Sheffield and outlying areas

felinefancy

Hello there!

Husband has been given a transfer date of 3rd October to Sheffield.  Firstly, any recommendations for affordable nice areas within a 12 mile radius to buy and rent?  We're at the bottom end of the market so it'll have to be max £500 rent per month, and up to £140k to buy (we only want a small mortgage at our age).  (Yeah.. unforeseen past life events and choices were not exactly financially favourable, sadly.. life doesn't always turn out how one thinks it should.. just have to make the best of it now and that's getting our own property before we retire in 10-12 years.)

We haven't started to look at properties yet, and being in London, reality is that we'll have to go up there and rent first.

What are we looking at these days, 12 weeks to completion for house purchases, or more?  (We rent so no chain our end.)

Many thanks!

coffeehound

Are you hoping to live in the city or a town or in the countryside?  At least your £500pcm will get you a lot more than it would down south

felinefancy

Hi Coffeehound and thanks for replying.. town or countryside for our own house.  For renting, not too concerned as we hope it will just be temporary until we can find a house to purchase. 

daveyjp

With a limited budget its probably easier to look at what is available first and get feedback on the areas.

I know S13 and S26 quite well, both may have properties in budget.

Sazzy1253

we used we used to live in S11 and it’s was a lovely area! 

felinefancy

Thanks everyone so far.. yes, I agree @daveyjp, that's what we've been doing til now

And appreciate the tips ref postcodes. 

sammyjammy

S2 Heeley and S8 Meersbrook probably in your price range, good transport/walking distance to City Centre (well Heeley anyway), just avoid S2 Arbourthorne

tacpot12

Most of the smaller towns and villages outside of the city are fine, but your problem is likely to be affordability. Chesterfield is worth a look. Depending on where you buy a house and where your husband is working, it is a bit more or a bit less than 12 miles, and it has good transports links to Sheffield (Express Bus/Train/A61 for journeys by car). It is also the last town in the Midlands, so you would wouldn't actually be moving to the North if you moved to Chesterfield! 

However, there are lots of nice areas in Sheffield, but £140K is quite tight to buy in even a reasonable area.

Hebblethwaite

One thing that's worth knowing about Sheffield is that the asking prices are usually low, and it's expected that most houses will go over asking. This appears to have been the case long before the current market situation though it certainly seems to be magnified at the moment. Definitely have a browse of the houses currently on Rightmove to get an idea of what you can afford, but you may want to look at houses being listed for a max of £130k if you have a budget of £140k, compared with many areas where you would be okay viewing houses with an asking price of £150k.

I would definitely look at the towns near to Sheffield if you will be driving to work. You will get a lot more bang for your buck in Chesterfield, Rotherham, Barnsley, or in the villages on the Sheffield side of those towns. 

If you definitely want to be in Sheffield proper, your budget will be quite tight, but there will be the odd terrace coming up in reasonable areas. I wonder if some of the suggestions above may not have kept up with the market as Meersbrook is likely to be too pricey now (unless it's something that needs lots of work) and S11 has a lot of very expensive properties - the cheapest house listing in S11 currently is on for £175k and I suspect they'll be expecting offers well over that!

felinefancy

Thanks both for the comments.  I wish we were in a better financial position but these are the cards life has drawn us and we haven't won the lottery!  We never considered moving due to jobs, and knew it would be impossible for us to afford to buy a house in London so we've been renting for the last 8 years.   Now a transfer opportunity has come up, we must move and get our own property before we retire. 

We both drive - I'm hoping I can continue working from home though.  Not looking for a mansion, but I would like a decent sized garden as I'm a veggie grower

The husband was also waiting on a transfer date to Leeds but that didn't come through.  But I'm thinking our funds will go further in Sheffield area, am I right?  

Hebblethwaite

I don't know about Leeds, I'm afraid. However, if you are both drivers then that will massively expand the area where you can look. Anything with a garden has been flying off RM lately. It was also my biggest priority and I've had to compromise a lot on size with my (hopeful) FTB purchase as I am definitely not going to be able to fit all my garden wishes into the available space! If you want a great garden on a budget, I would definitely recommend looking outside Sheffield itself. That's my plan for getting a bigger garden in a few years (when my circumstances will have changed) and I will use my (hopefully) soon-to-be garden as a temporary measure to get properly to grips with growing in the ground (after being a container gardener for many years).