Moving to Birmingham with the family - where to look?

[lilyblue82]

Hello amazing mumsnetters,

We are moving to Birmingham from London in the Summer as husband will work at the University of Birmingham. I've never been there but I have started to have a look at properties, so I need your precious help and knowledge.

Considering South and East Birmingham and I wonder what is your opinion on Bromsgrove?

Budget is 400k but we can stretch. Looking for a 4 beds house. We want to be in a nice and friendly area with lots of family. Good schools are important as in Sep 2018 my son will go in Y2 and my daughter will start reception.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Val

Fair point - I was looking before my boys were born so I didn't look at schools. Just indulging my fantasy for a minute there 😂

sorry, I realised how snippy I sounded after I'd hit 'post'

I think it depends a lot on what kind of commute your husband is willing to do. There are some nice neighbourhoods in south Birmingham that have been mentioned where your DH could walk or take a short bus journey to work, but your choice of location will be relatively restricted. On the other hand if he is happy to do a rail commute then large swathes of the city as well as a number of towns south west of the city can come in to play due to the cross-city line.

While I agree that parts of Erdington have beautiful housing stock at reasonable prices I'd add that this is because much of the neighbouring beautiful housing stock ( a LOT of it) has been split into bedsits and is occupied by addicts and people just out of jail.

Sutton Coldfield is quite nice. If you could manage to be slightly out from Birmingham, Lichfield is nice and has good schools.

These are fairly good areas, Bournville, Kings Heath, Solihull, Hollywood, some parts of Moseley, Kings Norton.

What you should have asked is,
what areas to stay clear of..?

What areas to steer clear of, please?

Personally I would be looking in the Stourbridge area, easy access to Birmingham via train, bus etc. Look at Hagley, and surrounding areas, right on the green belt, but easily accessible to all usual amenities, all the schools are good or outstanding.

I will be down in London a couple of days a week max so definitely DH commute will be more important.

I think that I would still recommend somewhere near to a Cross City Line station. DH can get to UoB. OP can get to New St and thence to Euston (1.5 hrs approx for fastest train).

Alternately, if you get somewhere near one of the southern CCL stations (Barnt Green, Bromsgrove, Alvechurch or Redditch) then OP could drive 20/30 mins to Warwick Parkway station and get an express to Marylebone (again 1.5 hrs).

Thank you all. So what are the areas to avoid? I almost want to ask you to draw areas up on rightmove!

Areas to steer clear of;

Handsworth
Lozells
Aston
Perry Barr
Alum Rock
Sparkbrook
Shard End
Lozells
Ward End
Washwood Health
Kingstanding
Chelmsey Wood
Highgate

The problem is that in Birmingham streets next to one another and one can be fine, naice even, the next dodgy.

So on the houses you linked, I wouldn't go near 1. 2... ish, but that's only because I have schools for mine, it's not a fab area, most houses are rentals. 3 is fine. 4 is fine. Again, because we have schools sorted.

I agree with the areas to avoid but I think the things you need to be really clear on is are you prepared to have your children out of school waiting for a place.

I would recommend getting in touch with the council and discussing now, especially if you are looking at buying immediately.

In terms of areas, and based on your commutes, I would look exclusively on the cross city line. And I reiterate the point made by an earlier poster who said to be careful on areas. For example, I think the Bournville house you shared is the “other” side of the Bristol Rd, meaning it’s a pain to get that the station and out of catchment for Bournville Infants.

Would the council allow a 6yo to be out of school? Or would they give me a place in a very far school? Are private schools a better option to consider?

A lot of what DeltaG is describing is the classic doughnut effect:
-really central is trendy yuppie/singleton land (Jewellery Quarter, Masshouse)
-the inner city areas (listed above) are not so good
-but if you go a bit further out then you are into leafy suburbs.

The authority just have to provide a place. That is what their obligation extends to. They do not have to provide two places in the second school. You could well end up with children in highly undesirable schools several miles apart from one another.
The independent schools in Birmingham have massive waiting lists usually. If they have spaces, it usually means there's an issue, for enough people to have left. Their waiting lists are run by themselves though, so there's no idea about how far down a list you would be, as distance doesn't come into it.
My friends' child was down for Blue Coat from age 2, but was 19th on the waiting list when places were allocated, for example.

My priorities are:

1 nice area and easy for schools to get in (I may consider private schools if state schools haven't got any places)
2 easy to access for dh (he's happy to cycle, ride, take the train)
3 close to the station (for trains to London)

Saw this one yesterday www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47026908.html

Ideally I would buy straight away as I don't want to move the kids to another school again!

Oh, house 4 is meadow brook road... I thought it was heath road south. Sorry.
House 4 is out for me!

Re admissions, be aware that:
Birmingham have Infant and Junior schools which coincide with KS1 and KS2.
Worcestershire mostly has First and Middle schools, with Middle school being Y5-Y8.

Yikes, no!
Don't go Erdington.

What type of school are you used to in London? Birmingham schools are mostly nowhere near that standard!

And on point 3, you will have to take train to New St, then train to London.
Unless you were in somewhere like Stourbridge, on the Chiltern line, but then DH would have to go to New St each day and change.
And Chiltern line is v slow compared with New St- Euston on virgin.

And I dread to think what a Bham-Euston season ticket costs! Probably more than your house...

Kings Heath has good schools, and is convenient for the Uni.

Harborne is lovely but lacking a decent secondary school for boys, although these things can change.

I can't comment on that house, I don't know Erdington well enough. Arthur Road was on Laurence83's approved list.
If you are looking at houses on the East side of town then check out whether they are under the flight path into the airport.