Where to buy a house near Birmingham?

[FreddoBaggyMac]

We have just found out that DH's job is moving to Birmingham and the likelihood is we're going to have to move pretty quickly - before the end of the year. It's going to be hard for us as we have four small children (all under 6)and no family or friends around there and we don't know the area at all, and also DD1 is really settled at her primary school here which is just a few minutes walk from our house...

Anyway, we need to look to the future and I'd be really grateful for any advice anyone can give me about buying a house in that area. Which areas are good, which to avoid etc... we have no idea at all as we've never even been there.

We basically want to be in a nice area for our DCs to grow up in and as short a commute to Birmingham as possible for DH. We need three bedrooms and a study and would like a garden. Most important, we need to be walking distance to a good Catholic primary school. We prefer older style properties (Victorian or earlier) but we need somewhere that doesn't require any renovation (or preferably even decorating!) as we just won't have the time for at least five years! Our budget is going to be around £250k.

Have heard that Bournville is nice - but there seems to be lots of areas within Bournville, I think Bournville village is going to be too expensive for us. Have also heard good things about Edgbaston, Harborne and Moseley - but again I suppose all of these places have good and bad areas within them... Have also thought about living further out (Whitwick, Malvern?) but perhaps the commuting time would be too long?

I'd be completely grateful for any advice from anyone as we're really stuck - we're not even going to have much opportunity to go and look at houses as we'll need to move quickly and have our DCs to consider (not easy to househunt trailing 4 DCs behind you!)
If anyone could provide me with links to houses for sale that might be suitable for us I'd be eternally grateful!!

Thank you in advance.

If my DH worked in birmingham we would probably live in Malvern (worc) - its an hour commute (not very fast train line) but a nice area to live in and for DCs. Don't know about catholic primaries..

It depends whether you want to live in the city or the country and whether you mind the DCs growing up with brummy accents if you live in Birmingham or suburbs.

You could buy my house - in Edgbaston - walking distance to Catholic primary with outstanding ofsted report.....in your budget....
Seriously thou' suspect you wouldn't be able to afford a house of the right size in Harborne (not cheap). Moseley is 'trendy' if thats what you want. Where is dh going to be working?

Thanks for the replies. DH will be working right in the middle of Birmingham here possibly only for three days a week (and working at home the other 2).

I suppose we really need to decide whether we want to be in the suburbs or in somewhere like Malvern - but it's very hard when we don't know anything about these places!

Ideally we'd like to live somewhere a bit 'countrified' quiet and with a nice garden (preferably that gets sqirrels in it ) but within walking distance of schools and shops and not too stressful a commute for DH. How long would it take to get into the city centre from Edgbaston? Are the suburbs I mentioned (Bournville, Moseley, Edgbaston) quite leafy or do you still feel like you're in a big city?

Am interested in Malvern too Happywomble, why do you rate it as a nice area?

I suppose what I need to do is look at the Catholic primary schools in those areas and find out which have spaces available in DD1s year group and work from there. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has any knowledge of the schools in these areas!

Sutton COldfiels/four oaks

harborne and mosely are £££

Also meant to ask, Blackduck, is Edgbaston a good place for children? Would you rate Bournville or Moseley as being any better or worse?

Our friends used to live in Hampden (sp?) in Arden and that was really nice.

Noah - I had the impression that Sutton Coldfield was expensive, is it cheaper than Moseley? It's all very confusing as I've seen houses on the web in Mosely that look amazingly cheep and also ones that are ££££... I suppose it just has good and bad areas, it's very difficult to judge...

edgbaston is not a god place to live imo
tehre is no real town centre and its VERY near to ladywood( area of deprication) so tehre is related crime.
its like a dormitory.
try sutton - HUGE park in the middle of it
here

adn lots of nice shops, restaurants and wine bars

good seconary schools too

well we live in a three bed semi in four oaks - there were HUge private estates wiht LOAdS of money

also streetly is very nice and very des res

id not move farhter out than solihill ( at a stretch or sutton)
by the time you get to bromsgrove or hamden you get all thehassle of being in a large conurbation with none of the benfits

Thanks Noah - is the commute from Sutton to Birmingham OK?

when i was a student mosely was half left wing iniversity lecturers and half gangstas dealing drugs

Bournville and Moseley are both really nice. Moseley is quite hippyish (or was when I lived there, but admittedly this was a while ago), Harborne more a family are I think. Both are very popular with students.

If your DH is working from home a couple of days a week you could maybe look further out where there are good rail links into the city centre. What about Warwick or Stratford? There are some gorgeous villages in Warwickshire. If was moving back to the Midlands I would look around that area I think.

VERY good trainline from four oaks , streetly and even lichfield

Bournville is fab and definitely still very leafy. You need to look at roads like Franklin, Mary Vale, Beaumont for houses in your budget. The village itself is lovely and not at all city-ish.

Edgbaston is v mixed - it has very expensive houses and really quite impoverished bits and probably less at the middle range you're after than Bornville offers.

Harborne and Moseley are also nice but you'd need to look around re: prices now. Moseley is a bit studenty still and is mostly made up of pubs in the actual village itself.

No idea about Catholic schools sorry.

Malvern is gorgeous but more expensive than the areas above, from what I've seen.

Okay Edgbaston is a HUGH area and variable. Some of it would be out of your price range, some of it would be in. I live in the 'cheaper' bit, but it is 20 mins by bus to the city centre one way and no time at all the other way out to the Clents etc. I am not far from Harborne, which is also variable (but thinks it is better ), but it is dear, as is Moseley. Where I am is leafy, not far from a wood and parks. I live in a late Victorian property and there is a fair amount of it around.
We are actually looking to move to Malvern, but thats not because we don't like Birmingham, but becuase its time for us to move on.

yes agree re edgbaston - very near the Ladywood estate and the poor areas near Hagley road

Thanks for all replies, will have a look at some of these areas along with DH and come back to you! And please keep the posts coming

the train from four oaks into new street was about 20 mins
then a short walk to our road.
the drive in from ANYWHERe ( esp A38) is a mare

Sutton Coldfield is lovely. Nice town centre, good schools at primary and secondary level and like Noah said, good transport links to Birmingham.

I used to know people in Moseley and tbh I have never seen the attraction of that area or the surounding areas.

and the students will piss you RIGHT OFF

( hahaha)

Very helpful info on those streets in Bournville janeite - I'm thinking at the moment that Bournville may be the safest bet for us as no-one seems to have a bad word to say about it and the commute would be OK, other areas seem more mixed...

or the A38
and you have to drive through doogpoo lane to get to it

its a bad one - although there is a train station