moving to edinburgh in october?

dingdangdoo22

hey,

im looking to move over to edinburgh in october and wondered if this is an ok month to do so? e.g festivals on busy/quiet month?
for anyone living there atm would you recommend edinburgh as a place to settle down? i did search through previous threads and found some useful info but also wanted to create a new one. so what are the pros and cons to living in edinburgh?:) guessing gumtree is best for accom as it takes the auctioneers out of the equation and may be less expensive. Also guessing october is a fairly rainy/windy month there?

Thanks

jimmii

It's a great place to live but is obviously one of the more expensive places to live in the UK. October is as good a month as any to move you've missed all the bigger festivals so it's easier to get around. Every month is wet and windy! October is the rainiest month of the year but Edinburgh gets a lot less rain than New York and you don't hear people talk about how much it rains there so much so it's not that rainy the wind though brrrr the wind!

In Scotland agents aren't allowed to charge tenants fees so you don't pay those stupid admin fees that are out of control in some areas.

dingdangdoo22

yeah, no more expensive than dublin though? and prob nowhere near london!
hopefully when i get over there in oct it wont be as hard to find a house/flat compared to nothing being available in dublin.

any idea is the i.t market busy over there in edinburgh?

while i think of it does anyone know any GOOD recruitment agencies there for i.t roles?

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

yeah, no more expensive than dublin though? and prob nowhere near london!
hopefully when i get over there in oct it wont be as hard to find a house/flat compared to nothing being available in dublin.

any idea is the i.t market busy over there in edinburgh?

while i think of it does anyone know any GOOD recruitment agencies there for i.t roles?

Definitely not on the London scale but you can certainly live a more expensive lifestyle in Edinburgh than Dublin if you wish but its a lot easier to live cheaper here too. There's plenty of old money swilling round here and lots of the big financials have HQs there's a whole load of high end places for them to go spending!

There's so many tech companies here I am sure there are plenty of jobs floating around if you like games Rockstar North and FanDuel could be fun places to work FanDuel especially looks like a good place to work. You hear about Dundee having a tech boom right now might be worth considering there too possibly obviously a good bit smaller than Edinburgh but I know someone who lives there and says its good. Can't help on agencies I haven't had a proper job in years!

dingdangdoo22

thanks jimmii, one more quick one :-) in terms of geting a mortgage there. 2 people earning approx 30-40k do you think there would be a chance of geting on the first time buyers market over there? how long would we need to be saving with a bank over there to get approval? obviously this is way off but we are both thinking long term when we make the move and want to make a real go of it. is there a best bank to setup with for when we arrive?

jimmii

We were lucky enough to not need a mortgage so not really sure what it's like. Going by the adverts banks are desperate for mortgage customers and Edinburgh is very much a safe haven so probably a bit easier. I would have thought with that sort of income it wouldn't be a bother getting a mortgage once you've been here a while. You can even get 100% mortgages here now so you don't even need a deposit guessing the terms on that are pretty tight though.

I bank with clydesdale and Natwest and would recommend both. It was Natwest that dealt with the funds when we bought our place and it was super efficient.

prinzeugen

You may want to consider Fife also (Dunfermline/ Inverkeithing/Dalgety Bay area). Lots of quality, cheap places but its a 30min train trip and up to a hour by car from Edinburgh.

razorblunt

Recruitment side try ECS, HEAD or Core Asset.

dingdangdoo22

jimmii wrote: »

We were lucky enough to not need a mortgage so not really sure what it's like. Going by the adverts banks are desperate for mortgage customers and Edinburgh is very much a safe haven so probably a bit easier. I would have thought with that sort of income it wouldn't be a bother getting a mortgage once you've been here a while. You can even get 100% mortgages here now so you don't even need a deposit guessing the terms on that are pretty tight though.

I bank with clydesdale and Natwest and would recommend both. It was Natwest that dealt with the funds when we bought our place and it was super efficient.

thanks everyone! jimmi do you know offhand if an account with either natwest or clydesdale can be opened before arriving in edinburgh?
im guessing not but wanted to ask the question in the off chance!

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

thanks everyone! jimmi do you know offhand if an account with either natwest or clydesdale can be opened before arriving in edinburgh?
im guessing not but wanted to ask the question in the off chance!

