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Quite an issue for folk finding jobs up here is then finding somewhere to live. Madame follows a couple of 'move to Highlands' forum type things and they are chock full of desperate people, and also plenty with very high expectations of what their money will afford.
Houses that used to be left for the sheep now command serious folding.
I wouldn’t do an aviemore inverness commute especially before and after a long nursing shift. Not cheap either.
Doesn't seem to bother some folks, I know quite a few who do it in both directions.
Houses that used to be left for the sheep now command serious folding.
So what's a reasonable spread of properties that you could get for, say, £250k?
(I'm day-dreaming, but let's assume I've retired so no need to work/commute and no kids to worry about. Let's also assume midges don't exist on the "eastern" side of Scotland and the weather is less rainy there).
Cambelltown had really cheap houses last time i looked. Otherwise you need to get away from places that are an easy commute to big towns to get bargains. Hint. You dont want to live in Cambelltown
I don't see working in care homes as a likely way to improve your quality of life 🙂 We do need people that will do it tho, not easy when there are much easier jobs paying more.
The commute of 37m takes me about as long as it would take to cover a few miles in my old life in London. It is bad for the planet (and pocket) but as we have jobs 35m apart one of us has to drive and I dont mind. Actually I prefer winter, it can be beautiful and on the occasions when the weather is truly bad it feels like an adventure just getting there. I've never missed a day due to weather, have been 3 hrs late on one occasion tho.
I visited campbeltown last year and it's lovely. But living there? Ho ho ho. I saw a band in tarbert years ago that did a song called '99 miles to campbeltown', which is basically all you need to know.
35 miles each way is £ 30 a day roughly at the 45p a mile the taxman thinks cars cost.
200 days a year is £ 6000 per year.
Even if you only count the additional cost its £3000 a year
Just to get to work
I agree about care homes. I worked in them but maybe its a compromise worth making?
Having lived nearby, I would prefer to live in Nethybridge, Carrbridge, Boat of Garten or Grantown rather than Aviemore itself - it just gets too busy in summer.
Something to be wary in many Scottish towns is that poverty and deprivation sometimes isn’t too far away - places are too small to hide their sink estates, so worth spending some time in your desired area and sometimes the smaller towns and villages can be nicer.
Don’t let stories of anti-incomer sentiment put you off - there are bampots everywhere - some of the worst reactions we’ve had from other incomers. We were reflecting on the diversity of our local community in comparison to where we used to live in Hampshire - what I do like here is that people are more judged in terms of who you are, rather than what you do, the house you live in or the car you drive. Many people in rural Scotland also recognise the need for economically active incomers to boost school numbers and offset the number of retirees and an ageing local demographic.
I agree about care homes. I worked in them but maybe its a compromise worth making?
Maybe one day- but not yet 🙂
There's also the NHS Care at Home service and the hospital in Aviemore now. I guess it just depends how specific your training is and where the roles are available?
As others have said the Aviemore -> Raigmore commute is realisitcally 40-45 mins, mostly on the A9. When my wife did it many years ago she wasn't a fan but we both have a low tolerance for sitting in cars.
For those asking about the schools in Inverness, I've taught in a fair few of the secondaries and they're all pretty good. All the schools have a fairly mixed intake - most people go to their catchment schools and most of the catchments cover a reasonable socioeconomic mix. When we were looking for a place last year, we didn't even think about catchment areas.
OP - you mentioned that you do sailing and SUP. Fort William is great for those things and pretty OK for biking. The Belford almost certainly need nurses.
Just noticed that I could actually rent in Inverness, that would make it easier to sell here and decide where we want to go before buying.
That would be a good call
So what’s a reasonable spread of properties that you could get for, say, £250k?
Very much depends on the location - in some places places it’ll probably stretch to 4 bedrooms on a residential estate but in other more desirable areas, a nice, 1-bedroom flat, particularly in honeypot areas where you’re competing with people buying holiday homes and rentals. The days of picking up a bargain doer-upper with half an acre are probably long gone as the local builders will have been there long before. Prices are generally more compressed top-to-bottom in more rural areas because there are fewer, well-paid jobs. For many people, work is seasonal or a couple of part-time jobs including weekend rental changeovers as you can earn £300+ cash vs 5 days of minimum wage toil.<br />We spent months during lock-down looking at prospective areas, properties to buy and building plots. <br />New builds and restorations aren’t coming through as material prices remain quite high and many rural location suffer an acute shortage of skilled trades - the crew of predominantly Polish builders who built our house have all gone home. It took 6 months to build my house, but the build next door is unfinished after 9 months.
Offers over 250k, forest walks and rides straight from the door and 35 min to Raigmore and walking distance to a bar. Really good trail riding from the door too.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140701952
If SWMBO didn't work in Edinburgh id be talking to the seller later today.
I’d be trying to minimise school changes. We moved over between terms and initially moved to Aviemore. Luckily I knew where we would end up (waiting on new build) so got the kids enrolled in the nearest schools to the new place. That meant one school move for each of them. Not always easy to do though.
My parents rented in Kingussie when looking to move from Northumberland (moving to be closer to my sister who at the time lived in Wick)
They remarked on having to put on a winter coat in August 😉
Also they where unable to find anything in their budget and ended up on the Black Isle.
Somebody already raised the point about school catchment areas, your kids friends may live some distance away and either never see them or you end up being a taxi for them.
Really good community in Black Isle although Fortrose gets rammed with tourist traffic apparently in the summer
High School in Fortrose is very good I've been told.
Slightly different circumstances but it's been a blessing being that much closer to all the services in Inverness.
Not sure how old your kids are but what opportunities are there for them in Kingussie as they get older (I speak from experience as grew up in a remote part of northumberland and work and travel was a big impact on my early working life)
Weather is generally pretty good where they are, and being 10 mins from Tore Roundabout they where spoilt for choice in terms of places they could get to easily.
Offers over 250k, forest walks and rides straight from the door and 35 min to Raigmore and walking distance to a bar. Really good trail riding from the door too.
Nice but looks pretty small for the price, from a South Wales perspective 🙂
we have toyed with Aviemore area for many years, possibly for holiday use and rental then a move to permanent once retired. It is so expensive compared to central belt, a huge premium as so many of the properties are used for rentals. If you look to wider NE, lots of great looking nice houses for less money, eg :
Desirable properties are going 20% over asking, possibly more. It's gone mad since COVID
2 bed semi rental in Inverness will be circa 900.
Nice but looks pretty small for the price, from a South Wales perspective 🙂
cheap as chips from an edinburgh perspective. Horribly small rooms tho
2 bed semi rental in Inverness will be circa 900.
You would be lucky to get a one bed flat in Edinburgh for that. Saw one the other day for £1100 and it was two rooms plus bathroom. ie a bedroom and an a kitchen/ sitting/ dining room!
property market is just absurd and the regional variations seem unjustifiable. I know - market forces and all that but even so
I'm from Fort William, grew up there and stayed till I was early 20's. I now live about 50 miles north, 15 miles outside Inverness. The difference in the wet weather and amount of midges is absolutely huge! My wife still works in Ft W and commutes there 3 days a week, quite often it's been pouring rain all day in the Fort and has been dry all day as soon as you pass Fort Augustus. Along with cold dark winter nights, you can either embrace it with good bike lights or hibernate!
The trails and bike community in Ft W are great though but I'm happy enough to spend an hour driving down and visit my parents at the same time. FWIW the hospital there struggle with recruitment so healthcare workers would be more than welcome.
The roads and facilities get busier up here in the summer but not enough to make me want to live somewhere with wider roads and even more people.