[Closed] Raising a family (and riding) in Aberdeen?

@trail_rat 😁

Tons of decent riding nearby, near Cairngorms, some decent villages outside the city. Went to uni there, but not lived there other than that. Brother lives near Old Meldrum, near Inverurie, which seems pretty nice. Lots of nice places to walk, climb and run. I reckon mid travel 29er, so that highlander would be great.

Firstly, do you have a British passport? Will you get in if not when our daft new points based system comes into play?!

Great riding though on Deeside and further east into the Cairngorms, road and MTB. Property prices are above average for Scotland. Can’t see any issues over any other area re your wife’s ethnicity.

Loads of riding

Short of moving to Peebles area I don't think you'll get such a comprehensive and varied riding experiance.

I live on the edge of the city . I'm not going to say much on the city other than that I'm an outsider and don't rate it.

How ever I feel what it lacks in the city is made up for highly by its location and proximity to the eastern Cairngorms and all that brings as well as having trails on the edge of the city and at varying degrees from city out to the Cairngorms. Look up mastermind and heartbreak ridge in ballater on YouTube for example.

Can also ride sweet trails at scolty which is much closer and you have kirkbjll on edge of city to ride without driving dependant on where you live.

How do you plan to get to the university ? -that will determine where you live largely. Not just distance but also routing - for example commuting by bike from Blackburn is a scary prospect- narrow road with rat runners in a rush ...but from westhill there's a cycle path/lanes

Property prices are above average for Scotland

Not sure that's true these days. Due to all the properties continuously being built and the oil industry turmoil prices have tumbled at the top end and in the 3 bed family home stagnated for about 5 years.

The rest of Scotland looks to have near caught up unless your talking about somewhere like cowdwnbeath

She’s finishing her PhD in Geography (GIS/remote sensing) but would likely be unwilling to work for an oil company.

I imagine that might limit her opportunities somewhat in Aberdeen. I often see GIS jobs advertised there, pretty much all of them are oil and gas related

Thanks for all the responses!

Re: shortbread_fanylion: I don't have a British passport, but I don't think the visa would be a huge issue. I have a PhD, am a native English speaker, and would have a standing job offer which would place me in the top rung of most of their earnings categories. Things are obviously changing fast, but the university didn't seem to think it would be a major issue. I had to declare that and send passport scans as part of the process. A good number of the faculty are international.

Re: trail_rat: I'm not sure how I'd get to the university. I haven't gotten quite that far in planning yet. Right now I ride my bike to my current job, but it's a short and pretty easy hop. I'd prefer to have the option to bike/train/walk, but if everything else was perfect in a town but the commute, I wouldn't be against driving.

Thanks again! It sounds like a nice place to live.

Re: ebygomm

I imagine that might limit her opportunities somewhat in Aberdeen. I often see GIS jobs advertised there, pretty much all of them are oil and gas related

That's what I figured. Though was somewhat hopeful both because 1. I read a lot about Aberdeen's hopes to pivot to being a wind generation center as well 2. There are two big universities in town, so she could also look for academic and academic adjacent jobs. Her finding a job she likes is admittedly one of my two bigger concerns though.

Aberdeen is a shitehole, on that budget you'll really struggle not to live in the shitier bits.

Unless your job comes with parking at the uni you might not have an option on driving.

There's plenty places you can cycle to the uni from just don't see a back road and assume it'll be safe to cycle. It probably isn't .

There's plenty of busses but again watch what ones you have. To get as depending on where you live you might have to change busses in town .

Its not a bad place to live. Have lived in much worse 🙂

You’d have to pay me at least double that to even start considering moving to Aberdeen. 😉

Aberdeen is a shitehole, on that budget you’ll really struggle not to live in the shitier bits.

I managed to not live in the shittier bits on a bike shop wage. I'm sure he will be fine.

Did you have kids? Genuinely interested because there are places I lived really happily in my 20s and 30s (Aberdeen included btw) that were awesome but there is no way I would ever consider now with a family.

Would you be renting or buying a house? Rightmove.co.uk is a good website for looking at house prices. Key in the uni postcode and decide how far you want to live away from work.

I do now.

I no longer work in a bike shop
H no
Don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting it's a great city.

Its location is tough to match in terms of jobs and property Vs access to spectacular scenery and outdoor activities......(on that note you. Couldn't pay me enough to live in landaccess hell down south)

I mean if I had my way id live in Aviemore but then I'd have to put up with tourists/hiked property and not much jobs for my skillset.

Likewise fort William although properties cheaper and the Cairngorms are further away.

Not best place in world but many worse places to live.

Yeah for sure there are worse places. Got a fair few mates up there, they have a good life but very well funded so getting out to the hills is easy for them (as in having "weekend" flats in Ballater etc).

Thing with Aberdeen is although Ballater is an hour away, there never (to me anyway) seemed like there was much of interest outdoors wise in or on the city limits. Like you could finish work in Edinburgh city centre and go ride up the Pentlands or go for a run up Arthurs seat. In Stirling you could do Dumyat on a long lunch break. Aberdeen has the beach I guess?

Would you be renting or buying a house? Rightmove.co.uk is a good website for looking at house prices. Key in the uni postcode and decide how far you want to live away from work.

