Moving to Edinburgh - can I pick your brains on areas?

[CheeseAndBacon]

I know this has been done to death so I'm sorry for starting another thread about it, but I'd appreciate your wisdom.

At the moment we live in the southeast of England but unfortunately dh and I are both being made redundant. So we've been thinking of trying to turn this into a positive and making a big move. We both love Edinburgh so we are seriously considering relocating there.

We have a dd who is a year old, and a budget of about £600k. I think we'd like a 3-bed flat with its own garden within walking distance of coffee shops, playgroups, and the city centre if at all possible. At the moment, the obvious choice seems to be Stockbridge, but I'm sure there are other areas which would fit the bill too. Thanks in advance!

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/cost-timeline-for-buying-a-property-in-scotland

Re Portobello/Joppa, they're on the other side of the city from the airport, but the ring road is close and pretty good outside rush hours.

First, moving to Edinburgh is a great idea! (Especially as you have the budget for a good flat/house. For many, cost is the only downside.) Second, if you think it may be a long-term move, and aren't considering private school (or even if you are), then I'd seriously recommend the catchment areas for the two excellent secondaries in South Edinburgh: Boroughmuir (Bruntsfield, Morningside as far south as Buckstone, & Polwarth) or James Gillespies (Marchmont, Sciennes, & the Grange). On your budget, you could easily get one of the nicer, spacious ground-floor or split-level flats within short walking distance of loads of nice cafes, restaurants, bars, cinemas, parks, nurseries, etc. Even walking to Princes St is only about 20 mins from Bruntsfield/Marchmont. It's very family-friendly and feels safe to walk around at night. Having plugged South Edinburgh, I'd second the people pointing out that Portobello is really nice. Stockbridge is beautiful, but seems better for folk without kids to me.

Agree that it's a myth about pulling out of a sale. And there are no penalties for withdrawing. I've done it twice.

OP - I would just advise to get in there very early when buying and try and make an offer before a closing date is set. It would have to be a good offer but beats the heartbreak of missing out nu a few quid at what is effectively an auction. The English system of buying property is greatly superior and less stressful.

Yes, buying in Edinburgh has to be the biggest nightmare going. It's great for sellers but a real headache for buyers. I agree with duck .. get in quick before it goes to a closing date if you can. We bid on a modest house recently that went £70,000 over the asking price, and that is not unusual.

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty nervous about trying to negotiate the Scottish system.

Get a good solicitor, OP, and they'll guide you through it all. The ESPC has an online search facility for solicitors, or you can contact them directly to talk through your requirements and they'll point you in the right direction.

If you can be persuaded to look at the east side of the city, Portobello is a fantastic place to bring up children, with good schools, a lovely community feel, loads of activities, and of course the wonderful sandy beach. It's not walking distance from the city centre but there are plenty of buses, and you'd get more for your money - you'd easily be able to get a house with a garden on your budget.

I've lived in the East of Edinburgh since I was a baby.
I love it.
The Portobello/Joppa area has revitalised in recent years with child friendly cafes and bistros opening along the Prom and the High Street.
The schools are popular, in fact they've recently redrawn the catchment areas as there was such a high demand.
Secondary school is a new build just opened this school year.

As for travel to the airport. Out with rush hour its easy. Car onto bypass , turn at Gogar roundabout, into airport and car parks.
Or, as we recently did going on holiday, the 26 bus from the main road in Joppa/Portobello up to York Place. Cross the road. Tram straight into airport. Theres also an airport bus from Waverley Bridge.

Thanks - I didn't realise how easy it would be to get to the airport from the east of the city. I think I'm too used to London!

Airport is easy.....as long as it's not rush hour.

Or the highland show!!!

Yes, parking is limited with tenement flats, but depending where you work you may not need a car. Since moving to Morningside I've sold mine, got a ridacard (all bus and tram travel included for £54 per 4 weeks) and joined the car club. I use car club for the odd journey that would be a pain by public transport.

But closing dates are not set until the seller's solicitor has received enough 'notes of interest', surely? No point setting a closing date if there hasn't been any interest.

ESPC (Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre) on George Street are very helpful and will tell you everything you need to know. Their website also details the buying and selling process in Scotland - espc.com

Closing dates are only set when you have more than one note of interest.

Aren't they also proposing to completely redo sheriffhall? Whilst it will make it better in the long run it would put me off Portobello in the shorter term if I needed to get to the airport regularly as I suspect that it will have some horrendous delays.

Francis Crawford - the buyer has nothing to lose by putting in a good offer straight away as soon as yet can. At best, you get to buy the house without having 10 other offers on the table. I bought twice like this. The worst that can happen is you have to wait for 100 other people to see it and an eventual closing date. Also have to disagree with you on the Scottish system offering security! It does nothing of the sort. Conclusion of missives is the same as exchange of contracts in England, basically. All three houses I have bought in Scotland, the missives have been concluded with a week to move in day. Up to which point either party could back out.

You are probably sorted now but thought i would share our experience - We have a DC in school so a slightly different situation but we moved earlier this year from the South East and also had a budget of £600 - 650 though we rented initially.

We needed a school that had a mid term entry place and our preferred area - around Sciennes School - was eliminated due to no school places. Marchmont rentals all very studenty, and Morningside, whilst lovely, felt much further out of the city than we wanted to be - at least the houses that would fit into our budget!

We found a great rental in Stockbridge, a school that had a place and that we really liked and decided not to stress about secondary school as DC 1 is only 5. We loved it and thought we would be buying a flat with a garden as you describe but we have actually gone for a house in Inverleith - only about a 10 min walk from Stockbridge and still only 30 mins walk to work. We completely loved the rental flat, totally gorgeous, so much more than we could have afforded in the SE but we found that the basement flats with gardens were darker and felt 'underground' in many cases, and they were much more expensive than bigger, light, better condition double uppers because of the garden. Also, as mentioned above, on street parking with two little ones is actually a faff, especially when we had to park on the next street and carry all the beach stuff / shopping / bikes of whatever back to the house whilst shouting at a two year old not to run in the road!

A vote for Morningside or Stockbridge.

But check school catchment areas and in particular, the inspection reports for the schools. There are some areas which feed to better school than others even in the same sort of neighbourhood.