Moving to Birmingham, where would you recommend to live?

[user1469727809]

Hi All,

Myself and husband are moving to Birmingham. We are selling up and planning to settle there as he has found a career, and we have family in and around the city.

Having read numerous reviews, we have found that the below areas have been recommended by others:

Shirley, Catherine de barnes, Dickens heath, Knowle, Dorridge, Olton, Sutton Coldfield, , Bournville, Kings heath, Harborne, Moseley, even Wolverhampton!

With so many to select it's difficult to know which areas to go for.

We are having a family, and are looking for an area with great Primary and Secondary schooling; we are treating this as our "retirement" home, with no plans to stop and go, but settle down.

Please could you provide me with some suggestions? Any insight would be greatly received. From what we have found, about £280-300k will get us a 3 bedroom semi detached house, and is just about affordable for our circumstances.

Several of the areas you mention are actually in Solihull, which has a totally different feel and different schools. I'm not a fan but many are.

You will not get a three bed in your budget in Bournville, King's Heath or Harborne. Or Moseley actually. I know all of these areas reasonably well and the schools are pretty good and they all have nice atmospheres for families with decent schools. If you do find something in your budget in those areas you should check exactly where the property is as some neighbouring areas aren't so good for schools and amenities. Some are though so it can be hard to tell! Try Stirchley and King's Norton as alternatives.

Think of where you need to get to and what your commute is like and take it from there, Birmingham commutes can be hellish, so you really need to get that part right.

If you can, I would recommend the west side of Birmingham, going into Sandwell as you get far more house for your money and there are still decent schools, particularly at primary level. Bearwood/Warley Woods are nice.

King's Heath and Mosely are ridiculously over priced and Harborne is ludicrous. I could not pay £70,000 extra for a house, just to be on the other side of the Hagley Road.

What are your priorities? i.e. do you want to be close to countryside or to the bright lights of a big city? Where will you be working, because quite frankly some commutes are just not doable.

Thank you for your responses.

Commuting is needed as we would need to get in to Birmingham city center. I appreciate your comments about where may be best located; which specific areas would you recommend? I Solihull therefore affordable for us?

We have seen these properties online:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44899869.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44854788.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56504428.html

Thank you again for your guidance.

Additionally, Sutton Coldfield seems to have flagged up.... if any person could please help?

The one on Linden Rd is in a busy rd almost opposite a petrol station. Some of those are pre-fab but I'm not certain about that one specifically.

Linden Road is very busy, and you would need to check which number house it is, as the catchment for Bournville Infant is very specific, only certain numbers on Linden Road qualify. You would get into Cotteridge School.
Driving to the city centre would be just about doable, but it's further than I'd suffer. It's possible to walk to the station and commute by train though.

The Damson Lane one, again, on a busy road (though possibly less so than Linden Road). Commuting from Solihull by car is a non-starter.

The Woodleigh Avenue one would be best for commuting by car to city, or close enough to University station too. I used to live round the corner. That road now is filled with HMOs, and houseshares, all student/nurses etc that need to be near hospital or university. It has no drive, so you're unlikely to ever be able to park (the road it gives out onto, Metchley Lane has the A&E for the QE Hospital on it) as people going to university or visiting/working at the hospital will park there all day. If you don't need a car, it would be fine. You will only have one choice of primary school (Watermill) unless you're catholic and baptise/attend church from birth.

Where are you moving from? That would give us a good idea of whether you'd be of the mindset for Sutton Coldfield or Solihull, or whether you'd prefer Birmingham itself.

I like Bourneville, it's got a nice feel, and is properly part of Birmingham but I'm not sure about the schools.
Solihull and Sutton Coldfield both feel like commuter towns, nothing wrong with that but different to other parts of the city. Good schools with small intake areas (to complicate thing Birmingham doesn't have catchments) You'd need to be careful where you bought as there are black holes, and prices going up as people fight to get in to the right area.
Have you thought about Lichfield? It's on the cross city line in to Birmingham and a lovely small city with a lot going on. The competition for school places doesn't seem so intense either. I know several people who commute to the city centre from there no problem.

Tinkley- two Birmingham schools (I know!) have catchments- Burnsville Infant is one of them.

Bournville. grrr.

Hi! I'm from Sutton, great place to live - not a commuter town at all. If anything a bit too full of people who have always lived here if you know what I mean...

Good primaries and secondaries, although you'll have to look about for something in that budget. Tends to be a bit pricier on the cross city line, which will take you into Bham in under 20 mins. I'm the Bham side of Sutton so takes me about 15mins on train. Plenty of buses though.

Walmley might be a good bet for something a bit cheaper but still good access to schools. How old are your children?

this is nice in Walmley although bit of a busy road

close to centre of Sutton but needs work

new estate

Any questions just shout

Don't get me wrong Billy I like Sutton and Solihull, they're both really nice!! I was just trying to convey (obviously badly!) that they have a different feel/character to places nearer the city centre.

I don't know Solihull well but would highly recommend Sutton Coldfield - and surrounding areas- even Lichfield . Train line runs from Lichfield through to Birmingham via Sutton Coldfield so handy for commuting.

If you need to commute to Birmingham, then you get considerably more for your money in places like redditch. We have just sold our 4 bed semi, in a really nice area, catchment for 2 outstanding schools, for 238,000 and it's a 40 minute train to new street. I grew up in Shirley/ Solihull and it's much more expensive and similar length commute to Birmingham city centre ( plus from Shirley the bus is horrendous as it is the Stratford road and it is an hour long slog through rush hour traffic at least)

Oh don't worry Tinkley I know what you mean about places closer to town, Moseley/Kings Heath does feel more in the thick of it than Sutton!