NW people - any good tips for Wirral house hunt?

[WouldLoveANiceHouse]

NC'ed so as not to out myself geographically!

We're hoping to buy a house on the Wirral in the next 12 months.

Would dearly love to hear any tips from Wirral residents or regular visitors, past or present.

We only need 3 bedrooms (a 4 bed would be lovely, but definitely not 'necessary'), and we don't need a big garden. Am hoping our rather unimpressive budget will therefore manage something decent!

Budget is £130k-£145k. Perhaps could look at £150k and see if owners are feeling flexible.

Any thoughts on good locations or actual properties you've spied would be great. We have a one year old so obviously thinking of schools and we don't know anything about that.

In terms of neighbourhood am just looking for something pleasant and leafy-ish with a decent café or two. That's not much to ask, I hope!

In terms of house, I love a character house, but I realise with our budget we can't afford to be too picky. No offence to those that own one, but my heart sinks at pebbledash and there seems to be a lot of it around!

We've visited and a lot of areas seem a bit 'run down'. Where should we be looking?

NB. Currently live north of Liverpool (Formby) but husband's work in Wirral, house prices here, tunnel charge and family over the water mean a move to the Wirral is best choice for us.

Will miss the Waitrose though!

Oxton Village is very nice, has shops, pubs and restaurants. Only about 15 mins drive to Liverpool too. Something like this is probably about 5 minutes' walk from the village.

A friend used to live on this street, it's close to Birkenhead Park and Bidston Hill.

How about here, near Port Sunlight? There are trains to Liverpool every 15 minutes. If you haven't been to Port Sunlight before, would recommend you have a look, it's beautiful. The surrounding areas can be quite a contrast though.

Thanks - very helpful and interesting houses.

I heard Oxton is nice. Do you know if it's any good for schools?

I don't know much about Bebington other than that there's a higher and lower one! Which would you say is best for the 'nice' feel I'm after (if that's not too vague!)?

Thanks for the tip re Port Sunlight - I've never visited and will definitely earmark it for our next drive over.

I don't know much about the primary schools listed on the Rightmove page for Oxton Village, but the Ofsted ratings are good. You could also look at Townfield Primary, which is good with outstanding pre-school provision. In terms of secondary schools, the nearest are University Academy of Birkenhead (former Park High school), which isn't doing great at the moment, and Birkenhead High School Academy, which is a former girls' independent school which recently turned non-selective - results are still good. There are a couple of faith and independent schools nearby (St Anselm's boys, Birkenhead co-ed, Prenton Girl's), then the next nearest are Ridgeway High and St John Plessington, which I don't know too much about, sorry!

For Bebington, it's Higher Bebington which is the leafier part. Primary schools are, I think, good. There are also the Wirral Grammar Schools in Bebington.

Port Sunlight is beautiful with a tonne of heritage, but the Lever factory and R&D centre are there so that's a consideration. It's doesn't feel particularly noisy or industrial in comparison with other factory locations. I think there is a primary school which is well regarded. It might be worth (if you have the time) chatting to one of the local historians who could tell you about the history!

Oxton is lovely. We have a 3 bed house in Heswall which we are selling?!
I really want to buy in Thornton Hough but my DH is not keen and thinks it's too expensive

Thank you Z that's all very very helpful! Much appreciated.

I'll save this thread!

Young - what's Heswall like?

Z sorry - one more Q!

Would you know how to describe roughly where Higher Bebington starts / ends? It's hard to tell from looking at the map!

I grew up in that village young It is lovely. Great school and good community feel.

Parkgate might be worth a look would I don't know anything about the school though.

Hmm. Well, I'd say Higher Bebington begins at Storeton Road/Woodchurch Road junction and I reckon it starts to turn into Lower Bebington as you pass the Mount Road junction towards Broadway and head towards Rockferry. It's definitely Lower Bebington by the time you get to Bebington station! But that said, both Higher and Lower Bebington are pretty nice. Rockferry and New Ferry are areas where there is deprivation.

I do like talking about the Wirral . Just been looking at the most expensive houses in Oxton on Rightmove wistfully!

Spital is also nice but on the expensive side, and Bromborough is convenient but less "villagey".

