Possibly moving from London to Birmingham, need some help/advice

[Samsan1]

Hello everyone

So we need to move house because we need more rooms, we currently live in London bordering Surrey, would ideally love to move to Surrey but can't afford that. So the choice is between Crawley, Horley, redhill or Birmingham or close to Birmingham. Basically the areas above we could get a 3 bed but need a 4 bed so would need to do a loft conversation which of course is I'll cost a lot, which is one of the reasons we are planning on moving towards Birmingham as we can get 4/5 bedrooms in the same price.
I'm still a bit unsure weather to move to Birmingham as I just fear I might regret it. The area I live in has had many stabbings lately so I do want to move, do you guys think I'm crazy to leave London for Birmingham? Which of the areas above would you do?
Also what are the good areas in Birmingham? From what I've read south is good as well as Sutton Coldfield is this correct? I want excellent primary and secondary schools and a move family area. I'm trying to
Narrow down areas so we can head up there to check out houses, schools is the number 1 priority.
Also any other suggestions for areas outside Birmingham would be considered.
Sorry for the long post
Thanks

Yes, Sutton Coldfield is nice. Yes, there are nice areas in the SW of Birmingham too.

What about work though ?
Are you talking about commuting to London ?
How many times a week? Would you need to be be in London for a regular working day ?

I live in Kings Heath. My children - now adult - have all done well at nearby schools and it's generally a family friendly place.

I have lived in Birmingham all my live, currently living in Moseley and I love it. I agree about Kings Heath being family friendly too. You get the 'bad' areas but you get them everywhere.

Backforgood my husband will get a transfer to Birmingham so he will be near the city centre but happy to travel further, I'm on mat leave at the moment and will prob be a SAHM for a couple of years so works not a problem.

Wonder that's good to hear 👍🏼 very encouraging

OK. Well driving into the City Centre from Sutton Coldfield is a nightmare, so, f you live on that side, you might want to look at being within walking distance of a train station.
Birmingham has a cross City train line which is quite good. Well, a bit over crowded - you might not always get a seat in rush hour but it's not long journey on the train.
Schools (secondary and Primary) in Sutton are generally considered good.
Most Primary schools are good - you get more variety in secondary across the City.
Don't know if you want to give an idea of the sort of amount you want to spend, as that will make a difference where we point you to.
Lots of the different areas have different 'parts' to them, you can't generally say one 'area' is good or bad as most have mixes.

Backforgood thanks for that info, I'm really want a new build the max I would spend would be £340,000 for a minimum of 4 beds, but ideally in Birmingham I'd spend max of £300,000 as I e seen I can get a new build 4 bed for under that.
I have 1 daughter at secondary year 7 how easy is it to get in to a good school , also have 2 in primary, again how easy or difficult to get a good school, catchment areas etc.
Thank you so much

I don't think there is a lot of newbuild at that price in the pleasanter areas of South Birmingham. Essentially it's mainly houses that range from mid Victorian to the interwar era. (There are occasional plots of land sold off for development. But then it varies between 'executive homes' - quite pricey. And more modest v poky modern houses - also overpriced.) My impression is that there is more newbuild around Solihull - but again the prices would be high there.

Wonder I've been checking and there seems to be quite a few new builds around south Birmingham as well and erdington, which are within budget. I love Solihull but it's quite pricey.

Bournville is lovely

Pimlicolife, I've heard that, does it have good schools ?

Erdington is not the most obviously lovely place. Where are the S Birmingham new builds? Bournville is a bit/totally lacking in pubs and Bournville Village Trust places are a bit of a nightmare if you want to do alterations. But v green and there is quite a villagey vibe.

They are building a LOT on the old car factory sites - Cofton Park area.

Here
Here (tho can't see prices on that one)

We moved to Dickens Heath in Solihull last July. Kids are 8 and 10 and have settled beautifully, they love it here.

Bournville is lovely. Yes to good schools. They are building a lot of new homes on the old Selly Oak Hospital site, which is on the edge of Bournville (1/2 way between Bournville and Selly Oak Stations on the cross City line).... would have thought they'd be out of your price range for a new build, but might be worth looking in to.

You won't get a 4 bed new build in nicer areas of Birmingham for that.

Solihull or surrounds would suit you, trains to Birmingham are frequent, schools are mostly very good.

Best ones locally are Knowle or Dorridge primaries and Arden secondary but a new 4 bed in those areas would be best part of £500k even if they were being built.

Sutton Coldfield is lovely but a transport nightmare.

What about bring further out? There's lots of new build houses near Leamington Spa. You'd have to drive to a station. Again the 4 beds are £400k+ but another area to consider

Wonder
Smethwick and kings heath have new builds ? Also when I type within a 3 mile from these places some new builds pop up, but again I'll have to research how the areas are.
I've heard Moseley, kings heath, kings norton, Selly oak, harbourne, Quinton ate good areas?? Is this the case ?

Harbourne is nice and also central.

I live in South Birmingham and really like it.

I’m in the Selly Park/Bournville area and it’s very family friendly - but 4 bed houses are in high demand and you’d struggle to find anything for your budget (we’re in a three bed and will struggle to stay in the area if/when we need more room). Schools in the area are generally good/outstanding according to ofsted, but my ds is only a baby so I’ve got no direct experience yet.

I recommend a trip to Birmingham to check out Harbourne, bournville, kings heath etc - as with all cities each area has a different feel and there are ‘nice’ and slightly less nice places all jumbled in together. It’s tricky to get a feel for a place by just browsing Rightmove.

Pinkjenny, did you love from London? Lovely to hear you and kids have settled in well.
Back for good I'll have a look at these thanks.
Are there any obvious areas to
Avoid?
There seems to be a fair amount of new builds in my budget so that now worries me that the areas are not so good 🙈

Harborne is popular because it's near the QE hospital and the University. Quinton is less affluent. A lot of the houses in Selly Oak are student lets. Kings Norton has some pretty areas - and could be described as 'mixed'. But the nearly all of B'ham is...

ToftheB thank you next weekend we are planning a trip up to Birmingham to check some areas, we wanted to get an idea of areas to come and see and maybe book some
House viewings room.

Missmarplesknitting, thanks will check the areas you mentioned

The 'naice' areas with better schools are more expensive.

Kings Norton has grammars but also some really less nice areas and schools.

Harbour is lovely, as is Quinton and Bearwood is too but not sure what schools are like.

You do have the King Edward grammars locally as an option if DC can get in.

Otherwise look further afield. Solihull does have good schools, or thinking about railways into Brum look at Warwick, or even Banbury?

As I said above, there are mixed areas. So Kings Norton, for example, has some beautiful million pound plus homes, and a lovely historic Church and green with farmers market. It also has some of the most deprived estates anywhere
A 'Selly Oak' address does cover some lovely houses - particularly look for 'BVT' (Bournville Village Trust). It also covers the massive area where all the students live, so you wouldn't want to live in that part.
Harborne is definitely "sought after". It's a bit weird though - has great Primary schools but not secondary. A lot move to private, or get tutored into the grammars.
Quinton is nice enough - not 'rough' or anything, but probably not 'sought after' either.
Moseley is mixed - some really really posh roads and house, really lovely areas, and the high street has a bit of a 'bohemian' hippy feel.
Kings Heath is quite a 'young family' sort of a place. Not on the train line. Quite a lot of roads with no parking. Very, busy High Street.

Kings Norton schools aren't grammars.