I moved up here 25+ years ago and I’ve lived in quite a few different areas (I was flipping houses for a while and was moving every few years).
There’s lots of great areas and a few dodgy ones. Depends entirely on your budget and what you want. Whether you value quiet country living and are willing to put up with slightly longer commute, or whether you want to be in the town centre.
If you want rural then can I recommend Banchory. Probably (in my opinion) one of the nicest areas around Aberdeen.
Stonehaven is also nice if you want to be on the Sea.
Commute into AB15 from either would be between 30 minutes and an hour depending on whether you hit rush hour.
Aberdeen has a few bottlenecks at the river bridges. But if you pick your travel time right, it’s a doddle.
As has been previously mentioned, when they finish the bypass, everything will change as far as commuting goes.
ASPC is the place to look for properties.
You may be aware that we have a slightly different house buying system up here. Houses are usually advertised for “offers over” and it’s done by sealed bids.
At the moment however, don’t let that put you off. Prices are depressed at the moment but are recovering slowly. Now is a very good time to buy. Expect to pay around the “offers over” price, not more.
Feel free to pm me, if you like. If you see a house you like, I can easily give you a steer on the area.
Oh...by the way. This is the commute from Aberdeen to Banchory.....gruelling isn’t it? (Not my video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTRurnjc-XE