Tillicoultry/Alva

[Batcurns]

Moving up from SE England to Scotland.

Have found lovely property in Tillicoultry that ticks our boxes. DC would go to Alva Academy.

Any thoughts on either please? Anything we should be aware of before we put in an offer?

Thanks.

Have a look at Kinross and Milnathort. There are some period and new properties there in your budget and the schools are generally good ( my kids went to the High School).
No railway station but very good bus and road links.

Couldn't agree more.

Bridge of Allan always recommended but there are also rougher areas/drug use etc there, catchment school is Wallace high which has come on leaps and bounds but catchment also includes raploch, Cornton, fallin etc.

Don't get me wrong, I grew up in a similar area and there are "good" kids and "bad" kids brought up in all environments.

Show me any school that doesn't have a bullying problem and I'll show a school that is lying about it.

The best indicators of positive outcomes is parental influence and the friends they make.

Can I ask OP - what areas can you move to? You've mentioned Tillicoultry and Alva, plus Dunfermline, but are they the only places you are able to consider? There are lots of other lovely parts of Scotland which people could suggest, but it would be good to know which areas you are limited to, and why.

I'd go for Dunfermline- great bus and train links, great park, peacocks that roam the city 🦚 Plenty to do locally as well as easy access to Edinburgh. I don't live there but I would if it was more practical for me. I agree many places in Scotland do have a mix of nicer and less nice areas but a street of £300,000 homes is unlikely to be in the rougher parts

What about the other side of Stirling - Cambusbarron or gargunnock? Doune? Kinbuck? I wouldn’t live in Clackmannan but purely because I like being in town. Stirling high is catchment for Cambusbarron and gargunnock. There is also Kippen and balfron or callander you could consider so McLaren or Balfron high schools for them.

The thing I like about Stirling is, being in the town but so close to countryside Perth is 45 mins away, same for Glasgow you’re on train lines for edinburgh etc so you have so much choice of things to do/places to go depending what you’re interest are. Kids can go on train to Glasgow for the day whilst you can go to Loch Lomond or whatever. Only thing I miss - as from the north coast originally is the beach and sea being on the doorstep but the fife coast has some lovely beaches Eli etc

Thanks everyone.

Here is the area we're looking at, based on being near to various family members.

Unfortunately we need a detached house as we have 2 barky dogs and would never want to upset a neighbour in a semi.

Oh and we can't get too involved in any houses in the popular places that are Offers Over. As we have a mortgage in principle of 270, plus a 30k deposit, but don't have any more money to offer over.

Moray is lovely but very far from the areas OP mentioned so probably not an option.

Offers only is only an issue in a good market. If the market is slow in the area and/or the house has been on the market a while I would not be offering over the asking price for my initial offer.

You may already be aware but in Scotland the seller gets a survey done so you can see in advance the valuation, any problems and even when the report was prepared letting you know how long a property has been on.

That's really good advice from freetheunicorn1 If you see a house you like that look of, contact the estate agent and ask for the home report - that way you can see what condition the property is in and what is been valued at. That's a better guide to it's likely price.

'Offers over' is normal in Scotland, so don't be put off by that. Look at that home report and how long houses are hanging around for, that will give you a guide as to where to pitch any offer.

One other thing to bear in mind which you probably know, but just in case, is that the weather varies significantly from West to East in Scotland. Rainfall is much higher in the west, and midges can be an issue. We have friends in the western side of your search area, and they have significantly more rain than us, and they have midges whereas we don't, living much further east. We're are sunnier and drier.

Good to know, @LaterHarold thank you- I am very tasty to midges!

We've been getting the home reports (many have them on Rightmove already, those that don't we ask for it). Which I think are great and should definitely be done in England too!

Sauchie has a huge reasonably nee health centre. That’s it nothing much else. I’d hate to live there, out int he sticks and not particularly nice sticks at that. Handy if you have a job in the jail though!

We've lost out on the Tillicoultry house, infuriatingly. Our solicitor had put a note of interest in, and we told the agent we were going to make an offer on Friday, then today we're told the sellers were given an offer yesterday that they've accepted- without even knowing what we were going to offer.

Back to the drawing board!

Offers over is normal in Scotland.

If your budget is 300k you need to be looking at houses advertised at o/o £250-280k. No point looking at o/o £300k.

Amazed by the negativity about Clackmannanshire on this thread. Have name changed, but we are relatively recent incomers to the area and live in one of the two villages mentioned in your title. We absolutely love it. We previously lived in a very affluent suburb of a Scottish city, and would choose where we are now in a heartbeat every time. Amazing scenery, so well connected to the rest of Scotland - can be in both Edinburgh and Glasgow in 45-50 min, was struggling to cross from one side of the city to the other in that time where we were previously. Property is comparatively great value, so much to do locally, friendly welcome from neighbours when we moved. I’ve also heard some really great things about Alva Academy. They have won various awards recently and there seems to be a very committed enthusiastic teaching group.

League tables about as much use as a chocolate teapot IMO unless you’re looking at the very top or the very bottom. Know various parents locally who are pleased with the school and who are aiming high for university admissions in a year or two.

In terms of deprivation indexes, there are going to be pockets of ‘deprivation’ anywhere, but I’ve looked up our street and those surrounding and it’s ridiculously misleading. One of the streets marked in the lowest centile is probably the most affluent in the entire town?! It probably works somewhere like Edinburgh over much wider area, but in places as small as these I’m not sure it can be in any way reliable?!

OP, sorry to hear you lost out on the house. Dunfermline is also a great place to be but please take this as a hearty recommendation if anything else comes up.