r/Glasgow Tools

Divola

Reddit URLhttps://www.reddit.com/user/Divola
Last 12 monthsTotalDeletedRemoved
r/Glasgow posts300
r/glasgow comments9200

Interests:

  • Just randomly went with my friend there today and it actually felt like a very nice area with lots of cute shops and cafés, especially around Victoria Road. Ok Cathcart Road, Allison and Calder Street did seem a bit run down but honestly even there it looked better than some parts of Leith and Gorgie here in Edinburgh. I imagine I'd get a different impression of the place if I walked around after dark though? by Divola (Sat 2nd Oct 2021 9:11pm)
  • I see - I mean as I said it's a very superficial impression and I'm probably not aware of a lot of the nuances. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 11:40am)
  • Yeah I wouldn't say it's a bad place to live either - it's got a nice park nearby and it honestly looks fair enough given what rents I've seen there. I just came in there with extremely inflated expectations based on what's circulating on the media and was left disappointed but that doesn't mean it's a shithole. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 11:55am)
  • Yeah, sadly it's no different back in Bulgaria - Romani people are perpetually associated with crime and lack of education, and whenever a Romani person does commit a crime, it's blown out of proportion and taken to represent the entirety of the ethnic group. There was a survey a few years ago that showed that 70% of employers are unwilling to hire a Romani worker, and that's in a country where jobs are already in a short supply. It's no wonder they take the lead of shady traffickers and allow themselves to be cramped in overcrowded flats and exploited here in the UK. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 12:04pm)
  • Tbh it was probably a publicity stunt precisely meant to give a bump to rents / house prices. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 12:09pm)
  • https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/cool-neighbourhoods-uk Tbh I wouldn't necessarily disagree with this. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 12:18pm)
  • Yup, everything you say is correct, fully agree! by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 12:45pm)
  • In all fairness, even in the most respectable areas you can find the occasional needle chucked in your stairwell. I live in an area of Edinburgh that no one would really call dangerous yet a kid had his face slashed by a drug dealer in my street a few months ago. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 1:00pm)
  • Yeah as I said in reply to another comment, it's not that I found Dennistoun to be a bad area per se. Needing some attention here and there - definitely. But given that I've seen 1-bed flats there going for £450 pcm only a few months ago - it's a pretty fair deal honestly. It really reminded me of Gorgie in Edinburgh. Not a bad or dangerous area by any means, maintenance leaving lots to be desired - but also not an area I'd describe as "hip and cool" or really take any visitor to the city to. :) On the point of it being close to the City Center, my comment would be that despite the physical proximity it seems to be separated from the Centre by a handsome stretch of mostly uninhabited areas that I wouldn't personally feel safe walking through after dark. So if I'm going for a drink in the Centre, I would probably have to rely on taxis or public transport to get back home, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the physical proximity to the Centre. Just my impression though. :) by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 1:42pm)
  • I actually entered down Cathcart Road, did a loop down Queen's Park and returned to the centre via Victoria Road. I mean fair to say I didn't walk down every. single. street of the neighborhood (although did try and do my homework on Street View before posting this) but it's also not like Vicky Road was all I saw. :) by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 1:54pm)
  • Is it a bad thing they spent money doing up the area? Any semi-major urban renewal project is going to cost at least a few mil. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 1:58pm)
  • I mean yeah I wouldn't expect rents to be lower than that in a relatively central area of a major city with a stable job market and a wealth of high-paid jobs £450 is how much you'd pay for an okay-ish flat in the East End of Dundee or in most of Perth. You can't even find a place in the West End of Dundee for that. I'm not sure why you expect Dennistoun should be cheaper than that. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 3:22pm)
  • Yeah, thanks for the suggestion, will check it out next time! I doubt there was even one car in the whole of Glasgow when Duke Street was originally laid out. 🤭 by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 3:47pm)
  • What details about you do they ask him to input? He should always check if the letting agent is on the Scottish Letting Agents Register. If they are, honestly I don't imagine they'd go on and ruin their reputation by using your details for a malicious purpose. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 4:57pm)
