to ask how to relocate (to Belfast)?

[AdultierAdult]

My husband has been telecommuting and commuting to Belfast from a very expensive area in the South East and we are fed up of missing him during the week (obviously he is remote working now!). Both our parents live in ROI anyway so we feel like we are on the wrong island and paying a premium for London bubble living, without any real need.

We’ve decided to relocate to Belfast but feel completely out of our depth. We have a baby and a daughter who would be going into NI year 9 (she’s in y7 here), and husband needs to commute to city centre by bike or public transport. Schools and an area with a bustling community with access to the city are the priorities.

Feel so overwhelmed - how do I go about narrowing down schools to apply for, or areas to rent/buy, and how to find somewhere when the world has stopped!? Should we become accidental landlords and keep a place in the SE in case it doesn’t work out or sell up and go for it to avoid all that headache? How do we find somewhere to rent with two cats, or should we just go for it and buy (we dont need to sell here to do this)? I don’t feel like enough of a grownup to do this and I can’t sleep at the moment for stressing about it.

For anyone who knows Belfast and could suggest some postcodes - we’d prefer not to spend more than £1000 a month renting. Budget to buy would be max £300k if we keep our house here or probably about £650k if we sold up here completely.

I know this isn’t AIBU but other appropriate areas are dead! Any nuggets of wisdom greatly appreciated.

Mindy, DH says the same. I loved living in Dublin, but it has its own problems like any big city does.

Life just has a slower pace up here. More times to do stuff and more money to do it with.

Plus I think DH likes feeling a bit exotic with his accent

Also further out in North Belfast is stunning - the area round Belfast Castle and Cavehill with views over the Lagan are beautiful. The area is mixed (religious) with some really excellent schools - Dominican College is second in the League Tables for NI, for example, and Belfast Royal Academy and St Malachy’s (a boy’s grammar) are just down the road. It’s 3-4 miles from the city centre. You’re so lucky! It’s an amazing city.

Ah hadn’t thought of the ROI plates - both sets of parents will be visiting with those!

I wouldn’t worry- we quite frequently have multiple Dublin reg cars outside the house with DH’s family pouring out of them like it was a clown car. Never had any hassle, side eye or comments other than a cheery hello.

There absolutely will be areas that you would have issues, but for the most part people are friendly and welcoming and just want to get on with their own lives without worrying about their neighbours.

Thanks all. Excited and terrified in equal measure. I’ve only been out a couple of times. DH lived there mon-thurs for most of last year but I know that’s not the same as knowing it, and he was mostly in city centre. He’s in love with the city and much prefers it to London or Marlow - the posh town he was brought up in!

Bangor is interesting so we will consider that. Once responsible to do so we will go out for a couple of weeks and see what’s what. I think we will apply to schools now though, you apply direct after year 8 as I understand so it’s unlimited applications and there’s no point looking in areas where DD can’t travel to a school from.

I’m so grateful for everyone whose given their time on this thread. I’m going to re-read tomorrow when teething baby isn’t screaming and start making some notes and lists!

I’m from Northern Ireland but now live in London. There’s some nice areas in belfast but also some bad ones so make sure you do your research before moving. Also with the catholic name be aware of the schools religion as my brother is 16 and in a Protestant school in Northern Ireland (mixed family but no mixed school close enough to go to) and still gets shit from some people because of his name so it still happens. Also you don’t need to be really close to the school a lot of teenagers get buses once their in high school.

www.simonbrien.com/new-homes/the-pavilions-at-belvoir-park-d93mw
We almost bought one of these (but in the end decided to go a bit further out). It is a converted hospital and they are gorgeous.

I’m so jealous, it’s a fantastic city and that’s a really decent budget for Belfast. Ballyhackamore, Stormont, Belmont all fab.
Where does he work? Transport is easy, driving a doddle compared to England
Re traffic.
As for schools - you’re ruined for choice. Personally I would go integrated having grown up with an entirely segregated school system in Belfast but you’ll find the schools in general much better than England, smaller class sizes, well qualified staff and you aren’t stuck to the while catchment thing either.

Actually just thinking- also need to consider what plan B would be if child didn’t get in to one of the grammars? I would make sure you had a good secondary as a back up- Lagan College for example.

Bangor is a hike from Belfast for a commute ( though lots do it) but very pretty, but a bit sleepy for my tastes. Unless you like your sailing and outdoors stuff? Mind you, in Belfast you have the loch on your doorstep so plenty of sailing opps anyway, Carrickfergus, Holywood, etc
We’re planning on leaving SE England to come back soon and my eye is on Cave Hill area, Cultra, Ballyhack and poss Cultra. Schools wise there’s so much choice and you can go to one outside your area we’re not even taking that into account just focussing in house/garden/space.

Op this is me literally though we're now months behind you as dh job been put back due to COVID.

I'm from Belfast, dh from London we live in SE. Had planned to move back for family/ quality of life reasons. Delayed now :-(.

