Tips for moving to Rugby?

Tirian

Well, I posted a while back about a dilemma over moving to somewhere that my wife and I could commute to our jobs in Birmingham and London respectively - in particular whether to rent or to buy. At the time we were considering Banbury.

In short, we decided to rent - but Banbury is not looking so great for the commute to my new workplace so we're now looking at Rugby instead. I'm heading over to view numerous places on Saturday, but if anyone's got any good tips on where to live/not to live in Rugby please let me know!

Our musts are:

Minimum 3 bedrooms.
Maximum 15 mins walk to the station.
Relatively nice area (subjective, I know).

Would likes are:

Garden with shed for bikes.
Separate kitchen and dining room.
Off-road parking.


At the moment I've got viewings in
Oxford Street
South Street
Holbrook Avenue
Graham Road
Aqua Place

What looked like a really nice place in Acacia Grove has apparently just gone, oh well

tinyplanets

I have sent you a pm. Let me know if you don't get it cos there is nothing in my sent box

tinyplanets

Posted a link but wasn't allowed because I'm new. Murray Road fits your criteria, £155,000 3 bed. Nice street.

Kew Road 139,999. Near Holbrook.

Cambridge street offers over 130,000. next to oxford street

sharonfrancis

Whats your budget?
Hillmorton is a nice area but probably a good 20mins walk to station - could you not cycle?
Bilton / Cawston / Dunchurch nice areas but a car journey from station - there are plenty of carparks around station or residential areas you could park in ;-)
Aspects of Brownsover are to avoid particularly around the Hollowell Way / Merry Monk shops but then there is a nicer side to Brownsover.
We are some very nice villages around Rugby; Barby, Clifton, Newton - all would need you to drive to station.

Oxford Street - within easy reach of town centre / station.
South Street - within easy reach of town centre / station.
Holbrook Avenue - within easy reach of town centre / station. Near lovely park
Graham Road - within easy reach of town centre / station.
Aqua Place - nice houses, seems like quiet road, near station.

Tirian

Thanks to all - two PMs received, including yours Tinyplanets - thanks! I'm looking round a bunch of places on Saturday. Seen one that looks good on the screen, hoping it's as good in reality

Cycling is maybe possible - unfortunately, for medical reasons, I can only use a recumbent at the moment, and the one I have doesn't have any carrying capacity, so I'm not sure how I would deal with work papers/laptop etc. if I were to cycle to the station - so I think walking is probably best for the moment.

Would rather not drive really - and we only have one car anyway, so could be tricky with having to get trains at different times, in different directions as well as dropping a midget off at nursery.

Will report back soon

Got a viewing on our London flat tomorrow too. Fingers crossed! If we can sell that then we can start looking for a place to buy after a year's renting ...

Tirian

Tirian

Sharon - re: budget, rents in Rugby seem pretty reasonable (compared to what I've come to expect from living in London for 8 years). I don't think there's anything on Rightmove in Rugby that's within 1/2 mile (15 mins) of the station that we *couldn't* afford at the moment, but we'd rather be under £900/mo if we can. No point throwing money away if you don't have to!

And no doubt our impending arrival will bring additional costs that we don't expect!!

sharonfrancis

Tirian
good luck!! If you have a short list at the end of your visit let us know and I can tell you pros and cons of each area.
Oxford Street / South Street / Graham Road are all in a built up area tho fantastic station location. It is probably a 15/20 mins walk to town.

Tirian

Well, had a very pleasant morning nosing round a few places. Oxford Street place was quite nice, but a bit tired/run down. The South Street place was, um .. "special" (appalling decor, no bath, tiny kitchen). After declining that, the estate agent said it wasn't worth my looking at the Graham St. place as it was not as good as the South St one(!)

Then on to Aqua Place. Saw two 4-beds, and one 3-bed townhouse. All very nice indeed (esp the first 4-bed). Would definitely consider buying somewhere there once we're settled in, but seems a bit profligate to be spending an extra £200-£300 a month on rent for a place that's a bigger than we actually need right now. But was veeeery tempted to go for it anyway, just because it was SO nice!

Then saw a place in Holbrook Avenue. Pretty decent, big downstairs, but quite compact upstairs - the main bedroom is decent size, but the other two are pretty, um, 'compact'. Layout kind of quirky overall, but a definite possibility.

Net result, going back with OH on Saturday so she can see the Aqua Place townhouse, the Holbrook Avenue place and another place that one of the estate agents said was being refurbed now but would be ready to rent soon (on Caldecott Street). Might also try to take a look at a place in Kew Road that's just come up.

Overall, pretty satisfied that we'll find somewhere nice to live in Rugby ... just got to choose where!

Emmzi

Is it 100% worth the extra money for the Virgin train season pass to London from Rugby, it's quite a bit more, but don't go for the slow Midlands one. Personally I'd also pay extra for th NCP car park but I am lazy like that...

Tirian

Oh, I am absolutely getting the Virgin pass. That's a non-negotiable item in our budget ....

Won't need the parking pass if we are in walking distance of the station tho!

Tirian

Well, the Holbrook Ave place was too small so we exed that one. Then we got a call to say the townhouse had be let that morning. I'm guessing the estate agents used the fact that we were coming for second viewing to prod someone into taking it (it's been on the market for quite a while ...)

However, the good news is that the Caldecott Street place looked great - so we've taken that. Rugby, here we come!