  • Yeah that's quite a bit of info that I wouldn't expect to have to give just to book a viewing. I guess it depends on the letting agency, some want to sift applicants pre-viewing on popular properties - still quite the overkill imo. I just checked and I had provided name, address, email and telephone number of my guarantor when I last applied 1 year ago. And that was already at the application stage. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 5:15pm)
  • Dunno, pretty sure I've seen a few flats on Aitken Street on Zoopla that were advertised at £450-475. That was Feb-Mar time. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 10:49pm)
  • Yeah haha I suppose pictures always make it look way better 😁 well in Edinburgh £650 is currently the bare minimum for a habitable flat, hopefully going to fall by £20-30 in the depths of winter 🙏 by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 11:10pm)
  • That's so weird, Covid had the exact opposite effect on Edinburgh rents! Yeah I suppose although if your job is in Edinburgh and you're expected to be in the office 2 times a week you might as well pay the £100 extra for a pad in the city rather than on commuting. Plus with a bit of luck 650 can actually get you a place in a nice and central area like Dalry, Fountainbridge or South Leith, and not necessarily a bad place at that. by Divola (Mon 4th Oct 2021 11:30pm)
  • Yeah had a walk through that area as well when I went, it didn't seem horrible but not the most inviting either. I do realize it's all bright red / burgundy on the SIMD though. I guess Dennistoun has now blown up to a ginormous extent in estate agents' parlance now that it's gotten trendier, just like in Edinburgh they're now trying to pass Lochend and Restalrig for Leith 😅 by Divola (Tue 5th Oct 2021 11:21am)
  • Yeah that's why I'm currently thinking I should prioritise saving for a bidding budget rather than a mortgage deposit, as regardless to the price I could expect to have to cough up to £20k above the HR value in order to secure the property I'd like. I'm not comfortable paying more than £20k above what's meant to be the objective value of the property for the types of property I'd be looking at. Then hopefully I'd have another £20k on top of that for a proper mortgage deposit but if it's less than that by the time I want to buy, I just need to decrease my range in accordance with the LTV. How does this sound as a strategy? :) by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 8:58am)
  • Tbh I don't get why houses aren't sold like any other item. The independent valuator comes, says this place is worth this much, and that's the fixed price of the property, no more, no less. When it comes to who wins the property, it's simply first come, first serve. Just like when I buy bananas from the grocery store, I'm not expected to haggle and bend over backwards to offer a higher purchase price, I don't get why the same doesn't happen with properties? by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 9:14am)
  • Yeah sounds like a great idea, will try and be as charming as possible 😁 by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 1:12pm)
  • I mean for most flats out there I'd need to spend at least £2-3k putting in furniture, painting the walls, and just essentially making it feel homely. In my experience, very few flats are sold with the furniture that's seen in pictures. So I will need to spend on furniture and freshening anyway, might as well spend a bit more repainting and fixing some damp issues if they aren't that serious. But what do I know having never owned a property haha by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 1:18pm)
  • Haha yeah worst case scenario will just bring my dad over from Bulgaria for a couple of weeks, he's quite experienced in this kind of stuff so defo not a deal-breaker for me. But at the end of the day, I don't want to bid more than £10k, worst case £15k, above HR, so if anyone wants to pay any more than that, will find sth else. It's not like paying rent is crippling me at this point so don't think I should get desperate and try and punch above my weight. by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 2:09pm)
  • Yup, I'm already catching up with one, but always good to hear stuff from different sources :) by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 2:11pm)
  • I mean thing is if you study in the Uni of Glasgow you kind of have to stay in the West End or the Centre as getting to 9am lectures from anywhere else would be a nightmare. by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 4:45pm)
  • I mean it's not necessarily the worst thing in the world but understandably something people are willing to pay quite the premium to avoid by Divola (Wed 6th Oct 2021 4:52pm)
  • You should seriously consider Cumbernauld or East Kilbride. Unparalleled beauty there. by Divola (Sun 10th Oct 2021 2:18pm)
  • I mean Aberdeen found the solution to bring down property prices. Just make sure Glasgow's economy takes a solid downturn and suddenly housing will become much more affordable. :) by Divola (Fri 22nd Oct 2021 5:34pm)
  • Haven't fallen much? Don't know about you but selling a property for 40-60% less than I bought it for wouldn't really put a smile on my face 😁 1. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=27642764&sale=21031444&country=scotland 2. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=75263220&sale=21029911&country=scotland 3. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=79908998&sale=21031426&country=scotland 4. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=80256375&sale=20966707&country=scotland 5. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=14858679&sale=20914423&country=scotland 6. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=75637090&sale=20875297&country=scotland by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 12:22am)