I don't totally know. The temptation would be to buy as I have a good amount of money saved up for a downpayment and the dollar is currently pretty strong against the pound. But as it would be a totally new place, it might be smarter to rent for a while, get the feel for its different areas, and then buy. There is a part of me that just wants to get settled, though. I'll take a look at Rightmove.

Regarding the debate about whether Aberdeen is a shithole: I'm not the poshest person. I just want to find somewhere decent enough that a kid can grow up reasonably safely going to reasonably good schools. And where we can get outside. I'd obviously hope that family income wasn't 48k longterm, but it might be around there for the first year or two, so I want to make sure I can get by on that.

If you currently live about 45 minutes from Boston it'll be like moving to a backwater bit of a fairly backwater country. It could be charming and you'll love it, or you there could be a burning when the locals don't warm to your fancy ways and big city ideas.

I'm half an hour south of Aberdoom as it's known and work in the town. Not a hope in hell I will ever live in the city itself. House prices are back on the rise again as oil has stabilised somewhat. I would be very pro Aberdeenshire as a great place to raise kids (my two have lived here all their lives), but not the city itself. It's shite.

If you currently live about 45 minutes from Boston it’ll be like moving to a backwater bit of a fairly backwater country. It could be charming and you’ll love it, or you there could be a burning when the locals don’t warm to your fancy ways and big city ideas.

I currently live an hour and 45 minutes form Boston in a 10,000 person town, though there are lots of neighboring towns so it feels a bit bigger. I've gone to Boston for recreational purposes exactly one time in the six years that I've lived here. In the same period, I've probably driven equal distance to ski/hike/bike 50+ times (and only that few as there is no real reason to drive that long to bike as it's good much closer). I grew up in a very small, rural town 2 hours from anything bigger that is - i suspect - as backwater as anything Scotland has to offer.

Now, I did get overeducated into a few fancy ideas along the way, but I don't think they're big city ideas. If I had my complete pick, I'd be living in the woods near a 1000 person mountain town. My wife isn't really a big city person, but she's also not a complete isolation loving person either, so I'd be more interested in seeing how she liked it.

I’m half an hour south of Aberdoom as it’s known and work in the town. Not a hope in hell I will ever live in the city itself. House prices are back on the rise again as oil has stabilised somewhat. I would be very pro Aberdeenshire as a great place to raise kids (my two have lived here all their lives), but not the city itself. It’s shite.

I wasn't so clear that I'm not at all committed to living within the city. As long as it's a manageable commute, elsewhere in Aberdeenshire is great by me.

All my opinion, but south and west of Aberdeen are the best options if you choose to move outwith the city. Access from the south has been massively helped by the bypass.

I've done alright and so have my family all born and brought up in Aberdeen.

Others must live in some utopia places. Wherever you live you make the most of it.

All my opinion, but south and west of Aberdeen are the best options if you choose to move outwith the city. Access from the south has been massively helped by the bypass.

Thanks, Futureboy77. This was one of the things I was curious about but was having a hard time figuring out from older threads.

Nothing wrong with Aberdeen. Yes it’s a small town but it is very safe to bring up kids. I have three and they all love Aberdeen. Ok Edinburgh and Glasgow have more culture, nightlife and foody places but they aren’t as quiet and safe.

I am from Glasgow and thought Aberdeen was a bit of a backwater when I moved here. Discussed moving with my wife many times but we have agreed that Aberdeen is better for family life than most other cities in Scotland.

As for things to do there are tons of river rafting, surfing, hiking, skiing, climbing options within easy reach.

Being a West Coaster my impressions of Aberdeen are that it takes ages to get there, it’s a lot dryer, and the beaches to the North are amazing, not that you’d want to go for a swim! Great fish and chips.
Being a white native male I have no idea what problems your wife may face, I would hope she would find us a welcoming race but I have nothing to make a comparison for you. Probably showing my own ignorance here but is Indian North American Native or Indian Subcontinent? Just my own curiosity as I’m not up to speed with these terminology’s
Hopefully you and your family will love Scotland.
I do.

I lived in Aberdeenshire (Banchory to be exact) for 10 years until last August, when moved to Australia. I recommend the place to everyone I talk to and would happily go back if I had to.

Aberdeenshire is one of the most beautiful places in the world. The scenery is breathtaking. You have so much greenery and fresh air. It’s impossible to take something like that for granted. If being in the outdoors is your thing then you will love it. Cycling, skiing, walking, sailing, kayaking, surfing..... the list is endless.

I see some negativity in some of the above posts, but unless they raised a family there then take the negative opinion with a pinch of salt. It’s easy to look at Aberdeen from a superficial level and assume it’s all grey and lifeless. To be honest, Aberdeen City is a bit like that, but other than working there you won’t be relying on the City for you or your family. You’ll be living as far out on the edge of the city as you can comfortably commute, so you can take advantage of the aforementioned countryside.

That’s not to say there aren’t negatives to Aberdeenshire. I won’t dwell on them, but a few things to be aware of. It has no real culture to speak of (museums, music or art). Winters are dark and cold. Shopping for clothes or anything like that is pointless - Amazon will be your new shopping centre.

