A good place to buy 10-15 miles outside Central Birmingham near to a station

alchemist.1

Stourbridge is a good shout anywhere near the the Stourbridge Junction Train station or further out Kidderminster.

agrinnall

I paid just over £165K for a three bedroom (two doubles and a single that is now an office) semi in one of the nice parts of Northfield a year ago. It's a 12 minute walk to Longbridge station and a 5 minute walk to the Bristol Road which has a very frequent bus service into the city centre. Trains take 20 minutes, buses generally between 30 and 40 minutes but I don't ever use them at peak times when I'd guess it will be a slower journey. There are some decent roads in the area (e.g. Mavis Road) that are closer to the station where there might be something in budget.

Davesnave

Even if they're not DIYers, a new build will carry a premium price per m2, so they might be better off with something just modern and up-together, but not shiny-new.

Like this maybe:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41864673.html

Lots of money being thrown at the Longbridge area which is probably bringing Northfield up a bit too.

It really depends whether they want to be outwith the city boundary, or not.

dirty_magic

anna42hmr wrote: »

On that route is redditch itself but is a spread out area so not necessarily within walking distance of train statuion.

Longbridge is undergoing a lot of redevelopment and improvement (old mg rover district) so number of new homes etc going up. Northfield is mixed some bad areas some good ones. Kings Norton / cotteridge has some nice houses in that price range and within walking distance from train station. Selly oak has some new housing developments being built (the oval being one of them) but be careful as some areas of selly oak is student central due to proximity to Birmingham uni, the nursing colleges etc. Bourneville is lovely but as a lot of was by the Cadbury family for employees what goes on market for sale is generally pricey especially the closer you get to Bourneville green.

I'd look at the areas Anna suggested. I think Stourbridge and Kidderminster are too far if they live in Birmingham at the moment and still want to have nights out there and Rowley Regis isn't the nicest area.

anna42hmr

agrinnall wrote: »

I paid just over £165K for a three bedroom (two doubles and a single that is now an office) semi in one of the nice parts of Northfield a year ago. It's a 12 minute walk to Longbridge station and a 5 minute walk to the Bristol Road which has a very frequent bus service into the city centre. Trains take 20 minutes, buses generally between 30 and 40 minutes but I don't ever use them at peak times when I'd guess it will be a slower journey. There are some decent roads in the area (e.g. Mavis Road) that are closer to the station where there might be something in budget.

From experience busses are a pain in the bum Going into town and out of town at rush hour times, especially any going up the Pershore Road or Bristol Road. for instance in rush hour can take up to an hour from kings norton to Birmingham city centre (number 45) in the morning or the other way at evening rush hour (especially if there is cricket on at Edgebaston which is frequent in the summer). Thats why i mentioned areas along the south side of the cross city rail instead.

That said if you are travelling out of rush hours then the trip can be around 30- minutes on the bus so would depend on their working times etc. (in car out of rush hour is circa 20 minutes).

anna42hmr

dirty_magic wrote: »

I'd look at the areas Anna suggested. I think Stourbridge and Kidderminster are too far if they live in Birmingham at the moment and still want to have nights out there and Rowley Regis isn't the nicest area.

Agreed, especially if they want to go out in the evening as if reliant on trains or busses may have to keep an eye on the time and taxi's out that way are very very expensive all the way from Birmingham (would be looking at at least £40/£50+. A colleague of mine who lives in Kidderminster swears it is cheaper for her to stay in a hotel in Birmingham on a night out rather than pay for taxi back)

Whereas taxis to Bournville, Kings Norton, Northfield etc would usually be circa £15. (possibly cheaper in a private hire vs a black cab)

here are some articles/sites they may want to look at:

https://www.theguardian.com/best-of-birmingham/2015/sep/09/where-should-i-live-in-birmingham-find-your-part-of-town

http://visitbirmingham.com/files/2015-12-51/BirminghamTransportGuide.pdf

http://www.movehub.com/united-kingdom/moving-to-birmingham


There are other districts within birmingham they may want to consider, not on the cross city line, they would be Edgbaston, Kings Heath, Moseley and Harbourne (though some of harbourne and edgbaston can be very expensive).

if it really is a new build they are looking for (though i wouldn't discount older properties as are generally more square footage for the money) then would suggest that they register with some of the builders active in the area as well (for example Keir living are behind Balaam wood development (just outside northfield) and are the announced builders for a new build of 300+ homes in Kings Norton, Barratt Homes have a number of sites etc across Birmingham as are Persimmon.

Doozergirl

elsien wrote: »

The trains on the Redditch to New Street line run every 20 mins. I don't know the areas well but is there anything around any of those stations that might suit?

Northfield, maybe? I wouldn't like to live there.

I don't think you'd find anything in places like Kings Norton or Redditch. Definitely not in Barnt Green or Alvechurch!

The budget is really quite low. There's huge amounts of new build going up in Longbridge and it's turning into something nice, but budget.

Rowley Regis isn't perhaps a bad idea and other places heading out towards Stourbridge. Halesowen, perhaps. Stourbridge is nice if you can find something for the price.

I think a car is a sensible idea once you get 10-15 miles out of birmingham.

Doozergirl

Davesnave wrote: »

Even if they're not DIYers, a new build will carry a premium price per m2, so they might be better off with something just modern and up-together, but not shiny-new.

Like this maybe:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41864673.html

Lots of money being thrown at the Longbridge area which is probably bringing Northfield up a bit too.

It really depends whether they want to be outwith the city boundary, or not.

Rubery isn't great. Longbridge is really not dragging Northfield with it!

Doozergirl

Nicolefury wrote: »

Ok been through this recently. Originally from Droitwich Spa, work in central brum. Lived in Olton, Solihull for 18 months until we bought. Priced out of Solihull. I'd look at Redditch Bromsgrove, nice areas in both and easily accessible to Birmingham (Bromsgrove > Bham New Street in 30 minutes). Redditch is closer than Bromsgrove and has some nice houses - Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch were our three preferred areas in the end.

Lots of variables in Birmingham itself in terms of good areas hence we looked outside of Brum.

You'll barely touch the sides of a two bed in Bromsgrove. The town isn't really near the station so you're limited to part of town. Lots of optimism in some of the place names popping up.

Would help to buy be possible? Or a compromise to 2 beds for a better area?

Davesnave

Doozergirl wrote: »

Rubery isn't great. Longbridge is really not dragging Northfield with it!

Well, you'd know better than me.:)

OTOH suggestions we've had like Bournville, Kings Heath, Moseley and Harbourne aren't going to happen on this budget, unless its a tiny place.

Location, locaton, lo...compromise!