  • Yeah... and I don't think an economic downturn is going to increase affordability particularly - realistically it might present a perfect opportunity for investors to scoop up even more properties on the cheap while banks would be reluctant to lend to FTB who might be facing increasing job insecurity. A potential solution is to make it illegal or financially unsustainable for a legal person to own more than a set number of properties (e.g. 3). This would force a lot of investors to flood the market with their excess properties, and will actually make it relatively easy for FTB to get on the ladder. I can see this turning into a massive eviction crisis short term though... Not that I imagine any government passing such legislation that is. by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 12:54am)
  • I mean I guess the way you'd sell it to homeowners is the following: While 64.4% of the UK population owned a home according to Eurostat in 2014, only 11% of UK adults owned more than 1 property in 2014-15 (meaning the share of the UK population who do so is necessarily *less* than 11%) according to the Resolution Foundation. Therefore, only 1 in 6 UK homeowners actually owns properties capable of generating income beyond the occasional renting of spare rooms on Airbnb or having to share a house with your tenants. Putting a limit on property ownership will, yes, decrease the valuation of small-scale homeowners' primary residences but will in turn allow them to get themselves 1-2 income-generating rental properties relatively cheaply, and without having to bid against large-scale portfolio investors that would be flush with cash. You could couple that with generous tax breaks on rental income and potential council tax discount - both things I'm really in favour of as a renter because whatever tax my landlord has to pay on his rental income gets passed onto me. Not sure how to resolve the large-scale eviction crisis that will surely ensue though. Another option is to declare homes below a certain valuation threshold (potentially dependent on location) "starter homes", and for example bar anyone with assets over £300k (or any group of buyers with joint assets over £300k) from submitting a bid on that property. I think that would have a similar effect and will be more painless. by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 1:18pm)
  • A wave of unintentional landlords is actually great news for renters as it means the rental market is suddenly flooded with lots of properties owned by landlords with low ability to influence general market prices - so that should generally lead to rents plummeting and housing becoming affordable for the less wealthy. In case you lose your job, can't keep up repayments on your mortgage, and can't sell your home, there could potentially be a government buyout scheme which converts the bought units into social housing. You could even be allowed to stay in your property after the buyout and pay social rent until you get back on your feet. by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 1:37pm)
  • Is it just me or was Glasgow actually a lot cleaner and more welcoming a few years ago? by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 10:23pm)
  • I'm a bit on the edge about rent control. While the rental market is clearly not a competitive one (landlords are able to exert quite a bit of market power for a variety of reasons) and thereby a well-positioned rent ceiling can actually increase the supply of rental units, my hunch is that there'd be political pressure from a lot of sides to place it an unsustainably low level - thereby you get too many landlords exiting the market, and therefore a shortage of rental units. The last thing I want as a renter coming into a city would be to have to wait years for a property to open up for me to rent - what use are low rents for me in this case? Also rent control sounds like sth that would push even more landlords over the edge and push them to convert their units to Airbnbs. I think the place to start is short-term lets. I don't think stricter licencing and supply restrictions are really the way to go as landlords would always be looking at the barrel with the honey and would be willing to go through lots of hoops to get into it. This is especially true if we create an artificial shortage of Airbnb units where prices would be extremely high. I think it's good to instead put a cap on Airbnb prices, for example in the following way - every licenced property will have an automatic rental valuation, revised every month (Zoopla's algorithm is a great starting point), and no Airbnb (or a similar type of short-term let) is allowed to earn a revenue higher than 75% of its rental valuation in that month. Any excess revenue will have to be surrendered to the government. This will encourage a lot of landlords to instead convert their properties to long-term lets, which would drive down rental prices and increase the choices available to tenants at any price point. It