Moving solo to Edinburgh: where to live?

[cluckandcollect]

I was born in Scotland but my family moved south when I was young and I'm currently living in the rural outskirts of Bristol. I'm 57 and about to finalise my divorce, at which point I'll be free to move on. I have no children to worry about and I am able to WFH, so there's nothing to hold me back. I have a friend in Edinburgh and visit the city a couple of times a year and I'm excited about the chance to move there for this latter stage of life.

I lived and worked in London for years before moving to the country with my soon-to-be ex. After a decade of rural life I want to live fairly centrally and take advantage of the history, culture, art, theatre and great bars and restaurants of a great city. Ideally I'd like to be within half an hour's walking distance of, say Waverley Station as a central point.

My friend lives in a quiet street off York Place. She's lived there for more than 20 years and the only property I could afford around there would be top-floor — not a great idea, really, as you get older.

I love the buzz of the city centre but I'm not sure I want it all day, every day. I'm also not sure, after Covid, that I want to be potentially trapped in a tenement flat with no access to green space.

I've seen a couple of low-rise late-90s/ early 2000s apartments for sale in the Morningside/ Colinton Road area that look like a compromise. Those areas don't have the city buzz I'm looking for and feel more suburban, but they do have trees and a quieter greenish outlook which will be easier to negotiate as I get older.

Are there other, as yet unexplored, areas that you think might fit the bill? If I were to rent for the first year where would you recommend?

I love morningside, I'd definitely live there if I moved to edinburgh. It's only a short bus ride into the city centre and has enough little shops/cafes/waitrose for day to day living.

It's not really a green area behind the Roseburn flat it's an embankment with cycle/foot path along the disused railway. You can however cut over it from Roseburn and head along Balbirnie place to come out by Haymarket station to avoid the main A8 road.

I grew up in Slateford (chesser end) but a few friends grew up in Shandon and I always fancied living there. But ended up in Corstorphine. I used to regularly walk to and from town from Slateford. It was a good walk.

I'd probably opt for Leith walk way or Bruntsfield if I had no ties.

I'd go for Morningside. It means you have a nice selection of shops, restaurants, bars and a cinema on your doorstep, but it's around a 30 minute walk into town - or much quicker on the bus.
It's a nice gentrified area and if you head the other direction you have access to walks on your doorstep with the Hermitage, and there is a bit of a community feel about the place.

Sorry one thing to be aware of for Bruntsfield/Morningside is that there may be a lot of student flats if you're living in a tenement flat.

Lived in the city centre for a fair while when it was more residential. I would worry about AirBnB and students in a communal stair, as getting it managed properly would be a challenge. Not to mention noise. One of the things I loved about Edinburgh was that you could live centrally and walk but I'd be very wary now and I'd definitely rent first.

Have a look at Merchiston and Polwarth as you might find some nice little flats in converted big houses in a five minute walk up to holy corner (the bit where bruntsfield meets morningside). You'd get Ian Rankin as a neighbour :)

Personally, I don't think the Council manage the city for the benefit of residents, more driven by the needs of tourists. That said, I could retire there but not up loads of steps!

This needs work but it's a REALLY nice street espc.com/property/11-2-polwarth-terrace-edinburgh-eh11-1ng/35908911?sid=121138

And this one - odd looking but a lovely area espc.com/property/26b-1-polwarth-terrace-edinburgh-eh11-1na/35864052?sid=231279

Found this just an eight-minute walk from where my friend lives:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77269380#/media?id=media2

and thought yes, that would be great and would give me a study and a spare room. But it's on a big roundabout. Imagine a summer like last year's, with the doors to your balcony open and traffic all slowing down and speeding up and gears crunching and people blasting music. Great for a weekend or even a week's city holiday but not what you want every day.

Thanks, museumum, the second one in particular has a good feel. Not sure I could get excited about the first, but someone will. As you say, a lovely street and a very solid and respectable feel to the place.

It might be worth talking to a solicitor just to get an idea if flats are currently also selling for 20% over home report. It might be that actually it's the opposite to houses with gardens.

