What I Wish I Knew Before Buying Property in the Scottish Highlands | #Scotland #ScottishHighlands

Comments · 238

• TH

  @TheAmericanHighlander · 10 days ago · pinned

  Sponsor announcement: Wise helps expats save up to 70% on fees when <br>sending money abroad vs. major banks. Built for life abroad. <a href="https://wi.se/theamericanhighlander_sept">https://wi.se/theamericanhighlander_sept</a><br><br>-------------------<br><br>If you&apos;re curious about purchasing real estate in rural Scotland, especially here in the Highlands, I hope this video is of some help to you. These are things I didn&apos;t necessarily think of before moving into my house, and while I still ended up exactly where I want to be and I&apos;m super happy with my house purchase, I figured I&apos;d do a video about the things I should have thought of during the homebuying process.

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• JA

  @Jake-p7u6k · 11 days ago

  We just moved to the isle of Lewis, we did everything backwards. My wife had visited the Outer Hebrides in 2023 and fell in love with it, I had never visited. She started looking at property on Zoopla and found an amazing place on a one lane road less than 150 meters from the beach. We have bought and sold multiple houses and rental properties in the US, and felt experienced and knew we would be taking a chance on buying anything sight unseen, but thats exactly what we did after some persistence from my wife. We came in October of 2024 picked up the keys and found the house as advertised, it had been a VRBO and we had bought the house fully furnished. It was amazing! Of course we had a lot to do setting everything up in our name and navigating different systems. My Wife stayed the winter and survived on her own with alot of support from great neighbors! We decided to work on her citizenship through her mother being a british citizen, and subsequently my partner visa, this took over a year and a half using a solicitor and was extremely expensive, and was way more difficult and involved than purchasing a home. We retired early, I closed my side business we sold our last rental property, our dream house, and my dream job I worked so hard to get. We arrived last month and are enjoying every bit of our time here, the friendly people, the weather, slower pace of life, and the beauty. It is an incredible place! Thank you, Scotland for letting us stay! Thanks for the informative videos!

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• BK

  @bkupris1 · 12 days ago

  Being an elderly American that has lived on the west coast of Scotland for nearly forty years I find your content to be accurate, informative and entertaining.

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• MO

  @moragpotter4609 · 12 days ago (edited)

  A great video, as always! 💕<br><br>We moved here to Orkney four years ago now, and don’t regret it one bit. &nbsp;Well, once in a while when the ferry isn’t going due to the bad weather and we can’t do our shopping! &nbsp;We usually have at least 2-4 week’s supply of foodstuffs at home. &nbsp;We only tend to do a fortnightly food shop, topping up with essentials if we need anything at the wee island shop 3 hours a day three times a week, then two hours on Sundays! &nbsp;There are a few end of road honesty boxes with eggs, so it’s rare we run out of eggs!<br><br>The day we arrived the man on the ferry guiding us on (you have to reverse on!) asked if we thought we would be ok in the wintertime, then I said I had grown up in Orkney then Caithness, so he agreed we would be fine. 🤣 <br><br>We saw the house advert about 2pm on a Thursday and had put in an offer by 5pm the same day, so we did it without seeing it in person as we were living in Gloucestershire at the time. &nbsp;It was possibly a bit of a crazy thing to do, but having missed out on five previous houses we had bid on, we were determined to get this one and added 10% onto the offers over price. &nbsp;This meant we had nothing extra left after selling our small 3 bedroomed cottage with 180 long narrow garden to a large Victorian farmhouse (only two useable bedrooms though), up a north facing hillside on an island with 2.7 acres and numerous outbuildings, and a wind turbine! That and the moving costs and the two solicitors bills ate up what we got for our wee cottage, but that’s ok, we have savings and my husband is working part-time, and I have done some work too. &nbsp;The views are amazing and in winter we get stunning views of the Aurora. &nbsp;It is the island of my ancestors and I feel so at home here. &nbsp;Oh did I mention we are less than a mile from the sea and a beach popular with seals! 😉<br><br>As I said we have a wind turbine, but also a borehole, septic tank, oil central heating and a multi-fuel fire, so full house on your list! &nbsp;As for internet, we have had fast speed broadband cabled all around the island installed at every house a couple of years ago which is great! &nbsp;The reception outside houses is really poor in places, though it is improving! &nbsp;It just means you catch up when you head back home, or use places with public wifi. &nbsp;We have had to add insulation and more curtains around the house and the building that has become my studio, and we now own a ride-on mower to cope with all the grass cutting, but we love it here. 🥰

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• JU

  @juliaellis2046 · 12 days ago

  I look forward to your videos each week. The drives which display the beauty of the highlands; the small business you display; the mundane; Annabelle and Squirrel. All of it is perfect.

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• JO

  @JohnRooney-mz2bl · 12 days ago

  You are a welcomed Gentleman to Bonnie Scotland .🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🤗🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Wishing you the very Best of Health and`Happiness for the Future.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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• LV

  @lvnlife75 · 12 days ago

  I love everything about where you live! &nbsp;From the snow to all three countryside!! &nbsp;Thank you for sharing your home!!

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• IN

  @InimicusSolitus · 10 days ago

  We lived in Florida for 26 years and I grew to hate it. I hated the town, the heat, and I hated our house. I felt trapped.<br>I talked my wife into moving to North Carolina. She did not want to move, but she came around.<br>So we moved, and rented at first. We started looking for a home. We looked at many houses, a couple of them we tried to talk ourselves into, and even made offers. The offers failed, thankfully. <br><br>Then one day, we see a house. Hmm, looks interesting, we thought. Even though on paper, it did not check all our boxes. It even had some negatives.<br><br>I swear, within 30 seconds of walking in, I was home. This was the one. A 1945 brick house on a private road with a creek on the property. I can not describe the feeling.<br>It had only been on the market 5 days. We offered asking price. Rejected. They had another offer in hand and asked us for our best offer by 5PM that day. We offered over asking..<br>The next day - offer accepted!<br><br>We have been here for 2 years now, and every day I feel so lucky to be home.

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• BI

  @bighairydel · 12 days ago

  great video jason. not a lot of people would think about these things while living in the country

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• AR

  @arleneS8138 · 9 days ago

  An old Ohio, US, lady-me, has a new hobby. Following Scots on You Tube- Zach &amp; Annie, Jason, Jude. and Sean. All the friends needed!

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• PA

  @paulweeks2006 · 7 days ago

  Wow ! &nbsp;What a fantastic video and so informative too.. My wife &amp; I live in England and are looking to move to beautiful Scotland. Watching your video we agree with everything you say, we are exactly like you in that we crave peace&amp; quiet, space, the cold, winters in front of a real fire, stunning scenery and just to get away from the rat race. &nbsp; Your words at the end of your video are just so true and we totally agree with every single word..... &nbsp;Life&apos;s too short to worry about the past, if you crave peace and space and a slower way of life then you can&apos;t get much better than Scotland. &nbsp;The Scottish people are also so friendly. &nbsp;We are looking to move to the east coast hopefully next year and can&apos;t wait to just relax and take in everything Scotland has to offer....... Thanks again for an excellent summary and I say that as an Englishman.....

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• MA

  @Maya-w7k · 11 days ago

  Such a relaxing way to live, I envy you. London is a world away from where you are and solitude is something hard to find so your videos fill a gap. Thank you.

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