will also, inevitably, create some degree of saturation on the rental market, beyond which excess Airbnbs would be put on sale, bringing down prices for FTB, and presumably shielding them from the competition of investors as Scotland wouldn't be particularly attractive for BTL investors anymore given low yields in both Airbnb and long-term rentals. I don't expect this process to be as frictionless as I described but it definitely seems like it can lead to good results. Of course, such a cap will practically kill short-term rentals in Scotland, which do have their place, not only for tourist accommodation but also for people just coming into a city and having to go on viewing for rental properties, etc. New hotels will probably be built off the back of that additional demand even without the government nudging it, but if there's still too little tourist accommodation, the government can also step in and build some. Ideally, these new hotel developments would be concentrated in the outskirts of cities, so the centres stay reserved for residents. by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 11:20pm)
  • I'm not sure I can properly compare them given that I've spent WAY more time in Edinburgh than in Glasgow. The sad truth is that both are really beautiful cities that often look like they're inhabited by pigs. by Divola (Sat 23rd Oct 2021 11:50pm)
  • Meanwhile in Aberdeen... https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/59846115?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api by Divola (Thu 28th Oct 2021 6:16pm)
  • Yeah same deal in Edinburgh been seeing flats that last year were going for £650 now going for £750... Really hoping it's just a temporary state while the COP is going on. by Divola (Thu 28th Oct 2021 6:56pm)
  • Pretty angry my employer started wanting us in the office 1-2 times a week again. Otherwise would've just hopped to Aberdoon and lived like a king. 😅 by Divola (Thu 28th Oct 2021 7:13pm)
  • Why don't you look for a place outside Glasgow - EK, Hamilton, Paisley, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, Stirling even? If you're able to put 10% over valuation on a Southside property, you're probably going to more than comfortably get yourself something. Yes, you'd have to commute and pay for it but you'd arguably be saving all of the money you're paying on your mortgage as you should in theory get them refunded with profits the day you sell. Buy yourself something in the outskirts. No one is going to be bidding 10-20% over valuation there. Hold it until you can sell with a decent profit. Then put down all of the cash you get from the sale on a dream Glasgow property. I know it's not ideal but it's a start, no? by Divola (Tue 2nd Nov 2021 8:24pm)
  • I mean it's not just Renfrewshire, pretty much the whole of the Central Belt and a good chunk of the West Coast are reasonably commutable to Glasgow. If OP is able to put a 10% bid over HR on a "dream" Southside property, I assume they have at least £10-12k saved in cash to bid with + obviously valuations would be lower outside Glasgow so their bidding budget would grow to £15k or more. I'm pretty sure there's a decent enough property somewhere in that vast area with decent links to Glasgow that would go for less than £15k over. I mean I live a spitting distance from Haymarket station and the flat next door recently went for just £3k over. My neighbour holding his motorcycle in the stairwell and half of the properties in the stairwell being social housing and the other half Airbnbs probably helped but just goes on to show that you shouldn't lose hope. :) by Divola (Tue 2nd Nov 2021 8:53pm)
  • Well these are places that are barely outside Glasgow so obviously on everyone's radar. Kilmarnock, Largs, Greenock, Irvine, Ayr, Lanark, Falkirk, Stirling - there must certainly be something there that would go for less than £10k over HR. Let's also not forget that 10% over HR in Falkirk is like £7k while in Glasgow it's usually £11-12k. by Divola (Tue 2nd Nov 2021 10:55pm)
  • I mean a 3-bed property at OO 150k isn't bad in my book, here in Edinburgh that's pretty much how much 3-beds in Wester Hailes, Pilton, Granton and Oxgangs are advertised for (they start from 120k but the point still stands). And I imagine in your mining village you'd at least be getting a decent private garden with that 3-bed house. by Divola (Tue 2nd Nov 2021 11:13pm)
  • Not sure interest rates rising is great news - yes, it means the nominal prices of houses will fall - and whoever was hoping to flip their flat it 2 years with a massive profit might be in for a treat - but also the cost of borrowing will increase significantly, your mortgage payments won't fall and will rise if anything, only that this time you'll be paying a lot more dead money (interest) as a percentage of your mortgage payment. by Divola (Wed 3rd Nov 2021 8:43am)
  • I mean there's truth to that argument but it's also true that mortgage payments for current homeowners will rise, buying won't become cheaper for first-time buyers, and rents might also rise as a result. Maybe I'll get a bit better rate on savings accounts but definitely nothing inflation-beating. So yes it will hurt speculators but will hurt a lot of normal people as well. by Divola (Wed 3rd Nov 2021 10:57am)