Your salary is going to be a bit low compared to many. It’s an oil and gas city, so a good proportion will be on £70k plus. Ideally I’d recommend looking at Banchory as a place to live as the outdoors is in your doorstep, but that’ll not be affordable for you. Try Westhill or Kingswells. You would need to drive for 15 minutes to find the outdoors, but other than that they are nice new commuter towns. Maybe look at Aboyne as it has the outdoors on your doorstep, a bit more affordable, good schools, but a bit of a commute to the city.

If your wife wants a job she might need to find a different profession or compromise on her beliefs. Everyone there earns money directly or indirectly from oil and gas. If it weren’t for oil & gas Aberdeen would be a tiny fishing village. She won’t have an issue with race, Scottish people are welcoming to everyone. Saying that, it is a predominantly white demographic - I can only think of two non-white kids at our primary school.

I raised three kids in Aberdeenshire, the eldest is 13 now. They have nothing bad to say about their lives so far. My wife is equally in love with the place. We still own a house there and will no doubt come back once the kids have all fled the nest.

P.S. One bike for Aberdeenshire isn’t enough 😀. You’ll want a road, gravel, enduro, marathon and trail bike. Seriously though, I had a Santa Cruz 5010 and it was a decent compromise. Light enough for multi day wilderness trips but with enough suspension for mincing down the downhill tracks on Scolty hill.

Thanks a lot for all of the last few posts. They were really helpful.

Probably showing my own ignorance here but is Indian North American Native or Indian Subcontinent?

She's subcontinental Indian. Usually people say American Indian when meaning Native American here, but not always. It can be a bit confusing and preferred nomenclature of course changes over time. But my wife is of the group you're more likely to run into in the UK. By some quirk of date, my son is fair with blue eyes and light brown hair. Scotland might be one of the few places so pasty that he could add to average pigmentation of his elementary school.

Your salary is going to be a bit low compared to many. It’s an oil and gas city, so a good proportion will be on £70k plus. Ideally I’d recommend looking at Banchory as a place to live as the outdoors is in your doorstep, but that’ll not be affordable for you.

Thanks for the analysis and suggestions! The salary is something that worries me a bit. I currently make "Banchory" money, so this would be a step down there. My current salary isn't permanently sustainable without some changes I don't want to make, but my other options would likely pay a chunk more than U of A. Still, I'm not that money driven if I can hit an ok standard for family life. Plus, I've been the lone earner for the last few years as my wife went back to do her PhD then had our son. If she got a job, then our combined income would be a bit more comfortable.

Also, I like your take on bikes, fanatic.

If they don't offer me the job though, I'm just going to focus on tomd's posts and imagine I dodged a bullet.

If you’re used to Banchory money and aspire to get back to that once your wife gets back into work, then look at renting in Aboyne or Torphins for the first year. You can get your son into a decent primary school in both those villages, and if you ever get a boost in income it’s not too disruptive if you want to move to Banchory. I don’t want to harp on about Banchory too much as everyone has their own opinions, but you’ll find everyone who lives there love it.

If you don’t get the job, then it was a shithole and you dodged a bullet. Plus Massachusetts is a lovely place anyway.

gosh not sure how we managed to live in Aberdeen not being on the "Banchory" wage we are just 2 lowly public sector employees. I must live in a right shit hole part of the city then and got hit by the bullet full square on 🙄

tomd sounds like he has proper grudge against the city for some reason best known himself.

Interesting post and questions @marcusbrody , exciting times, congrats on getting this far.

Trying to get thoughts down in a rational, useful manner. For context, I went to uni in Aberdeen, then lived up there for 6 more years afterwards (most of those in Inverurie - which we still miss). This was 92-02. Also spent 1.5yrs not too long ago based in Lexington, living in Winchester, so not a million miles away from where you might be currently.

I think there are a lot of parallels between Boston and Aberdeen (excepting Boston is a lot bigger!) - Relatively affluent, relatively narrow specialization (boston = pharma), relatively international population, bizarre truly local accents, city on the coast, lots of feeder towns circling the main city in nice countryside. Just on a smaller scale!

I think most have said it already, biking is great, weather cold but drier than most of the rest of Scotland, mountains one way, stunning coast the other (we also miss the Ythan Estuary and Newburgh). Aberdeen is a city, so there are reasonable cultural options, and the other cities are, by US standards, a short drive/train journey away. I would think any of the feeder towns would provide a warm, welcoming and happy place to bring up a family (another vote for Inverurie, perhaps easier to get to BofD and UofA?).

Maybe a few things to be aware of:
It’s a long way north compared to Boston, so in winter, its ****ing dark most of the time. I’m an astronomer so loved it (ADAS is fantastic), my wife really struggled. Conversely, sitting around a fire at midnight in the summer in the dunes at the beach as twighlight turns to the new day is amazing. (But you will need blackout curtains if you ever want your kids to sleep!)

You will not get anything like the heat/humidity of a Boston summer. I would regard that as a positive...

Doric is an impenetrable local dialect, will take you YEARS to tune in. Look for Cabrach Community Radio on facebook to give you a feel. Wecht!

NE folks can be polite but cold initially, careful about making friends. Give it time, once you are ‘in’ you’ll have genuine friends for life. That’s why we miss Inverurie so much.

