Living in Birmingham

[rebecca-h]

Can anyone advise on good areas to buy a house in Birmingham? looking for a house with parking - not a flat.

[kerrymill]

Hi there. Sutton coldfield is nice, which is north birmingham. Depends where you need to be close to, i can certainly tell you where to avoid. Most of it! Just kidding there are some nice spots, as i said depends what you're after.

[Plocket]

Sutton Coldfield

[gucciman]

birmingham is a very large city with a diverse population and range of areas to live in. there are areas which are predominatly white, asian areas, west indian areas, mixed areas.what ethnic group your from may have a bearing on where you choose to live.

sutton coldfield is in the north of birmingham, it is a very expensive area to live in, personally i find north birmingham a less pleasant place to live than south.

there are some really nice suburbs in south birmingham, very green and leafy. bournville is probably the pick of them, but again house prices there are expensive.

i live in west heath, which is nice enough and affordable. kings norton has some nice areas, as does longbridge, rubery, selly oak, northfield. shirley and moseley and kings heath are also worth considering. all of those mentioned are within 7 miles of birmingham city centre.

most brummies who do well for themselves aspire to leave birmingham as soon as they can afford it and head to the surrounding towns and villages. alvechurch is a lovely little village, as is wythall, both about 3 miles out of the birmingham boundary but still within driving distance. slightly further out you have bromsgrove and redditch, also solihull is nice but very very expensive. about 25 miles out but with an easy commute is worcester, stratford upon avon, warwick, bewdley, all nice places.

where are you moving from?

[Consie]

gucciman has some good things to say, but I'd like to add that the suburbs of Birmingham very, very different. Bournville is lovely, but could be seen as boring by some people. Much depends on the type of house you want and how much you want to pay. For instance, I live in Moseley (very cosmopolitan, very Labour, lots of doctors, academics etc, though not me!) where a 3 bed, 1930s semi now costs over �200,000. A similar house in Kings Norton/Kings Heath/Northfield would be less. If you are moving to the area I would suggest renting initially so you get a feel for the different areas and find one that you are comfortable in before spending a fortune on a property.

[doomey!]

Alabama is quite nice this time of year.