  • I disagree. The reason we're saying housing is unaffordable is not the valuations themselves. Ok, bumping up the interest rate might well decrease the valuation of the property I'm interested in from £140k to £100k let's say, so ok that's £4k less you need to put on a 10% deposit. But 4k is what - 3-5 months extra saving for a person on a decent salary? Certainly not the end of the world and certainly not something we need to put millions into potential negative equity to avert. Not to mention that whatever you're saving in deposit costs you're probably more than making up in increased monthly mortgage payments. The issue is the bidding over valuation part and the insane amounts of cash you need to stash in order to be successful at it. It's that the flat in Paisley you're looking at might be valued at £45k and should theoretically be within reach for everyone earning minimum wage but in order to secure it you need to bid like £30k over - money no bank will be willing to lend you and you'll just have to have there sitting in cash. And that bidding over valuation part will be just as insane under higher interest rates because you will still have some people who will be flush with cash and many others that will struggle to raise the required amount. by Divola (Wed 3rd Nov 2021 11:50am)
  • I mean obviously not speaking from experience here but I imagine it depends on the type of property. I can see how huge mansion-like 3-bed houses in Ayrshire would go 15-25% over HR, but there's no way in my mind a small 1/2-bedroom flat in Ayr would generate the same amount of interest and therefore range of offers that a comparable property in the Glasgow Southside would. So I guess the way to think about it is that by moving to the countryside you'll probably be able to more easily get something comparable to what you were looking in the city. But you won't suddenly be able to get a mansion for the same money as a 1-bed in Glasgow, even if asking prices would make it seem like this is the case. by Divola (Wed 3rd Nov 2021 12:00pm)
  • I really disagree with the opinion lending is any cheap now. The fact that you need to raise a 10-15% deposit to qualify for a mortgage and you can't borrow more than 4.5x your gross income prices out enough people out of the housing market already. I'm not sure pricing out even more people off the housing market by making borrowing even harder is the way to go. The real place where checks need to be implemented is the bidding over HR bit. As it currently stands, it allows people who have loads of cash sitting there to have a complete free rein on the housing market and for everyone else to just be confronted by frustration after frustration. It allows some people to buy up 20 BTL properties which should theoretically be accessible to first-time buyers according to their valuations. This creates a terrible concentration of property ownership, which is imo what is pushing prices (and rents) up in the end. Any market where there's much more buyers than sellers and where sellers can strategically restrict supply in order to achieve higher profits is an uncompetitive one by definition and as such needs fixing - sooner rather than later. by Divola (Wed 3rd Nov 2021 12:12pm)
  • I mean first of all I think it's incredibly close-minded to say that lending in general is cheap just because you own an expensive asset and have access to cheap credit as a result. Yes, I'm under 30. Yes, I'm not a homeowner. But I don't see how higher interest rates will make my situation easier. Yes valuations therefore mortgage deposit will be a bit lower - but I very much expect that the cash freed up will fly away in even more heated bidding wars. Because it's not going to be just me that will have a bit more spare cash - so will everyone else. My mortgage payments won't fall but my valuation would. Might even go into negative equity for a wee bit. Which is I guess fine to the extent that I shouldn't feel entitled to sell in a year in profit - but I don't think remortgaging would be particularly easy if my valuation has plummeted, so I might end up stuck on a SVR after all. Even fixed rate deals themselves will get more expensive when the base rate goes up, as the bank would obviously not offer something that would put it in the red. Maybe on the other hand there'd be less BTL investors to compete with. But a lot of them are flush with cash after selling expensive properties anyway and they can always raise rent to cover higher mortgage costs so don't expect them to disappear as competition. Less BTL also likely means growth of rental properties doesn't match demand, exerting further upward pressure on renters. Higher rates might even push more of them to switch to Airbnb if it has higher margins - so overall happy days to be a renter! So yeah overall I think higher rates won't resolve anything and are acceptable for just a brief period to calm down consumer price inflation. They will, yes, bring down valuations, but end up hurting the exact people they're meant to help - renters, first-time buyers, and people who have just bought and haven't built up enough equity in their property. And I don't think an extra £20/year in interest on my bank account will outweigh this. by Divola (Wed 3rd Nov 2021 2:52pm)
  • Even rent isn't that much more expensive in Edinburgh. For a fairly decent area in Glasgow you'd be looking at a monthly rent of at least 650-700. Which is exactly how much flats in Gorgie/Dalry/Leith/Fountainbridge/Abbeyhill start from. by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 10:55am)