Limited availability of lobster, but a fish supper from the Ashvale beats Legal seafoods 🙂

HTH!

Sounds like I'll need to go back up and check it out.

No real grudge against the place, just didnt think and don't think it's very good. Did final year of my masters there, got offered a job but decided to move on. Been back on and off through work and friends over the years.

The proximity of the Cairngorms never seemed like a great argument either, when you would be just as close living in Stirling without being so far from everything else.

tomd all that based on one yr in the city 👍

we stayed in Stirling for week we never liked it 🤷‍♂️

I'm not entirely sure people who are from or have spent a long time in an area are the best judges of it either. It just gives you a different perspective. I had to decide between two equally good jobs and one being 500 miles away from Aberdeen was a plus for me. Nothing bad happened to me in Aberdeen, had a good time but in my subjective reality it was a dump. Others clearly feel differently but we'll never agree on whether Aberdeen is objectively amazing or not.

If you go almost anywhere in the UK folk will tell you it's the bees knees.

I’m not entirely sure people who are from or have spent a long time in an area are the best judges of it either.

Living in the city for a year as a student isn’t the most useful reference point for a mid-30s man with wife and kid looking to raise a family there. As a young graduate I had the chance to work in Aberdeen and didn’t even bother turning up for the interview. Fast forward to my mid-30s with one child and another on the way, I jumped at the chance. Aberdeen City isn’t the place to be for a family, but head west and it’s a different experience entirely. And as I said above, loved the place and would go back in a heartbeat.

Different folks and all that. I'm in that demographic myself now and there probably is an amount of money you could pay me to go to Aberdeen bit it's quite a lot. My wife on the other hand, who is not a UK national I don't think could be bribed to go there.

Braemar is probably her favourite outdoorsy place in the UK, but she would point out it is accessible in a direction other than from Aberdeen.

IMO the flood of new developments in Banchory is actually making it a much more affordable place to live... Over 200 + houses on the market there with more building.

Certainly used to be expensive. Not so much anymore.

We were very much in the same position as you when we moved up. Got a little flat in town.... Then moved to Banchory... Then moved further West. Glad we did that, however that's us.

Its a nice part of the world. Don't think you will regret it.. But like us you might not see it as a forever thing.

Banchorys a nice place. I have a lot of friends live there

But when I lived there I found it to be a very narrow demographic of fairly affluent people .

I've ended up in culter where the mix is much wider.

Banchory money? Not sure that's such a thing now. I'm on the lower end of the OP's interview salary range, we bought a 3 bed semi in Banchory nearly 3 years ago with partner in a part time job (which didn't do much more than pay nursery fees at the time). We'd lived in Banchory for a couple of years prior already.

The one house for sale on our road ATM is a 3 bed semi similar to ours, for sale at £190k. Of course there's a lot of grander houses in the area, but there's a lot of decent affordable options! If I drive to work I can be at the office at Aberdeen Harbour in not much more than 30 minutes on a good day. The bad days are few and far between since the AWPR opened. There's a few cycle commute options, including a good off-road track most of the way into the city. Other than work, we don't tend to venture into the city more than once every couple of months.

Love living here with our 3 year old, wouldn't want to live anywhere else right now 🙂

Geez. I didn’t mean to start a Banchory class war!

I have been rightfully corrected that Banchory isn’t out of the question. I did a quick check on the current property market and indeed £180k+ will get you something perfectly nice with a garage for all your bikes. By the way, possibly Rightmove is the correct place to look but historically www.aspc.co.uk is where all Aberdeenshire houses are listed.

Anyway, there are indeed many places other than Banchory to live. If you do get offered a job then we can restart the debate about which village is best (which is Banchory obviously 😉)

I’ve ended up in culter where the mix is much wider.

that because you never hit the banchory pay grade did you. 😉

She won’t have an issue with race, Scottish people are welcoming to everyone.

What a strange statement.

So now there are no bigots in Scotland?

What a strange statement.

So now there are no bigots in Scotland?

It feels like pile on fanatic278 day today. Ok. I shall rephrase. She probably won’t have an issue with race. Scottish people are generally welcoming to everyone.

She probably won’t have an issue with race.

One of the least diverse parts of the UK.

Scottish people are generally welcoming to everyone.

Why would you think they are different from any other group of people?

Each group of people have general characteristics. This is a well known fact. You clearly belong to a group who like to argue... a troll perhaps.

One of the least diverse parts of the UK.

Scotland as a whole or Aberdeen ?

that because you never hit the banchory pay grade did you. 😉

Nailed it. Upper lower deeside.

Could move to inchmarlo- the retirement village.

Scotland is 94% white
Aberdeenshire is 97% white
Scottish people are 99% welcoming

Argument solved.

Source (except the welcoming thing): https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-visualiser/#view=ethnicityChart&selectedWafers=0&selectedRows=0,1,2,7,12,16

Scottish people are 99% welcoming

You have some solid evidence for the other 2 statements but the what is the last one based one?

You have some solid evidence for the other 2 statements but the what is the last one based one?

I know 100 Scots and one is a ****er. So it’s a carefully researched source.

