Advice on where to live and buy house in scotland

[beatrix93]

Hello all, Me and my partner are both first time buyers in our mid 20s and are trying to get our first house currently we have a deadlock between a large house in Livingston and a new build townhouse in Carfin/Motherwell any advice would be appreciated. I work in Glasgow whilst he works in Edinburgh however I can switch offices to edinburgh very easily. We only need to go to the office 2 days a week so I dont think 1 hour commutes will be a big deal , my partner loves reading on the train anyway.

We have both moved here from london very recently so dont know a lot about all the areas

The houses themselves are similarly shaped 1200-1350 sqft. We would like to start a family at some point so any information about schools would be appreciated.

This is in a gorgeous street in Glasgow's west end, close to a great school, train station, loads of bars & restaurants, nice park & Sainsbury's supermarket & M&S two mins away.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123758822

thank you @beachcitygirl its a gorgeous house however its a bit too small for us.

thanks for your advice @fedstool financial resilience does come at a cost the upshot is of course if base rates hit 6-8% we can still be very comfortable. Capitalization rates in the bigger cities are more elevated than normal and so are GRVs we dont want to take risk now but we can take the risk later when others cant.

That would be over budget. It will probably go for about 260- 265. Due to the offers over system.

we have a lot to think about thanks to all the wonderful advice

Linlithgow and around there might be worth a look too. By the by, there is no 'feu hold' in Scotland. Everything is freehold.

Op it’s not the old ravens Craig site in Motherwell is it? If it is I’d avoid like the plague, huge contamination there still.

I moved from Edinburgh to Bathgate when my dc's were little. We got a much bigger house for our money. It's not bad here, we're pretty much in the middle between Glasgow and Edinburgh and are a stones throw away from the M8 and Bathgate train station. We have Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl in the town not to mention 2 x Costa, McDonalds and Starbucks has just opened. It's a short drive to the shopping centres in Livingston as well and there are plenty of primary schools around. We have Bathgate Academy in the town but some of the kids go the short journey to Blackburn to St Kentigerns academy (where Lewis Capaldi went to school) I love it here as do my kids :-)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127074131?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

It feels like you are looking for the worst of both worlds. The whole point of wfh is that you can live somewhere you love, rather than a dull commuter town.
If it easy for you to switch to the Edinburgh office, then just do that. Keeps things simpler. You could even work in your work offices which then removes the need for all these home offices. That said, if you have your heart set on a big place then how about this? Over budget but has income potential...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128607590#/?channel=RES_BUY

This is lovely. Needs a fair bit of work but has a beautiful stone built "shed" you could put the library in. Lovely countryside, Stirling's quite close and you can commute to Glasgow and Edinburgh from Dunblane.

@beatrix93 Shotts is a good midway point for both Glasgow & Edinburgh.
DH & I moved to Shotts a few years ago as I was commuting to Glasgow & he worked in Edinburgh.
You've got the M8 right there & also a direct train from Edinburgh to Glasgow that stops in Shotts.
House prices are also very affordable.
It's a small town/village but if you drive, there's plenty around that's only a 20 minute drive away.
People rag on Shotts a lot but as someone who has lived both Edinburgh & Glasgow - I love it. I literally can't fault it at all.

Yes, I agree with this.

It's a false economy - pay more to get the house you want,

And you are both actuaries? You can do better than Motherwell.

Think about somewhere on the edi/glw Queen st route, like Lenzie which is nicer (but more expensive) than Livingston or motherwell.

Thing is, moving to a location that isn't right will mena you move again relatively soon. You will end up paying moving costs and stamp duty twice.

Being in a good location will make a bigger difference to uiur happiness than having a library room/bigger house, I swear! Been there, done that.

financial resilience does come at a cost the upshot is of course if base rates hit 6-8% we can still be very comfortable

why not just get a long fix & overpay though?
Personally in this economic climate I would want as few house moves as possible as it's expensive to move & it's likely price stagnation will mean yrs to build decent equity, plus location matters when the market is declining.

I understand the sentiment of being cautious as I said I myself am however if rates hit 8% it will be catastrophic & the fallout would be huge.

we dont want to take risk now but we can take the risk later when others cant

I wouldn't say that is guaranteed tbh.

You know many people prefer "soulless " housing estates with easy access to everyday things , solid insulation

Community comes form the people not the houses and people who can only afford to live in such soulless estates are just as good at community as people in nice houses in nice areas

Many people prefer not to overextend on house costs and have to pay a fortun in upkeep

Certain amount of snobbery "I wouldn't live on an estate like the hoi poli"

Motherwell wouldn't be my choice though

plus location matters when the market is declining

I ended up having to sell my 'poor location' house in 2009. It wasn't a fun experience.

And if you are planning dc position yourself now for primary school options.

You should also be aware that tenement living (or a flat) is very very common and much envied in scotland. A gorgeous red sandstone tenement is lush. Houses are less common. In glasgow a flat can go for over a million. It doesn't have the same cachet in the big cities of scotland to have a "house" as it seems to in other areas.
Quite the opposite actually, unless you're properly loaded 'houses' will be on soul less estates or ex local authority housing schemes.

I would strongly discourage these & suggest a fabulous tenement in glasgow or edi

beachcitygirl this isn't necessarily true, while a nice large flat in a decent area in a city is more desirable than a small ex council house in an estate on the edge of the city, in the towns houses are generally more desirable than flats, with a few exceptions, for exactly the reasons you describe.
I do agree that a lovely flat in a city is probably a better bet to start with than a house in the suburbs or a town, having done exactly that myself in order to get a feel for the area. Like OP I would not have lived in a city flat long term though, I wanted more space and a proper garden where I could have pets, and a family.

OP you could rent for a while to see where you'd like to settle. Be realistic about what you can afford on your budget, as others have said, remember the offers over system in Scotland. You won't be getting a 4 bed detached in Livingston for the money you want to spend. If you can stretch it then do so.
There can be a lot of snobbery about them (usually from people trying to justify their own choices), but new build style estates are a great choice for those with, or planning kids. Most people in the area will be at a similar stage of life giving you a great support network and making it easy to make new friends, and it's great for the kids too when they get older as all their friends live close by.

Tenements also bring a whole set of other problems, most notably in relation to the age of the buildings and factors, but also importantly, noise from other residents.

Be aware of the offers over system. If a property is fixed price, that's the price. If offers over then look at the home report value. In some markets you may also have to go over that home report value too - 10% in some places, 20% in others.

That means on your £240k budget you may need to look at houses on for that fixed price or offers over £200-£220k max.

In your shoes, Falkirk might be fine, or Linlithgow if you want smaller towns. Stirling too, but be aware of school catchment areas.

If you are looking for 2 beds plus 2 offices then that's probably 4 beds. You will struggle to get something like that for £240k in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.

Falkirk, as you are right on the E2G mainline at Falkirk High. Lots of trains to either Glasgow or Edinburgh.