  • I mean I live in one of these bottom of the barrel 1-beds, 34 m2 so more than enough for 1 person, 5 min from Haymarket station, pretty acceptable condition, EPC D, no problems with letting agent so far - and that's £650 per month from me. A room in a flat share will set you back £600 only in Newington or Marchmont, and that will likely be with all bills included. Where I live you'd be looking at £400 pcm to share a 2-bed flat. Needs to be kept in mind that Glasgow is a much larger city in terms of area and has lots more terrible neighbourhoods (as defined by being red or dark red on the SIMD). by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 11:42am)
  • I mean let's compare Hillhead with Merchiston then: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115512158?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=lettings&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_LET by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 11:47am)
  • Don't know what you were looking at but £800 gets you a 1-bed on the Grassmarket: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/60126258?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api It's got electric heating, yes, but definitely within my definition of "decent". by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 12:09pm)
  • I mean fair enough there's probably major issues with this one but never say never: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/60114296?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 12:42pm)
  • There is a toilet - picture #8. :) I don't know, for me the difference in prices has never been enough to convince me to move over to Glasgow - but I mean obviously that's just my opinion. by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 12:47pm)
  • See I think I'm probably looking at it differently as I'm still renting. And when the difference between a flat in a shite area of Glasgow or Dundee vs a nice enough place in a decent area of Edinburgh is £150-200 before you take into account any commuting you might have to do, it's much easier to convince yourself that staying in Edi is worth it after all. I'll be looking to buy in 2-3 years hopefully though and as it stands I simply can't borrow enough money to get myself what I want in Edi, so probably that will be the point I'm going to be leaving. by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 12:56pm)
  • I mean what I would normally do is go and view it, see if it fits my definition of decent, and then potentially proceed. Obviously will look into reviews of the letting agent, consider the fact it's electric heating and an EPC so low they haven't even disclosed it, etc. I did view a place that was £525 on Spey Terrace a bit back out of interest. Had very low expectations and was still disappointed haha. But I don't know, been living in what you'd probably consider a "shite" flat in Dalry for more than a year now and honestly feel like it's decent enough for me at this stage of my life. by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 1:08pm)
  • See thing is that Leith has been able to position itself as a "cool" neighborhood in a way that Dalry, Gorgie and Fountainbridge still haven't be able to and hopefully never will. Trainspotting firmly etched Leith into pop culture to the extent it's now a tourist destination in its own right, while my part of town is still relatively anonymous... still. by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 1:18pm)
  • I mean fair enough but as a single person I personally wouldn't need much more space than the Merchiston flat. Now if we're talking a couple living in that flat - yes, that would be horrible. Also ok - ground floor in Merchiston vs top floor in Govan, but then again the Merchiston one has EPC D vs EPC G in Govan. Have fun heating that! by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 2:23pm)
  • No I'm comparing a mini apple that's presented in a nice bowl of fruits to a huge apple that's thrown in a pile of dogshit. They're sold to me at pretty much the exact same price. And I personally know which one I'd prefer. Not imposing my opinion on anyone though. by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 2:36pm)
  • I mean fair enough maybe if you're comparing Edinburgh and Glasgow flats apples for apples, Glasgow ones would be like £50 cheaper but if you're looking at places that are noticeably cheaper than £625-650 to the tune of what would make it worth it for me to pack my bags and shoot off to Glasgow - these are almost universally in terrible areas and no less shite than what I'm currently inhabiting. Like sure my rent will fall to £475 if I moved to an unfurnished 1-bed in Shettleston with basically the same parameters as my flat, but are the extra £175 in my pocket really worth it sticking myself there? by Divola (Fri 5th Nov 2021 4:59pm)
  • Not exactly a Polish one but there's a Bulgarian shop in Duke Street and they've got some really cool food there :) by Divola (Sun 21st Nov 2021 3:15pm)
  • Yep exactly - would recommend trying lyutenitsa, kashkaval, halva and lokum :) by Divola (Sun 21st Nov 2021 3:38pm)
  • Not from Glasgow but I'm sure it varies considerably by area, with Kelvinside/Yorkhill/Hyndland tenements being significantly more pleasant to live in than Ibrox/Shettleston/Govan ones - even if in terms of construction they're broadly comparable. by Divola (Sun 28th Nov 2021 8:45am)
