Where to move? Manchester?

[User112]

Sorry, not AIBU, but posting here for traffic.

DH has just been offered a remote job. Yay!! We are fed up of house prices vs sizes where we live and are thinking of moving out of London suburbs.

Budget: £750k max (Comfortable under £700k)
We'd like: 4-5 bed, detached, large bedrooms (no box rooms), good schools and a decent IT job market (if he ends up not liking his new job).
What we can compromise on: Detached (will consider semi)

Ideally, we'd LOVE to stay within commuting distance to London. However, with our budget, it feels increasingly difficult

Is Manchester a good place? How do Sale, Altrincham and Whythenshawe (near the park) compare to safety with London/suburbs (like Orpington or Redhill for example)

Open to other cities too, but would like to stay within commuting distance to a big city for employment opportunities.

Manchester is a great city to live near. Lots of nice places round Altrincham and Sale, very safe. Wythenshawe not so much. You could also check out places like Didsbury, Bramhall and Woodford with that sort of budget. Very lovely areas to live in with excellent schools.

Manchester is an excellent place to live. Loads of good areas, lots to do in the city and some really beautiful countryside nearby in cheshire, Lancashire, bolton/rivington. Avoid wythenshawe.

You would be unlikely to get a 4-5 bed detached in Hale or Altrincham for your budget but possibly in Timperley or Sale.

Timperley would be catchment for the Altrincham and Sale Grammar schools and also the very sought after Wellington school.

In Sale you'd get for 4 bed detached for 700k, 5 bed probably not (or at least, there aren't any I can see at the moment).

Timperley is slightly cheaper, and between Sale and Altrincham.

Altrincham is v pricey, only one 5 bed detached on Rightmove and one of the bedrooms is a box room.

All lovely places to live, though, with good schools - Sale is great, and they're doing a lot of work on it at the moment so new businesses are coming in and it's going from strength to strength!

Might I suggest Worsley? Not much further from town, and not far off the motorway at all, plus gorgeous villagey feel (and from the look of Rightmove, 5 bed detached in price range is an option - e.g. this - bit dated in parts but none of the bedrooms look tiny!. Not sure about the schools there, though.

Look further out. Somewhere like Wilmslow or Macclesfield is commutable to London one day a week (90 minutes) and commutable to Manchester. Fabulous schools, both state and private. Access to the Peaks.
I find Altrincham a bit suburban. The Joules version of actual rural living.

What about bristol/Cheltenham? Absolutely loads of tech jobs around there. People I know from here commute on the fast train in 1hr 20ish to London once a week or so. Nobody commutes daily but frequently enough. The trains are good.

With that money I would looking at outer Stockport suburbs like Marple Bridge or Bramhall but I like that side of Manchester because I love the hills (I'm just over border in derbyshire) Trafford (Altrincham, sale etc still has grammar schools which keeps prices high)

Poynton, Bramhall, Wilmslow etc you would get more for your money. If you want slightly further out but still easy to get into Manchester then somewhere like Disley is beautiful

NOT Wythenshawe.

Sale, Altrincham, Timperley, Hale, Wilmslow are all nice but you may struggle on your budget. Closer to Manchester city centre and the housing stock is almost void of decent sized detached properties.

Another poster suggested Worsley, and it's lovely and very 'villagey' but there's virtually nothing in the way of cafes or shops - couple of nice restaurants though.

I moved over here 11 years ago from Yorkshire and would never leave now.
Have a look at Marple with that budget, you'd get somewhere nice. I used to live there for many years. It's got a great community.

Depends on how close to city you want to be. Didsbury (east west & central) has everything on doorstep. Great primaries and high schools. Loads transport links. Sports clubs and entertainment on hand. Budget would get you a family home