Moving near or in Edinburh

[SarahRose1218]

We are moving over to Scotland from Toronto, Ontario, Canada and need help. We have 2 daughters in secondary/high school and would appreciate recommendations for areas with an easy commute into Edinburgh that are safe and have a good high school. We are also confused on how best to look for a house to purchase. In Toronto we have a central online website that lists every single house for sale but noticed that individual areas in Scotland may have houses that are listed with individual local area agents. Can anyone advise how it works there and recommend any real-estate agent that is able to work with us for multiple areas. Thanks in advance!

Hey!

Lots of East Lothian is lovely and in east commute of Edinburgh. Great high schools in Dunbar, North Berwick, Knox in Haddington etc. And you need ESPC for house searching! Also rightmove and zoopla.

Good luck!

I second Espc. You can search for property by catchment area As pp said, East Lothian is very nice but if you are driving it can be a dark commute in the winter. Linlithgow is on the main rail line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Have a look on the scotsnet topic, lots of advice about schools on there too. Happy house hunting, good luck with your search.

Area of deprivation

This map shows you the richer and poorer areas. It may help you when house hunting.

Rightmove is a good site to use also.

We moved here from abroad and chose somewhere on the train line to Edinburgh. Much better for commuting and for teens. We can get to central Edinburgh faster than if we lived on the edge of the city.

Linlithgow is very nice but expensive. You can get decent schools in cheaper areas too. But generally house prices and school results are (unsurprisingly) strongly correlated.

ESPC and rightmove should cover all the houses.

If you’re concerned about crime then there’s a map for the last 10 years for Edinburgh here saintamh.org/maps/edinburgh-street-crime/index.en.html
There are nice commutable places that are beyond the boundary of the map though.

We went Glasgow side for more flexibility with future commutes for us and the kids. But I would have liked beaches. South queensferry is lovely.

Some areas can be quite “local” and others have plenty of outsiders, which makes them friendlier imo. The key drivers for people moving in from outside tend to be lots of new builds and near a train line.

Check out the local development plan for an area before buying. There are plans for massive expansions of some small towns which might change your plans (either direction)

Ooh @Standrewsschool that’s a fascinating link!

Also check out school catchment areas. Maps are available on each council website. If you want to attend a school out of catchment then you have to make a request.

Wow, thanks everyone! Great links, very helpful information. My husband is looking forward to moving back home and we are excited to make our very favourite annual holiday destination, our permanent home. (Apologies for typo in title)