Sorry sorry sorry for posting this in AIBU - I couldn't see anywhere else to post it and I wanted to get maximum replies. What I would really like is advice from people who already live in the area.
I live in Cambridge but work as a lecturer at UEA and mine and DH's first baby is due in June. He's a secondary school teacher (history) and we have decided to relocate to Norwich to make our lives easier when the baby is born (providing DH can find a job in the area). We'll be using the UEA nursery 3 days a week which will save us huge amounts in childcare (and give us peace of mind as it's good and located at my place of work) and have already filled out the paperwork. DH has been a lifelong Norwich fan and never lived in Norfolk so he's pretty excited.
We're in negative equity on our house, which we bought in 2007. We can't sell it so have just applied for permission to rent it and it looks as though they're going to grant the permission, so we'll need to rent somewhere in Norwich.
The finances are a bit complicated: our mortgage (on a 2 up 2 down) is £1275 a month (we fixed for 5 years at 6.79%!) and we will be charging £800 a month in rent for it, plus paying a management company 9% for a full management service. We're looking to rent something in Norwich for around £600 a month and would like a similar property - a garden flat or a 2 bedroom house.
Can anybody help us on areas? We'd like to be as close to UEA as possible so that we can continue to have only one car. I've heard that Earlham and Lakenham are not very nice, and that Eaton and Cringleford are (though they're not on the bus routes from UEA). The Golden Triangle looks great (if expensive) and we're thinking we may end up there, but there must be better value areas we could consider. What about Three Score? Properties look cheap and convenient there, but I wonder if there's a reason. Any other suggestions?
Sorry for the longwinded post! There is so much to sort out.