Not sure. When we first moved here Clydesdale were the easiest to set up an account with everywhere we tried HSBC and they wouldn't let us open a regular current account because we had just moved but Clydesdale were like Yeh sure just pop in and we'll sort it out.

Fysh

There's a fair amount going on in IT in Edinburgh - if you're on the support side of things then job availability and salary range will depends on your experience/specialisation, but if you're in development or project management there always seem to be roles available. There are also roles in Glasgow which is an hour or less away by train, so feasibly commutable if you decide to go that way (though tbh if you're going to work in Glasgow I'd say you may as well live there too, it's not like the city doesn't have plenty to recommend it as welll).

NoCrackHaving

prinzeugen wrote: »

You may want to consider Fife also (Dunfermline/ Inverkeithing/Dalgety Bay area). Lots of quality, cheap places but its a 30min train trip and up to a hour by car from Edinburgh.

Not exactly the most fun spot for a newcomer to the area though. If you're trying to get to know new people you'll find it a lot easier in Edinburgh than in a smallish town in Fife.

dingdangdoo22

yip, want to enjoy edinburgh also.

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

yip, want to enjoy edinburgh also.

The one thing to be sure to make you not enjoy Edinburgh as much is being the other side of the bridge!

dingdangdoo22

what are the summers like in edinburgh in general?
im guessing non existant like ireland?

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

what are the summers like in edinburgh in general?
im guessing non existant like ireland?

There's actually been some decent sun knocking around this year. On average its about the same the big difference though is the wind. It can be brutal here at times.

NoCrackHaving

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

what are the summers like in edinburgh in general?
im guessing non existant like ireland?

Depending on where you're coming from in Ireland but generally speaking a lot drier but cooler as it is a good bit further north. Definitely less sunny days and lower temperatures (1-2 degrees lower on average I'd guess) but a good bit less rainfall so it means you can get out and about a lot more. That's been my experience anyway and the climate statistics back it up. Bascially Edinburgh is a little bit drier than Dublin but a lot drier than the West of Ireland say.

Head down the road to Glasgow though and you'll find yourself in the wettest city in Europe!

Gordon

Glasgow is wetter but warmer, Edinburgh dryer but colder.

In the latest sunny spell, we were noticeably warmer in Glasgow, at one point 26 degrees, when Edinburgh centre was probably 20.

One thing that puts me off Edinburgh is the wind, it really is annoying. But the city is so beautiful.

dingdangdoo22

lads is there a boards equivalant for edinburgh? or a smaller forum where people discuss renting, accom etc?

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

lads is there a boards equivalant for edinburgh? or a smaller forum where people discuss renting, accom etc?

There's not really a UK equivalent of boards at all unfortunately! Mostly its specialist sites like Mumsnet or Money Saving Expert that have a general section as well or attached to media like the Daily Mail forum and are full of the UK equivalent of the people who get banned from AH here!

dingdangdoo22

hey folks, how did ye find the move over in general? did ye find it easy? Any tips for things I should do before I head over?

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

hey folks, how did ye find the move over in general? did ye find it easy? Any tips for things I should do before I head over?

Grand. Once you have an address everything else fails into line with bank accounts and utilities etc!

dingdangdoo22

what do ya reckon lads with the brexit! still an ok move with all that's going on?

beach_walker

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

what do ya reckon lads with the brexit! still an ok move with all that's going on?

Sure. I see no reason why not. Best hold off on any mortgage plans until the dust settles anyway :pac:

Faith+1

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

what do ya reckon lads with the brexit! still an ok move with all that's going on?

It won't effect Irish nationals. We're part of the CTA since 1927 and Irish people have settled staus in the UK.

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

what do ya reckon lads with the brexit! still an ok move with all that's going on?

Yeh it'll be grand. I'd hold off a year on buying a house though should save yourself a few quid!

jimmii

Faith+1 wrote: »

It won't effect Irish nationals. We're part of the CTA since 1927 and Irish people have settled staus in the UK.

I'm guessing they mean if it makes sense due to how volatile the economy is likely to be in the shorter term I don't think anyone thinks there will be difficulties between UK and Ireland for travelling and residents.

