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.

Livingston is... a weird place tbh, I’m a couple of miles away, it’s literally just housing estates and shopping centres. Also because it’s a bit mixed the schools are also not always great compared to nearby ones.

Pretty much any of the small towns/villages nearby are more normal.

West Calder, Uphall station and Bathgate both have stations with trains running between Edinburgh and Glasgow and are much more normal towns with a variety of housing etc.

Kirknewton is small, but very pretty, close enough to the park and ride and west side of Edinburgh to drive partway in as well, also has a station with trains to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

If I was in your position though, I’d buy somewhere in Edinburgh that’s maybe smaller than you’re thinking longterm, but suits just the two of you and move further out in a few years when you know the area better, you’d more than likely have more to spend then as well as Edinburgh prices rise quicker than outside it.

Id go to Stirling I think

If you're moving to the central belt make sure that you have good access to a train station - the M8 (the motorway which links Edinburgh and Glasgow) is a bloody nightmare in rush hour and so being able to walk or drive to a train station is a must. Livingston is fine, it's a new town and has some really nice houses in Murieston and Bellsquarry (one of my friends lives in BQ so I'm often there). Linlithgow is nice but you won't get much for your money in comparison.

Motherwell/Carfin is not somewhere I'd actively want to move to. If you can switch offices to Edinburgh then what about looking somewhere like N Berwick, Haddington, Dunbar etc down the east coast?

At your ages I wouldn't live in the areas you're suggesting - I have friends in Livingston who all rate it highly but they moved there after they had kids so they want different things in life. I live in a suburb outside Edinburgh - I love it but again, because I have kids. Not sure I'd choose to live here if I didn't. Stirling is a good suggestion. My university town and it's a lovely vibrant city with train links to Edin and Glasgow. Maybe rent a flat there and get a feel for the place.

Houses are less common in Scotland? Really?? I owned a tenement for years and while I loved it, I sold it and moved to a house in the suburbs when I had kids. Which is what a lot of people do. Cities in Scotland that I'm aware of sprawl for miles with houses (have you seen the SE wedge of Edinburgh recently?).

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

Eh?!! I completely missed that gem! Tenement living isn't very much envied up here - and houses aren't less common in Scotland than the rUK

Not a chance in North Berwick. Have you seen the price of property there?

At OP budget Haddington seems optimistic

I totally missed the post about the £240K budget - my apologies. That's going to narrow things down quite a bit.

I'm not going to join in with the Livvi hate even though it's not for me, but you need to address your expectations. Any five bed house in the central belt Scotland for £240k or under is not going to be in an area you want to live in. That's madness. Yes, it's much cheaper than London but I'd go as far as to say what you want is crazy talk. I sold a tiny two bed in Livingstone for 125k ten or so years ago, and it was by no means fancy, roomy or in a particularly good area.

£240k, and wanting a library room narrows things A LOT.

Honestly, it's a bizarre set of priorities - just put bookshelves in your living room and live somewhere nicer. Enormous houses don't make people happy, but locations / communities do.

Either you need to spend more (which you can afford to do), or dial down your expectations of the house. E.g. You only need 3 bedrooms to meet the needs you've talked about - 1 master bedroom, 1 study, and 1 for guests, which can have a desk in the corner so it's also usable as a study. That will be sufficient for you both to WFH and to have a room for guests.

Sorry I missed the 5 bedroom requirement too!

agree that along with the library seems odd for a young professional couple!

why would you want to live in a terrible location in order to prioritise bedrooms you have no intention of using?!?
weird

@SirChenjins you clearly don't live in central glasgow or central edinburgh

1. Tenements are very desirable
2. Houses in the city are like hens teeth (unless you're loaded. - as I said, but you didn't quote that bit.

Of course with those who aspire to the suburbs a house is more desirable.

Correcting a misconception from my post. I was referring to city centre living.

Of course there are plenty houses in the suburbs. Personally that's a 🤮 from me.

Give me a fabulous city/west end conversion/red sandstone any day of the week.

This is fabulous as an example. Out of my price range unfortunately:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127990505
Or this is nice

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126371432

Looks beautiful. And Baltic. Those high ceilings alongside bricked up chimneys may not be desirable in the years to come.

mind you. Wtf do I know? I live in a tent beyond the ‘burbs. 😂

OP - your earning potential is huge. Don’t leap into buying something completely in the wrong area just because you’re desperate. Hold fire and get to know the areas/save more/assess your priorities. I am btw, someone surprised that 2 actuaries see interest rate levels returning to sustained historical lows…

Awful suggestion for Haddington and NB as the budget won't stretch that far...

Neither. Try and live near a good commuting train station in either Glasgow or Edinburgh. Glasgow will be cheaper but you might find something Dalry way, near Haymarket, in Edinburgh.

Bridge if Allen or Dunblane spring to my mind!

No, I moved from a tenement in Edinburgh to the inner suburbs of Edinburgh when we had the DC. There’s nothing that would attract me (or any of my peers)back to centre of Edinburgh, we have different priorities now. Tenements are only hugely desirable if you desire flat living.

Not 5 bedrooms and a library for £240k they won’t!

Hahah ok no I had missed that requirement…!

Truth.

There are nice areas in Motherwell but plenty of not so nice areas. The nice areas will probably be out of budget. It is very handy though for both Glasgow and Edinburgh on the train.

Personally you would honestly be better to possibly rent somewhere for 6-12 months and get a feel for an area and go visiting a few more.

To be honest though for £240k you will not get the house you want in a desirable area.

OP - You say you've moved up recently, where are you renting now? Do you like where you are? If not, what would you change?

I think if you're moving from London, it can be easy to get caught up in the myth that enormous houses can be easily bought cheap in the north/Scotland. But the reality is that if you want a big house in a desirable area (community stuff, good schools, independent shops/bakeries etc), nowhere is that cheap. Compromises always need to be made.

@Raininghard thats right turns out there are some industrial works planned in the area which is what killed the motherwell idea.
@Hooverphobe we have mentioned multiple times we dont expect rates to go lower for the foreseeable future or the economy to bounce back.And yes currently we do feel 2007 vibes from history books however we were too young to experience it first hand.Look of course if everything is fine we can upsize easily if everything is not so fine we retain a lot of fire power to do something interesting down the line with this budget we are not worried about negative equity at all. Not to mention if we have kids the lower cost burden is easier on my partner as well.

@beachcitygirl while we admire your passion for tenement living and loved seeing those high end flats. We really do not want to go back to flats i think we have just outgrown it.

We have booked multiple viewings for this week in livingston,stirling area that either have 4 beds or 3 beds but can be extended(garage,loft,coservatory,etc) all within budget.
We are looking in Falkirk and have booked some veiwings.
Somebody mentioned Shotts thanks for the suggestion looks quite interesting.
Some one linked a mansion in galsheils looks really cool have to check it out.

Again we are just not fans of living in the city partner has lived in Edinburgh and spent some time in Glasgow and obviously we have lived in London and other major cities, currently living in falkirk for the past 2-3 months and cant believe we did not move out of the city quicker.
@TomTraubertsBlues great question we live in a large 2 bed flat everything is fine except we want more space and find the neighbors quite annoying unfortunately their drug problem makes the place smell.