Please find another thread to hound me on. I actually want to help the OP with what could be a life changing decision.

Please find another thread to hound me on.

Hound you? Seriously? You made a stupid, cliched, statement, which I thought was a little strange.

I actually want to help the OP with what could be a life changing decision.

Okay here's my take on Aberdeen. City is a bit of a shithole, with relatively expensive housing due to the O&G, not as expensive as it was but still expensive.
Like all UK cities, there some extremely rough and grim areas of housing. It also has some area of lovely Edwardian and Victorian town houses but they are very expensive.
It's most redeeming feature, is that you are only a short drive from some really fantastic landscapes with loads of outdoor stuff.
Winters are long, dark and cold.

deleted - it’s not worth it

Okay here’s my take on Aberdeen. City is a bit of a shithole, with relatively expensive housing due to the O&G, not as expensive as it was but still expensive.
Like all UK cities, there some extremely rough and grim areas of housing. It also has some area of lovely Edwardian and Victorian town houses but they are very expensive.
It’s most redeeming feature, is that you are only a short drive from some really fantastic landscapes with loads of outdoor stuff.
Winters are long, dark and cold..

Is that a synopsis of what we said on the thread or your own opinion.

Because it covers both.

My brother works in the oil and gas industry and has lived in Aberdeen for the last 5 or so years after 15 years of moving around the globe to various locations around the world with his family. Aberdeen is a very nice place. Sure you may or may not like the city itself (I don't but then I live near Derby!!) but no need to go to the city much, but the surrounding area is idyllic and there is plenty of outdoors activities to get stuck into if that is what you're after. My brother really likes it there. However in the past its not been a cheap place to live. He pays over double what I do for Council Tax (I live in the East Midlands of England - so not exactly a poor part of the country) and pays London prices for trades people, so significantly more pricy to live there. Of course it has it's dodgy places...what town or city doesn't. However the decline in the oil and gas industry is biting and certainly he seems to think house prices are softening. He see's no end in the continuing decline of the Oil and Gas industry..just varying rates of decline so over the next 10 years or so you might see the living costs in Aberdeen re-balance to the levels you see in the rest of Scotland.

Buy by and large he's enjoyed living there, is a keen Triathlete and likes bit of MTBing so no shortage of that in the area. Looks like he's going to be re-located later this year and was planning on keeping his house to come back to in 3 - 5 years, but now concerned about house prices softening so will most likely sell up.

An observation from me and the rest of the family south of the boarder, Aberdeen is pretty isolated and a real PITA to get so. So much so we saw more of him when he was located in other areas around the world. It's a good 9hr car journey or a pretty convoluted and painful train ride away and flying is expensive as its an oil route and commands a ticket premium so even though he's lived closer to us than for a long time, he's more difficult to get to. When we've holidayed together its another grand of cost for him on top of the holiday cost as flights are limited from Aberdeen so it's a flight to LHR or another airport the day before, a hotel stay for the family to get anywhere, and the same on the return. But when we have made the effort to go and visit we've always had a great time. I see no real downsides to living there.

I personally wouldn't live there because it feel a bit too isolated from my friends and family, but that is the only reason. Other than that it's a lovely spot.

True on long winters and dreary weather - I've been lucky to have enjoyed good weather whenever we've visited but the winters are long. Doesn't bother my brother - he lived in Norway for 5 years before Aberdeen so accustomed to inclement weather, but if you're the sort where the weather and seasons affect your mood then it's probably not the best place to live.

I'm not sure being Indian would be an issue. Going to the wrong school more likely to be a problem, Scots tend to save their ire for other Scots from the wrong background.

It's funny for me being back up in Scotland and have folk take a close interest in what high school I went to to. Hilarious if it wasn't so messed up.

Is that a synopsis of what we said on the thread or your own opinion.

My own opinion.

I have never lived there but I have worked in the Offshore and connected industries for 30 years, so I have spent quite some time there.

No one cares what school you went to in Aberdeen. That’s a Glasgow thing.

Aberdeen isn’t expensive. Ok taxi fares are a bit steep but everything else is just the same as the central belt and way cheaper than London.

As a city Aberdeen has a lot going for it. Good parks, dolphin watching, beach for surfing, good live music venues, theatre, art gallery, museum 50m pool.

I do agree though that the best is the quiet easy access to Deeside and the Cairngorms.

Aberdeen uni has a road cycling club and some good little pubs and coffee shops nearby.

I agree on the long dark winter but that’s the same for most of Scotland. Aberdeen is also very sheltered from the prevailing weather from the west so it gets much less rainfall than Glasgow.

I do agree on the comments about remoteness.

As for attitudes to different races. Well there used to be a lot of Aberdeen folk who were very insular. My wife tells me stories about older folk in the hospital not wanting to be treated by an Indian doctor. She also gets the when are you going back to your own country comments. However I think that is a small minority of not very far travelled older daily mail readers who you can find anywhere in the uk.

I recently went to a primary school competition in Aberdeen and it was full of rainbow faces from all corners of the world. So the future is bright the old Daily Mail readers will all die out.

Wow, lots of great information (and lively discussion...ha). Thanks so much!