First Up

Faith+1 wrote:

It won't effect Irish nationals. We're part of the CTA since 1927 and Irish people have settled staus in the UK.

CTA won't survive intact after Brexit but very unlikely there will be a problem for Irish citizens residing in UK.

Fysh

We made the move just before the (first) Independence Referendum and it was mostly grand. The main thing I noticed was that there had obviously been a freeze in hiring amongst a lot of companies in the IT sector while they waited to see what happened. By October things should have settled down as companies figure out what, if anything, they need to change for future plans.

dingdangdoo22

Fysh wrote: »

We made the move just before the (first) Independence Referendum and it was mostly grand. The main thing I noticed was that there had obviously been a freeze in hiring amongst a lot of companies in the IT sector while they waited to see what happened. By October things should have settled down as companies figure out what, if anything, they need to change for future plans.

yeah thats what i am mainly concerned about, jobs in edinburgh will be ok do you think? i.t jobs specifically? :-)

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

yeah thats what i am mainly concerned about, jobs in edinburgh will be ok do you think? i.t jobs specifically? :-)

I was looking at Rockstar earlier and they had the best part of 20 jobs going that were almost all IT of some sort. I can't see the growing companies stopping hiring due to this. After a week or so people will stop freaking out and get back to normal.

dingdangdoo22

folks, I'm guessing it will be near impossible to get our own place straight off the bat? imagine any agencies wont entertain us for apts until they see proof of a job? is spareroom or gumtree the way to go for when we first arrive do you think? did ye guys do the same?

jimmii

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

folks, I'm guessing it will be near impossible to get our own place straight off the bat? imagine any agencies wont entertain us for apts until they see proof of a job? is spareroom or gumtree the way to go for when we first arrive do you think? did ye guys do the same?

As with all things depends how much money you have. If you have no job and no one to act as guarantor you will likely find you need 6 months rent up front. When we moved originally we just paid the 6 months makes the whole process a lot easier!

dingdangdoo22

i hear ya, we will have a fair chunk of cash allright but i dont think i want to go down the road of 6 mths in advance.
think it will be spareroom or gumtree until we get sorted with jobs, on spareroom earlier i was surprised at the prices being asked for! alot of 500-600 for a room only! granted it was all inclusive but still expensive, for an extra 100 or 200 you would get your own place. Anyway one way flights booked today for the 9th September :-) woohoo!

jimmii

That's crazy! When we first moved to Edinburgh we had a 1 bed for £575 it was actually quite nice too! The kitchen was unreal the standing space was about 2sqft never seen a "room" so small! Good luck on the search everyone's pretty sound here so sharing will be grand.

razorblunt

Rent for 1 beds seems to have gone up by at least £75 a month , based on what my friends were renting about 3 years ago. Saucy enough for a shoe box.

On the other end, there's a gaff in Bruntsfield offering a double room for 1400 pm, they must be mad.

jimmii

razorblunt wrote: »

Rent for 1 beds seems to have gone up by at least £75 a month , based on what my friends were renting about 3 years ago. Saucy enough for a shoe box.

On the other end, there's a gaff in Bruntsfield offering a double room for 1400 pm, they must be mad.

WTF! Bruntsfield is nice but thats just crazy! Maybe they forgot to add it also comes with another bedroom, kitchen, sitting room, office, utility room and pleasant garden! There's a couple of 1 beds in Stockbridge for around £700 I prefer there to Bruntsfield nice villagey kind of feel to it.

languagenerd

The only thing about going in Sept/early Oct is that you'll coincide with the tail-end of the student renting frenzy. Student leases in Edinburgh usually run Sept to July so landlords can let it out to festival-goers in August. But you'll have a better choice in terms of a long-term let - just hang in there til the students get out of the way.

Rents are going up a bit these days - we paid around £1300 a month for a fairly big 4-bed in Polwarth/Merchiston last year. (It definitely needed some paint though!)

But other than that best of luck with it I moved home a few months ago but I really, really miss it!

razorblunt

That gaff in Bruntsfield is gone from Gumtree now. Or maybe someone took it at that price!!!
Would be a tough one for me with Bruntsfield vs Stockbridge

* Blackbird vs Hamilton's
* Rearburn vs Montpelliers
* Inverleith Park vs Meadows


Stockbridge would probably just about shade it.

dingdangdoo22

are the above all good places too razorblunt? actually that's where I'm hoping to move to when I get over, somewhere with a villagey feel to it...any other places other than stockbridge that have this?

