Places to live in Glasgow- don’t drive

[MeerKitty]

Hi all,

I’m looking for ideas for areas to live in Glasgow.

Our top budget for a 3 bedroom house/ flat is £140 000. A garden is not in our “must haves”.

We would like to live somewhere which has amenities ( shops, parks, cafes etc) that we could reach on foot, and has public transport links to the City Center.

We are not keen on sprawling housing estates ( so East Kilbride is out) and would like somewhere with a community feel.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

Helensburgh would be a bit too far out of Glasgow for us.

Barrhead looks alright and is reasonably priced. The Main Street doesn’t look to have a lot of character, but there is a supermarket! Are there any no go areas, or is it quite a nice place?

SSD- with the Deanstoun Drive flat, do you think that people will offer more than 5k over because of the good location? ( I’m a first time buyer and not from Scotland, haven’t got my head around how to predict what ‘offers over’ would reasonably be)

I’ve actually been to East Kilbride a few times before - partner has an auntie who lives there. Where she lives is nice, but would be too cut off for us. In the past, she has collected us by car from the train station.

I’m not too taken by the town center there, and get the impression that the areas near the center are affordable, but not very nice. I could be wrong there though? The center does have more on offer than I can see in Barrhead on street-view.

Lilliths- Rutherglen sounds great! Perfect for what we are looking for. Thanks for all the detail

Some parts of Shettleston, Sandyhills and Garrowhill are lovely, and you should get a 3 bed for that with little or no issues. Not too far from city centre either.

Pollokshields East also sounds great- thankyou Pretty Bird

Thanks adsy- I’ll have a look there. That’s areas in the East, isn’t it? I’ve still to investigate Dennistoun too.

Yeah MeerKitty, it does have a rotten rep at times but you get a lot for your money and some hidden gems. Our house would have cost 3 times what it cost us anywhere else, but it is the quietest street I have ever lived in with amazing neighbours (Shettleston).

I'm not sure how "hot" the Glasgow market us at the moment so not sure how much over the asking price you'd need to go. The plus point is (from your perspective ) is that it's not a Victorian tenement. The minus is its location. Your solicitor may be able to advise as to how much over houses in the vicinity are going for.

If it goes to closing, then you need to make an assessment as to how much a) you think it's worth, based on the Home Buyer's Report and/or your own survey and b) how much it is worth to you - which is not necessarily the same thing . It's also worth, if it goes to closing, putting in an "odd" number: when we bid on our house, it was something like £136,211 I think it was on the market for offers over £128k but I honestly can't remember as it was so long ago. (and yes, it was a steal even 20 years ago when we bought it, with a large garden, 2 reception rooms and 4 bedrooms )

The other thing we used to do when looking at flats/houses was ask the vendor how much they were looking for. Ok, you take what they are saying with a pinch of salt, but it gives you a feel about whether they are being realistic or not.

Do you have children ? I’m wondering why you need a 3 bed ( kids or home worker ? ) but don’t mention schools / nursery / childcare / park etc.

And where will you both be working ?

Do you not drive and never plan to ? Or just that you have no car right now.

I used to live in Burnside, it's an area of Rutherglen with it's own lovely wee main st, a Tesco lots of nice individual shops, restaurants and cafes. It also has its own train station into town and you can get busses every ten minutes into town or East Kilbride (good shops) it's about a 15 minute walk down to Rutherglen Main St too.

Lots of lovely flats in budget but you'd struggle to get a house

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E94004&insId=1&maxPrice=140000&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying

Thanks for the tips prettybird.

ImNotNigel, that’s a lot of questions but I’m happy to satisfy your curiosity.

I don’t drive and will never drive (health reasons). My parter does drive but hasn’t bought a car over here yet.

We currently rent in the North West travel to work in Central Glasgow by train. We only really know the West End and where we live just now- we can’t afford to buy in the west end, and don’t like where we live just now. Hence looking for suggestions for areas.

We haven’t started a family yet, but all going well, we would like to have 2 children. Ideally we want a 3 bed to move straight into, with a guest room for our parents and siblings when they visit.

As I said earlier - though not ideal, a 2 bed could do for a couple of years, but then we would outgrow it.

I have asked about parks. I need practical things like shops nearby, but I’m also taking opportunities for hobbies and leisure activities into account.

I don’t envisage a difficulty in finding Childcare in the future- there seem to be childminders and nurseries throughout all areas of Glasgow. Will make decisions based on what is available at the time.

As for schools- I am of the opinion that it is really a child’s home life and parents influence that has the most influence over success at school. Their teacher changes each year. Saying that, their can be factors outside a parents control, like additional support needs etc.

Also, in 5/6 years, who is to say how ‘good’ a school will be. If our local primary school really is awful, then we could move.