My mother moved to Edinburgh at your age, also after divorce. She lived in Bruntsfield and it was perfect for her.

Dean village always looks great but not sure how 'older' friendly the properties themselves would be. There's also some great converted buildings dotted around - I saw one just off Leith walk which looked amazing.

@december212 Dean Village isn't great given the OPs dodgy achilles situation. It's at the bottom of a steep hill whichever way you go in / out! It's also full of tourists.
@cluckandcollect why are you looking at properties that are way over your budget? If your max is £375 then offers over £410 isn't going to work! It's not like England where you might get away with a cheeky offer under the asking price. Unless it's advertised at fixed price you can expect to pay at least the valuation price (which is usually more than the offers over price). Request the home reports to find out the valuation price.

Fettes Row is about to lose light as a great big contested block goes up opposite I think.

Yep, really understand how the bidding works. You need a solicitor from the off as offers are in writing and usually properties go to a closing date.

Thanks for the post, as it meant me and DH had a nice chat over tea about where we would live.

Maybe Portobello?

My friend lives in Portobello and loves it

emmathedilemma, I can push up to £430-ish if an absolutely amazing property came up. I'm still at the exploratory stage. My divorce isn't yet finalised, so it'll be a few months before I can sell this house. At the moment it's a case of exploring, looking at possibilities I wasn't aware of and so on. Thanks for all the advice. I'd never have looked at Merchiston or some of the other places without encouragement.

I don't know what's happening with the market. Obviously I'll take professional advice once I'm ready to proceed. I'm thinking at the moment that it would be well worth renting somewhere for at least six months and exploring the different areas before deciding. Thanks, everyone.

I don't think anyone really knows what's happening with the market. I've been keeping a close eye on 2-3 bedroom flats and houses in a similar price bracket to what you're looking in and over the summer houses were flying off the shelves - if you filtered on "added within the last 7 days" on espc website some would already be under offer. Bids were also through the roof on houses, some people must have a lot of spare cash behind them the amount they were going over the valuation prices in popular areas!
Flats seem to be staying on the market for longer than houses but I think that's as mentioned previously due to airbnb properties coming up for sale and people moving to houses to have outdoor space / accommodate working from home. That said, some of my neighbours have recently sold a flat and moved in a matter of weeks.
It's typically a quiet time of year for the property market without lockdown so I would keep an eye on it until the spring and see what takes your fancy.

@cluckandcollect

Found this just an eight-minute walk from where my friend lives:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77269380#/media?id=media2

and thought yes, that would be great and would give me a study and a spare room. But it's on a big roundabout. Imagine a summer like last year's, with the doors to your balcony open and traffic all slowing down and speeding up and gears crunching and people blasting music. Great for a weekend or even a week's city holiday but not what you want every day.

That's not a particularly busy road iirc. But of course, you're not going to get perfect peace in the city centre - that's what you're going to have to think through.

[quote Getoutofbed25]This would be lovely. Just along from Haymarket Station
espc.com/property/b24-the-playfair-at-donaldsons-edinburgh-eh12-5fa/35910624?sid=369880[/quote]
This development is mental. There are two bed flats there on for a million pounds and everything is tiny.

If you are going to rent initially, it's worth knowing that there is no minimum period for a rental contract in Scotland now. So you can move in somewhere and move out as soon as you need to, as long as you give the appropriate notice (usually a month). So no need to worry about having to rent for a set period before you can buy.

@cluckandcollect

Found this just an eight-minute walk from where my friend lives:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77269380#/media?id=media2

and thought yes, that would be great and would give me a study and a spare room. But it's on a big roundabout. Imagine a summer like last year's, with the doors to your balcony open and traffic all slowing down and speeding up and gears crunching and people blasting music. Great for a weekend or even a week's city holiday but not what you want every day.

Give it ten years and everyone has electric cars and you’ll be laughing.

Shandon is brilliant. Loads of buses and only a mile away from the west end. Lovely community, leafy and green, you feel like you are walking back to the country as you walk along the canal yet in ten minutes walk you are at the city centre. Ten mins walk, 15 if slow to Bruntsfield and Morningside too.
Cheaper than Stockbridge too.