Jack B. Badd

razorblunt wrote: »

On the other end, there's a gaff in Bruntsfield offering a double room for 1400 pm, they must be mad.

Possibly a festival let?

dingdangdoo22

on a different note I'm guessing theres no way to get national insurance number before going over?

First Up

dingdangdoo22 wrote:

are the above all good places too razorblunt? actually that's where I'm hoping to move to when I get over, somewhere with a villagey feel to it...any other places other than stockbridge that have this?

Portobello is nice. Leith a bit edgier but it has a good feel.

razorblunt

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Possibly a festival let?

Nah, it was a let for the year with two mature students apparently.
The only thing I thought of was that they may have listed the entire rental price and then break it down to the room charge per month in the ad, but that wasn't the case.

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

are the above all good places too razorblunt? actually that's where I'm hoping to move to when I get over, somewhere with a villagey feel to it...any other places other than stockbridge that have this?

Yeah Stockbridge is lovely but you'd pay a bit extra for a place there, but it's worth it. I live in Murrayfield and it's really missing that kind of village vibe but then again it's not really trying to pretend it has it either. Stockbridge is just lucky I guess in that it's an anomaly.

For example, I'd actually consider this an ok price for a 2bed place down there: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-54921565.html

Fysh

dingdangdoo22 wrote: »

on a different note I'm guessing theres no way to get national insurance number before going over?

Nope - the application process here says you have to be here to apply.

First Up wrote: »

Portobello is nice. Leith a bit edgier but it has a good feel.

I reckon Portobello must be great in the summer with the promenade, but the few times I've been out there it's always struck me as fairly quiet. Marchmont or Bruntsfield (that let mentioned upthread notwithstanding!) are probably still my preferred areas for balancing a nice mix of things going on in the immediate area with rents that aren't obscene (Morningside even more so than Stockbridge, I'm looking at you).

Gordon

See canonmills also, it's close to Stockbridge and leith walk. Has a nice vibe to it and rent a bit cheaper than Stockbridge.

razorblunt

Has the planning permission to knock that wee café in Canonmills definitely gone through? I know it was originally granted but I thought it was then petitioned and rechallenged.
Such a shame if they do go ahead and just build more places there.

Gordon

Which one?

prinzeugen

Fysh wrote: »

Nope - the application process here says you have to be here to apply.



I reckon Portobello must be great in the summer with the promenade, but the few times I've been out there it's always struck me as fairly quiet. Marchmont or Bruntsfield (that let mentioned upthread notwithstanding!) are probably still my preferred areas for balancing a nice mix of things going on in the immediate area with rents that aren't obscene (Morningside even more so than Stockbridge, I'm looking at you).

Portobello and Craigintinny have history. There is a reason the beach is quiet.

As I said.. Fife. No reason why a social life would suffer. I did it from a teen till I moved to Dublin.

Fysh

prinzeugen wrote: »

As I said.. Fife. No reason why a social life would suffer. I did it from a teen till I moved to Dublin.

Whereabouts in Fife would you suggest? I don't know anything about it really so can't comment, but I've known a few folk who live in Fife but drive into Edinburgh for work every day and it just sounds like a lot of hassle. Suggestions of areas or towns which are well set up and lively would probably be helpful to the OP. I'm guessing St Andrews would be one of them, but haven't even been to the place myself so have no idea what it's like.

First Up

Fysh wrote:

Whereabouts in Fife would you suggest? I don't know anything about it really so can't comment, but I've known a few folk who live in Fife but drive into Edinburgh for work every day and it just sounds like a lot of hassle. Suggestions of areas or towns which are well set up and lively would probably be helpful to the OP. I'm guessing St Andrews would be one of them, but haven't even been to the place myself so have no idea what it's like.

A lot of Edinburgh folk have properties in the area known as the East Neuk - Pittenweem, Anstruther, St Monance etc. but its too far for a daily commute. More a weekend bolt hole.

Lovely area.