Moving from London to Birmingham

[ploads]

Hi all grin

I'm new to this site so I hope that I've posted this in the right area!

I'm a recent graduate, with an 11-month-old and another child on the way!! London is too expensive for us to live comfortably (Garden, drive etc), so I have been considering moving to the West Midlands for the last two years.

I went to uni in the East Midlands and enjoyed the quiet roads, neighbours being friendly etc... but do also like the option to have a good time and not be tooo far from the city!

I work in the city for a big four finance firm and I have managed to save up enough money to afford a tiny flat on my rough estate or a big (I think) house in Brum! I would be able to transfer to the Birmingham office of my company, partner would have to find a new job but shouldn't be too hard as every company has HR roles!

Our budget is around £300k, maximum £350k (mortgage). We would like 3 bedrooms minimum, 4 would be nice.

I would like to be close enough to commute to Broad Street/Snow Hill area in under 45 minutes, 30 minutes or less would be ideal.

Good state schools, primary and secondary are also very important. Our first born is a boy and second is a girl, so would need mixed gender schools.

We are of Caribbean descent so it would be nice to live in a multi-cultural/diverse area, but at the same time there have been many shootings and stabbings in my area in London so would like to be in a decent area too!

This is one of the main reasons for wanting to move to (a nice part of) Birmingham so that our children don't have to grow up through what we (I) did.

I've heard about Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, Moseley, Solihull... where else is nice!?

Main concerns are the commute to the city (for me) and good schools for the kids.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks all

If you have kids, I would look at Bournville/Cotteridge. Great community feel, lots going on for families and very pretty too. Bournville is more expensive but more quaint/village-y. You would also be well positioned for work as you'd be on the Cross City Line (trains) which runs every 10 minutes and would get you into the city centre within 15 minutes. You could then walk to Broad Street/Snow Hill within 10 minutes.

Moseley is lovely but very expensive and commuting from there is an absolute pain because it isn't on the cross city line.

You might also want to look at Harborne and Edgbaston, similar feel to Moseley but you could then catch the cross city line from University or Selly Oak to the city centre.

You would probably get something in Kings Heath for that budget. I live there and it is quite multicultural and as safe as anywhere in Bhm. Not sure about commute times but the bus is frequent, schools are good or outstanding plus Camp Hill grammar, loads of green space and they keep promising us a train station, so if you are in it for the long haul then therll probably be more options for commuting :)
This kind of thing: www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/72004619
This one is cheap because it's next to a nursery :D
: www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/722855

The main downside of the area is parking: get a house with a parking space / drive if you can.

Oh and one more tip - check the flood history wherever you buy in Birmingham.

commute to Broad Street/Snow Hill area

I don't understand your criteria - these are about 1-1.5 miles apart (depending which end of Broad Street you are talking about).
Which one do you really mean - Snow Hill, the city end of Broad Street or the Fiveways end of Broad St?

ploads has pm'd me to explain where she means (obviously she doesn't want to splash personal details all over the internet) and she means central Bham.
That means that any of the central stations - New Street, Snow Hill or Moor St - will be relatively handy. You could trace the lines out, find where the stations are and see where you like the look of.
I recommend, as someone said upthread, looking at the cross-city line. You can be as far out as Four Oaks (to the north) or Bromsgrove (to the south) and it still be a reasonable commuting time.
Also, have a look near Stourbridge junction / Hagley stations: reasonable commute and v naice area with good schools.
Also look at the Warwick line, with a variety of areas going from quite-nice to very expensive.

Basically, Birmingham is the classic doughnut or polo mint: very expensive in the very middle, not so good further out, then a nicer ring, then an even nicer ring. As a crass generalisation I would say avoid east-ish (flight path) and north-west-ish (it's a never ending sprawl from Bham to the Black Country)
God luck with your house-hunting.

@senua Thu 31-May-18 10:03:01

HE!! haha

Thanks for the info you guys are all so helpful!

oops. Apols, ploads.

I wouldn't say Moseley is especially diverse, relative to Kings Heath. It's very 'naice' (they have an M&S foodhall don'tchaknow), but we chose to be Heathans because you get so much less for your money in Moseley, there seems to be more crime, and any shop that is of practical use seems to be on Kings Heath high street, not Moseley.

However Moseley and Kings Heath should both be getting a price boost soon when the new train line comes in. Kings Heath - being that bit less naice than Moseley at the moment - has more room to grow. (The house next door to me is for sale ;) )

Sutton Coldfield is developing a lot in terms of entertainment. Four Oaks... can't personally see the appeal. Solihull - nothing actually wrong with it, but there are certain sectors of the population there who think it's the be all and end all, and are unbearably smug about it. As a non-native to Birmingham, I've had at least three people introduce themselves as 'from Solihull, but not like that', and one who was indeed unbearably like that.

Solihull is very expensive in Solihull proper (near the town centre). I would think a 4 bed house is likely to be out of your budget. Also, I have to agree it can be a bit ‘like that’ as thecatsthecats suggests.

Alternatively, I think the Shirley area is less expensive.

You might want to look at the Kings Heath area - the train there is only 20 minutes to New Street and it’s zone 3 or 4 so £62 per month for a season ticket.

£62 per month for a season ticket.

See OP - you're going to LOVE the West Midlands!!

Erm- there isn't a station in Kings Heath!
Where do you mean, Talia?

The commute from Warwick to Birmingham is under 45 minutes train time. Worth looking further out than Solihull too

There’s a train station in Kings Heath??

I’d look at Cofton Hackett, parts of Longbridge (Mavis’s rd etc) Kings norton (westhill rd area), harborne if you can walk to university station. Maybe Hall green?

Sorry, I’m an idiot. I somehow got Kings Heath and Kings Norton mixed up. They are talking about reopening Kings Heath station which I assume will cause property prices to rise but I don’t think it’s definite or that there’s a time table for it.

You could also look down towards Bromsgrove and Droitwich. Worcester would be on the verrrrry edge of 45 mins. Lots of nice areas around Cotteridge and the outskirts of Bournville (Bournville itself is my dream location, but pricey!). Harborne has a big recent graduate population because of the university, and a nice high street. Slightly more awkward for getting into the city centre as it’s not right by the train line. Bournbrook and Selly Park are very studenty.

The Moseley/King's Heath line is being bumped up the agenda by the Commonwealth Games - but that goes for all transport improvements I think.