Move to Birmingham

[Gandalfsdaughter]

We’re looking to move to Birmingham next summer due to DHs job. Not been to Birmingham for 15 years and have no idea where to start!
Really appreciate any hints, tips, ideas and suggestions from people who know the city 🙏.

2 teens will need a nice secondary school, we like a pleasant neighbourhood, with good travel links.
DH will be based at B’ham university. We have a dog so like to be close to either a large park, or countryside.
We’re looking for a 4 bed house, absolute max budget of £500.000 , but preferable closer to £450.000… Where would you be looking?? X

Have you got boys, girls or one of each? There are a number of single sex schools in Birmingham and could be a deciding factor. Also worth thinking if you want to be in Birmingham or would consider eg Worcestershire as there are good train links to the University from say Bromsgrove

Harborne and Edgbaston are nice but the high end of property prices. We lived near there but in a cheaper area called Quinton. Selly oak is near the uni but lots of student housing. My friends worked at the uni. The husband still does and they live just near northfield/ bourneville. I now live in Shirley, Solihull.

Kings Heath and Mosely are lovely

Sutton Coldfield has a massive park

Thank you - those areas sound familiar from my Google searching. (Apart from Quinton , so will have a closer look). We now live very happily in an area next to a ‘cooler’ area, and I feel it’s the best of 2 worlds- lower prices but still in a nice corner of a big northern city.
2 teen girls but 1 quite against a girls school, so we probably prefer mixed education.

Kings Heath, Moseley or Harborne. All lovely areas. Stirchley is also up and coming so you might be able to get a good deal there.

Bourneville, Lickey, and Barnt Green are all lovely and on the right side of Birmingham for the University.

We moved from London to Birmingham and had to view 10 houses in one day without knowing any of the areas so I know what it's like lol

We’re planning on spending a few days in b’ham during the Xmas break so will drive through the the areas mentioned - thank you!
@teaandtoastwithmarmite I’d imagine that’s what we’re going to do - how did it turn out for you? Hope you’re happy with the move.

Check out Droitwich. Direct train to University in 20 minutes, reasonable house prices and excellent high school. I moved here from Brum and have been so happy

Moseley is v nice and has a fantastic park with a lake.

I was going to say Kings Norton, Bournville, Cotteridge, Northfield (you need the right parts of KN, Cotteridge and Nfld - they are mixed areas) BUT, the most sought after schools are single sex which might not then be what you want ? Depending if you prefer the best school or a mixed sex school more.
The catchment area around the Kings Norton schools give your dh a very easy commute - train, bus, car, or cycle.

You'd be unlikely to get a 4 bed in Harborne for £450K.

Most areas in Birmingham have really, really mixed roads all within the same suburb. So Edgbaston (where the University is) has some very naice £1.5million houses, but some red light areas too. Kings Norton too - some beautiful houses, but also some of the roughest estates which are all called Kings Norton.
Lots of people will mock the mention of Northfield, but there are several roads with some lovely houses on.

Have a look at Shrewsbury. Direct train to Birmingham in 50 minutes. Nice town and £500,000 would get you a lot for your money

I second Quinton or Bearwood area- very easy to get to the University, lots of parks, central and easy. Maybe Halesowen area

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E92007&insId=1&maxPrice=450000&minBedrooms=4&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses&radius=3.0&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying

Lots of choice of houses in your price range, depends what features matter most to you

Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield, Aldridge - all great family friendly areas with good transport links to Birmingham

Halesowen doesn't have a train station, and it's a long old journey on the bus to Birmingham and back. Cradley heath is the nearest train station to Halesowen.

If your looking for an area on the come up close to town look at the other side of edgbaston. Close proximity to parks and the edgbaston reservoir: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128957339 . The area is going through alot of regeneration and has quite a few community groups on the go now. This house linked is in the St Paul's school for girls catchment (mixed schools are generally shit in brum)

I like Moseley a lot, but I’m not sure on the schools. Sutton Coldfield on the cross city line could work, good schools, massive park.

suburbs - Bromsgrove
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128972069#/?channel=RES_BUY

nearer the city/uni - Bournville
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119017466#/?channel=RES_BUY

trendy area - Moseley
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127630064#/?channel=RES_BUY

probably best to look near train stations on the same line as University

so - southwards
Selly Oak - very studenty
Bournville - generally quite nice, can't buy alcohol
Kings Norton - meh
Northfield - meh
Longbridge - not bad in parts, lots of development going on
Alvechurch - nice but maybe too quiet for teens
Barnt Green - v posh, full of minor celebs and footballers
Redditch - meh
Bromsgrove - quite pleasant market town
Droitwich - sleepy market town

imho - i wouldn't go further south than that

Edgbaston reservoir isn't in Edgbaston don't forget. That house is in Ladywood.

I'm not saying it isn't up and coming (I think Port Loop is doing a lot of heavy lifting and maybe the development at the reservoir will change things) but it's close to a lot of not great areas - someone was murdered in Summerfield park not too long ago.

I'd look out of the city OP. Barnt Green, Lickey, maybe Bromsgrove or Droitwich. Or some of the areas around Stourbridge - Hagley maybe. Driving in Birmingham is awful, the buses are worse. Do your best to live on a train line if you can. They do get cancelled regularly but at least it's not a bus which is a special kind of hell in rush hour. I live in a very unfashionable area on a tram route which is a revelation in terms of public transport!

As everyone else has said every area in Birmingham has good and bad points. I've found that alot of the 'naice' areas don't have a good community feel so it's really important to spend some time in the places you are interested in. I'd say also bare in mind that traffic can be horrendous to some of the areas mentioned (Moseley, Sutton Coldfield) which can be really draining. Having lived in Sutton Coldfield prior to edgbaston I'd say although Sutton can be pretty it lacks culture, I found myself constantly on the train or expressway to get things in town.

Some of the areas mentioned above are nice but they are, therefore, expensive. You might struggle with your budget.

The standard answer is to find somewhere near the cross-city line. You need to research schools; don't even bother thinking about the King Ed Grammars because it's not going to happen. The line splits in two at Barnt Green - some trains go to Redditch, some go to Bromsgrove and beyond. Therefore trains for stops after BG are half as frequent.

If you go Bromsgrove then go south. You will be near the train station, near Bromsgrove South School and there is plenty of countryside.

Lichfield and surrounding villages!

Thanks for all your input, very helpful - sounds like we might need to do some work with the daughter who has vetoed girls schools. As we’ve never moved since the girls have started schools, I have no idea how easy/difficult it is to get them into a school of our choice - one is going into year 11(!) , the other into year 9..its causing me sleepless nights already!
I’m off to do some more research.. xx