The villages on the Dee side of the Wirral are more expensive (Hoylake, West Kirby, Heswall etc.) It might be worth looking at Parkgate/Neston but if I had to commute to Liverpool I'd probably stay on the Birkenhead side of the Wirral.

There's only one house under £150,000 in West Kirby and it's here.

It's not the best looking house on the outside but it will go up in value and the schools and local area are great. West Kirby has grammar schools, too. You can ALWAYS sell in an area with a grammar school!

This house in Bebington looks nice on the outside, but there's only one photo and no details of the street etc. Bebington's a nice area, though.

There's a Location, Location, Location episode from The Wirral. You should be able to find it on 4OD.

Here's another in Bebington.

I've seen one in Liverpool, though, NonDom, where the couple bought in an area with really dreadful schools, with LLL telling them the schools were great. They don't always know much about the areas.

Would, I'd perhaps also look at Prenton. The whole area from Storeton Road back to the M53 (but not too close to the M53!) is generally pretty nice. This is a nice location although the house needs some work!

There are a few houses around the Grosvenor Road/Devonshire Road/Tollemache Road area too for example this one. There are some beautiful old houses round by there and big wide roads. Very close to Birkenhead Park.

This is a really nice location too.

Sorry, scrap that first one from my last post, it's a speed-bumped road so safer for children but nothing special in terms of location!

The Wirral is expensive. You'll struggle to get much that's not in a crappy place with your budget :(

Areas of Prenton, for eg, that used to be classed as really rough, Prenton Dell, houses there go for £160k+ . You're looking at £300k for a 1930s semi off Woodchurch Road in Prenton.

I'd have a look on rightmove, then post on here found out what the area is really like (resident of the Wirral for 40 years)

I'm a Wirral resident, too, Blazing, and have posted links to houses that are OK in good areas. I think prices have gone down more than I thought.

OP, you don't need to know where Bebington starts and ends - the house spec will always say if the house is in the grammar area.

All - thank you so much!

This information is priceless and just the kind of info I needed.

I will do some serious Rightmoving and post for further opinions. Thanks for suggestions so far - I'm looking forward to checking them out!

Can I ask what people's opinions are of Wallasey?

Someone suggested it to me but I'm not sure and again don't know anything about it.

I think what's unusual about the Wirral is that you get such extremes of wealth in such a small area.

So for example Would, I would say to go nowhere near A41/Borough Road in Birkenhead, however Oxton Village begins about a 15 minute walk from there! Also, Prenton on one side of Storeton Road is pretty nice, but go the other side towards Borough Road and you're at the Tranmere Rovers football ground and it gets decidedly dodgy.

Birkenhead Park is another example - on one side you get the big old houses and wide leafy roads. On the other side you're heading towards the docks and industrial areas.

I don't know Wallasey very well, but it is next to New Brighton and the sea side , and you can access the Kingsway tunnel to Liverpool pretty easily. If you were to get the train, there are trains every 15 minutes but New Brighton's the end of the line so it does take longer.

This is slightly above your budget and probably highly unsuitable but it does have a lot of character!

There are quite a few properties in the Wethersfield Road/Pleasington Drive/Croft Close area which might be worth a look. Townfield Lane/Noctorum Way gets more deprived as you head towards Upton station, so I would probably not consider the area as you drive along Noctorum Way from Noctorum Dell to Beryl Road - but again in contrast, as you head up Beryl Road onto West Road back to Wethersfield Road, you can see how pleasant it is....

The trains are great, though, from New Brighton into Liverpool. They are really reliable and quick.

New Brighton is nice. It's lovely being by the beach, the primary schools are good. Children can still go to the grammar schools, they don't really have catchment areas now.

Thanks all for letting me pick your brains.

Z I do love a beamed house! You've found some really good ones. I'll look into Noctorum, and that's v helpful info about Birkenhead and surrounding areas. It sounds similar to Sefton Park in Liverpool in terms of the variety nearby it.

Re Wallasey - apart from New Brighton, does anyone have views on the rest of Wallasey ie. is Wallasey Village any good or Wallasey Grove Rd area? (Just looking at a map now.)

From Rightmove, it does seem the prices do get more reasonable around there.

I've PM'd you, OP.