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.

did oyu rule out solihill and sutton?

is the catholic hting reALLy vital?

,non religious incredulity>

I'd say there's about 5/6 miles in it but then you can get a lot of traffic build up as you come closer to Hagley and Stourbridge. What did you think of the 3 houses I linked to in Halesowen?

Solihull and Sutton are both too expensive for us. I will ring the schools there, but realy have very little hope of them having places given what people have said previously, and the experience I've had ringing all the school's around Birmingham centre. It's really depressing just to be left with places in the schools that other people don't want when I've had my children's names down for a good school here since they were 2

We've decided we really need 4 beds + study to accomodate guests that we'll have to stay once we move away (But we might be able to spend a bit more, say £280k).

Yes, the Catholic thing is really important to us - we're practising Catholics, it's the most important thing to us. Cat - I really don't want my dd to change schools twice as doing it just once is going to be hard enough for her, she's quite shy. I know I'm sounding very inflexible here but at the same time I haven't asked for any of this moving, I like it here!! And I'm really reluctant to move somewhere where my children might be worse off.

Anyway, still haven't heard from DH's work and the whole thing is completely doing my head in. I think Stourbridge is really our only option as the school in Halesowen is not walking distance away from any of the houses I mentioned there.

Stourbridge does look really nice, just don't fancy the thought of looking after 4 young children on my own in with no friends or family and DH leaving at 8am and getting in at 7 every night

I went by this today in Norton but perhaps not old enough for you?

That is the house at the top of my list nappyaddict - actually it's the only one on my list It realy is the only one I've seen within walking distance to a school, with potentially enough space for us and within budget.
Does it look nice? is the area ok? To be honest it really isn't old enough for me and the thought of moving into it doesn't fill me with excitement, but it may be our only option.

Yes and it's right by the park, walking distance to the train station, bus station, shops, leisure centre etc.

If you weren't totally opposed to something only a few years old this looks nice.

Please would you give me the details of it to look up nappyaddict? Those rightmove links never work!

oops sorry. it's called cavalier drive or lane.

try this

Wow it is certainly close to the school
The thought of living in a house that new makes me a bit sad but maybe I'm just going to have to get over that...
Do you know anything about the area Nappyaddict? I'm just a bit scared of the whole Halesowen location!

I asked my friend and she said that part is nice. The town centre doesn't have a vast amount of good shops but that's like many town centres nowadays and it's close enough to Merry Hill shopping centre or Birmingham for anything else.

I would put their names down at both the school in Halesowen and Stourbridge and then when you come up look around the house in Norton and any of the ones in Halesowen and see what you think.

They won't let me put names down til I live there, but there are 4 spaces at the Halesowen school so should be OK (only 1 space in Stourbridge though).

but i mean catholic kids to survive in heathen other schools

do
not "to"

Hi Freddo - you sound stressed ...

Halesowen isn't bad ... the area you're looking at is a bit.....errrmmmm..... bland I suppose. Its ok - no big crime issues but its not especially pretty or rural and there are a lot of new "Brookside" style type estates around. I do like Lapal as well - quite leafy and some nice 1920's/30's houses but I'm assuming that's too far for the school ??

Personally, I'd go for the extra couple of miles out and live in the far nicer Norton/Old Quarter area. It will be a longer commute but, by road, I would think an additional 10 mins and there is no train station in Halesowen so I would think a car journey from Halesowen vs a train journey from Stourbridge (with walks/drive either end) would be about equal (if not slightly quicker on the train providing everything goes ok)

Freddo - have you got a link to the source you're using for catholic primaries with results etc. ? I'd be happy to have a look at those and maybe suggest a few to try

I agree with Tilly - I would chose Norton/OQ over Halesowen.

I don't know if it's your thing, but there are active NCT branches in both Stourbridge and Kidderminster with lots going on for families with young children.

There are also lots of children's centres around which offer lots of opportunities for stay and play groups, baby massage etc which would be a good way of getting to know people.

hi again, bundle hill is just on the edge of the town centre. b. hill itself is a load of blocks of flats and i can't think of any nice areas within walking distance of it.

norton is a nice family type of area, stourbridge is a pleasant place to shop/eat and drink out and has a nice big park [mary stevens]

Thanks so much everyone - have calmed down a bit today

Tilly - I am so glad you are back !! Did you have a bice holiday?

Prior to reading this Dh and me had kind of decided to put halesowen on the back burner (the appealing thing about it is that the school does look fab - outstanding ofsted, and they have three or four places so I don't need to stress about places being taken before we move there.

We're going to concentrate on Stourbridge/ Norton. HOPEFULLY going down next weekend for two nights (If DH's work finally gets its act together and lets us know about expenses etc..) We will probably look only at Stourbridge, and hopefully look around the school on the Monday.

The thing that I'm finding a bit stressful is that the school only has one place and i don't know if they'll give it to DD unless we're residing there. Also, DD1 needs to have a definite school place by the end of November because I need to put DD2's name down for the same school by then (she starts reception in Sep 2010 - and obviously needs to be at the same school). We might have to consider renting which I don't really want with all the extra money and removals involved... but perhaps it's just necessary.

If for any reason Stourbridge is ruled out we'll start looking even further out - Bromsgrove, Malvern, Kidderminster or Leamington Spa. However, we'll really need to have a school by the end of November so it doesn't give us much time... I realy hope Stourbridge works out.

Have fallen in love with this but unfortunately it's to let rather than buy! We wouldn't rent it as moving into our own house would be an anticlimax afterwards but I was wondering about ringing and asking about the unlikely offchance that the owners might want to sell it... we'd certainly stretch our budget for it. Any idea what it might be worth (Tilly??) and what the road it's on is like?

I mentioned above that we've come to the conclusion that we really need something bigger than we originally thought if we're to have people to stay (DH's parents etc..) on a regular basis.

Thanks for the offer re schools Tilly but I've looked at the Catholic schools directory and tried all of them! There is a possibility of a space in the one on Greenland Rd, Bournville (I need to ring back Mon) but we've had a look and there's no way we can afford a big enough house anywhere near there. There was another school that had a possible place but the lady on the phone was telling me very forcefully ''You need to be aware that we're in the middle of a fairly rough estate and have children from very mixed backgrounds here... think about that carefully before you make a decision'' - given that she was the school secretary I thought that one might be best avoided!!

Tilly - I meant NICE (what's a bice holiday?)

Have found a great house in Stourbridge here - perfect location, but only a possibility if DH's work gives him some really really amazingly wonderful news about his new salary this week - here's hoping...

DH has is just wondering if Cheltenham might be a possibility for us, as it's 40 mins on the train. Any comments on Cheltenham please (good/ bad areas)? I have a feeling it's expensive...