I'm not necessarily committed to living in the most affluent area possible. Really I'm probably happier in a place that's a bit more mixed. I don't live in as affluent a place possible given my current salary and love our neighborhood (it's also why I managed to end up with a good downpayment saved up despite brutal childcare costs in our region). That being said, if a place like Banchory checked all my other boxes and I could afford it, I wouldn't be adverse as long as people weren't mostly focused on their affluence. I'll worry about neighborhoods if they offer me the job, though. I wanted to get a general sense of what's possible though as all my other options are in the US which I understand much better how salary translates to standard of living. So I'm really grateful for all your input.

fanatic, I understood what you meant about Scotland and race. I didn't assume everyone was perfect. The correlation is perfect between demographic diversity and interpersonal tolerance isn't perfect. Sometimes it's easiest for pretty homogenous places to be welcoming to different looking individuals as they're basically token representative of diversity who then basically just gets integrated into the dominant culture. It's only when the minority reaches critical mass that things tend to become more clustered. At least in American high schools, which part of my academic work is on. Scotland could be different for all I know. The university has a really diverse student body, though we'll see how Brexit affects that as a lot of them are from different parts of Europe.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about the remoteness. On one hand, it would be convenient to a bigger airport to go visit family. On the other hand, I feel like we in the US have a little different understanding of distance. I don't think it as wildly inconvenient to drive home to see my parents and it's basically like driving from Edinburgh to London. Two of my other options are US based, but are far enough from where I grew up that the time it would take me to drive home would allow me to leave Aberdeen and be finished with dinner in Kiev. So I don't think it would be too terrible to have to travel to Edinburgh to fly out.

The dark I'm a little worried about. Again more for the wife than me. I obviously like light, but I'm generally ok as long as I can get outside during the day. Do people mountain bike with lights up there in the winter? Or is there enough snow to make it unfeasible? I'm not afraid of the cold at all in and of itself. Aberdeen would be the second warmest place I've ever lived in the winter. Our average Jan/Feb lows here are -11 and I'm out all the time in that, so I'm well kitted for the cold at least.

In any case, I really appreciate everyone's input. Academic jobs are weird in that you spend a lot of time and effort applying to a lot. Most you don't hear from, then all of a sudden you need to make some life changing choices very quickly, so it's helpful to get a sense of things ahead of time. Thanks again!

We use lights . Plenty of groups out and about.

Minimal smow

Last good dump that hung around was in 2010 .

There are a lot worse places to stay than Aberdeen and it is more cosmopolitan than many Cities, especially Americans! I've just moved back temporarily (spent first 26 years here) having lived in many different areas from London to middle of nowhere in The Highlands and for some reason it seems to have improved recently.

As pointed out above, house prices have dropped. Not surprising when you look at the number of new estates that are still springing up, some of which are fairly awful and I'm astonished they got planning permission! I'd agree with trailrat and recommend West out of the city ie. Mannofield (I know of a nice 3 bed semi for sale £10k under valuation 😉 up Deeside to Culter which now seems to be a much easier commute and minutes from good trails etc. That salary should get you something decent to rent before you decide if and where you want to buy.

You could consider Inverurie which is 20 miles northwest. Nice market town close to the trails maybe like you have near Boston. Its got way better transport links than the likes of Banchory. The commute is fine too with a multitude of options on quiet'ish roads but you'd be better with a road or cx bike.
I moved up to Aberdeen from Edinburgh nearly 30 years ago. Never regretted it. Moved out to Inverurie 15 years ago and haven't regretted that. I have 12 and 9 year old kids and I can confirm the 'shire' is a good place to bring them up.
As for the MTB in Aberdeenshire its gone from great to epic. There's no trail centre up here (yet) but the natural trails are special and the local trails association works hard on these. If you looks them up on Trail Forks that should give you some idea of the quantity, quality and amount of trails there are.

Winters are dark, there’s no hiding that. You wake up in the dark and drive home in the dark. You might get out on your bike with lights, but your wife and son might not be so hardy.

On the flip side, there’s nothing more breathtaking than going for a walk up a hill on a crisp blue winters day and looking at the snow covered Cairngorms in the distance. And, it all becomes so much more worth it in May onwards when the days start getting longer and the weather warms up. One summer day in Aberdeenshire is worth a 100 summer days stuck in London (or any other big city).

I got used to the remoteness personally. My family and my wife’s family are from the south coast of England. We drove down there about twice a year with three kids - about 12 hours including stops. iPads were our saviour. We never used Aberdeen airport due to the cost. If we needed to fly abroad on holiday then Edinburgh or Glasgow are much cheaper and not far away. The only annoying thing about the remoteness was the lack of shopping in Aberdeen - as I said before Amazon will be your new shopping centre.

It sounds from your last post OP that you’ve got a decent appreciation of the place despite our squabbling. Hopefully you get the job offer and then it’s up to you and your wife to decide. Good luck.

Last good dump that hung around was in 2010 .

Hmm yes that makes things a bit easier, says the guy whose ribs are still healing from being overeager to get out as things melted and slid right off the side of wooden feature.

@Stabilizers: I basically choose what jobs to focus on using HigherEdJobs.com and Trailforks. Not always in that order. 🙂 Of the four places for which I'm currently a finalist, Aberdeen and two of the others have spectacular riding, though different styles of terrain. The fourth? Eh, well it's close to family. And improving a bit.

