Help me find a place to live in the W. Midlands

[Whereshallwelivee]

Currently in Dudley. Hate it. Dh from here originally, we had to move back a few years ago for many horrible reasons which made it difficult to go anywhere else. we were 160 miles away and I was v ill and LL sold up, in laws found us a place to rent here and then we bought a place to do up which has worked out V well for us as prices have risen here dramatically as well as the work we have done to the place.

We now find ourself tied to Birmingham for work for a while.

So, where can we move to that is nicer? Schools here are shocking. Got a year 5 child, who I don’t want to go to secondary here. Very bright so will be taking 11+. i know we don’t have much chance here of getting into a grammar but she wanted to do it and really enjoys the prep work (if I hadn’t given birth I’d swear she wasn’t mine!)

Top budget is 350k. We need 3 beds (toddler and an adult child at home as well as dd). We are currently in a 4 bed which is perfect for us as mainly work from home so smallest room is office space, but you get quite a big house here for the money, you wouldn’t get that somewhere nicer.

It’s predominantly schools which are my concern, secondary ones - youngest will be home educated.

I’d rather not be in W midlands at all, but we could never afford to go back to where we were living and we ar tied here for a bit with 3 of us working here now.

Sutton coldfield and worcester are places I don’t mind.

Please help!

Try it to get too hung up on specific areas as it seems bedrooms need to take priority here. I know you prefer barbourne/ northwick but tbh there aren't really any awful areas in Worcester. The super big period houses with 3/4 double bedrooms are usually the mega bucks properties unfortunately. If you still want period, I would be looking at the terraces with converted cellars and lofts which should give you the 3-4 beds you need. As a pp said don't discount st John's because of floods - it IS a nice little area and if you can avoid driving through town all the better! Arboretum, battenhall are good and claines bit further out is lovely. Further afield, fernhill heath is semi rural but a nice large suburb and sits inbetween Worcester and droitwich. Or you could go the new builds route and look at warndon villages or st Peter's , but you'd have to compromise on the proximity to town. There's not a lot on the market though at the moment unfortunately ! Hopefully it will pick up as we move into spring

@Whereshallwelivee you are pretty spoilt for choice with secondary schools. You have decent access with catchment to a lot of high schools (or on bus routes) whichever your choice! St Peter’s might be out as 3rd rooms are almost always box rooms, and the gardens are rubbish compared to a bit further out. Some lovely properties in St John’s but careful about being next to/near HMO’s as there is lot of student housing up that way!

I'd move to Shropshire.

Edge of Worcestershire/ Birmingham. For that budget Aston fields in Bromsgrove/ alvechurch/ Blackwell/ Lickey and surrounds. Although it's a shame if the hours don't work with train commuting as that's very efficient. We've moved to there sort of area from Coventry and it's been a brilliant change for us. Similar change from Dudley

I like Worcester better than any of the other areas mentioned- I visited someone in Solihull recently and was suprised it's always mentioned as it seemed exceptionally average and uninteresting- nothing really wrong but nothing that would draw me too it

My suggestions would be Worcester, Warwick , selly oak and Lichfield. I've lived in Tettenhall and Sedgley but problem is I hated Wolverhampton.

I have a visceral hated of Wolverhampton 🤣

It’s something I can’t explain, the first time I went there, I had such a massive sense of revulsion. I’ve only had to go in a few times as the banks in Dudley are the crappy little branches with no one to speak to or do anything complicated. I’ll be happy never to set foot in the place again!

@Whereshallwelivee couldn't agree more- I met someone who lived there and managed 3 years! To be honest I'm not keen on Birmingham either, in fact in all honesty I hated the vast majority of the West Midlands -

You're not going to get 3 beds in Warwick for £350k anywhere near the nice bits. It'll all be the outside estates that you need a car to get anywhere, and sit in 45 minutes of traffic each day because the road network can't cope.

Worcester is great and the driving test center is there too

@Whereshallwelivee couldn't agree more- I met someone who lived there and managed 3 years! To be honest I'm not keen on Birmingham either, in fact in all honesty I hated the vast majority of the West Midlands - how about the places on the way to Worcester too like bromsgrove or Redditch - not amazing but maybe worth a look?

@YouveGotAFastCar you are probably correct

None of us are keen on the West Midlands - even Dh who was born here. But we’ve sort of got stuck for now with ds mainly, but dh took a massive promotion opportunity from an LA in the SE and it was a no brainer.

The house we buy won’t be a forever home. We do like Worcester though and will probably end up staying put there, I think. But at the moment, we are swaying towards buying another place that needs a bit of work, doing it, then moving on in a few years.

Top top top budget is actually 400k. But that would wipe out all savings and our mortgage payments would go up significantly. We’re looking at places that are around 300k that need a bit of internal improvement.

We did really well doing that to this place so I’m sure we can do it again. The offer we accepted on this house was 100k more than we paid for it two years ago. That’s partly due to the market here, but also due to the work we have done - we were very good at budgeting and dh is V good at DIY so we only spent 15k. We have a fantastic builder here that we used who has said that Worcester will be no problem. When you find a good builder, you hang on to them!

@Whereshallwelivee absolutely- I would go to Worcester if you like it and can find somewhere ok-

Worcester is lovely as are all the surrounding villages. I'd go back in a heartbeat if it were remotely possible. There are some nice smaller towns around it but for decent schools, trains and motorway links, Worcester is the better bet