I've literally searched property pal for months! I'm from a very catholic working class area. Dh and I don't want to live there as we'd rather live somewhere more mixed. IMO south Belfast is perfect! 10-15 cycle to city centre. Lots of oparms, great cafes, wine bars, boutiques etc.
We've a similar budget to you in theory but we hope to be mortgage free (up to £350k). There are fab houses around. Stranmillis, Lisburn road, finaghy, malone will get you a lovely 3 bed semi for 350k but if you want to spend more I'd go for these . The most prestigious postcodes in NI:

www.propertypal.com/169-malone-road-belfast/630255

www.propertypal.com/site-23-malone-ridge-upper-malone-road-belfast/434613

www.propertypal.com/15-deramore-drive-malone-road-belfast/564991

www.propertypal.com/36-dorchester-park-malone-road-belfast/624167

Great schools- stranmillis primary and forge primary (integrated). Victoria college is fee paying for primary but not secondary. Lots of grammar schools that your dc could probably get in to as it would be a mid year transfer. Happy for you to PM me

Papier-mâché he works near city hall. Work are saying for everyone to work from home until early 2021(!) so luckily no commuting for a while but he will have to go back eventually and I won’t be surprised if they change their tune.

We aren’t sailors but never say never!

Was the converted hospital in Belvoir park the mental hospital / asylum? Looks fabulous. I think I remember uni boyfriend taking me there but it felt quite a drive outside the city?

To the park I mean

Meg lovely houses! Will be passing on to DH for a mooch. Yes we’ve been on propertypal for months too. Very excited. We were hunting in Marlow (DH home town) and Amersham areas recently but got spooked by ridiculous mortgage needed for a “forever home” and I’m glad we didn’t with everything that’s been happening lately. Don’t want to be a mortgage slave for the next 40 years and hoping this will give us better quality of life.

Hope everything gets moving soon for you. We have been lucky DH’s job intact but I think mine will be massively changed or gone by the time mat leave finishes. I’m playing with the idea of going back to uni. In NI I wouldn’t need to earn necessarily which is a mad idea given how pressured life is where we are now!

Yes- I think it was the psychiatric hospital. It is really lovely. Only thing is not all of them have gardens- some do. There are new builds too

No, Belvoir Park was the fever hospital. Purdysburn was the mental hospital, and still has mental health provision. A relative of mine was the Commissioner for what was then known as the Belfast Insane Asylum. He died after being attacked by a patient.

The hospital houses are gorgeous, really lovely. Look terribly far out though or is that just my poor geography?

That is a cheery tale. Poor man

Not that far out! Beside cycle path. Five mins from forest side and the roundabout at top of Malone before it becomes the upper malone.

I have lived in Europe for 20 years but if I went back it would definitely be to South Belfast, more Lisburn road than Malone. Gorgeous village feel round Bawnmore, Osbourne, Cranmore. Fabulous schools in Rathmore but also Aquila’s and St Pat’s Knock. Also Methody might be a good middle of the road bet - great non denominational mix. Bus straight into town. Fab shops.
But you might want to sell your London house because there is a hefty price tag.

Aquinas not Aquila’s!!

I dont think 20 mins on the train is a hike from bangor. I work in cavehill area and houses are lovely but cheap for a reason, the peacelines / security gates that are still there tell their own story. As plenty have mentioned a lot of kids get buses or trains to school but it really isn't necessary and having kids being able to walk to good local schools and make local friends is great for you and them.

If I had the budget, which sadly I don't, Deramore Drive, Cranmore Park or Marlborough Park would be my dream place to live in Belfast. I used to walk round them on a Saturday afternoon when I was a student and naïvely believed that one day I would be able to live there. Sadly life didn't work out that way, but if it did I wouldn't hesitate.

We've just to Belfast from Australia at the start of the year. I'm from NI but never lived in Belfast and we've been overseas for over a decade. We are renting in Dunmurry for a year so we can get a feel for where we'd like to buy and so far it's lovely. We have really friendly neighbours and it's very quiet, lots of really nice parks and good transport links.

We stayed near Queens for the first 6 weeks and it was great in terms of restaurants / bars / theatres but it was incredibly noisy at night time (students, to be expected). I think Malone / Finaghy / South Belfast would be great for your budget and they seem to have lots of amenities and also quite "neutral". Lots of people recommended Ballyhackamore to us but it was incredibly competitive for rentals - we'd see one online and when we rang up to get a viewing it would be gone already.

We preferred Dunmurry as it was easier to find somewhere with a garage for storage as our house in Australia was quite large (they mostly are in general) so we have extra furniture to store & I wanted a driveway as I haven't got used to the tiny roads and on street parking yet .

My DP works just round the corner from City Hall and takes the train - he says it's usually 20-25 minutes on the train from here and a monthly card was about £62 before he started WFH. My office is semi rural SE of the city 9 miles from our house and I drove that in 20 minutes in the mornings, a little longer in the afternoon.

I have been obsessively looking at houses for the last 3 months and you will get something amazing for 650k close to the city, or something amazing for 300k a little further out. Also, for you should also be able to find something really good for 1000 pcm rent - we're paying 700 for a 3 bed semi with garage and big garden. Very few new houses have popped up since lockdown began so I suspect there is usually a lot more to choose from.

I think if your not driving op then need to have a good look at transport. Rush hour to and from Bangor is a nightmare. Hospital houses lovely but which primary would u use for baby without driving? Also theres no shops etc to speak of without driving. Annadale embankment is another nice area. Ravenhill and Rosetta are nice too and not protestanty. With east belfast you have to look at areas carefully - going around in july is the best idea as someone said so you can see the flags. As said Intergrated schools can give a good indication of mixed areas.

Lots of grammars mentioned but pass is high here to get into a grammar.