I also think that, when it comes to school catchments, it could be a question of the chicken and the egg.

The demographics of catchment areas have a huge influence how schools rank. I’ve heard middle class people talking about East Ren this and East Ren that. Moving there for the schools. Are the schools good, or the children’s background good?!

I’m possibly the only person on mumsnet who has ever said this, but when it comes to schools,we will cross that bridge when we come to it

^ Excuse the typos and the long post. Didn’t realise I had such a long story to tell!

You're not the only person on MN who has said that: I know of at least two others (as well as me) who've said it

I'm frequently on here defending Glasgow (and other) schools because people think they "need" to move out to East Ren or East Dunbartonshire because the city schools are supposedly "not as good" on the league tables, yet I know from personal experience (not just my own ds but also others via the sports club I'm invest with) that their/my kids' schools turn out well-rounded young people who have a good grounding for life after school (both academically and otherwise) and don't have a high drop out rate at Uni

I'm a product of an East Dunbartonshire school who did brilliantly in her Highers (albeit a loooooong time ago ) but would still argue that my school wasn't as good a school as the school my mum taught at (Clydebank High - she taught Marti Pellow and was apparently his favourite teacher ) where the pupils weren't just exam fodder on a conveyor belt to Uni (as I was). My school just ignored the less able

But there again, my dad was accused by his fellow medics of "sacrificing his children's education on the altar of his political principles" by sending us to the local state schools - Bearsden Primary and Bearsden Academy So it's all relative

It is nonetheless a fact that lots of people do move to East Dunbartonshire /East Renfrewshire and it works brilliantly for them
To me it is the safest option
Would mine have done as well in Glasgow schools
Who knows
Who cares!

It's no coincidence that the best ranked schools are in the wealthiest areas ! I think home life plays a bigger part than the school itself and I say that as a high school teacher - children from middle class backgrounds where their parents are educated will be encouraged and going to uni expected of them more than in poorer areas (generally, this isn't always the case)

Personally I find East Ren soulless and boring I wouldn't live there. Also OP you say you don't like sprawling housing estates - that is what Newton Mearns is !

This flat looks excellent value www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62006928.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62033772.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60968619.html - camphill Avenue is great.

I recently moved to knightswood and I love it! 5 mins from the train station into the city and we regularly walk into the west end and town along the canal. There's lots of parks and it's got a lovely leafy feel.our 3 bed semi was 165k but you'll definitely be able to get a terraced or smaller house for less.
Good luck with your search!

V jealous @Hannah4Banana, I can't wait to live there, just hope a suitable place comes up quickly.

I live in Dennistoun and love it. Nice park, railway stations, good bus route and local amenities / shops with community feel.

Hi, sorry I think I might be a bit late in answering your question. The main reason I left Shawlands was because I was finding maintaining my old tenement flat very expensive. I did think the area was going downhill at the time but it was probably because I had got to the stage in my life where I needed somewhere quieter. There are loads of benefits to living in Shawlands.

A very long time ago I lived in Scotstoun right next to Yoker. The buses were excellent to city centre, Byers Road, Clydebank. I did have a car when living there but often used the buses.

My flat in Shawlands went for £15k over asking price but was a while ago. Estate agent would be able to advise you

I was going to say Rutherglen as have lived there before and it is a relatively safe, nice place. Transport is really handy for the city too. Train on the mainstreet and 2 or 3 busses that go into the city. Would totally recommend.

But avoid govanhill, it's pretty rough.

It’s pretty safe to say that anything offers over 135k will go for a lot more than 140k. If you ask an EA for the home report then it will have a market valuation for the property. They can often go for slightly more, if the property is in an in demand area.

Definitely avoid Govanhill, it’s really rough.
I would say avoid Yoker too. There is a part of it, a new build estate called the Bulldale, which is nice enough but you really need a car as the surrounding area is a bit dodgy.

Knightswood is definitely worth considering.

I'd give Govanhill a miss, Rutherglen is a classed as a quiet safe area to live.

Rutherglen or Cambuslang are good options, also King's Park/Croftfoot area , Spittal can be OK too. I would definitely avoid Govanhill, although there are nice bits near Queen's Park. Pollokshields, Strathbungo, Shawlands, Mount Florida, Langside, Battlefield are good, but I think most places are quite expensive there now.

I don't know much about East Dunbartonshire, but if you want to move to East Ren, Busby is still affordable for your budget (if you look for a 2 bed house/flat, a 3 bed house would cost more than 140k) and it's got good links to the city centre (20-odd minutes by train to Central Station, 40 minutes by bus to George Square). Quiet area, nice community feel, the schools have been already mentioned.

@prettybird I have a feeling I might know you...