Finding a flat in Scotland while in the US?

Hello. I am currently at a hotel in Edinburgh with my husband. We arrived here 2 weeks ago to visit and to see if we would like to eventually move here. My husband has an Italian passport and I have an EEA Family Permit. Our goal in life is to move overseas from the US.

We ended up falling in love with Scotland and we desperately want to make it our new home. We tried to find a flat while we where here but unfortunately we ran out of time and not having a job made it extremely difficult for realtors to help us even though we have enough money saved up to pay for rent for at least six months on our budget. (up to 400 pcm) Our hotel stay is over on Monday and we don't want to burn through our savings at another or a hostel so we are now coming back to the US.

We found cheap tickets back to the US that included an adjustable return flight to Scotland. We set it to June but we can change it to an earlier or later date for a fee any time.

Our circumstances when we get back home is that we have 3 months to live with my husband's parents while we search for our own flat because they are moving away and we want to finally have our own place. Our original plan was to find one in the US but it's now depressing thinking about it. We would rather find one in Scotland instead. Our current plan is to continue to use Workaway ( newcomer link: https://www.workaway.info/ [nonactive] ) and Rightmove/Gumtree/Zoopla/ect. while in the states. We will also both be working full time and saving as much money as we can.

So my question is how difficult would it be to find a flat while in the US without a job lined up? Has anyone ever had any luck doing this? I know a big problem is that it's better to view a flat before you commit to it but we wouldn't have that option. I understand they would rather rent out a flat to people who are already in the country but I pray that someone will consider us because we already have an adjustable flight back. We are mostly familiar with the areas and transportation. We would also be willing to pay for 6 months rent in advance.

We are willing to settle anywhere in the country as long as there are accessible jobs and food stores. We travelled almost everywhere except the northern highlands and have not found an area we didn't like. We were hesitant to consider Glasgow at first but after visiting we think it's lovely. In fact we feel much safer there than we do in america.

We could really use some help because we obviously don't know what we're doing. We are young and inexperienced.
I have never been so stressed and depressed in my life.
Thank you for any advice.

This would be incredibly difficult unless you went through a private landlord or long term airbnb rental. As you have found, agencies are pretty strict unless you have jobs/large amounts of cash at the ready/UK credit history.

Good news is that Gumtree has the private landlord search option. You might find a landlord happy to sign a 6mo or 1yr with a 6mo break clause if you can pony up rent in advance. But then you will have to be wary of scams, esp if you are abroad.

It may not be ideal, but have you thought about a short term flat share? Could be a great option to get you started and cheaper than hotels.

I would advise you to request https://tranio.com/ [nofollow] . They will contact you with local estate agencies in Scotland, so it will get much easier to find a proper flat. Don't worry, you are not supposed to pay them extra charge, it is for free for you.