My wife read this whole thread. If U of A would happen to be my best/only offer, she seems to be onboard. Though I do worry about the winter dark with her. Guess I'd need some of those full spectrum bulbs.

My wife read this whole thread.

Hello mrs_marcusbrody! I hope you know your husband does this 😉

I basically choose what jobs to focus on using HigherEdJobs.com and Trailforks. Not always in that order.

All said in jest of course. I do it myself. Currently living in Perth, Australia conveniently close to one of the best windsurfing beaches 🙂

I moved to Aberdeen for Uni in 2002 and have been here ever since. My job is in the O&G industry so that is partly the reason I'm still here but not sure if there is anywhere else I'd like to live anyway. A lot of people seem to think Aberdeen is isolated from the rest of the country but it's only 2.5 hours in the car to get to into Edinburgh and much closer to other areas in the central belt.

The city itself is nice enough I think. Plenty of amazing architecture and all the amenities you'd expect from the 3rd biggest city in Scotland - art gallery, parks and gardens, shops, cinemas, restaurants, swimming pools etc. Nice beaches and a wealth of forests and hills for walking/biking within a short car journey.

That salary sounds manageable to find somewhere nice to live - depends on what you are after. I am in Airyhall on the edge of the city and love it although would quite like my next house to be out Deeside in Cults/Bieldside/Milltimber (still very close to city centre). ASPC is the best website for property searching. I cycle the 6 miles to work every day (passing Aberdeen Uni) and although it's not ideal as I am going right through the city centre it doesn't put me off.

Aberdeen would be the second warmest place I’ve ever lived in the winter. Our average Jan/Feb lows here are -11 and I’m out all the time in that, so I’m well kitted for the cold at least.

It's not the air temperature that makes Northern UK winters uncomfortable.

IME I am a lot more comfortable in -5 to -10C, than I am in 1C. It's easy to keep the cold out with good clothing as everything seems so dry.

I spent the winter working in Northern Norway, it was more pleasant at -10C than at -1C.

The east coast of the UK in winter, with a NE'ly wind blowing is absolutely miserable.

Hello mrs_marcusbrody! I hope you know your husband does this 😉

Oh she is under no illusions as to what she married herself into. 🙂

It’s not the air temperature that makes Northern UK winters uncomfortable.

IME I am a lot more comfortable in -5 to -10C, than I am in 1C. It’s easy to keep the cold out with good clothing as everything seems so dry.

I don't disagree with this. 1C and raining is among my least favorite weather conditions, but it depends on what I'm doing. Still, I've got good rain gear and will head out if it's not pouring. If it is, the dog doesn't want to go either so I'm off the hook. This winter has been extremely warm by local standards so we've gotten a lot of the precipitation we normally get as

If it's not raining, I'm not sure I prefer the colder temps just for the lower humidity. I feel like it's just a bit easier to regulate temperature for high output activities when things are above freezing.

I am in Airyhall on the edge of the city and love it although would quite like my next house to be out Deeside in Cults/Bieldside/Milltimber (still very close to city centre).

If you're love where you're at, what are your reasons for wanting to move to a different area?

Also, general real estate question: As suggested, I looked up things on ASPC. What does "Price over" tend to translate to? I assume that they'll look at bids that come in over a that figure, but when I'm trying to get the feel for how expensive an area is, I don't know if sales tend to end up being around the "Price over" price or way above it.

Thanks!

Also, general real estate question: As suggested, I looked up things on ASPC. What does “Priced over” tend to translate to? I assume that they’ll look at bids that come in over a that figure, but when I’m trying to get the feel for how expensive an area is, I don’t know if sales tend to end up being around the “Priced over” price or way above it.

In theory you are correct however the reality at the moment is that you are unlikely to have to pay more than that price as demand is low. If you register on the ASPC site (it’s free and I don’t remember too much spam) you will be able to look at the “home report” which will have more detail and will include a valuation figure rather than what someone wants. I’d still treat it with a degree of caution but it should be more or less what you’d expect to pay.

I moved up to Aberdeen for college in 2001, and naturally got sucked into the oil industry. Moved out to Torphins way a few years later, got married, had kids, and escaped to civilization three years ago. No exaggeration, it would take a six figure salary for a one day week to get me back there.
Aberdeen as a city was somewhere I could never warm to, no matter how hard I tried. It has all the ingredients of somewhere brilliant yet manages to fail hard. Because of the oil, there are folk from the whole world over living there, and yet there are no celebrations of culture. Like, at all.
Loads of green spaces and cool architecture, but none of it is maintained particularly well. They concreted over the rose hill a few years back...
Aberdeen has its own Highway Code, which is often in direct contradiction to the lane markings. It's a horrible place to drive in.
It is DARK. Capitals entirely deliberate. If my wife hadn't bought me a Philips goLite eight years ago I honestly would not be here today - I was at the stage of working out the best way to commit suicide to not leave too much of a mess behind. So light therapy works, but honestly do not dismiss the mental effects of getting up in the dark one morning in late September and knowing you're not going to see daylight until Saturday at 10am. If you're lucky. Exercise does help, but SAD is VERY real and finding the motivation can be incredibly tough.
Don't get me wrong, there are some lovely parts of Aberdeenshire - and, as has been mentioned, some incredible mountain biking - but the dark and the damp far outweigh the pretty scenery you don't get enough time in.

