Manchester or Birmingham

[Mirrorxx]

I’m really struggling with this decision so would love to hear people’s opinions.
We live in Manchester and have been looking for a new house but so far haven’t found anything we like or anything we do like sells before we get to view it.
My family live close to Birmingham and my mum being ill with covid has made us consider moving to Birmingham. It seems like we can get more house for our money and it would cut down time traveling to see family a lot. However all my friends are in Manchester and I don’t know can’t areas of Birmingham.
So can anyone suggest nice areas of Birmingham, max commute to city centre of 45 minutes and maximum budget around 450k?
Or opinions on which city is better to live in, thinking about restaurants , schools, etc?

Grown up and lived in Bham my whole life! I was under the impression that up north is a lot better value for money but who knows. There's lovely parts of bham but it's one of those things where you really have to know the area to pick out a nice part since most nice parts are surrounded by not so nice parts. Nice parts of bham:
Moseley (stay the Edgbaston side rather than Basall Heath side)
Kings Heath (Moseley side not Billesley side)
Sutton Colfield (be careful of the estates surrounding it like Erdington and Perry Barr though)
Hall Green (Shirley end not Spark Hill end)
Bourneville is lovely but only right in the centre, surrounding areas are very studenty
Harbourne (avoid Bearwood end)
All these parts are within a 20 min drive to centre.

If you're willing to branch out a bit further then you can definitely get better value for your money. These areas are further out but a lot nicer and within 45 mins drive to centre of bham:
Bromsgrove (some parts are rough as, the further away from the big Morrison's you are the better but avoid redditch)
Anywhere in Solihull except north solihull (avoid Chelmsley Wood, Smiths Wood and Marston Green) - places like Dickens Heath, Shirley, Earlswood etc are lovely

Nope that helps and hope I don't offend anyone living in any of my no go areas 😂

Have studied, lived and worked near Birmingham but currently living half an hour from Manchester where my family are.

Yes, in general its cheaper up North but in terms of Manchester specifically the nicer areas are very expensive. You are right by the Cheshire/WAG areas so that might explain why areas of Birmingham seem more affordable.

I love Birmingham. I lived in Walsall but given a choice I would go for somewhere like Moseley/Edgbaston/Sutton Coldfield/Alcester

It does seem more affordable when compared to the areas we are looking at such as didsbury, altrincham, sale.
I have family in alcester and used to live there as a child but the commute is too far and I would prefer to be near a train station.

Yes, I think parts of South Manchester / Cheshire are reported as the being the most expensive areas outside the South East so almost everywhere seems more reasonable!

Tricky question but how old is your Mum? Worse case scenario and something happened to your Mum in the next few years, would you still want to be in Birmingham? Sorry if that's a bit blunt. Also, what stage are you at in terms of children? I know when you have young children (toddler groups / starting school etc) its easier to make friends and develop a social circle.

If its just the fact that you can't get a lot for your money in the places you've mentioned as the driver of the move, is it worth looking at other parts of Manchester first?

@Africa2go

My mum is 60 so will hopefully be around for a long time. My sister also lives about 30 minutes outside Birmingham.

I am pregnant with our first child so it’s not really the prices that are prompting us considering a move but the convenience of being nearer family.

My husbands family live in Yorkshire so moving would actually mean we were further from them.

Sorry if I came across as harsh, that definitely sounds like a good reason to move

Not at all. I would agree with you that it wouldn’t be a good reason to move if it would only be short term. It’s a lot of upheaval.

@Mirrorxx
Birmingham seems to be up and coming with HS2 still going ahead (at least for now) and lots of businesses moving up there. It's very central and. can see the appeal in terms of transport connections.

Other posters have suggested areas inside Birmingham. However, I saw this article about areas around the city going up in value too.

So, here are some places you could commute to easily from Birmingham: These are the best places to buy a house if you commute into Birmingham These towns around Birmingham are most likely to see the biggest rise in house prices this year

Birmingham definitely. Good transport links nice people brilliant shops. I went to college near Manchester and didnt like it one little bit. Sorry Manchester x

@ChocoTrio that's a good article but the issue is, Lichfield is grim, Halesowen is grim and leamington is a solid hour from the city centre in good traffic.

@FayaEva12

Surprised you said "Lichfield is grim" - just curious, why is that?

I was on another thread on this forum recently where Lichfield was getting good reviews as being generally being a "beautiful" place with character. Link: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3915948-Nice-places-to-live-in-and-around-Staffordshire

I don't know Lichfield that well personally, but I've a friend who lives in Stafford/Stone way who has said it's a nice place and is actually looking to move to Lichfield. Looked lovely from the pictures and when I looked into it they have a lot of local events going on too - some associated with the cathedral and others independent (such as: food festival, literature festival, Shakespeare in the park etc.). It seemed lovely.

So, I'm intrigued by why you think it's grim?

No idea about Halesowen though. Leamington Spa is a royal spa town so I expect that to be pretty.

@ChocoTrio I mean I could be wrong but every experience I've had of Lichfield I've thought "what a dump". I'm sure it's got really lovely areas though, I can't say I've been to every part of Lichfield.
Leamington is really really lovely but again, some parts are so rough. I remember going on a night out in leamington and seeing a girl get bottled and was shocked. Few friends from the area said it's usually rough on an evening. Had no idea!

Sutton Coldfield is a nice area.
Lichfield isn't grim.

Posted too soon.
Lichfield has a lovely town centre, nice big park, lots of character to the place.
There is 'the dimbles' which is probably the more 'rougher' area