Help needed. Looking to rent in Gosforth, Newcastle.

vickiv55

Help!! Please!
My younger brother has just been offered a job in Gosforth, near newcastle and starts at the beginning of June. Fantastic news for him, however, ....
We live in Scotland and don't have a clue about areas to rent near Gosforth.
He has a young family, so would be looking for somewhere in a decent schools catchment area. He doesnt drive, so also looking for somewhere near central Gosforth, or if it is in surrounding areas, then somewhere that is on a bus/metro route.
We do have family living down that neck of the woods who have recommended : westerhope, kingston park, hazelrig, redfarm, cramlington. But ??? To me, these are just names on a map, and I don't know if the areas are nice, or reasonable priced in rent.
He is looking to spend £500 per calendar month for rent, looking for a 2 bedroom (minimum) unfurnished property.
Any ideas? Or any landlords/rental companies that you can recommend?
Any help at all is hugely appreciated.
Thank you :j

Kyrae

Hiya! I can recommend Rook Matthew Sayer as a good local estate agent, we've bought and sold houses through them and they've always been a pleasure to deal with! Wouldn't rent through Mike Rogerson estate agents if my life depended on it, we rented through them and had problem after problem.
Your best bet might be to use a website like RightMove and search for properties within a certain mile radius of Gosforth, in your price range, and see what comes up.

Only moved up north myself last year so i'm not hugely familiar with the area either, but I think Gosforth is one of the more expensive areas to live in. You'll get a flat for the £500 budget, but if you live further outside Newcastle and commute in you can get a whole house for £500 a month. I think most places around here have good areas and bad areas, so it's hard to recommend certain towns, but google street view is very handy for getting a feel for the neighbourhood. Only place I wouldn't recommend living is right next to a metro station, handy for commuting, but the streets are usually covered in litter and pretty noisy!

Try having a look at the area on google maps, that shows metro stations so you can get an idea of how easy it would be to get to work. Metro is run by Nexus, more details of the metro stations on there, and it has a journey planner where you can put in postcode of where you're thinking of renting, and postcode of workplace, and i'll tell you how to get there and how long it takes by metro/bus/etc.

Hope that helps!!

sallycinnamon1980_2

Hello, I live in the North East and I know the area very well, Gosforth is expensive, as is Jesmond. Westerhope might be cheaper but isn't the nicest area - there is no metro station here only buses. Kingston Park is canny and there's a good retail area, plus a metro I think. Hazelrigg is a bit ropey I think an doesn't have a metro system. Cramlington is quite far out and might take a while on a bus as there is no metro. kenton would be a good place to try - has a metro station closeby in Fawdon - Fawdon is a nice place to live too actually. You most likely get a flat for £500 in those areas. You could get a house for that price if you look at the Throckley area (semi-rural, no metro), South Shields is quite a nice area too but would mean longer travelling on a morning but with excellent transport and shopping links.

xx

bitsandpieces

Depends what your brother wants. Gosforth is an expensive area, but not a bad place to live and would be near to your brother's work. Jesmond can be pricey - I'd avoid the centre unless your brother will be taking advantage of the nightlife (unlikely with a young family, I suspect!) though other parts along the metro line may be worth a look.

Further out, Kingston Park has good shops and transport links and should be cheaper. It's a way out of the city and tbh seems a bit soulless to me - but others really like it. Your brother could also get a flat more centrally - Sandyford would be worth a look and he could get something close to Jesmond metro - though he may be as well to look nearer to work.

If your brother wants something further out, there are also good metro links to part of the coast etc. Further than I'd want to commute, but some pretty areas and in many cities people commute for far longer without a thought. Property can also be cheaper in some parts of Gateshead, but also more of a commute...and it's Gateshead :rotfl: I don't know about schools for different areas, I'm afraid.

Your brother should visit Newcastle, to look around at different areas and properties. We can all tell him where we like - but a lot of this comes down to taste. In terms of a reasonable hotel/B&B to stay in - might be worth looking just over the river in Gateshead.

There used to be some *very* good flat deals on gumtree - I think lots of people who hadn't been able to sell so ended up renting cheap. There is a risk in using gumtree, though, and also in dealing with an accidental landlord.

Ms_Piggy_2

Gosforth is lovely - and Gosforth high school is *very* good. But it's expensive.

From the areas you mentioned:
westerhope - OK-ish
kingston park - quite nice
hazelrig - I wouldn't!
redfarm - OK
cramlington - OK, but a little way from Gosforth and no metro.

You could also try Brunton Park.

What's his budget?

dizziblonde

I'm an exiled Mackem so I'll admit my knowledge of Newcastle is ok, but not amazing.

If you're looking for a family I'd avoid Jesmond like the plague - it's becoming more and more rich-studentified (last time I was there it was turning into a mini-Durham, with the cream-de-la-creme kicking about... rich, thick and full of clots).

Gosforth is nice, but as someone said, pricey - but basically most places on the Metro system aren't a bad commute in general, it's nowhere near the scale that the Tube in London is. To give you an example - I used to travel from the end of the extended line in Sunderland (literally the last stop on the network) into Jesmond every day (about 3 stops or so down from Gosforth if memory serves) and I think it only took me about 40 minutes max on a morning - relatively speaking, the north east is tiny really (although, much as it's my home town and all - I'd never recommend living in Sunderland to anyone)! My old colleagues when I worked in Jesmond (the next bit of town down from Gosforth) used to live around the Kingston Park area as a general rule.

shamac

Tell him to also look at Low Fell which is across the river in Gateshead but very family friendly with great schools and v good links into Newcastle-approx 15-20 mins to Gosforth with loads of buses and metro station at Gateshead. Nice leafy suburb-check out Saltwell Park-best in the UK -full of young, professional families.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-13463790.html

typical Low Fell house

Good Luck!

sharnad

I would look at longbenton, benton and killingworth which have properties for that price and have good transport links and are pretty close by

Gateshead is way too far

tf0401

why would he want to be the wrong side of the tyne bridge? are you mad? that puts a extra hour on his day at least stuck in traffic on in newcastles shocking public transport system.

Sandyford is a good call to rent and to buy. Its getting absorbed by the classier areas surround it and a house or flat there will rise in price quite a lot in the next few years.

£500 isnt a lot to play with tbh for a family home. Try Heaton, Sandyford and Gossy.

westerhope - very decent, this is where i would look if the above 2 dont work out which is unlikely, varys a lot up here tho nice estates and bad estates. Traffic CAN be bad at peak times
kingston park - nice, fits price range and great access to shop/metrocenter the countrys largest 24 hr Adsa on yr doorstep and a M&S Food yes sir! Traffic CAN be bad at peak times
hazelrig - naaaa
redfarm - no idea
cramligton - miles away (20 mins drive) but will get good value for a monkey ($500)

CIS

I work in gosforth and it takes about 15-20 minutes by metro from Gateshead metro station.

Another 2-3 minutes past Gateshead you get to St James Village by Gateshead Stadium which is relatively new, you get a reasonable property for £500p/m and there are usually a few properties available at any one time to rent.

Guitar

Check out right move and pay special attention to the local metro stations. They're the best way to travel quickly. The buses tend to be slow and expensive.

The area around Newcastle tends to be hit and miss. Some places I wouldn't dare risking being in after dark, others are really nice.

Try to avoid 'Tyneside' flats, they're horrible places to live in.

It's good that your brother is only working in Gosforth, commuting in and out of Newcastle during the rush hours is a nightmare.

Avoid Byker and Benwell. If you had to start looking anywhere I'd say start with Kingston Park, it's a nice area, within easy commute as long as you get close to the metro station. Some nice country side nearby too.