In my experience, the behaviours around 'Price over' depends on demand in the area at the time.

Properties in Scotland generally need to have a rudimentary survey / valuation completed before they hit the market ( https://www.mygov.scot/buying-a-home/home-report/), and it is usually this valuation the figure is based on.

We bought a 1 bedroom flat in Banchory in 2014 at the tail end of a period of high demand, and paid 5k over* the valuation price. When we moved to a house in 2017, demand for property was much lower, and we paid 5k under the valuation. I'd not expect to pay over the valuation price in the current environment. You'll see things like 'Offers over £xxx', 'Offers around £xxx' and 'Fixed price of £xxx' depending on how long the property has been on the market and how desperate the seller is to get rid of it.

You can put a simple offer in for a property, and that may be accepted. Or, if there is deemed to be more interest in the property, the seller can set a closing date - where sealed bids are sent and opened / decided on at that date. I tried to avoid those!

* Mortgage companies will usually only take the valuation into account when providing a mortgage. If you do end up offering over the valuation, this will need to come out of your pocket above any deposit you have towards the property. It seemed like a cash gift to the seller, and did not sit well with me at the time!

It’s not really damp is it? Aberdeen weather is a lot drier than the west.

Yes the short days in winter due to the northerly latitude have an impact. However you can get some nice sunny winter days. My antidote is to go on a warm climate holiday during the dark months. It helps the mood by breaking up the 16 week or so period of short days/long nights. I’ve never understood why people go for warm climate holidays in British summertime.

you’re love where you’re at, what are your reasons for wanting to move to a different area?

That's a fair point! I think those places might just feel more 'village' like although I guess they are really not. All are within 5 miles of my current house.

is DARK. Capitals entirely deliberate.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some lovely parts of Aberdeenshire – and, as has been mentioned, some incredible mountain biking – but the dark and the damp far outweigh the pretty scenery you don’t get enough time in.

I don't know where you've moved to but I don't really get the dark or wet thing. Obviously the further north you go the darker it gets but you are talking a few minutes here and there. Lets compare it to Glasgow for instance - I know where I'd rather live (considering weather alone).

Hours of daylight 1st Dec 2019
Aberdeen: 7 hours 10 mins
Glasgow: 7 hours 29mins

Average Yearly Rainfall:
Aberdeen: 866mm
Glasgow: 1245mm

I don't think that's a fair comparison, really. What are those figures at actual midwinter? And Glasgow has more rain, maybe, but smir and haar? Hell no. Glasgow also has decent public transport. I mean, how much easier would it be to get from ABZ to town if the railway station was on the terminal side of the airport?

Glasgow is 6:58
ABERDEEN is 6:40

So that’s 18 minutes difference at midwinter.

It’s a fair point about the integration of the airport and trains although the roads are much quicker now that the bypass has opened so probably less of a need.

 Obviously the further north you go the darker it gets but you are talking a few minutes here and there

Quite. This map puts it into some perspective.

That's the US and Canada transposed onto Europe at the same latitude.

The Aberdeen knockers are getting a bit delusional now. Rail links to an airport are non existent in Scotland. Why is Aberdeen called a shithole for not having a rail link to the airport when the installation of a Glasgow rail link to the airport is still a concept?

We don’t get HAAR in winter in Aberdeen it’s too windy. The thing about the HAAR is you just drive inland to Deeside and enjoy the sun. Then in winter when it’s -7 in Deeside stay at the coast and it’s ice free.

Aberdeen as a city was somewhere I could never warm to, no matter how hard I tried. It has all the ingredients of somewhere brilliant yet manages to fail hard. Because of the oil, there are folk from the whole world over living there, and yet there are no celebrations of culture. Like, at all.
Loads of green spaces and cool architecture, but none of it is maintained particularly well. They concreted over the rose hill a few years back…

This sums up the city of Aberdeen to me. I've lived in the Shire for 12 years and worked up here for 20. Aberdeenshire in general is great for all the reasons mentioned previously. The city is so dilapidated it's unreal, considering the amount of money which has passed through it over the years. I've never understood it. It's been in a position to put itself on the cultural map for decades and did nothing. Wood Group and Shell offered to pay for a bypass in the late 70's/early 80's and it was knocked back. Finally it became a thing in 2019! I was in the town centre yesterday and it depressed the life out of me (in fairness most centres are struggling). It's also surrounded by industrial estates on pretty much all points of the compass. I think the fact that a lot of the workforce is transient has had a negative effect. I'll be flamed by Aberdonians for saying it but Dundee seems like a working class city doing a good job of transitioning itself into a cultural place to visit. The geography of Aberdeen makes it a little insular also. The other three big cities are less than an hour apart, whereas Aberdeen sits alone somewhat.

mean, how much easier would it be to get from ABZ to town if the railway station was on the terminal side of the airport?

Now I realise you won't have experianced it but the bypass is here.

The bus to town works as designed and is regular and quick.