  • Mate think that's more due to the people you were sharing the stair with rather than the construction of the building. by Divola (Sun 28th Nov 2021 8:52am)
  • Again I think that's more the fault of the people inhabiting said tenements rather than a fault of the tenement itself as a type of building. If you take an Edinburgh New Town townhouse and fill it with drug addicts, it's going to turn into a shitehole as well. by Divola (Sun 28th Nov 2021 12:22pm)
  • It is actually a common practice from letting agents to ask for part of the deposit upfront as what's effectively a fully refundable holding fee. If you ask them if they'd refund the money if the contract falls through, they'd generally say Yes (and if they say No - run away immediately - also make sure you have their Yes in writing somewhere so you can hold it against them if they subsequently refuse to refund). If the money paid upfront is later put into the deposit and is fully refundable if the contract falls through, then it's a legal gray area - but the agents know the tenant is much less likely to accept a few offers for properties at the same time if they have to pay a few hundred to accept an offer, even if that sum is fully refundable if the deal doesn't go through. Unfortunately it's letting agents we're talking about and they'll use any possible loophole in the law to their advantage... by Divola (Fri 3rd Dec 2021 3:32pm)
  • Yeah obviously avoid such letting agents if possible... But unfortunately it seems to be a very common practice. :( by Divola (Fri 3rd Dec 2021 8:35pm)
  • Yes, if the tenancy goes through. If it falls, they'll have to refund it - that's the law. I'd specifically warn about Littlejohns in Edinburgh though - when I was looking at renting with them they stated in the email that if the tenancy fails, they'd be keeping £175 out of my £200 holding fee. by Divola (Sat 4th Dec 2021 6:52am)
  • In my understanding this kind of stuff usually happens to people who are already steeped in criminal circles, it's not necessarily that if you move to a deprived area, locals are out there looking to stab and maul unsuspecting strangers in the street. by Divola (Sun 9th Jan 2022 5:24pm)
  • Amen, Edinburgh's West End is an absolute warzone, after all someone got shot there two years ago! - [https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/bradley-welsh-murder-edinburghs-gang-22226124](https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/bradley-welsh-murder-edinburghs-gang-22226124) Also avoid roaming around Edinburgh Castle, you might get stabbed! - https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scissor-killer-who-stabbed-innocent-21167714 by Divola (Sun 9th Jan 2022 9:03pm)
  • This raises the question of why 80% of street space is largely devoted to an inefficient, noisy and polluting means of transportation that a large proportion of its users don't even know how to properly manage, as evidenced by the hundreds of deadly car crashes every single year. Hm? by Divola (Fri 14th Jan 2022 8:20pm)
  • A bus can transport like 10x more people per square meter occupied and per kg of emissions generated. In most cases you can run a smashing bus service using 1/2-1/3 of the space currently devoted to traffic. by Divola (Fri 14th Jan 2022 8:25pm)
  • More immigration? Have you seen the growth of rents and house prices recently? by Divola (Wed 19th Jan 2022 2:00pm)
  • What's stopping the landlord from saying "The cleaner you hired did a crap job, so we had to hire another one at the cost of £200 from your deposit"? by Divola (Wed 19th Jan 2022 2:56pm)
  • I've actually asked my letting agency's favourite cleaning company for a quote, and they quoted me £220 for a 34 m2 one-bed flat (oven & window clean included, thank God!!). Feels like a bit of an overkill given my deposit is £400 and I'm sure my letting agent will find a way to claim my remaining £180 on non-cleanliness related items. by Divola (Wed 19th Jan 2022 9:40pm)
  • Using your time to learn new skills relevant to your job or a position you're aspiring towards will likely bring you a way better return on investment. That and working 20-30 hours a week on top of a full-time job can lead you to burnout and start affecting your performance on your main job - so if you're not careful, you can easily jeopardise your main source of income. Or at the very least it can lead you to give your bare minimum there, meaning you'll struggle to secure promotions and the like. I mean, by all means, you might make it work. But in my opinion, unless you really really really need the little extra money, your spare time is better spent upskilling your self and making sure you're getting enough rest. by Divola (Fri 11th Feb 2022 8:25pm)
  • Um no, just conscious of the fact that with a bit of extra skills and qualifications here and there OP can probably secure a promotion either in their current company or a rival one that's going to give them a significantly bigger pay bump than the extra £200-300 pm that they're going to earn in a bar or waiting tables. And that's without them having to necessarily work more hours than they currently do. by Divola (Sat 12th Feb 2022 2:41am)
