but I'm starting to lose all confidence in my own judgement.

We looked at a nice place on Parsons Green Terrace near Meadowbank but someone else bought it the day after! Shame, as it has been on the market ages.

We've also seen a couple of flats on The Green in Davidsons Mains. It seems nice round there, so maybe that's a goer?

Duloch's not that bad!!! It's certainly totally different from Edinburgh life but seeing as nearly everyone here has moved from Edinburgh you're at least all in the same boat. If you've got kids and you need more space for not too much money then it's ideal but you do need to pick your spot carefully, there are some really nice bits and some really icky bits. And school catchment is a huge ongoing problem depending on where you live.

Anyway, now that I've got that my chest - OP, what about Slateford or Polwarth?

Don't know those areas really but have spotted a couple of things in Slateford that might be worth a look.

portobello! seriously!

Davidson's Mains is lovely. Polwarth can be very nice too - worth checking out school catchment areas as chunks (or possibly all I can't remember) fall in to V good school (Boroughmuir high)

Frozen did you get some good advice from your solicitor the other day?
Piffpaffpop - I'd be really interested in knowing which are the good/bad areas if you have time for a PM

Well... Sort of. Mainly he told us he didn't like the street! More usefully he said the resale record for newer builds in Leith is poor. This particular flat is being sold by a developer who bought it from the bank - the building was built just before the crash and the original developer couldn't shift them. They were all tenanted for a while but now they've mostly been refitted and sold on so the building is filled with owner occupiers. I think it would suit us very well, and we wouldn't be looking to move for a good while (it is a good size). My main fear is that it was lose a lot of value and we'll have problems remortgaging. This is a general worry I have about everything we've seen, but is a bigger concern for a newer building.