  • Whether you're going to profit from the house shouldn't matter if you're looking at is a home rather than an asset and you're willing to stay there for at least 5 years - as you honestly should in a normal world. by Divola (Wed 16th Feb 2022 12:26pm)
  • Central to Haymarket then Haymarket to Queen Street probably 😅 by Divola (Sun 20th Feb 2022 5:28pm)
  • Where in Glasgow is it best to look for a bargain (as in something that wouldn't go 30% over HR)? Haghill, Bridgeton, Scotstoun, Yoker, Ibrox, Cessnock, Possil, Shettleston, Tollcross, Rutherglen... or something else? by Divola (Fri 11th Mar 2022 4:42pm)
  • Oh god, houses are way beyond my budget so can't help the slightest. I *might* be able to buy a house in Methil but that's about it 😅 by Divola (Fri 11th Mar 2022 4:48pm)
  • Travel would be like £120 per month with a ZoneCard, right? by Divola (Fri 11th Mar 2022 4:50pm)
  • Unfortunately it's locals whose families have lived in Dumbarton for centuries who will suffer the worst consequences from this. What seems like a bargain to a Glasgow professional is probably already prohibitively expensive for a Dumbarton nurse, and it will probably get worse. And that's how the town will gradually fill up with commuters who only use it as a dormitory and hollow out of any semblance of a local community. I'm probably exaggerating a bit but we've seen this play out in so many places already. At the end of the day we need concerted government policy to ensure that good jobs and amenities aren't overwhelmingly concentrated in big cities, I think this will alleviate a lot of the housing market pressure from Edinburgh, Glasgow and the surrounding areas. by Divola (Fri 11th Mar 2022 5:41pm)
  • I was about to say that if things don't work out I'll go back to Bulgaria and buy a mansion with these money until I realised that in Sofia 60 m2 flats in panel blocks that wouldn't be out of place in Wyndford or Castlemilk are already going for €130-140k. Probably doesn't sound that bad until you realise that the average salary in Sofia is no more than 1/2 that in Glasgow. So apparently it's not just in Scotland that the housing market has gone utterly nuts. 😂 by Divola (Fri 11th Mar 2022 6:25pm)
  • I mean sure it currently is but what will happen when more and more highly paid professionals are priced out of Glasgow and have to move to Dumbarton? by Divola (Fri 11th Mar 2022 7:21pm)
  • Great to hear they're already looking to expand the housing stock, hope it will be on a large enough scale to keep the town affordable in the face of a rising demand that will probably materialise over the next few years. by Divola (Sat 12th Mar 2022 12:46am)
  • It's really weird though that in Edinburgh tenement flats generally go for 5-10% over HR max (if we can trust ESPC data, which we probably can), while at the same time everything in Glasgow seems to go 20-30% over. I get that Glasgow flats are generally nicer and more spacious when we control for HR value, but still. Not to be overly conspiratorial but maybe there's an element of deliberately undervaluing properties in order to draw more potential purchasers? by Divola (Sat 12th Mar 2022 1:03am)
  • I guess the situation is a bit different with Glasgow where you actually have affordable transportation to commuter towns but with Edinburgh a lot of the times all of the savings you're making on your mortgage are wholly counteracted by the extortionate transportation costs you'll incur if you need to commute in more than 3 times a week. For example, an okay 2-bed in Falkirk will cost me £80k, so that's about £320 monthly mortgage (10% deposit, 2% interest, 25 years). If I add (minimum) £200 a month for transportation on top of that, I'd get to the mortgage payment for a £150k flat with the same conditions. And £150k can already afford me a 2-bed in some not too shabby areas of Edinburgh (Oxgangs, Northfield, Piershill, Craigentinny). Add to that the fact that in one case, you're spending £200 renting a train seat for 30 min a day, while in the other, you're paying them towards an appreciating asset, and you can see how buying in the city ends up being the preferable option even if you don't care about urban amenities and all that jazz. by Divola (Sat 12th Mar 2022 2:31am)
  • I mean what I'd say is to go on Citylets or Rightmove and see - can you find at least a few flats in the surrounding area that are advertised at below 495? If yes, you can reasonably claim that the proposed rent is above the market level and should therefore be brought down. If not, you probably don't have a leg to stand on. The Rent Service doesn't base their decision on what % increase you've seen in your rent or whether it's affordable for you. They're just there to make sure the landlord isn't trying to charge a rent above the market level (possibly because they want to nudge the tenants to leave so the property can be converted to an Airbnb etc.). by Divola (Wed 16th Mar 2022 9:34pm)
  • Mine went up by £40 (650 -> 690). It made absolutely no sense to challenge it though given the current market conditions. Tried applying for a few flats advertised at lower rents and they were scooped up before I could blink... by Divola (Mon 21st Mar 2022 6:17pm)
  • Oh I love mine but I was moving during Covid when it was very much a renter's market. Landlord even offered me £25 off the rent without me asking. 😅 So in essence it's gone up just £15 with respect to *what it was advertised for* back then. by Divola (Mon 21st Mar 2022 6:25pm)